Another Craigslist Ad

[Lightning Gene 66]

This one is really funny.......Maybe I should sub out some jobs to him.......NOT

I am an aggie student with a 3600psi commercial pressure washer. I will pressure wash your driveway, mobile home, sidewalk etc. $50 covers the first two hours. This is a reasonable time for a driveway, sidewalk, and another small project such as a boat or travel trailer. Additional time can be charged at $25/hour. I will go anywhere in B/CS for no additional charge. Email me and ask for a price if you live further. Aside from a $2000 pressure washer, I have very little overhead and will be reasonable. I already have the cheapest prices I have ever heard of

[plainpainter 217]

This is what craigslist is all about - where cheap contractors meet cheap homeowners.

[CLASSICPW 14]

Not all the time. I post a very professional post with my specials and 3 pictures of my work. For a free ad I get quite a bit of work, and I'm one of the priciest guys in the area.

[plainpainter 217]

How often do you post the ad? And how much do you have to change the ad each time - so as not to be considered 'flood'ing?

[MMI Enterprises 289]

If your not using Craigslist your missing some opportunity to hook up with some quality customers. Just cause every lowballer and their uncles nephew (lol) frequent the place and may be the majority doesn't at all mean cheap customers are the norm.

Depending on area the ads may run a week or may run 45 day. On the short ads in same catagory you can get another exact same ad in after a few days when yer coming up near the end of the first ad running out. You can also get away with placing same ad in multiple catagory if you first create them and but click your publish buttons on them around the same time. Other then that, just changing a couple word on small ads tend to let them through. Sometimes I have about 5 running at same time. May sound like alot but they are in different catagory or areas. Some other folk are very active and you can see their ads mulitiple times in same catagory on same day. This pisses everone off and sometimes people will do ads chastising the idiots that do that..

[FCPWLLC 233]

Good work can come from craigslist. I like it because it helps to lower you average cost per lead. If the free ad gets one call and another ad that you have paid $50 for gets one call then you have an average lead cost of $25. Of course that's just a simple version of the math involved. The internet has allowed me to afford to spend a little more on less effective forms of advertising found in print. Now you really can chalk up some things as "Branding"... LOL

[CLASSICPW 14]

I never flood the list, there's some "handyman" that ads for PW'n and posts every day, what a tool!

[PetersonDecks 14]

I receive about 10% of my quotes via Craiglist, i am not the lowest but i love the free Advertising. Yes, you get some cheap people that get a "handyman" quote but that gives you a chance to state the differences between and professional and a HACK. I post an ad in Craigslist about every week to stay on top of the rest of the people in regards to listing. yes you are going to get those cheap people, but you will also get those people that want it done correctly and professionally. john Peterson, Peterson Deck Restoration

[Colorado ProWash 21]

Craigslist can sometimes generate good quality leads. Last year I got an IPE deck that I do ever year worth $2,000. I have to say though most of the craigslist are people in the lower class living bracket and low baller fly by night companies. I wish craiglist would charge to be listed in the service directory (a very small fee even $1). This would eliminate some of the hacks with the Home Depot Pressure Washers. There are people that just sit there listing in every directory offering to do anything and everything for $15.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

something was floating around about them charging starting in Nov. for employment section... unsure what became of it.

[FLORIN 21]

I have gotten alot of decent jobs on craigslist. Of course you get the lowball guys that call but usually I could weed those out with a few questions over the phone before i go out to make a bid. I have gotten bids and jobs or at least leads to some multimillion dollar homes thru craigslist.

I might be considered one of those overdoers/flooders on craigslist. I advertise every couple of days. I have six listings that i do for each of my main services that I provide and list the other services on each. I know this might **** some people off but the way that craigslist works when someone searches for say gutter cleaning- a list of ads pop up which the newest ads are at the top and get looked at first. If you did not advertise for a while your ad is way down the list and chances are the customer looked at a numerous amount of ads before getting to you and the chances are higher that they go with one of the first couple guys they call. People will not sit down for hours to make sure they called every possible company. I think of it this way-- Does Pepsi care that they advertise more often than 7-UP. I doubt they care they are pissing them off or that a customer is saying "gosh i have seen that commercial ten times today, im going to drink coke because they **** me off."

If I could Id advertise as frequently with my other forms of advertising if it would be in my budget. All that craigslist costs me is that much more time used to list new ads.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers but that is my opinion.

[Russ Spence 76]

Good work can come from craigslist. I like it because it helps to lower you average cost per lead. If the free ad gets one call and another ad that you have paid $50 for gets one call then you have an average lead cost of $25. Of course that's just a simple version of the math involved. The internet has allowed me to afford to spend a little more on less effective forms of advertising found in print. Now you really can chalk up some things as "Branding"... LOL

I am glad you chimed in Michael , I have gotten some great leads off Craigslist , the latest was a commercial job that covers 3 states ! I dont offer any prices , the greatest thing is that its searchable and Google loves it !

