Help with a bid

[Tronman 14]

I have a two story home with vinyl siding. He wants the following done:

Driveway - 1000 sq ft

Side walk - 279 sq ft

Front porch - 48 sq ft

Wood deck - 648 sq ft

concrete patio - 144 sq ft

Vinyl siding - ~2371 sq ft

siding has green mold on it.

He said he has a guy that will do it for $150. I think he is either bluffing, or crazy. If he does not take my bid I will tell him to let the other guy do his damage and call me later to fix what he did.

I planned on using my new M5 with 12% pool chlorine, dawn and cascade.

What would you bid on this?

Do you agree with the chem?

[Howard 50]

If he has someone that'll do all that for $150.00 tell to let you know when its going to be done so you stop by with some friends to watch (LOL)

My price for all that in my area wouild be around $700.00

[RyanH 14]

The concrete alone would run between $100 and $130 in my pricing range.

The home I would charge between $175 and $300 depending upon the number of windows and accessibility and severity of gutter streaking.

I wouldn't touch the deck for less than $300.

For $150 the homeowner should understand that the property will look good from the road (maybe that's all they want) but they won't be impressed when they look out their windows or walk around the house. Unless the $150 guy is an anomaly who will do a good job and isn't looking to make high dollar. They are rare, but they do exist.

[Tronman 14]

Thanks for the reasurance of my price range. I figured $100 for the concrete, $45 for the deck (PW only - no garantee of non-feathering without brightner $60-$120 for brightner and sealer) and $230 for just the siding. $416.17 with tax. I will probably hit the windows and gutters but no ladder and no scrubbing. M5 with 10.5% Sodium Hypochlorite, Cascade, and Dawn. Maybe a little liquide clothes washing soap. I figure with a 2.5 GPM low pressure system I can do the job in 4-5 hours. Thats still in my $55/hr range.

[Washaway 64]

Driveway, sidewalk, patio, porch = $130-$150.

Having said that I'm already too expensive for his blood.

My advice = tell him 'there's no way you could even come close to that and he should hire the other guy'. Don't bother giving him a price but have one ready........if he's bluffing and he cares he will insist on knowing what you would charge. If so, make him ask twice before you tell him.

In the end he may just hire you.......sometimes you have to play the game.

[You could also offer to rent him your pw for $45, for the day (surface cleaner = additional $35) and let him do the work............this ofcourse with a $500 deposit. It's interesting to see how quickly they will come up with all kinds of excuses]

[Tronman 14]

I was finaly able to upload some pics. This is the front and one back shot.

[Tronman 14]

This is another back portion

More pics on ***.

[CCPC 26]

I would wash that house (barring no rust or other stains that require more time and different chems) for no less than $200, concrete around $125, I wouldn't even do the deck.

I also agree with Washaway, I would tell the guy that I couldn't come close to the $150 amatuer house wash quote and that he would be better off hiring them if he was firm on that price range, but if he interested in quailty professional workmanship, I would be glad to put together a "proposal".

[Tronman 14]

Thanks for all the great feedback... If you want to see bad feedback read CODY on PWN - same thread. He did have a very good and lengthy post on why people should never ask about pricing. If there is a soap box, someone is going to get on it and preach...

I think pricing information, although relative to geography is one of the biggest benifits to these forums. Everyone needs a guide. Otherwise all the newbies would lowball you out of everything, deliver poor quality workmanship, and make it harder on everyone. This is the only legal means of stabilizing the pricing and quliaty of work in this industry.

See, what did I say about that soap box thing...

[squirtgun 122]

Tron,

There is nothing wrong with asking for pricing help,as long as, you remember what other charge may not be the average for somewhere else in the country.

The house above would be a $215 wash for us w/out concrete.Add another $125 for concrete.If the deck is a full restoration(strip,brighten,stain) we would bid it around $865,for a percarb wash only $200.

Your prices seem to be right.Remind the homeowner that cheap work isn't good and Good work isn't cheap.

[PressurePros 248]

Just walk away from this guy. It isn't worth your time. The deck alone probably measures more like 1200 sf of total wood. At .25/sq that is $300. Up here the driveway would be another $250. Housewash another $350. Even throwing in the other stuff for free, how could $900 compare to $150?

