Apple Roof Cleaning

EXACTLY ! Once a potential customer reads about a 99 dollar house wash, it s HARD as hell to get them to spring for a quality job. People around here STILL talk about a company advertising 99 dollar roof cleaning. Some of MY jobs are THOUSANDS of dollars, and well worth it too. It really makes it difficult to charge a fair price with Low Ball Ads. I look at LowBallers as the same kind of idiots I see out on Fishing Piers. These idiots use 4 oz sinkers to "demonstrate" how far they can cast. The bait comes off, and they cast again. Every time they cast, they scare the fish. Pretty soon, Fish are spooked, they leave, and NO Fish for anyone for a freaking week. And THAT is the problem with this business. It has become a fast buck business, way too easy to get into, and cheap too. ALL the info anyone needs can be found online. My brother is an A/C Contractor Jamie's Air Conditioning Company Of Brandon Florida . To compete with him requires schooling and an apprenticeship. One must pass an A/C Contractors test, or you can't even BUY A/C Stuff, or advertise. No such protection for us. It is, what it is, nothing more, nothing less. It is GOOD to see threads like these, to let those thinking about entering this business know it is a TOUGH business. MOST are not going to make it. MANY of us, including even ME may not be here 5 years from now. One must realize many LURK hereon these forums, or only join because they are THINKING about getting into the business. Let's NOT paint them an overly rosy picture of what it will be like. Not to stifle competition, but perhaps to save them from putting their home in hock for equipment in a business where their probability for success is slight. SOME do make it, most do not. Don't believe me ? Go to the local library in any big city, and look at the ads from 5 years ago. Call the phone numbers, you will find MOST disconnected. It is, what it is .......

Dan, you can't stop them. Many of them market right to the homeowner by knocking on the door, leaving a Flyer or Doorhangar. I was just talking to a friend of mine on the phone yesterday about this. I SAW a bid from a Tampa Pressure Washing Company offering to do a 6000.00 sq ft tile roof. A 2 story, with WIDE tiles, a real ***** to clean. They quoted her 750 for the house, roof, and driveway/pool deck/cage. And a 2 story pool cage too ! THAT is the current level of desperation here in Tampa. We are doing the whole job for 2100.00 tomorrow. Wealthy people are SCARED of low bidders, and a SURE way to scare off a potential big job is to bid cheap. Wealthy people are not stupid, and realize they GET only what they pay for. Fortunately for us, we did her best friend a year ago, although her friend did not refer us. The Lady we are doing has a friend in my Singles Group, that is how she found us. Honestly, our ads are not working lately. It has been all word of mouth, and referrals this past month. I KNOW many here in Tampa are desperate right now Dan. The place we buy one chemical from says we are the only ones coming in, and so does another chemical supplier.

Back in my CB Radio days, I had charlie and dave walk right in on me, shooting skip. They came to the door in Seattle, where I used to live before North Sacramento. She THOUGHT they were Mormons, and thought I needed to be "saved" :lgangel: They "saved" me all right Kevin. They watched and recorded me working 11 Meter CB illegally, LOL :lgtear: Made me a deal though, get my Ham Radio License, and charges would be dropped! I have been a Ham radio Operator for 26 years. GREAT for business too BTW. My many Ham Radio Friends "look out" for one of their own, and send me LOTS of bizzness. Many are seniors, and want things clean, **** and span, as they call it. That would be ME :lgmoneyey

Ok, you nostalgia fans, how about this one ? Brylcream, a little dab will do ya Brylcream, you'll look so debonair Brylcream, the girls will all pursue ya They'll love to get their fingers in your hair :)

I have tried Old Spice Foam, Colgate, Barbasol, and many others. In the old days, when I was trying to develop my non pressure roof cleaning techniques, I ran into a friendly chemist. He was a football nut like me, and we really hit it off. He helped me a LOT in understanding how chemicals worked. He told me that in College, he was taught there were several products that were "Gold Standards". Meaning they were the products all others sought to emulate. He mentioned Tide, Dawn, and Gillette Foamy. I agree about Dawn, as far as SOAP goes, a little bit of it sudses up like no other. Tide I do not agree on, I use whatever is cheap, works fine. But I do agree about Gillette Foamy Regular. To me, it is in another class of shaving cream. Too bad it does NOT smell as good as Old Spice :lgtear:

The Dog looks like it is Mad at Hot Shot Anthony Ron ? Look at all the foam residue in the bricks Anthony's Foam Machine left behind ? FEAR The Dog !

