Green Power Clean

Good luck John. You have always been helpful, positive, and professional in all posts and topics here, and tossed in some good humor appropriately too. If I have a vote, you will get it.

Can't help but toss in my 2 cents. I spent 27 years in high tech marketing and the pricing decision is the same for all businesses. There are 3 ways to set price: value to the customer; competitive bid; and internal cost + margin. In a brand new market, identifying what the finished product or service is worth to the customer in light of their alternatives. If a commercial business runs an increasing risk of someone slipping on a wet + oily film on their and suing for damages, then having a cleaning program is worth something to them to avoid that liability. If a home owner thinks that getting rid of the oil, grime, rust, and mold stains on their brick walkways, concrete drive ways and curbs will bring better curb appeal as they prep their home for sale, a professional cleaning is worth something to them. This is the basis for what is the value to the customer. In your customers case, she was either pulling your chain or she saw little value in having a tidied up home. The second is in a market where other competitors are available to bid on the business. Here the customers alternatives are more clear and you wind up bidding on price with all attempts to differentiate your service from all other competitors based on quality, lower risk due to experience, compliance with regulations or being insured, bonded, listed as a diamond supplier, rated on Yelp or BBB to steer the business your way as being better than the other competitors or being the lower risk choice if not the lowest priced. In your case, this customer may well have encountered other suppliers with a significantly lower bid than yours that had set quality and risk expectations that were acceptable to her. Leave her to them. The third MUST be understood before pricing anything. The first 2 methods set a ceiling above which the customer will not sign you up for the work. Understanding your costs allows you to know how low (sets the floor) to go before a piece of business becomes a bad deal for you, and if followed on subsequent deals will get you in trouble with your bank, investors, and lead to the end of your enterprise. Cutting cost in a competitive business is key, and theoretically in the end, the market will segment itself with the low cost supplier winning the lions share of the business in their segment. If the other bidder used illegal workers at lower than minimum wage paid in cash with no taxes withheld and uninsured, let them have the business and deal with the inevitable consequences they will face. If on the other hand, they have tools, methods, and techniques that are superior in throughput and quality at lower cost than you currently possess then time to think more... I seriously doubt this is the case you face, but we are all ever wary. Starting with cost based pricing without considering value to the customer or competitive bidding often leaves money on the table and damages the market for the industry. Stick to your prices. If you never loose a deal on price, then you are underbidding the market and need to lose a few (by raising your bids) to test the market. If you lose 10 in a row, then time to rethink the approach.

After a long career in Marketing (high-tech stuff), all of your post is excellent to understand the fully loaded cost incurred in a job. There are 3 ways to establish the price to be given to a customer. Cost-based, competition based, and value based. Your post is perfect to understand the cost element (albeit leaving out the discussion of what kind of profit margin should be tacked on). The first step in pricing is to understand what it is worth to the customer in light of their other options. One option is always the "do nothing" option. Here they may not be aware of the costs and risks of not maintaining their property, and avoiding those longer term huge bills can set a pretty high value to the cleaning. If they are in an obscure niche of the market and you have no competitors, a price offer that is well under the value of "do nothing" may be much higher than the cost-based price . If they are in a well serviced market then competitive bids will determine the price range of acceptability to the customer. Inefficient higher cost vendors in this case will either price themselves out of the deal or price below their cost and eventually be forced to exit the business (or adopt more efficient methods). Cost-based price sets the floor for lowest price you can take the deal and stay in business. Value to your customer sets the ceiling price above which the customer will chose to do nothing or go with your competitor. If the floor price is above the ceiling, you do not have a viable business. If the ceiling is well above your floor, you can make huge profits (for a while and risk inviting new entrants), or have reasonable profits (and secure a very satisfied and loyal customer base). Understanding costs is key to staying in business as the prior post points out. Understanding the customers perceived value and the competitors capabilities give you profit margins to enjoy and is even harder to gain.

I am a newbie and lining up an adjustable system (adjustable GPM, PSI, and Temp). Most decks and fencing here is redwood which is pretty soft. At full steam will be able to do 5 GPM, 4000 PSI but that would destroy a deck (the burner will be off of course for a wooden deck work). Muzzle velocity is equally effected by adjusting either flow or pressure, but is one better bring down than the other? I expect to do a test on each job with a safe setting and if needed gradually increase the power to improve work-speed without damage. What does your experience say is a good range and starting point? And saw one post here that made sense that the chemical should be doing the work. What is the preferred chemicals for redwood? This is in northern CA, so need to be environmentally compliant. What are good resources to research eco-compliant chemicals? Thanks.