Up here that package would definitely be over a thousand. If the deck was a restoration, it alone would be $1400 with materials.

[GymRat 14]

I would price the house itself for about $200, which should not be to hard to clean since I do not see any gutters to clean. It is hard for me to gauge the deck price without any details (been stained and just need a little cleaning, or is it natural wood that has grayed, and to what degeree?)

[tropical wave 22]

I must again agree with Ken, wouldnt do that house for less than $300 in my area, that is (if I'm seeing it correctly, there is a small tree growing in one of the rear gutters, so I'm sure that place is pretty nasty).....and as far as the wood goes, thats much more than the house wash, unless he just wants a quickie-wash (which Ive never done), would be a X-Jet fan application of my left over house wash mix and a general rinse, but not a board by board thorough cleaning. To spend all day there (or a few hours) the $150 guy aint paying for insurance, quality chems or anything except maybe beers and a small bag of weed, because for $150, someone MUST BE HIGH !!!!!

[Tronman 14]

Regardless whether I get the job or not, each one of these is an experience in pricing, production, equipment and chemicals. I have been spending about 4 hours a day just reading posts from four different boards. I usually cut and paste onto word docs titled Roofs, Siding, Decks, Concrete, Chemcials, Equipment, etc. This helps to organize my information. I am currently compliling dilution rates for different types of equipment like X-Jet, ShurFLo, 2.5-8GPM, etc.

Thanks for all the info and help.

I actually just returned my Briggs and Stratton for a full refund at Sears due to a broken frame. I am shopping for more equipment. I'll start another thread about what recomendations you guys have for equipment given a budget of $7,000.

[Mathew Johnson 123]

Tell the homeowner "thanks for your time and for calling me, but I can't do it for the other guys prices and stay in business. Please call me in the future if you have other cleaning projects or any problems with this one."

I agree with others: $800-900 for the package

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Does the deck measurement include rails or is that just the floor? Just curious...

For all the items included, we are with Ken on this one. If the homeowner has a serious offer of $150.00, ask them to tell you what the other contractor plans to do and and how long it will take. Explain your methods, the time each part will take, and they will realize the other guy is way too low. If he could do it in an hour, that would be one thing. But to do this job, is a day's work. No one wants to gross $18.75 per hour, assuming an 8 hour day, for a job like that. By the time you take out expenses, you are probably under $10.00 per hour.

Ask the owner if they saw the certificate of liability insurance....

Beth

[Paul B. 523]

In southwest Ohio my low end bid would look like this:

Concrete cleaning $0.06-$0.10 per sq ft. - 1500 sq ft at $0.08 = $120

(about 1-1/2 hours of work).

Deck cleaning only percarb w/TSP and brightener - 650 sq ft at $0.28 = $182

(about 3 hours of work)

House wash - looks simple, no gutters (about 2 hours of work) = $150

Total = $450 plus tax (if applicable)

6-1/2 - 7 hours of work ($450 divided by 7 = $64.29 per hour).

NOTE: I think your SEALING/STAINING quote sounds way TOO LOW

4 gallons of stain at $25 per gallons would run you about $100.

3-4 hours to apply (even at $50 per hour) your finish should be minimum of $300 $482 for cleaning plus sealing would make the effort about $0.74 per sq ft.

NOTE 2: From what I have gathered over the past several years, our area is one of the lowest (on average) in the states. Residential concrete sells for $0.06- $0.08 per sq ft (mostly $0.06). House washes average about $0.75 to $0.90 per linear foot for 1 story (gutter cleaning included). Deck restoration including stripping, brightening and staining (including materials) runs between $0.60 per sq ft to $0.90.

Mind you these are very generalized averages. Higher prices can be had with good sales skills and face to face presentations. BUT also, about 40% of the contractors bid even lower than the averages (most do acceptable to good work at low prices).

Keep in mind that our area has one of the lowest cost of living in the nation and housing has also been at the slowest inflation increase of about 4% per year(based on USA Today articles).