Housewash Pricing..No matter where you live

[PressurePros 248]

This is not to brag about how much I can charge so please read on..My normal lowest priced soap on/soap off wash runs $350 for a two story house with 3000 sq ft interior space. That same house with gutter brushing, gutter cleanout, sidewalk, patio and driveway cleaning, concrete rust removal and paver sealing can go up over $1000. Florida guys please read on with an open mind.

Are people shocked when I tell them the price? Often they are, but only because they don't know the level of quality work and effort that can go into doing a house. You have to sell them the value. I don't bash other contractors or try to scare the homeowner into believing another contractor will cause damage because I don't know that to be true. What I do is point out the potential hazards (pressure damage, etched glass, effloresence, destroyed landscaping, weep hole runout, streaking, paint removal, water getting under the siding causing mold and substrate damage etc) and every precaution we take to prevent those things from occurring.

I also point out the value of their home and the relatively small percentage it costs to keep it clean. Even in an area where houses are lower priced you need to point out the right things to a homeowner. Ask them if they have their car washed and then ask them why. You already know what their answer is going to be..some form of ownership pride and preventitive maintenace. Ask them how often they get it done. An average carwash around here is $20. Multiply that by 12 and you get $240. Most people wash their car more than once a month but it's a fair starting number.

Most people will spend 1% of the value of their new car keeping it clean. Do the math and equate that to your average customer's house value. Housewash done once a year on a cheap house (100k) leaves a budget of $1000. If the customer answers they wash their car because they like to keep it clean and new looking, then you are three quarters of the way towards your sale. Tell them you understand why they keep their car clean. Relate it to how more people should take pride in cleanliness. Tell them how a pressure washer that is going to do their house for one third of what you are charging has to cut corners somewhere. You are worried that an inferior wash may leave a ton of mold spores to quickly regrow on the house. Hand them your brochure that explains the dangers of mold and mildew.

I am so tired of hearing "People in my area only care about price". There are a ton of people that care about quality over price. If everything was about price, everyone would live in a shack, in the inner city, drive a beater, buy everything generic from some dollar store, never go out to eat or see a movie. Look at what things cost. People pay $40 to take their family out for the privilige of sitting in a dark room, eat popcorn and watch some hour and half piece of crap movie. Why do they do that? Because they know the price going in. They understand the value of what they are paying for even if the return is low. We LET the customers percieve us as hacks every time we bend to their pricing demands. Of course a person is going to want the best deal. Why does this mean we have to sacrifice our souls to give it to them?

You are offering outstanding value and very cheaply. People pay a painter $500 to paint a single room and never blink an eye. Why do you think that is? To me, any fool can grab a brush and a roller and paint a room..no expensive equipment or extensive training required. Yet here we come day after day complaining about rates and lowballers driving us out of business. We drive ourselves out of business with defeatist attitudes. I feel bad for guys that thought buying an expensive rig with all the bells and whistles would make them successful.

I've said this before and I stand by it.. You have to sell value. You aren't selling a housewash. You are selling value. You are selling pride, cleanliness, health and freedom from worry about achieving those things. You're telling me someone can't part with $350 for a housewash? They can't part with 96 cents a day to have their property look the finest on the block? Ninety six cents to keep their children and pets free from inhaling harmful mold spores?

[tropical wave 22]

Amen to that !!!!

Got a deck job that was pretty pricey, upsold the house wash while we were there (was easy as the siding and gutters were horribly dirty) gave the homeowner a sweet deal on the house wash since the wood restoration was the main reason I was there...... anyway, the neighbor wants me to come give them an estimate too, the house was twice as dirty with lots more mold and mildew and a price on the deck. The owner says that she had a "handyman" powerwash the deck last year for about $200.00, so I walk around back after almost geting eaten by the Akita and check out the deck, roughly 1200 sq ft of floor alone........ $200.00? I think not.....the estimate for everything was pretty high, but the house is in dire need of cleaning and the deck is quite good sized, needless to say, i"ve heard nada from the owner....and the neighborhood is VERY nice, expensive Chicago suburb.....I just hope they want to keep up with the Jones's though.....

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Amen Ken! :soapbox: You are right on the money!

Beth

[Crownroyal 14]

I think everyone needs to raise the price.

