Water-ban pricing

[premierpw 14]

I am in GA and residents here are under a water ban/no homeowner pressure washing. How many of you guys here have hiked up your prices because demand has risen. I am cautious to do too much because of customers possibly not returning.

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

[John Doherty 126]

What do you have to do differently to justify a cost increase?

[Russ Spence 76]

I am in GA and residents here are under a water ban/no homeowner pressure washing. How many of you guys here have hiked up your prices because demand has risen. I am cautious to do too much because of customers possibly not returning.

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

Is that Cobb County ?

[Celeste 341]

Sounds almost unethical and bordering on price gouging IMO. You've had new customers plopped right in your lap - when they did it here, we were grateful to have a new customer base open up. It never occurred to us to jack up prices...seems kinda rude. The homeowners are already having to pay higher water prices AND now they have to pay to do something that they had clearly chosen to save money by doing it themselves. I'm with John - exactly what is it that you're doing differently to increase pricing?

[Camelot 68]

Why kick 'em why they're down? Celeste is right...a new customer base is being presented. It is an opportunity to earn their business with good solid work. Hiking up prices to benefit from their misfortune is just wrong. My 2 cents...

[Russ Spence 76]

I am with them as well, Be the one everyone remembers for doing the right thing, if you do good, good will come to you.

[FCPWLLC 233]

I'm going to be the butt here... If demand rises, then so should pricing. It is simple economics. Look at Iphones or any other "high demand" product or service. High priced while in demand and then the prices go down as the supply increases or demand decreases.

[Russ Spence 76]

Mike I do think you are being the butt, rather voicing a differnt view.

I would not gouge but I would charge more if I had to transport water due to increased liability, extra cost of transportation and the water its self just like any other job but I personally would not increase the price of the job its self. I feel like I am double talking but you get the point.

[MudDuck 20]

I agree keep prices the same as they are now..If your hauling water then charge what you would have to do it anyway or maybe even less...Use the opportunity to "show" the HO (or his wife anyway) how good it can look (w/ pro chems and work) as opposed to what was being done in the past w/ HD stuff...I would bring up the water ban so they know it's harder on me because I have to go to tim buck too to haul water,,ya da ya da,,,to create empathy for our biz (everyone likes to crack on govt. regulation) and make my price more tangible but let them know you haven't gone up...YET...and let the next or last greedy bidder get YOU the job....LOL

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

I am in GA and residents here are under a water ban/no homeowner pressure washing. How many of you guys here have hiked up your prices because demand has risen. I am cautious to do too much because of customers possibly not returning.

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

Thank your lucky stars you are still allowed to pressure wash. In the Upstate of South Carolina even professional pressure has been completely banned or is severely limited.

I wouldn't charge more just because the homeowner is not allowed to do the work themselves. Take this opportunity to prove to the owners you can clean their home better, faster, and maybe even cheaper than can themselves and sign them up for annual service.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

I live in the level 4 restricted area and have not seen any rise in demand. There are also still people and businesses that do it themselves anyway. Either they don't know or usually they don't care that it is not allowed. My pricing has stayed the same and there are still plenty of compertitors around here that undercut me.

[premierpw 14]

Some that responded to my post may have read it wrong. I was trying to find out how my market (pressure washing) is responding to the current situation (local water ban). I live in Cobb County, GA and have witnessed first hand some extreme price gauging at the gas pumps and I know how I view that as a customer so I wouldn't go there. With that said, as a business I have to consider supply and demand. If the economy picks back up in say 2 years and that might lead to more people in our industry, it is possible that I may not make out as well on jobs. Now I rely on return customers so I am not inclined to give them too much change or they will stop calling me back and refering me.

So, has anyone made or is thinking of making any increase (no matter how small) in their pricing because of ongoing water bans.

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

[Doug Dahlke 114]

My pricing will stay the same unless I have to haul water to a job.

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

Some that responded to my post may have read it wrong. I was trying to find out how my market (pressure washing) is responding to the current situation (local water ban). I live in Cobb County, GA and have witnessed first hand some extreme price gauging at the gas pumps and I know how I view that as a customer so I wouldn't go there. With that said, as a business I have to consider supply and demand. If the economy picks back up in say 2 years and that might lead to more people in our industry, it is possible that I may not make out as well on jobs. Now I rely on return customers so I am not inclined to give them too much change or they will stop calling me back and refering me.

So, has anyone made or is thinking of making any increase (no matter how small) in their pricing because of ongoing water bans.

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

Am I reading your n post wrong now? It looks to me just about everyone that has replied to your original post has said that they would not increase their prices due to ongoing water bans unless it cost them more because of having to haul water, etc.

Unless you are just looking for responses from Cobb county GA. a lot of us have been or are the same situation facing water restrictions or out right water use bans ourselves.

