This summer is slow...

[Don L 14]

My .02,

I have a short story.In a nearby city(small,13000),A super center has been proposed.Certain Individuals,including some biz owners(retail,of course)have been twisting their undershorts in angst since this was announced.Wal Mart SS will kill us!!!etc.

I say ,if you can't position you biz to compete against ANY competitor,then just go get a job with them,and stop whining.

No matter the circumstance,find a way to victory.You may not be able to compete against all facets of competition(lowballers...price.)You can ALWAYS provide some service that they can not.Find it.

Proffesionalism,which includes proper ins,knowledge,promptness,safety,closing sales,follow up...I am preaching to a great deal of the chior,I know...but if you come to business you come to the fire.We all know our areas,find the markets,prepare your biz,and attack.

This will seperate the wheat from the chaff.

pldolittle,I agree with you about more GOVERNMENTAL INTERFEARENCE!!!!NO MORE!

Police ourselves.Regulating entry will ultimatly harm the level of proffessionalism.Cometition promulgates quality,better market value.

Jeff,

I agree about "don't care about the competition"...Do your biz,and DEFINE the market in your area.Anyhoo...

[Jeff 232]

I'm seeing that more also. After all the payouts after the hurricanes last year, premiums are up and people are seeing how hiring an uninsured will affect thier own premiums. However, I am not seeing it get me anymore work. I suppose commercial work is different in other areas. Here, I get maybe 1 out of 50 bids for commercial work. I guess that's why I like Residential bacause it seems commercial only wants cheap and splash-n-dash. They all tell me that My price is double the other guys. I just feel it would be silly to charge less for a service than I can get doing a residential job. If I am making $150+/hr doing a Vinyl Siding Clean, why would I charge less to do a Sidewalk clean in front of a store? But these commercial guys are going with bids that would only come out to about $35/hr. I'm finding though that the bid winners are only doing a quick rinse.

Am I too High? Or is commercial work just one of those things that only pays good if relying on volume? I personally don't see the money in it based on what is being paid here. Maybe it's just my area.

I priced a bank drive-thru the other day at $130 and the Bank Mngr says that he is getting it done for $45. And the bad thing about it is that the $45 job looks good.

Commercial I can and usually do make $150+ an hour but theres ways that you have to do it to make that money. I dont target resturants, they dont pay well. I do the money I do by volume and we still give quality work. I do some complexes say 30 buildings were I might only charge $300 a building now if it was a house the same size I might charge $500-$600 each, but we go in and will get 5-6 of these buildings done in a day for $300 each, thats with 2-3 guys and machines. Now we finish these 30 buildings in 5 maybe 6 days $9000 for a weeks work not bad, take out payroll taxes, fuel etc etc and Im still 5-6K in my pocket. Now if I only had one or 2 of these jobs every few months it wouldnt be worth it. Im not a lowballer, its a competitive market here and you have to go with the market. I do complexes or simular work close to 80% of the time.

I could go target residential and maybe make more money per building/house but Id have to spend a hell of a lot more time getting that work, estimates all over, fuel, travel time all would kill me. For me to do 20-32K worth of houses in a month would be impossible I think. Now I go price a large complex and we are at the same job sight day after day. Now this cant be done as a one man operation, but I dont want a one man operation. Hell several days these past hot months I didnt even wash I had my guys do it and I went and did other things business & personal

Now Im lucky that Im in the condo capital and a ton of parking garages too. Im trying to corner the market and I have a long way to go, but I can actually forsee some day doing $1,000,000 dollars worth of biz in say 6-10 years from now, even if I dont get to the 1 million Im pretty sure 1/2 mill will be within the next couple years, this year has been great so far

Its all what you want. Yes a lot of these vinyl condo buildings are splash & dash, spray it on and rinse it off, But my splash & dash is the Cadillac compared to most companies around here. You give your customer what they want they will use you year after year. Pressure washing condos isnt rocket science but I'll be making about as much as a rocket scientist.

Give the customer good, reliable, service that all the matters

As for bank drivethrough you wont get rich but its steady work, I charge $30-$40 a bay with 3-4 bays per bank, but we will do 5-8 properties in a shift or less, easy mony. I have one bank I do 20 properties twice a year I do buildings and all sidewalks and drivethroughs and the every 3 months just the drivethrus, Its a sweet contract. But if I just had one bank property and only did the drivethru it wouldnt be much to speak of. Volume does help in this kind of work. I cant stand residential anymore , but if thats all that was around here, I'd target the hell out of it. For one reason, I never want to work for anyone else ever

I love PWing

JL

[RyanH 14]

Phillip,

A few notes on potential business slowdowns (from my observations around Coweta)...

It has been so stinkin hot that many people I talk to (neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc.) haven't even looked at the condition of their houses. They stay out just long enough to mow the lawn before scurrying back inside where the sun aint. Perhaps people just aren't noticing what they need.

In Coweta (sister to Fayette if you listen to the Peachtree City crowd), watering bans have been placed and are so strict people are afraid to spit on the sidewalks for fear of being fined. Fines range from written warnings to several thousands of dollars and disconnection of service.

Now, all that being said, have you ever considered or tried the Whitewater Creek area in Fayette? I rode through there last weekend just killing some time and noticed that 95% of these $800k+ homes have filthy roofs. For those of you up north and out west, $800k may not sound like much, but here those homes are HUGE!!! Easily 8 - 10k square feet. Perhaps you can target them a little more specifically. The lawns are all manicured and obviously are professionally done. These people use pros for their chores. Also, i noticed that the entrances had phone numbers for various services (lawn care, pine straw, etc.) I didn't see any PW ads though, so you might want to give advertising on those a shot. Nice decks too that appear to be neglected. I joked with Amanda about taking a month of vacation from work and pulling the roof cleaning equipment out to tackle some of them.