If everyone raised the price to say $350.00 as a min to wash a house you speak of, then it raises the bar for performance and income. Other wise if anyone in Florida decided to raise there price I think It would be like selling 500 apples for a buck or one apple for 500 dollars. I would think they might go out of business because it’s known that the markets normal price might be much lower for house washing.

Selling quality only goes so far to some folks because of past performance of other pw contractors. Raise the Bar folks. Every house I wash I pretend as if it was mine.

I have been to houses where the owner had another power washer wash his house last year and did a sloppy job, so now the owner thinks the power wash profession is a joke, and now thinks he should pay less and might not be willing to pay more than the last guy. That is why I say everyone in your surrounding area that’s competition

or not gets together and discusses how to increase the price together and how to improve there washing techniques. That way if they decide to call on another company they will find the new price is the norm. But that also means maybe they help each other out and try to set a standard of performance. I've already called one pw and have spoken with him and he thinks the ideas great but he’s nervous to try. So I will be getting hold of other pws and seeing if I can take them all to lunch and have a mild discussion.

All you can do is try. You know what I hate is the guys advertising to wash stuff for prices like these. Deck wash 12*12 for 39.99, single story 79.99, 2 story 110.00, roofs 199.00 I wish this guy would get on board and stop directing the power washing path down the drain. Cheap prices make you look cheap. But also gets you nowhere. My 2 cents and it may not have come out right because of a couple beers I just had. Happy Memorial Day.

[CCPC 26]

or not gets together and discusses how to increase the price together and how to improve there washing techniques. That way if they decide to call on another company they will find the new price is the norm. But that also means maybe they help each other out and try to set a standard of performance. I've already called one pw and have spoken with him and he thinks the ideas great but he’s nervous to try. So I will be getting hold of other pws and seeing if I can take them all to lunch and have a mild discussion.

I'm not certain, but I believe that's illegal.

[Washaway 64]

Ken, I tip my hat to you!

If this was elementary school and we were playing red-rover then we belong on the same team.

:lgbounces

[Washaway 64]

I'm not certain, but I believe that's illegal.

What's illegal about that? We agree to a higher standard of work and ask the same price for it?

Rental companies, gas stations, etc do the same thing....they may not get together and discuss it over lunch.

[MeiersEnterprises 14]

It's called Price Fixing and it's illegal. You probably wont get caught though. I say go for it, you gotta make money in this world somehow. If your company was publicly traded that would be one thing and its not like you will be able to speak with every lowballer in your area either.

http://business-law.freeadvice.com/trade_regulation/price_fixing.htm

[Pams Pressure & Clean 64]

I have been to houses where the owner had another power washer wash his house last year and did a sloppy job, so now the owner thinks the power wash profession is a joke, and now thinks he should pay less and might not be willing to pay more than the last guy.

Poor performance by previous contractors is the lament of any service professional, be it PW'ing, plumbing, electrical or any other trade.

Case in point,

When we did this job, the client had previously paid another 'pressure washer' for a wash job.

The before photo is self explanatory.

The after photo is what we were able to achieve in fairly short order with the proper equipment and detergents.

Clearly, the results of one's efforts come down to workmanship, experience, diligence, and pride in one's craft.

Those who constantly work towards being nothing less than spectacular in their work will soon find that they have more than enough work to do.

Don't worry so much about the lowballers, they will pop up and then fade away every season just like the dandelions. To be sure you want to keep an eye on them but in the longrun they are nothing more than weeds and nothing you can buy will get rid of 'em. Patience, though, will prove them gone soon enough.

[Don Phelps 85]

Florida guys please read on with an open mind.

I think many of the cleaning contractors in FL do have an open mind about the subject. The facts of the matter are that we live here and understand that there are, on average, about 4 times as many cleaning contractors here than most other parts of the country and we work year-round.

Your post makes sense for the most part, but demographics are what they are regardless of how you might think it works somewhere other than PA.

[Mike Williamson 198]

This is not to brag about how much I can charge so please read on..My normal lowest priced soap on/soap off wash runs $350 for a two story house with 3000 sq ft interior space. That same house with gutter brushing, gutter cleanout, sidewalk, patio and driveway cleaning, concrete rust removal and paver sealing can go up over $1000. Florida guys please read on with an open mind.

