"partial" house wash?

[DustinC 64]

A potential customer requested an estimate on us cleaning just part of their home - i.e., front and 1 side where it's dirty with grime and mildew. Anyone experience this before and successfully persuade them to get the whole thing done? I can't imagine just cleaning PART of a house. I would think the mold and mildew would just come back sooner if we didn't do a throrough full house wash...thoughts?

Thanks

Dustin

[bforbis 14]

Ask them: if when the take a bath, do they only wash the side that appears dirty or do they wash everything????

[Jimmy M 14]

Price it as a whole house wash and tell them you will do the rest for free!

[Jeff 232]

Some people just dont get it, theres mildew growing everywhere if they have it on 2 sides

I like the people who want you to clean all therim, windows but not the brick, Like how can you just wash everything but the brick. They think they'll save money. I tell them I have to wash it all at a full house wash price

Crazy people

[One Tough Pressure 580]

If that is all they want, then give them what they asked for. What is the big deal?

No different than a gas station who wants his fuel lanes cleaned but not the refueling pad. I get those all the time. If I want to pursue the issue and sell the whole thing rather than what they want, they will just call someone else until they find a guy to perform as needed.

I just did a housewash, filthy on the front, and clean on the rest. They said they were very happy that i just gave them a price on the front as requested, as a few others insisted on the whole thing. Wasted time on their part.

[blackjack21 14]

I always tell the customer that i'll give them whatever they want (half a roof,house etc.). I then proceed to show them the benefits of having everything done. 99 times out of a hundred they realize the folly of doing only half and they get it all done. For the one who insists on doing half...I do half. Not at half price...of course.

Blackjack

[Camelot 68]

I agree with Alan...I have one next weekend that insists on having me do only one side of her house. After explaining my minimum fee, the benefit of washing the whole house, etc., she still insisted on one side only. I am simply going to give her what she requested. I think its strange, but dealing with the public and all...

[PressurePros 249]

And when the people in neighboring houses see you working but all they notice is the unclean parts of the house? Thats great advertising for how anxious you were to give the customer what she wanted.

[PLD 14]

I agree with Ken. I have lost sales for that reason. BUT, when confronted with that issue I quote full price for 1, 2, 3, or 4 sides.

[StainlessDeal 16]

And when the people in neighboring houses see you working but all they notice is the unclean parts of the house? Thats great advertising for how anxious you were to give the customer what she wanted.

I can't afford to have dirty houses associated with my work. Housewashing is a hard sell here, and requires a lot of customer education, that all looks like bullstein if the house has two sides untouched. The neighbors put there tongues in there cheeks and say, "That guy really did a nice job for you" as their eyes near roll out of their heads.

People love to be smarted than the Jones', they don't need us to help feed that. Remember that when somebody recommends you to a friend, that friend will want to see the work, but may not want to point out deficiencies they see. The upshot is bad pub for you that can't be corrected unless your customer confesses to being too cheap to pay for a whole house wash.

Have you ever looked at body work on a friend's car and noticed a flaw? Do you point it out?

[Howard 50]

I agree with Jimmy, I do the whole house or nothing. Had a customer tell me if the second story was too hard just wash the ground floor. (ugh?) I asked him if he washes just the lower doors, hood and trunk of his car and not the roof? Now to me roof's are somewhat different, I do try to sell the whole roof but, will clean just one side if pressed and the other shows no signs of mildew.

[JohnW 14]

A potential customer ask requested an estimate on us cleaning just part of their home - i.e., front and 1 side where it's dirty with grime and mildew. Anyone experience this before and successfully persuade them to get the whole thing done? I can't imagine just cleaning PART of a house. I would think the mold and mildew would just come back sooner if we didn't do a throrough full house wash...thoughts?

Thanks

Dustin

I've had only 1 person ask me for this type of washing and I turned it down, it makes them look bad as well as my company. The homeowner also wanted to tell me what he was going to pay for the wash that he wanted. I would tend to doubt that only part of the home is dirty. Maybe the dirtiest part exist on only 1 or 2 sides, but I'd be willing to bet the entire home needs to be washed, especially if it's never been washed before.

John Werling

Superior Pressure Washing

Fayetteville, GA

[Jarrod 22]

Next week, I have to strip, brighten & stain half of a deck. The other half of the deck wasn't THAT bad. Come on! People like that are cheeeeeeep!

