Gutter Cleaning, It's Toss up

[Guest rfitz]

Well as far as gutters go, there are 3 great cleaners I have tried, and all work about the same, they are Gutter Zap, Gutter Shock, and Allbrite, seems as though they are priced close, but it doesnt really matter, Im getting a $ 100 per house for gutters, on top of the housewashing, and customers are very happy, I dont say it will be extra $100 for the gutters, I just total the amount, and say and this includes the gutters, in the last 32 days, I have went on 54 housewashing bids, and I have done 52, so I guess my prices are a little low,

I charge approx. .10 cents a sq ft for the house, add $70 for a 2 car garage

$90 for a 3 car garage, and add $100 for gutters, so for example a 2500 sq ft 2 story with a 2 car garage would be $320 + $100 for gutters = $420.00

I can hardly keep up with all the decks we have going, I had no idea, fall would be this busy. .....???

[Aplus 525]

And let me tell you about this fish I caught....It was THIS long!

However I do agree there are several chems that will do near equivalent jobs removing black streaks on gutters.

[Guest rfitz]

Usually gutter zap kicks but on the blk streaks, but today, it didnt work so well, but allbrite worked great..?? What about a fish..? Actually Paul B. gave me the idea about pricing, and the type of work to do, and he was right,

charge alot more, but do alot more, and people will pay, at least here they do, but remember Im at one house 3-4 hours now, did you read E-specs article in their catalog, ? back in the 70's they were charging $250 a house, that was over 30 years ago..?? I get alot more jobs when my pricing and service are way up there....I used Pauls technique, and my prices have gone

way way up, and it works... Try It....

[Mike Cappa 14]

around here people act like they are all on welfare. this is why we will not do residential next year and are going all commercial, people suck, lol

[Guest rfitz]

Mike, I have done commercial work for a while and this year switched to residential, commercial SUCKS, there is no money in alot of commercial work,

I make 10 times a week in residential than I did in commercial, and most commercial work is nights and weekends, NO THANKS...........

[Mike Smith 14]

Rob 420.00 for that size home is good. Around here in lower De I can't get that much. I would come in around 325.00 including scrubbing the gutters, hot water and application of wax and 50% of the time get told "thats ridiculous - how much do you make an hour - thats highway robbery" People just don't like to pay for good service but I land around 50% of my bids so Im doing pretty good + my commercial accounts. Around here theres always a guy who will wash for 100.00 and scoop up all the work ( i get called back after his washes last about 3 months). As for the the original post I haven't tried any of the above chems because I use my own mix that works well for me at a cheaper price. I buy a local made sodium hydroxide based degreaser by 55 gallon drum. I put about 1/2 gallon sodium hydroxide cleaner 1/2 gallon water and 1 cup 12.5% chlorine. The dirt and black streaks almost always come off and this mix is applied by brush then rinsed. This is 1 gallon of solution and is normally enough to do the gutters on one house. End cost per house about 3.50 in chems ,double that for a long house, to clean the gutters + 30 minutes in labor on single story ranchers longer on 2 story houses. If thick mildew and dirt is present I soap up gutters with regular house wash first and rinse to get down to the surface to remove black streaks.

[Guest rfitz]

Mike,

It's all in the presentation, I tell them anyone can wash your house for $100-$200, but I will clean your house for $400 BIG DIFFERENCE, look at it like this, I tell them, go to the automated car wash drive thru, spend $4.00

with the air dry and your car will look ok, or spend the $12.00 and get the hand wash and dry, and get your car looking great, when you describe it to people that way, they sign immediately, but for good reason, YOU always get what you pay for, and remember Im there 3-4 hours, they know Im not in and out in 45 minutes to an hour, people dont mind paying for quality, and they will pay a high price to get it, because it is so hard to find anymore....

I expect at the rate I am going, I will probably only be doing houses next year washing decks and hiring people to stain them, I lose too much money staining decks all day...my time at $150 an hour, I can hire 15 guys at $10 an hour to stain, while Im out closing 5-10 housewashing jobs a day

[Mike Cappa 14]

I guess we always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. We have alot of commercial work here and have been contacted to do a large chain in three states. I am satisfied with teh commercial and will use res. for gravy work. As for nights and weekends, I have worked those hours since I was 19, so working during the day sucks for me. I think I may be a vampire though, lol