I'm sure in Cobb county they have probably banned homeowners from washing their own cars while they still allow commercial car washes to operate. Surely, this has increased supply and demand at the car washes, but how you feel if you drove by and they had a sign out front that said "Since You Can Not Wash Your Car At Home Due To The Local Water Ban, We Are Increasing Our Prices.

I wouldn't stop there to get my car washed no matter how dirty it was. Likewise, if I knew someone was going to charge me more to clean my house simply because a local water ban told me I could not do it my self I would feel I was being taken advantage of and pass on them too.

Cover your expenses...if you have to haul water, the cost of your supplies go up, or you have to upgrade your equipment to handle the increase of demand you have no choice to increase your prices, but to go up on prices because the the homeowner has been told they can not do something themselves, but you still can, I think is just wrong.

In short, my answer is no. I would not increase prices due to the water bans which have been placed on us in the Upstate of South Carolina.

[premierpw 14]

Palmetto,

I appreciate your input and ideas along with everyone else's. I have learned a lot from some very smart people on this board and for that "thanks". I actually wanted to ask you a separate question and hopefully keep the original supply/demand question open.

What adjustments have you made since you have so many restrictions for your business in SC. I hope those restrictions don't come down on me and I am grateful to have my current conditions but was interested in how you roll with the punches when they take away our lifeline (water).

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

[We Wash Concrete 64]

Do something else.

My pressure washing business is almost completely non-existent. I sold my hot water rig. I'll probably get a new larger one when it rains, if it rains. The phone just doesn't ring for pressure washing anymore, no matter how you market it.

The positive thing is my window cleaning business has grown somewhat to fill the void. I've had better success marketing this lately.

Keep your prices the same. Personally thank the government officials that publicaly promote professional pressure washing.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

I agree with Micah. You need to have other aspects to your business. I have been painting too and that has kept me going while I build the PW business. This year I started doing roofs also. I worry more about extra competition when the economy is bad. Every weekend warrior with a pressure washer in the garage will be out trying to make some money when things are tight and unemployment is up.

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

Palmetto,

I appreciate your input and ideas along with everyone else's. I have learned a lot from some very smart people on this board and for that "thanks". I actually wanted to ask you a separate question and hopefully keep the original supply/demand question open.

What adjustments have you made since you have so many restrictions for your business in SC. I hope those restrictions don't come down on me and I am grateful to have my current conditions but was interested in how you roll with the punches when they take away our lifeline (water).

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

To be frank if water is your only lifeline in the drought stricken south you may be in trouble. There are still areas here and there in the Upstate of SC where we can still wash, but as the drought continues to worsen I can see a time soon when even those place impose mandatory bans on washing. Lake Hartwell where most of our water comes from has less than 300 days of attainable water left in it. The Corp. this week announced that they were finally going to decrease the amount of water they let out out of the lake. This should help, but with the hurricane season past we stand little chance of getting any significant rain fall to fill the lake back to a level where these bans will be lifted next year.

I posted a slide show of Lake Hartwell this week. It got swept under the rug and was moved down to severe weather, but go down there and look at it. You can see why people are panicking about the prospect of running out of water in the Upstate.

I completely agree that conserving water is necessary, but a lot of the restrictions that have been placed on the professional pressure washing industry is unfair. They shut us down while commercial car washes are still allowed to operate. You can water your lawn at night every other day, but most owners increased their run times so they are still using just as much water as ever. I talked to the city administrator in Clemson about them putting me out of business with their water ban and he basically told me that "It would suck to be me".

Some reasons these restriction were placed on us here was lack of education or understanding about what we do. One, a lot of people don't see us a legitimate business and think we are just a bunch yahoos out trying to hustle up a buck or two.

Another is they don't know anything about our work and about the efficiency of the professional pressure washer. I went to a City Council meeting in Clemson one night when I heard they were going to be rethinking the water restriction they had imposed earlier. I took some information I had been working on and presented it to the Mayor of Clemson. Briefly, the information detailed the average amount of water it would take me to clean a 1,500 sf house. The Mayor said he was astonished at my numbers. He thought it took thousands of gallons of water to clean a house.

With that meeting we are now allowed to clean in some certain circumstances. We have to attain a special permit for each job, but that, I feel, is still a victory for our industry.

Celeste with the PWNC in North and South Carolina and Carlos with the Umacc on a National level are both working on plans to help elevate the image of the professional pressure washing industry and to help in the education and understanding that we are not wasters of water and that our are services are important. Hopefully, with their pro active efforts both local and state governments will have a better understanding of our industry before they make decisions to try to save the world by unnessisarily shutting us down.