[David O'Connell Jr. 14]

here is a good one

Lawn & Tree Services, Pressure Washing and Tile Install *Affordable*

gee what do they not do??

[Tmrrptr 164]

This was grabbed from a painters forum.

It was found on Best Of Craigslist listings.

Painter Goes Postal

You will not find a "great painter" with "references" to paint a lr/dr,kit,bath,hall plus 2 br for $800, (more than one coat with patching, etc.), you ***king tighta**. You're an exploitive cheap b**tard. That is about $3,000 worth of painting. Half price would be double what you offer. For one thing every room is a diffrerent color = major hassle transitioning in and out of colors. Secondly, even white on white frequently looks patchy w/o a 2nd coat, especially if walls are dirty or paint is not EXACTLY the same color. Third, any red room always takes at least three coats because dark colors are shot into clear base = ultra low coverage and hide. In other words the coverage of solid red builds up very slowly. Finally, you probably have furniure to move back and forth all over the place and pictures all over the walls.

I always wonder when I hear cheap ***kers like you trying to get grown men with serious trade skills and families to feed ("great painter", he wants, with "references") how much you'd work for. You'd NEVER degrade yourself like that. And good luck finding your punk, because you're asking for a great painter with references, but your pay scale is more in line with a desperate drifter, a wino or a serial killer. You must think very little of painters. But FYI Washingtonian Magazine reports that the average income of a painting contractor in the DC metro area is LARGER than that of the average lawyer. I should know because I've been through Law School (GW) and still found it less enticing to practice law than continue painting.

If you get your tight**s wish it will only be because you are trafficking in misery and coining desperation, profiting from the destitution of others and perpetuating it.

Of course you could always go to seven-eleven and pick up some Mexicans (illegal) and help attract a social blight to our community in addition to driving low end wages down and increasing crime, etc. But then why should you care. After all, you only think about the savings. People like you would own slaves if it weren't illegal.

For a cheap and selfish ******* you sure have high expectations. I find that's often the case with your ilk - champagne and caviar taste/Salvation Army bag lunch budget.

Maybe I should just come paint your house for free. Would you let me paint it for free? I'll bet you would. Maybe you'd cook lunch all month and let me sleep in the carport since I could never afford to pay rent in the area if I took so much time making so little money.

I suppose I should have a truck and ladders and all the dropcloths and paintbrushes and buckets and rollers and pay about $100 in gas to drive there every day until I net the other big $700?

You are a bad neighbor. You epitomize the decline of our community. You have no shame. You will never have the class of those in the slums you decree with your penurious self-worship. And you would never want to live in the he*lish world run by someone like you on the wrong end of the power spectrum.

I know you don't have a conscience (you're probably a "good christian" though). My only wish for you is that you either look in the mirror, see the ugly tightwad and undergo some kind of personal transformation into a decent human being or that someone viciously exploits you every day for the rest of your miserable ***king life until you are so beaten down that you can't help but understand what those who would be desperate enough to work for your sorry a** must be going through.

It's one thing to hope for a bargain, but to present your smug ultimatum, confident that some desperate soul is hungry enough to take the meager bate, then demand grade "A" credentials on top of it all like some dignified but savvy shopper who doesn't want to get ripped off. God da** your eyes, you make me sick! I've noticed it's always the exploiters that are wary of being taken advantage of. In other words you're fearful that someone might try to do to you what you'd be doing to them, what you do to others every chance you get.

Does it make you happy that people are so desperate. Is it good for your personal economy. If you buy labor, I guess it can never be cheap enough, huh? But what if you sell it? How dear is it then?

I curse you with poverty. You will lose your job and become destitute. You will know hunger. You will lose your status in the community. Your own class will no longer recognize you as a peer. You will turn to friends or family, but no one will help in your hour of darkness. Instead, they will offer to let you do a little yard work or fix their broken fence or walk their dog. You'll have to bus across town to do these things though because you can no longer live in the same area as those before whom you grovel for your subsistence. You will want to say no, but you can't afford to. The money you earn will never allow you to save or invest or grow out of your omnipresent peril, but you must have it. Subsistence demands it. You will wonder how all this could have come about, then you will remember me. I curse you with poverty. I sentence you to exploitation by cruel opportunists. PostingID: 94281797

[FLORIN 21]

This Is Funny Stuff

[ksa44133 14]

I haven't used craigslist for my business yet but i will be soon. I have however used it in the past and had great success selling random crap I had around the house. There are some guys in the cleveland market offering pressure washing but they also offer plumbing and everything else a homeowner could possibly need. There isn't much out there these days that is truly free so I would suggest everyone use it.

[BobK 14]

Has never worked for me. But then again I don't keep up the ad either.