You can rationalize it any number of ways ($0.96/day, $x/week, $x/per square foot, etc) but the bottom line is this...If I tried charging $1000.00 for a 3000 square foot housewash including driveway and gutters, I'd have an awful lot of time on my hands. I don't care how you explain it, how much emphasis you put on quality, etc etc, the huge majority of people hare are just NOT going to pay that kind of money. Sure, I may find one sucker here and there who is willing to pay that, but they will be few and far between.

The other issue I have is that I simply can't justify charging $1000.00 for what will take me 3-4 hours. Do I think my time is worth $250+ per hour? No, I don't. Personally, I'd feel like a cheat if I charged that much. Not saying you are, or anyone else...just my personal feelings.

[Mike Williamson 198]

I'm not certain, but I believe that's illegal.

Getting together with your competition in order to come up with agreed upon price minimums or pricing structures IS illegal...people have gone to jail for long periods of time for that type of thing.

Not to mention, you're not going to get everyone on board...If I knew my competition was collectively trying to set a certain price, a relatively high price, then I'd be more than happy to undercut that by a bit to get a load of business. It's called capitalism, free market economy, and competition.

[Mike Williamson 198]

It's called Price Fixing and it's illegal. You probably wont get caught though. I say go for it, you gotta make money in this world somehow. If your company was publicly traded that would be one thing and its not like you will be able to speak with every lowballer in your area either.

http://business-law.freeadvice.com/trade_regulation/price_fixing.htm

Oh, sure...it's illegal, but what the hell, go for it! You likely won't get caught!! While you're at it, don't report cash customers to the IRS, hell, underreport all your income, over-report all your expenses...I mean, who cares if it's illegal...You gotta make money some how...and afterall, you probably won't get caught!!!

Who wants to make money fairly and honestly...that's no fun at all!!!

[MeiersEnterprises 14]

Sarcasm Mike???

I don't want to start a big tax debate but paying 34% of my earned income is unfair to me as an American. Then 48% of fuel goes to taxes, then 7% sales tax on everything I buy, not to mention my $128 cell phone bill where $26 is taxes, or my home phone where 22% goes to taxes. Don't forget about the property taxes (after i've already paid 34% on that money)! Our tax system here sucks and thoroughly damages my ability to run and grow a business. I don't care if "everyone" has to pay it. It's unfair and wrong and UnAmerican to the core!!! We should go back (read the original constitution) to an all cash based system with a flat tax on personal goods and NO taxes on business expenditures.

Read this quote:

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. "

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

I unhappily pay all my taxes but give me a break on the morality sarcasm. Get it where you can get it cause if you don't, the govt will take it. If you have some lowballers around you, talk to them. THEY are in the wrong! You don't have to conspire and price fix, just educate them on their "real" expenses.

[PressurePros 248]

Oh, sure...it's illegal, but what the hell, go for it! You likely won't get caught!! While you're at it, don't report cash customers to the IRS, hell, underreport all your income, over-report all your expenses...I mean, who cares if it's illegal...You gotta make money some how...and afterall, you probably won't get caught!!!

Who wants to make money fairly and honestly...that's no fun at all!!!

Mike, you may be reaching a bit. Hypothetically speaking and pseudo morality aside, who is to say you are not a crook for charging the rates you currently do? I'm sure there are lowballers out there that think making $60 per hour to do what we do is a crime. To clear things up so you can, in good conciense, swallow a $1k property cleaning.. this type of job usually takes a full day with a couple hundred bucks in material (soaps, brighteners, sealers). Difference is, the property is immaculate from front sidewalk to the edge of the woods, from mulch to gutters. My gross profit might come out to $125 per hour. And yes, I do have all the goodies to make a job go fast, I have a laborer, I am not slow and we may stop for a half hour lunch.

Step back and look at the big picture, not the specifics of dollars. I have read many of your posts, Mike and you self admittedly have mentioned that you are not into doing sales. That's fine, not many people are.

Some of us want to change the perception of the industry as a whole. Pricing is just one aspect of it. When someone tells me they think they should pay $175 for something I know is going to take three hours plus materials I am offended. I want to exact some sort of change in public perception. I want to share knowlege that has been taught to me on the art of selling and getting what you are worth in a marketplace..not everyone is going to jump on board.