When I was a small Boy growing up in Detroit, Grandpa used Soap and a old school razor. I can remember watching my Grandpa shave still. Like me, Grandpa did NOT like to shave. I do not shave every day, unless I am out working, giving estimates, or something special. IF I am with my girlfriend, shaving is a MUST. And so, I keep some shaving stuff at her place. She is a Nurse, and anal about cleanliness/hygine. Washing hands after using the bathroom is a MUST at her place. I have TRIED to explain to her that because I am a roof cleaner, the Sodium Hypochlorite "disinfects me". I LOST that argument, so I just do as she asks, she who MUST be obeyed, LOL She even LISTENS for the running water, and has even been known to check for the towel I wiped my hands on, LOL In my 53 years on Planet Earth, I have found it is a LOT easier to just let a Woman have her own way. They are gonna GET what they want one way or another, so WHY fight ? Works for me.

When eating desert, a good shave is a MUST :)

Yeah, the Fusion RULES. SOME prefer Gel over foam. Here is my take on it. Gel is a bit smoother, but clogs the blades more then foam. It requires more rinsing then foam, and is a BIT slower.

NOW you are getting into my area of interest, LOL As you know, I am a ham Radio Operator, and really into to Stereo Stuff and electronics. Advancements are happeing so fast that things often become obsolete before they break. Take this computer. It is a 4 year old AMD Athlon 1 Meg processor, 40 gig drive, and 512 memory. It DOES have an "old school" 21 inch Hitachi Monitor. It WAS near state of the art 4 years ago. It is a "boat anchor" by todays standards. I am almost begging it to crash, for an excuse to get a new one, LOL But I have all kinds of pretty womens pictures on it, if ya know what I mean. Don't want to lose my honeys ! Hey, it is pretty cool over here, new people too !

I go OUT of my way NOT to buy from Wal Mart, if possible. K Mart BOUGHT Sears, quality is WAY up. Target is very competitive too. I do not buy anything from my local pressure washer supply houses. I am a roof cleaner with very specialized equipment. But IF I were a pressure washer, I WOULD buy local. We are very fortunate in Tampa/Brandon Florida area to have TWO really good places to buy P/W stuff from. These two places have an excellent reputation of taking care of their customers. What GOOD is it to save a few hundred bucks, and be broken ? LET these guys make a buck or two so they can be around to service us is what I say. Support your LOCAL guy!

You got it Mr._Squeegee, that is EXACTLY what I meant, nothing more, and nothing less. Welcome to TGS BTW ! I usually stay over on the roof forum since I am not mainly a pressure washer. I just took a gander over here because I got bored over on the roof forum, kinda wanted a change if ya know what I mean ?

No, I am still at home. Looks like I will be staying here too. Sometimes, it takes her longer to pass meds out, and she gets off too late for me to stay up, and drive to her house.

Here is some of our Pets ! The second picture was once a roof cleaner who waved his magic wand. Now tell me, WHO does he look like ??

Agreed Mike, no way would I train a local competitor. In my experience,, they are real nice until they pick your brain, and then set themselves up in direct competition to you. That does NOT mean I can't be friends with them, but bizzness is bizzness.

