concrete pricing

[KGILL 14]

Went out to do an estimate today for a potential customer I met through a teammate from our dodgeball and softball teams. The customer stated she wanted me to clean her concrete driveway, walkway, front and rear patios, and the curbs washed. I measured and came up with approximately 2250 sq ft driveway and patios and 150 linear feet of curb. The driveway was dirty but did not have any oil or grease. This was a straight cleaning job with no sealing.

I gave her my price at which point she responded with a price of 75 dollars.

I have had a couple of customers already, but I am still figuring my pricing. Her price would come out to about 3 cents a sq ft.

I have averaged a great deal higher on concrete work so far.

Like I said, all she wanted was the work on the concrete. No siding, roof or deck.

I politely advised her that I was unable to do the work for 75 dollars.

My question is...

Is she cheap, or have I been ignorantly charging others too much but been lucky?

[Guy B 70]

Buddy, when does a customer dictate your pricing? Do you have a "Minimum"? I do and it's $175-$200 even if it's a dog house.

Whatever your price is.... stick to it!!!

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[KGILL 14]

I don't let them dictate, and I did stick to my price. Like I said, I told her I could not do it for the price she was willing to pay me. I do not have an official minimum price yet, but I figure it would be somewhere in the 150-200 dollar range. So far I have been above that range so it has not been an issue.

[Timo 25]

Guy is right. A minimum is just another tool in the box. You decide how to use it.

Our minimum is $385.00 this year. But if you're a widow lady living in a single wide that the park management is hounding about washing, I will find a way around the minimum.

The minimum can and does help save a lot of time looking at dead end jobs.

[Doug Rucker 31]

Is she cheap?? Maybe. It could also be that her price of $75.00 is in line with pricing/service she has received before. Who knows? Sounds like you have been pricing correctly and you just came against one that we all come against every now and then. For every 8 or 9 that will accept your pricing you will have a few that will respond with prices like her. Sometimes they can be sold with some more "selling" and other's I find best to leave the estimate, wish them a great day, move on to the next one.

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

ABSOLUTELY need to have an use a minimum. Otherwise you will be going to jobs working for pennies. IMHO.

[mick m 19]

Stick to your guns. Your price is the price. Try negotiating the price of fuel at your local station & see what they say. After they've stopped laughing of course.

[rrestor 14]

Buddy, when does a customer dictate your pricing? Do you have a "Minimum"? I do and it's $175-$200 even if it's a dog house.

Whatever your price is.... stick to it!!!

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I agree. Also if you follow that lower price,then she had another work like that next time or she had shared that price to others, that would be your base price in the eye of the clients. They will continue biding lower price on your service.

[gawashman 15]

Totally agree with sticking to your price. Costs have risen across the board for companies. My insurance, business license and cleaning materials costs all increased. Homeowner perception is that all we do is to splash water. By the way, they also have a pressure washer. Hmmm then why call a professional???

[AAPaint 14]

Base your price on your overhead, materials, your own hourly wage, and a profit margin for the business. Your hourly wage and the profit margin for the business are separate, by the way. Would her price pay for fuel (driving there, and running equipment), chemicals, setup and cleanup time, or the actual work involved?

The ONLY reason you need square footage numbers is so you can do the math on your production rates (i.e. 500 sq. ft. per hour, or whatever your rate actually is) and come up with a total price. Whatever you do, don't bid by some arbitrary per sq. ft. pricing.

[apsurfacesolutions 17]

Stick to your price. I would rather do one job $300 than three jobs for $100 each.

[Chazz 14]

I agree with all of the above, my minimum is 150 dollars

Unless your friend or family

Guy that was funny with the Dog House remark !!!

Also almost 100 % of my customers own there own power

Washers I have to move them while I clean. They know it's not easy work and your price I'm sure was well within there budget when they called. Stand your ground and walk away like you did. Good Job

[KGILL 14]

Thanks everyone. I think my minimum price is going to be about 150, unless you are family. In that case, it will be 200. Ha.

[Green Power Clean 14]

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.

[KGILL 14]

Thanks Mark. After some time has passed I believe my price to be within the industry standards. I was just shocked and shaken when she countered my price with a price of her own which was far off from what I believed to be a good price.

Either way, I was unable to close the deal as our price points were at opposite ends of the spectrum. The business management aspect of operating a business scare the daylights out of me. I can do or learn the operations part of any job, but the management part is scary. I wish I had gotten a business degree instead of a Criminal Justice degree with a minor in Communication.

[CobraPowerHouseWashn 14]

I think her price came from what she was charged to cut her grass?

[plainpainter 217]

$75 - LOL. I trade stocks, and the biggest way to make money is to not lose it. And when you have a loss - the best thing is to cut your losses before they becom bigger losses.

Showing up for a quote, and to come back, and who knows to what extent to chase her to being paid - on what planet would $75 be profitable? Even at your price of $200 that's still less than

10 cents per square foot - that's way freaking cheap in my book.

[gditys 14]

Went out to do an estimate today for a potential customer I met through a teammate from our dodgeball and softball teams. The customer stated she wanted me to clean her concrete driveway, walkway, front and rear patios, and the curbs washed. I measured and came up with approximately 2250 sq ft driveway and patios and 150 linear feet of curb. The driveway was dirty but did not have any oil or grease. This was a straight cleaning job with no sealing.

I gave her my price at which point she responded with a price of 75 dollars.

I have had a couple of customers already, but I am still figuring my pricing. Her price would come out to about 3 cents a sq ft.

I have averaged a great deal higher on concrete work so far.

Like I said, all she wanted was the work on the concrete. No siding, roof or deck.

I politely advised her that I was unable to do the work for 75 dollars.

My question is...

Is she cheap, or have I been ignorantly charging others too much but been lucky?

$75 did she forget to put a 2 in front of it i could even go for that she forgot at lease a 1 in front of that price

[gditys 14]

Buddy, when does a customer dictate your pricing? Do you have a "Minimum"? I do and it's $175-$200 even if it's a dog house.

Whatever your price is.... stick to it!!!

Great line hahahah