If I knew my competition was collectively trying to set a certain price, a relatively high price, then I'd be more than happy to undercut that by a bit to get a load of business. It's called capitalism, free market economy, and competition.

I would argue it counterproductive to making money. This is the philosophy of the lowballer isn't it? You should really think about that statement.

A wise man said to me once "If it doesn't apply, let it fly". There is room in the marketplace for your business philosophy and for mine. All I ask is that you respect my opinion and the way I conduct business as I respect yours.

[Crownroyal 14]

I just want to clear what I meant. It was to sit down with a few pw'ers in the area and discuss how to do a better job, have better techniques, and to stop cutting your own throat. I didn’t mean that everyone sits down and makes a charging scale. NO one would follow that kind of structuring anyway unless you decide to buy all your competitions business and make them territorial managers.

My competition can wash a house for 250 while I wash for 300 its all good, no price fixing. But when I educate my fellow pw’ers and tell them you are really hurting yourself when you wash a house for 70 bucks, because you’ll be out of business in a year they seem to listen. I want the standard for this type of work to go up so folks see that this is a real type of contractors job and not some elementary school drop outs business. (No offense)

When I ran Brenner’s bakery here in Va I saw many bakeries open up and close in a few years want to know why…bad structuring and leadership. Can’t keep lowering your price per roll to get new customers because your OH gets bigger but you don’t make enough profit to keep a float. I have personally never lowered my prices to customers unless they bought more than a normal amount of bread and say that would be a few thousand a week. Point trying to make is low price brings bad product (most times). Make sure you have good practices in your company and don’t play cutthroat with competiton.

I just wanted to sit down like now and discuss how to do an excellent job at what we do and charge accordingly. I don’t think I should wash a 3000-sqft house less than 300 dollars. I work to hard and try too much to see myself with a bad back, heart attack, stroke, and employees leaving because I can’ t afford health, dental, raises or anything for them. Look at how it breaks down $300 for a house wash lets see that in an 8 hr day would be $37.50 looks nice but faulty.

COSTS

15 gas for truck and pw

3 for insurance

7 for workmen’s comp

6 maintenance on vehicle and equipment

20-house wash

15 for other cleaners other surfaces

10 rinse aid

8 food lunch

70 employee

100 are you paying yourself

Total 254.00

House – 300.00

46.00

Now divide that by 8 hours $5.75/hr--- that is what your business made today.

{Did you include taxes on your product? {What about shipping cost for cleaners?

{Business loan? {Working out of you house? {Buildings total monthly charges? {All these are divided by monthly that will give you a daily business cost

{This can give you a daily fixed price to try to stay above I’m sure the numbers might be a little off but gives you a idea.

[CCPC 26]

Where do you get 8 hours to wash a 3,000 sqft house? I work by myself and the average 3,000 sqft ranch style home that I do (exterior walls, eaves, exterior of gutters) would usually take me about 3 1/2 hours to complete. If I charge $200-$225 beleive me, I'm making enough money for my expenses + profit. As Mike stated, If I charged $1000 for an exterior house wash, gutters, driveway and walk, I would feel as though I'm ripping people off besides the fact that I would maybe close 1 out of every 15 proposals. Good business is calculating how much you can charge while still maintaining a good closing rate on your bids. If I did 10 estimates for house washes and quoted them lets say $300 and closed on lets say 2 of them thats $600 total sales for those estimates. Where as, if I quoted the same ten jobs at $225 and closed on 6 out the 10 thats $1350. Advertising and marketing is very expensive, I can't afford the cost of advertising and marketing that it would take to fill a schedule with an inflated premium for each house (and yes, I said inflated because I believe $1,000, in my area, is a rip off). Not to mention all of wasted time running all over town giving estimates that very few are going to bite on. Maybe that pricing schedule works for some in other parts of the country, but I bet if you were to get average pricing from those of us here in Florida, you would find that the pricing is much less, and yes, most of us are still making a decent living at it.

[PLD 14]

Sarcasm Mike???

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. "

Let us also not forget that the Boston Tea Party was over a (IIRC) 5% tax. Also, the original opponents to the income tax cited as their main point of opposition that they believed that proposd 3% tax rate may one day rise to as high as 5%.