It does NOT. A Mamma's Boy in my mind is a situation where the wife has given up on the man contributing to the total household income. So, she takes it upon herself to go out and support the household. The Momma's Boy is content to live off his wifes income, and only works to "justify" the fact he is "trying" to help out. I have seen this all too often here. I have actually talked to price cutting Mamma's Boyz, and had them TELL me that their wiife made most of the money. Thus, they didn't "need" to charge what others did. I am a Man, and stand on my own two feet. I could never live off a girl, but to each his own. That said, there is nothing wrong with two people working in a marriage. That is not what I was saying. And IF two people are happy with one living off the other, more power to em. :lgwave: Personally, I think it is a sad situation. :lgtear:

Easy, they are NOT playing by the same rules as most of us. Many are part timers, with good regular jobs. What they make cleaning is GRAVY MONEY, not their sole income. Then, there are the Momma's Boyz :lgwave: You know, the ones where the wife is the primary breadwinner of the family ? Mamma brings home the Bacon, and the Momma's Boy is only responsible for the Eggs, LOL Many are ONLY out cleaning to "justify" to Mamma that they are "Trying" to "help out" with things. Then, you have the ones faking disability, out cleaning for cash, the ones with Pensions, etc, etc, etc.

There are several 99.00 roof cleaning ads here in Tampa.

We are IN a recession here in Florida Jeff. Real Estate has dropped almost to Zero, and for the first time in 20 some years, MORE people are leaving Florida then are moving in.

25.00 is going price in Tampa for driveways, seen it quoted often.

Commercial here in Tampa is a total whores market. Many "by the hour" part timers. Lost a big hotel roof to a part timer. My bid ? 1800.00 His bid ? 600.00 Asked him why, he said "It is only a 5 to 6 hour job, and that is 100.00 an hour". I said "Yeah, but what about all the dead time" he said " I have a good job, if I can make 100.00 an hour part time,, that is good enough for me"

When we started, we were getting more then double for what we do now. Costs have increased, total jobs have dropped, and unit of sale is 1/2 of what it once was. Market is saturated here in Florida.

Today, we did a search for roof cleaning Brandon Florida, just like a potential customer would probably do. roof cleaning brandon florida - Google Search Try it yourself, click the link ? Of course, our web pages came up in the search, but scroll down about 4 to 5 spots ? THEN LOOK ?? There is a thread from The Grime Scene that I started called "Roof Cleaners in Florida - Is it slow for you right now" Any potential customer can click on this thread, and read it. To make matters worse, someone asks me in this thread if he can go down to a swimming pool supply place and buy pool chlorine to use to clean a roof. And, he asks if Pool Chlorine is the same as the recommended Sodium Hypochlorite. Pretty soon, why is anyone going to need us anymore when we are teaching potential customers how to do it themselves ? I wonder why this, and other forums can't be closed to the search engines, so we can continue to educate each other, without educating potential customers as well ? Imagine Kentucky Fried Chicken getting on an Internet cooking forum, and spelling out exactly what the secret herbs and spices are, where to get them, and how to prepare the chicken too ? Or, Microsoft putting the source code for Windows out in the public domain ?

One might assume when someone does a local search for roof cleaning, they do not already know how to do it ? But, when up pop detailed instructions in a search, I can see a scenario that goes something like this "Honey, I was looking for a roof cleaning company because as you know, we got a letter. Look at this Thread honey that I found ? All you have to do is when you go to the pool store, get some extra chlorine, and a pump up sprayer, and we can do it ourselves, " "I know honey, because I read how to do it on the grime scene, when I was looking for a local roof cleaning company" People who already know how to Do it themselves, aren't going to be doing a search for a local roof cleaning company. Know what I mean ?

Respectfully disagree. My brother is an A/C contractor. They have protection from keeping consumers from going down and buying an A/C unit, and slapping it in. We do not. Unfortunately, the roof cleaning business basically consists of ONE secret, Sodium Hypochlorite. Once someone knows what to use, and where to get it, we are finished. 10 - 2.5 gallon jugs of it and a simple pump up sprayer mixed with water, and any roof can be cleaned up to 2000 sq ft by spraying it on. Us roof cleaners are MUCH more vulnerable then pressure washers, wood and deck people, and Greasers. NO special equipment is needed beyond that. See WHY we are concerned ? I posted this to make a point. BET I will edit it before the search engines get hold of it!