Is this a joke ? Who is washing houses for $39 ????

[MichiganPowerWashing.com 14]

Found new " updated " pricing guide on delco website ...

Considering few price suggestions , pw contractor would make around $5-10 per hour.

I'm doing a lot of house washes but suggestion : "(Note: Vinyl Sided Homes go for as little as $39.95)" is out of this world .

First $99 deck wash now $39 house wash ...what next ? FREE power washing ? :lgsick:

How do you feel about this price survey ?

Mobile Power Wash Pricing Survey

[CCPC 26]

Yeah, that pricing survey is a joke.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Keep in mind that it is not demographically specific. It is a range and depending upon your area your price may vary. Remember, Not all areas of the country are capable of paying top dollar.

This pricing guide was very helpful to our company in the beginning.

It gave us a reference and with a little research on our end, we found where others were pricing and did accordingly.

Let's not make something out of nothing for the sake of balking. Take it for what it is, information.

Rod!~

[Rick2 42]

That's been up there for quite some time. Some of those prices are a little crazy.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

They are very old...

Beth

[MudDuck 20]

I found it pretty helpful although I am not doing any job for 39.99. I have three town home buildings to do today (same location) that are 90ft by 45 ft two story with vinyl on top half, brick on bottom half. (just washing vinyl and gutters) All flat ground with little vegetation. I got the bid at 200.00 per building and got a 50.00 bump for wax additive. (which also paid for all my materials cost) Was going to shoot it at 250.00 but I knew the grumpy old HOA guy was shopping the job and I wanted it because it was easy 4 hr job. Will net 600.00ish for 4-5 hrs time or less. That sound about right to you guys? Would like to have gotten the 250 but it's been slow and this was pretty much a walk around.

[FLORIN 21]

Keep in mind that it is not demographically specific. It is a range and depending upon your area your price may vary. Remember, Not all areas of the country are capable of paying top dollar.

This pricing guide was very helpful to our company in the beginning.

It gave us a reference and with a little research on our end, we found where others were pricing and did accordingly.

Let's not make something out of nothing for the sake of balking. Take it for what it is, information.

Rod!~

DITTO. I used that guide a lot when first started out. Some pricing was in line on it and some were not. As the years went by I adjusted my pricing to where it fit my biz and my demographic. As for the 39.99 wash thing... hey I believe there is guys out there doing it for that price. Don't concern yourself so much with that guy. You are not in competition with him. ... I see so many threads about the "lowballers" and how it hurts the posters business and so on. I personally don't think it hurts mine. if anything the "lowballers" help my biz. I get countless jobs where someone hired one of these guys and after the job was done then realized the true worth and eventually call a company like mine either to fix the job or after a couple years they try to look them up and realize they are out of biz. And you know what? To some customers it is all that they want. Some guy to come out and squirt some water on the house and that's it. The don't care that its not really all that clean as it could be with another company.I love the Mercede and Hyundai analogy. If you are a Mercedes company you compete with BMW and Jaguar and not with Hyundai and Kia. Even though people out there find value in the lower end ... there is equal number of people that understand that quality, customer service on a higher level demands a higher price.Ok I'm done jabbering now.

[Paul Kassander 26]

The problem with a pricing sheet like that is customers do searches and say "well according to the we the national average for that service is $... per unit".

I have been presented that info a couple times with some of my bigger customers. In both cases they knew the numbers were bogus but they tried to bully me a little.

[Jarrod 22]

It seems that all of the contractors here in MI trust those prices and try to beat them.

[Paul Kassander 26]

I thought only you beat those prices Jarrod.

[MichiganPowerWashing.com 14]

Jarrod ... It's hard to beat $39 house wash anywhere :D Depending on the house $39 may not cover gas and chemicals even for a small house.

Beth ...doesn't matter where you live ...gas and chemicals prices are almost the same.

I'm really suprieced that company which sells pw equipment ( delco ) is showing pw contractors how little you can make comparing to how much you have to pay for equipment . It just doesn't make any sense.

I'm not worry that someone is going to charge just $39 or so . It's just impossible to make enough money to eat lunch in McD :)

Edited July 8, 2008 by MichiganPowerWashing.com

[Jarrod 22]

I thought only you beat those prices Jarrod.

LOL. Pw'ing in MI has been reduced to low margin work done by drunken lowlifes.

Guys here actually think that $1 per sq ft is really good money for decks. 9 out of 10 guys charge this.

[Scott Paul 164]

LOL. Pw'ing in MI has been reduced to low margin work done by drunken lowlifes.

Guys here actually think that $1 per sq ft is really good money for decks. 9 out of 10 guys charge this.

Who are you calling a drunken lowlife!

[Ron Musgraves 240]

I'm going to talk with Robert about getting them updated. It does not do the industry good to have old prices posted.

New guys should not be using low prices, thats jut hurting the entire indsutry.

I'm sure thats not Delcos intentions, They posted them years ago to help. I'm sure they have just never thought about them since.

Great points from many here, I agree we shouldnt get twisted over it. I'm sure we can get Delco to update with reasonable objections, they are top notch in the professionalism catorgory.

Maybe if enough people send request and also suggestions about updated prices possibly they might be able to change them.

[Jarrod 22]

Who are you calling a drunken lowlife!

Scott, aren't you the one who invented the PW'er drinkin' game - "stain a spindle, take a swig?" Oh yeah, that was Randy.

[Kirk 14]

In my area of Michigan I'm doin um for that price and offering a free pound of "Mackinac" fudge.

Seriously, just today I was astonished by some low prices offered by a larger, established deck company. I got the job because of my charm anyway. They can just su*k me.

Drunken Lowlife

[PressureX 14]

Speaking of which, I saw an old (probably 1990) toyota tacoma today, rusted to hell and back, with a big sign on the side stating "1 or 2 story pressure washing: $79.95" I almost couldnt believe my eyes.

So I called the number, got the guy to give me an estimate, sure enough, $79.95. So I did an estimate on my house, I ended up charging $191.92.

But of course when asked more about him ... no proof of insurance nor any business license.

[MudDuck 20]

Speaking of which, I saw an old (probably 1990) toyota tacoma today, rusted to hell and back, with a big sign on the side stating "1 or 2 story pressure washing: $79.95" I almost couldnt believe my eyes.

So I called the number, got the guy to give me an estimate, sure enough, $79.95. So I did an estimate on my house, I ended up charging $191.92.

But of course when asked more about him ... no proof of insurance nor any business license.

How the heck do you come up with $191.95? Sounds like a 190.00 or 200.00 job....191.95? How you figure the .95 air in the tires? lol

[PressureX 14]

Actually it was $191.92 ;)

Im not sure if many do this, but I use the exact same method to do estimates everytime. We measure out the house etc. and multiple it by our numbers. Very simple actually, but yes, we also do cent amounts.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

I measure out and multiply also. I just round up to the nearest dollar. I have had people wonder where I came up with $247 or something like that.

[Kory 14]

The local dealer tells newbies to charge $50 an hr.

[Kory 14]

I quit going to there site after reading there pricing a couple years ago. There equipment seemed high and the suggested price list seemed too low.

[Mike Williamson 198]

There's a local guy here who actually has that entire price list cut and pasted into his website as his list of services/prices. Crazy.

[the_GUNN_man 14]

I actually broke down and low balled a house last week for $225. $39.95 is what it costs to do the job.