This is where you tell people that you have a minimum job price, and you will do the whole thing for that price.

[Larry B 55]

I have never tried this with residential work. I have had some success with large apartment complexes this way. They have limited budget and I rinse the areas that get full sun. They pay more per square foot for the areas that get a full treatment than if I washed the whole thing.

[Barry M 73]

I was doing a house wash last year when a neighboor came over and wanted to know if I could wash the mildew off of the north side of their house. I charged them my $75 show up fee and was in and out of there in 20 minutes. Saturday I'm going to wash 5 small oil stains off of a driveway, they don't care if they come out completely or not and they don't care if I leave 5 clean spots but they don't want the whole drive done. Wham bam $75 mam, see ya.

[DustinC 64]

well, the potential customer who requested the estimate did it through our website. we responded via email and tried calling the number which was wrong Im starting to wonder if its a local competitor messing with us.any one with a website experience this?lots of good ideas I was considering using a spray bottle of housewash and a white rag to show them how dirty the clean parts were. (might backfire) thanks dustin

[plainpainter 217]

I have done partial house painting in the past - it has always bitten me on the ass! There have been cases where next door neighbors who got their house painted the next season, wouldn't even bother to call for a quote - because I am the painter that doesn't finish the work. And people who want partial work - are the absolute worst customers! Don't get involved with partial work customers at any cost - if they are too cheap to get the whole job done - god forbid should you run into anything that couldn't be anticipated - they think extras are for free. Cheap cheap cheap.

-Dan

[CCPC 26]

I always attempt to explain the benefits of cleaning the whole house vs. just cleaning the dirtiest sides, but I will do partial cleanings. I think it's silly to say that under no circumstances will you do a partial house wash. To me, you have to take it case by case. What if they live out in the middle of no where with no neighbors? What if they only wanted one side of their house washed, but also wanted you to clean the roof, deck (clean and seal), driveway, and pool enclosure? you're gonna turn down the all the work just because they don't want the whole house washed? That's just silly.

As for the worry of passing neighbors seeing an incomplete house wash, I know a few of you are proponents of listing exterior gutter cleaning as a separate service, wouldn't you feel the same way about a neighbor still seeing dirty gutters on the house you just cleaned? Or, if you're cleaning a roof, they don't know your just cleaning the roof, so they drive by later after you're done and wonder why the house still looks like crap.

[aquabob 14]

I always attempt to explain the benefits of cleaning the whole house vs. just cleaning the dirtiest sides, but I will do partial cleanings. I think it's silly to say that under no circumstances will you do a partial house wash. To me, you have to take it case by case. What if they live out in the middle of no where with no neighbors? What if they only wanted one side of their house washed, but also wanted you to clean the roof, deck (clean and seal), driveway, and pool enclosure? you're gonna turn down the all the work just because they don't want the whole house washed? That's just silly.

As for the worry of passing neighbors seeing an incomplete house wash, I know a few of you are proponents of listing exterior gutter cleaning as a separate service, wouldn't you feel the same way about a neighbor still seeing dirty gutters on the house you just cleaned? Or, if you're cleaning a roof, they don't know your just cleaning the roof, so they drive by later after you're done and wonder why the house still looks like crap.

i agree...ive had some "front only" housewash calls,

i try to tell them its best to do the whole thing since the sides and back are dirty, and mildew will grow there too soon. i think its mostly about money and h.o's not wanting to spend or dont have it to spend. ive had some 1/2 mil ho's do the same thing. if i cant talk em into to the right thing i will do what they want, nothing wrong with it i think. as long as they get what they asked for

and you do what they asked.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Some cases, people only need it on one side due to a tree that provides the environment for this problem. The rest of the house may be mostly free of mildew and not necessarily needing anything. The only perspective I would pursue is overall maintenance of the siding which manufacturers recommend on a regular basis. We have set a 2-3 year period for regular cleaning to help remove oxidation, mildew and other pollutants which can degrade the appearance of their siding.

Many Whites, Greens and Blue colored siding are all subject to oxidation more so than others because of the composition of the color base 'Titanium Dioxide' which is susceptible to UV damage and oxidizes more readily.