Taxation levels in this country are obscene, immoral, and wrong. And before someone posts it: I don't really give a damn what other developed countries pay. It's thievery Robin Hood style. Take from the haves and give to the have nots because it makes everyone feel good.

[PLD 14]

Do I think my time is worth $250+ per hour? No, I don't. Personally, I'd feel like a cheat if I charged that much.

I do. And I wouldn't feel like a cheat either. As long as no deception is involved, if they agree to X and I will work for X, it's fair for both.

That said, could I get that for a housewash? No way! I sell $165-185 all day long and upsell gutter exteriors for 50% of the house price. About 33% of my customers take the gutters for ~$240 house.

FWIW, I'm doing a house today. All exterior surfaces (house, concrete, walks, decks, fencing, etc) for $620 and it'll take about 9 hours labor. I consider that a top dollar (total, not per hour) sale.

[PressurePros 248]

CCPC,

I'm not sure what part you guys aren't getting? It isn't about raping one person for an exorbitant rate and hoping noone finds out. I am in line with any guy that does this type of work. Lucky for me, noone around here does. (And so you realize, there are guys in my area that do $200 housewashes) I am not saying quadruple your prices, but I think some people are stuck in a rut. I'm workin my ass off, so therefore I must be successful.

Anyway, onto the property wash scenario, since you asked. Two floors..dryvit.. house has gables and turns that X-Jet cannot get to requiring ladder work. Expensive plants butt up against house. Every one that gets killed can cost me about $50. Landscape slopes, driveway is 200 linear feet. Pool that is exposed and close to house. Front of house is brick and customer wants mortar whitened and efflorescence from last guy using high pressure, removed. Rear of house has rust stains running halfway up wall.

Add in that we are lucky to work seven months a year. Once again, you're missing the point. It isn't about you guys charging a thousand dollars, it's about educating people to get what they are worth.

Labor and materials inclusive: (platinum property cleaning a la carte)

Housewash $350 (my area not yours)

Gutters $60

Acid wash rear $50

Specialty chem applied to front brick to remove efflorescence $100 (applied with ShurFlo to contain spray)

House sealed with polymer sealer that cannot be added to housewash mix $100

Windows recleaned squeeg'd $50

Front drive, brick walkway, area around pool -5000 sf $200

Fountain and lawn statues $35

Flagstone pavers leading around property to pool $30

Seal Pavers $80

Cleaning cost $1055. Time to perform: 7-8 hours with setup, break down, masking. Materials: Housewash mix, prosoco chems and sealers, chlorine around $200.

That means we may average the same per hour but look at the work load. At this rate you'd have to do 25 jobs per week, I'd have to do five. As far as marketing expense.. minimal for me. Yellow pages ad, word of mouth, local paper and a few church bulletins. Logic dictates it would take more marketing to land 25 jobs than it would five.

Allbeit, this is premium level service. Not everyone has this much to clean or wants to spend the money. This isn't my average job, just letting you know what you can do with attention to detail and a little sales knowlege. But hey, whom am I to argue with the status quo?

[CCPC 26]

The average price range I gave was just that, average. If the scope of the project included all the things you metioned, the price would be significantly higher. My average on job scope is not usually limted to just an exterior wash. Most of my work comes from three higher end Country Club communities two of which are only 5 minutes from my house. These communities, where 80% of my work is performed, have very strict HOA's, most of the properties are in, what most would think to be, excellent condtion. Therefore, I don't come across some of the challenging tasks such as extreme mildew build up or bad rust stains to often. Also, as you stated, I'm usually on one job site all day, as the majority of the time I'm not only cleaning the exterior walls, but also the customers roof, driveway, sidewalks, cool/pool deck screen enclosure etc. which in that scenerio, the price can be upwards of $600-$700

[Crownroyal 14]

I guess everyone has a different way of cleaning and thinking.