[FCPWLLC 233]

The only Complexes here that I've been able to land are HUD or Housing Authority because they REQUIRE insurance. I love those because I am usually the only one able to produce certificate and can charge accordingly.

The last one I did we averaged $350/hr.

Jeff, You probably do those condos the exact same way we do. The demographic area is our biggest difference. Like your Bank drivethru prices are in line with mine but they use the guys that do it for 1/4 that here. Also, here in KY, there is a Good ole Boy network that I am not in nor ever will be. I don't drink so you never see me in a Bar rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers. I personally know of guys that get work on word of mouth only. No business name much less a license or insurance. Lexington has no enforcement of CWA or Licensing. Don't get me wrong, I still make a good living. Like someone else here said, I have found a niche but it would be nice to move beyond that niche.

Also, I'd like to say that I for one don't want to see more regulation but would enjoy the benefits of enforcing the ones that are already in place. Lost HUGE bids last year to guys cleaning Parking Garages with no reclaim. Didn't even own a surface cleaner. I sat back and watched them make $4k in a day on a job that should have taken a week and priced at $17.5k

Maybe this year they will be different, the EPA is here investigating our "Urban Sprawl" Opponents to Developers have them here to see if there is concern that all the new devolopment has an impact on Water Quality. Maybe while here they will see that there aren't any Practices to implement CWA.

Anyhow, good job on that Pressure Wash King thing. LOL

[Jeff 232]

The only Complexes here that I've been able to land are HUD or Housing Authority because they REQUIRE insurance. I love those because I am usually the only one able to produce certificate and can charge accordingly.

The last one I did we averaged $350/hr.

Jeff, You probably do thase condos the exact same way we do. The demographic area is our biggest difference. Like your Bank drivethru prices are in line with mine but they use the guys that do it for 1/4 that here. Also, here in KY, there is a Good ole Boy network that I am not in nor ever will be. I don't drink so you never see me in a Bar rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers. I personally know of guys that get work on word of mouth only. No business name much less a license or insurance. Lexington has no enforcement of CWA or Licensing. Don't get me wrong, I still make a good living. Like someone else here said, I have found a niche but it would be nice to move beyond that niche.

Also, I'd like to say that I for one don't want to see more regulation but would enjoy the benefits of enforcing the ones that are already in place. Lost HUGE bids last year to guys cleaning Parking Garages with no reclaim. Didn't even own a surface cleaner. I sat back and watched them make $4k in a day on a job that should have taken a week and priced at $17.5k

Maybe this year they will be different, the EPA is here investigating our "Urban Sprawl" Opponents to Developers have them here to see if there is concern that all the new devolopment has an impact on Water Quality. Maybe while here they will see that there aren't any Practices to implement CWA.

Anyhow, good job on that Pressure Wash King thing. LOL

Mike,

I've seen some good ole boy stuff around here, not in PWing but other areas. Hopefully the insurance requirements will take hold in your area as they are starting to here. I bid a parking garage at 16K which was at $.06 well the hoa prez has a freind do it for 6K they said they would let me do it if I could beat that price,. What a joke Ive seen the finsished product all he does is push the dirt around, no oil,grease or gum removal. I tried to get them to let me do a sample. Nope just want it for 6K or less. I could go in and do the same quality job as this bum and take the 6K, theres no way in hell Id do such sub par work.

Some people you just cant educate

I hope things tighten up around there and you get the work you deserve

JL

[PLD 14]

Ryan! Good to see you back.

I agree with you assessment. I would add tighter budgets from gas prices, and some anticipation about the conflict overseas, and you have a triple whammy.

WWC: They (and the surrounding big $ homes) are the target of many of my ad campaigns. I've got a postcard campaign working there right now. Ocassionally I land a good one ($7-900) there, but for the most part they are *CHEAP*. I've never landed a deck in there, and have bid from $1.50-2.25 trying to find the niche. I get frequent calls from WWC to wash "everything" (i.e. house, drive, brick fence, pool deck, etc). Without fail, the completely lose interest when they get the quote. I do 3x the business across the street in HighGrove.

One interesting note: My buddy who does decks only does some work in WWC. Despite being strictly prohibited (controlled access - 24 hour guard & gate), he get's it by flyering WWC. Not me. If anyone spends the kind of money they do to keep non-residents out, I'm not pushing my luck flyering there.

Philip

Phillip,

A few notes on potential business slowdowns (from my observations around Coweta)...

It has been so stinkin hot that many people I talk to (neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc.) haven't even looked at the condition of their houses. They stay out just long enough to mow the lawn before scurrying back inside where the sun aint. Perhaps people just aren't noticing what they need.

In Coweta (sister to Fayette if you listen to the Peachtree City crowd), watering bans have been placed and are so strict people are afraid to spit on the sidewalks for fear of being fined. Fines range from written warnings to several thousands of dollars and disconnection of service.

Now, all that being said, have you ever considered or tried the Whitewater Creek area in Fayette? I rode through there last weekend just killing some time and noticed that 95% of these $800k+ homes have filthy roofs. For those of you up north and out west, $800k may not sound like much, but here those homes are HUGE!!! Easily 8 - 10k square feet. Perhaps you can target them a little more specifically. The lawns are all manicured and obviously are professionally done. These people use pros for their chores. Also, i noticed that the entrances had phone numbers for various services (lawn care, pine straw, etc.) I didn't see any PW ads though, so you might want to give advertising on those a shot. Nice decks too that appear to be neglected. I joked with Amanda about taking a month of vacation from work and pulling the roof cleaning equipment out to tackle some of them.