All you can do is educate them. It is their budget and their choice on how to spend their money to maintain their investment. My last line is "What do you want it to look like in 10-15 years? What you do between now and then will determine it"

Rod!~

[blackjack21 14]

I always attempt to explain the benefits of cleaning the whole house vs. just cleaning the dirtiest sides, but I will do partial cleanings. I think it's silly to say that under no circumstances will you do a partial house wash. To me, you have to take it case by case. What if they live out in the middle of no where with no neighbors? What if they only wanted one side of their house washed, but also wanted you to clean the roof, deck (clean and seal), driveway, and pool enclosure? you're gonna turn down the all the work just because they don't want the whole house washed? That's just silly.

As for the worry of passing neighbors seeing an incomplete house wash, I know a few of you are proponents of listing exterior gutter cleaning as a separate service, wouldn't you feel the same way about a neighbor still seeing dirty gutters on the house you just cleaned? Or, if you're cleaning a roof, they don't know your just cleaning the roof, so they drive by later after you're done and wonder why the house still looks like crap.

I agree with Lance. It's silly (and arrogant) in my opinion to "refuse" to do half a job if thats what they want. They are the customer and you will lose them if you tell them they can't have what they want. we all agree that it's silly to do half a job but if thats what they want, you will be better off giving it to them. Thats sales. If your even half a salesman you should be able to convince them of the benefits of doing a complete job.

As far as the neighbors seeing your half ass job, they usually only want half because the other half isn't noticably dirty (it may be noticable to our trained eyes). As Lance correctly points out, sometimes people want the roofs cleaned but not the gutters. Are you going to say no to a $500 roof job because the dirty gutters might make people question your work? The answer is obvious.

Blackjack

[PowerPlay 14]

I have gotten many of these calls as well.

I go to these estimates with an open mind. In most cases, the entire house does need washed. I point out the areas of concern on the opposing sides. If the costumor insists I explain to them that I can wash one side however our minimum is $.

This part is key in my opinion, don't just tell them my minumum is X amount, explain to them why.

Mr. whoever, unfortunitly whether we wash one side or four sides. The time associated with setting up the right equipment, high pressure hose, cleaners, etc., is the same. So the entire house could be washed for just (double $).

In some cases, you walk up to a house that really does only need washed on 1 or 2 sides, usually newer homes. In which case I charge my min. and wash only 1 or two sides.

just my .02

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Here's a thought for debate...Do you have a minimum where this type of job request is concerned? Many of us won't roll out till there is X dollars coming in. Would your rate be able to survive the size of the job and make it worth taking?

Rod!~

[Able Hands 14]

Rod,

I'm curious about your statement:

"Many Whites, Greens and Blue colored siding are all subject to oxidation more so than others because of the composition of the color base 'Titanium Dioxide' which is susceptible to UV damage and oxidizes more readily"

This is purely ignorance on my part, but if Titanium Dioxide is more suseptible to UV damage, why does my sunscreen use it as one of the main active ingrediants? It is my understanding that titanium dioxide is one of the best UV blockers out there... Is that why it breaks down?

CONFUSED!!!

Matt

[Palmetto Home and Deck 167]

If this would be a $300.00 job for the whole house and your minimum rate is $150.00 then I say try to make the customer happy and do half the house for $150.00. If this job would be $150.00 for the whole house I would not be able to go out and do the job for $75.00. It would still be $150.00.

This is a job I would want to do while the customer is home. I'll bet money they will want the whole house done once they see what you have cleaned.

[PressurePros 249]

Are you going to say no to a $500 roof job because the dirty gutters might make people question your work? The answer is obvious.

Blackjack

Of course not. Will I say no to someone that wants to pay $150 for just having one side cleaned? Every day of the week. I don't presume to tell the customer what they should and shouldn't have in concrete terms. My insinuation is, you sell them on the whole house wash. My minimum for a HW is $350. I do like others mentioned and let the customer know that my price would be for the whole house (better be a smaller one for $350) or just one side. If there is other work included and I think the rest of the house would not detract from my other work, I might consider it.

It is far from arrogant to set a standard of work and stick to it. I tell people right off the bat that I do a job one way and that is the right way. Maybe I am arrogant to think I can set the term "right way". I can live with that.