[PressurePros 248]

The average price range I gave was just that, average. If the scope of the project included all the things you metioned, the price would be significantly higher. My average on job scope is not usually limted to just an exterior wash. Most of my work comes from three higher end Country Club communities two of which are only 5 minutes from my house. These communities, where 80% of my work is performed, have very strict HOA's, most of the properties are in, what most would think to be, excellent condtion. Therefore, I don't come across some of the challenging tasks such as extreme mildew build up or bad rust stains to often. Also, as you stated, I'm usually on one job site all day, as the majority of the time I'm not only cleaning the exterior walls, but also the customers roof, driveway, sidewalks, cool/pool deck screen enclosure etc. which in that scenerio, the price can be upwards of $600-$700

Okay, then you understand my point. I am asking business owners to sell those things as add ons. This whole post wasn't spurned by some deep rooted desire in me to have guys in Florida (or anywhere for that matter) charge more. I typed it after I read the sad post on another board about a guy selling this top notch rig and saying there just isn't enough business in his area. I felt very bad that someone invested time and money and got nothing out of it but having to sell the business' only tangible asset.

My objective is to educate. My goal is that one day we have some type of powerwashing union (figuratively speaking, not a labor union per se). An organization that people recognize as quality contractors that do this as a chosen career, not because they coudn't find any real work.

I apologize if any of my passion for this topic comes acrossed as biting or condescending. There is only one person whom I let get under my skin and as I have been reading these boards more, I see other people react the same way to him. He is not trying to be mean, it's just his method. In person he is probably a great guy. I don't want anyone to percieve what I type as an indictment, I would help anyone on this board that asked and I truly wish all reading this happiness and success under God.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Sarcasm Mike???

I don't want to start a big tax debate but paying 34% of my earned income is unfair to me as an American. Then 48% of fuel goes to taxes, then 7% sales tax on everything I buy, not to mention my $128 cell phone bill where $26 is taxes, or my home phone where 22% goes to taxes. Don't forget about the property taxes (after i've already paid 34% on that money)! Our tax system here sucks and thoroughly damages my ability to run and grow a business. I don't care if "everyone" has to pay it. It's unfair and wrong and UnAmerican to the core!!!

while you may not like it, that's the way it is. If we as contractors want to gripe about "lowballers" and "fly-by-nighters" who don't run legitimate businesses, don't pay insurance, don't pay taxes, then we'd better make sure that we're following the rules. You know what it takes to change things...I agree, the tax system sucks, but it is what it is right now. I also disagree with drug laws, but you don't see me walking around with a joint just because I think the law is unAmerican.

We should go back (read the original constitution) to an all cash based system with a flat tax on personal goods and NO taxes on business expenditures.

The original? As opposed to what?

I unhappily pay all my taxes but give me a break on the morality sarcasm. Get it where you can get it cause if you don't, the govt will take it. If you have some lowballers around you, talk to them. THEY are in the wrong! You don't have to conspire and price fix, just educate them on their "real" expenses.

I agree, to a point...get it where you can, legally. Price fixing isn't legal, whether you get caught or not.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Mike, you may be reaching a bit. Hypothetically speaking and pseudo morality aside, who is to say you are not a crook for charging the rates you currently do?

My post about honesty wasn't about what you charge, but about the comment made about price fixing, and the concept of "what the hell, you won't get caught".

All I ask is that you respect my opinion and the way I conduct business as I respect yours.

I fully respect your opinion. I don't think I said anything derogatory about it. I simply said I'd feel wrong charging homeowners more than I think the job is worth. I have a range of pricing that I feel is fair to me and the homeowner, and that's what works for me. Sure, I could say my time is worth more, but where do I draw the line? If I can say my time is worth $200/hour, then why not $300, or $400, or $1000.00? You say you'd be offended at $175.00 for a 3 hour job...figure no more than $25.00 in job-related expenses (chems, gas, etc)...that's $50.00 an hour. That's pretty decent money, even for someone running a business with all the business related expenses. It isn't GREAT money, but I just don't get why it would be offensive.

[PressurePros 248]

My fixed expenses are $32 per hour.

That leaves $79 for three hours minus $25 for Uncle Sam (because remember we are legitimate business people that pay ALL taxes)

So I just made $54 for the 1/2 day in question or $18 an hour for the time worked.

If you have your overhead down to 15%, that's very good. But if you were me, would you be doin this for $18 an hour? Not to mention that a small job like this requires a second job to fill the day which involves drive time which drives up expenses and adds time to the day.