This may not happen during this drought period. It may not happen next year so in the south it may be good to have a plan in case you are shut down. Fortunately, I can swing a hammer as good as I can pull a trigger. I have bumped up my deck restoration and have several refurbishing jobs going on. About a month ago I attended a clinic on the installation of DrySnap. It's an under deck drainage system that's fairly easy to install. Anyway, attending that clinic got me on Drysnap's website as a certified installer and already I have gotten a call from it. I am scheduled to start that job next week.

Best advice I can give is stay proactive. Attend your city council meetings and present your case. Talk to Celeste and to Carlos. Pete at Sunbrite near you has been an excellent advocated for the pressure washing industry. Try to stay on top of things before they get worse. It's great you are still washing and I hope you continue to be able to do so, but be thinking about what you can do in case the day comes when you can't.

Edited November 28, 2008 by Palmetto Home and Deck

[MudDuck 20]

Len what are they charging you for the permit to wash something? Yea nothing changes a local govt administers mind like being able to "sell a permit" for it...LOL..I guess he thinks he can go over to the lake and sqeeze the permit over a bridge and put some water back in...

[Mathew Johnson 123]

To be frank if water is your only lifeline in the drought stricken south you may be in trouble. There are still areas here and there in the Upstate of SC where we can still wash, but as the drought continues to worsen I can see a time soon when even those place impose mandatory bans on washing. Lake Hartwell where most of our water comes from has less than 300 days of attainable water left in it. The Corp. this week announced that they were finally going to decrease the amount of water they let out out of the lake. With the hurricane season past we stand little chance of getting any significant rain fall to fill the lake back to level when these bans will be lifted next year.

I posted a slide show of Lake Hartwell this week. It got swept under the rug and was moved down to natural disasters, but go down there and look at it. You can see why people are panicking about the prospect of running out of water in the Upstate.

I completely agree that conserving water is necessary, but a lot of the restrictions that have been placed on the professional pressure washing industry is unfair. They shut us down while commercial car washes are still allowed to operate. You can water your lawn at night every other day, but most owners increased their run times so they are still using just as much water as ever. I talked to the city administrator in Clemson about them putting me out of business with their water ban and he basically told me that "It would suck to be me".

Some reasons these restriction were placed on us here was lack of education or understanding about what we do. One, a lot of people don't see us a legitimate business and think we are just a bunch yahoos out trying to hustle up a buck or two.

Another is they don't know anything about our work and about the efficiency of the professional pressure washer. I went to a City Council meeting in Clemson one night when I heard they were going to be rethinking the water restriction they had imposed earlier. I took some information I had been working on and presented it to the Mayor of Clemson. Briefly, the information detailed the average amount of water it would take me to clean a 1,500 sf house. The Mayor said he was astonished at my numbers. He thought it took thousands of gallons of water to clean a house.

With that meeting we are now allowed to clean in some certain circumstances. We have to attain a special permit for each job, but that I feel is still a victory for our industry.

Celeste with the PWNC in North and South Carolina and Carlos with the Umacc on a National level are both working on plans to help elevate the image of the professional pressure washing industry and to help in the education and understanding that we are not wasters of water and that our are services are important. Hopefully, with their pro active efforts both local and state governments will have a better understanding of our industry before they make decisions to try to save the world by unnessisarily shutting us down.

This may not happen during this drought period. It may not happen next year so in the south it may be good to have a plan in case you are shut down. Fortunately, I can swing a hammer as good as I can pull a trigger. I have bumped up my deck restoration and have several refurbishing jobs going on. About a month ago I attended a clinic on the installation of DrySnap. It's an under deck drainage system that's fairly easy to install. Anyway, attending that clinic got me on Drysnap's website as a certified installer and already I have gotten a call from it. I am scheduled to start that job next week.

Best advice I can give is stay proactive. Attend your city council meetings and present your case. Talk to Celeste and to Carlos. Pete at Sunbrite near you has been an excellent advocated for the pressure washing industry. Try to stay on top of things before they get worse. It's great you are still washing and I hope you continue to be able to do so, but be thinking about what you can do in case the day comes where you can't.

Great post and Well said!

[premierpw 14]

Good post Len. You are not just doing yourself good by being proactive at city council meetings but helping others in the industry as well. And you guys are right about educating people to legitimitize our business. I try to do my part (in smaller circles usually).

Buck

Premier Pressure Washing

[PressurePros 248]

If you were planning on raising prices to begin with then go ahead and raise them now. You don't have to gouge but the laws of supply and demand dictate everything in a free market. There is a reason gas is down to $1.85 per gallon..low demand. A 15% raise in prices will not hurt anybody and can put you closer where you need to be on pricing. If your skittish, hold off and see how your book fills up. If you start getting booked 4-6 weeks out its time to raise your prices. That has nothing to do with the drought, its just business.