New Competition

[Mathew Johnson 123]

A local painter has started a powerwashing division;

Here is his web page link:

http://www.mariottipainting.com/Powerwashingx.html

[Neil_Asheville 114]

Hey James, the only documentation trail on that one was paper towel. It was a DOT approved pail!

[Rick Arrese 14]

Umh lesee hea. PWNA stands for Power Washers Of North America, right? Its all a matter of perception to the customer. The consumer has been brainwashed (High pressure wash) LOL to believe the bigger, faster, more powerful product/service/tool the better outcome for the job. But for those of us who know better and get better every day thanks to forums like this, we are in a position to add value to our service by educating our customer and differentiate ourselves from the competition regardless of whatever name they chose.

[PLD 14]

Diamond Jim,

Last time I let you in on my modus operandi! For the record, Colt '45 is dishwater. Its Heineken or better or no beer at all.

Might be a fun poll. What do you do when the enlarged bladder needs relief on a job site? I'll readily admit to finding the most hidden site, preferably away from the house!

Beer: Heineken and Colt45 are dishwater. It's HomeBrew for me!

Low pressure rinsing: Yep. I try and schedule it, but there are times that just won't wait 'til 12:00...

[plainpainter 217]

I'm a painter that does pressure washing and deck staining - it's just more services to add to what you do. Some people believe in specializing some people believe in generalizing. If I painted 100% of the time, I'd run into too many customers that just want it cheap - I don't have enough customers to keep me above water - so I pressure wash and deck stain. I also reside homes - be it clapboard or shakes and I do roofing too.

[PressurePros 248]

There are two schools of thought about specializing. I used to be of the train of thought that you specialize and you have more value. I have since switched that notion to encompass all that is exterior maintenance. Even then I have recently expanded into interior painting. I think painting and PW'ing are well suited to each other but unfortunately, Dan, you and RCBill are the exception to doing the job properly. Most painters blast away quickly and call it a job. That may be fine on a paint prep but many painters carry that mentality into wood resto and housewashing and that hurts the industry.

[zapp 72]

I dont know why painters cant just stick with painting. I get request all the time to do painting and I have some cards in my wallet of a local painter I deal with and pass the jobs on to her.

Well Don, many good painters wash there houses before they paint to remove all dirt and mildew so the paint job lasts, they add the price into the paint job when they get a week of rain and can't paint they wash more houses , it is another service they can make money on to make up for rain outs, I went full time in the washing buisness just for that reason , I got married and started a family and couldn't afford any rain days, I needed steady work , so I specialized in low pressure roof cleaning , powerwashing, and gutter cleaning ,thats mostly all I do I only paint for one local developer/landlord and sub out most of that.. Most customers no the difference between a painting contractor van, and a washing contractor with a 18 ft fully lettered enclosed rig .

[David O'Connell Jr. 14]

we just lost a bid by $7,000 to a painter. We were not that high on price.

We were in the section of town and saw him with 2 other guys with a "now what do we do" look on their faces. There was over 65 homes in this bid.

[Don M. 14]

Well Don, many good painters wash there houses before they paint to remove all dirt and mildew so the paint job lasts, they add the price into the paint job when they get a week of rain and can't paint they wash more houses , it is another service they can make money on to make up for rain outs, I went full time in the washing buisness just for that reason , I got married and started a family and couldn't afford any rain days, I needed steady work , so I specialized in low pressure roof cleaning , powerwashing, and gutter cleaning ,thats mostly all I do I only paint for one local developer/landlord and sub out most of that.. Most customers no the difference between a painting contractor van, and a washing contractor with a 18 ft fully lettered enclosed rig .

Zapp, I totally understand what your saying. But here is a example...

A painter called me to prep a deck for them. They just wanted it washed off, no stain removal or anything. There was a semi down and they were going back over with a latex solid. To me, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, but that quality level of that job is not going to last since it wasnt stripped down to bare wood and redone.

My point Zapp is all of us, including myself, sometimes take on more than what we know about. I feel this way about painters. Around here they will wash a house for 100 bucks, get on a ladder and do it for 6 hours, when the house would have easily brought 200 dollars. They do decks, but the majority of them no nothing about wood. When I asked this painting company if they ever strip decks and brighten back, there response was "huh".

Just my .02 worth

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Jamie....Ron ********** company is Pro Power Wash...is he inferior?

just busting your chops man...:)

Yes ....

[randy miller 14]

Matt it doesn't bother me that there is alot of new competition because I'm still here. I advertise twice a year spring and fall one ad sometimes two.

I pulled up to a quote today driving my 1987 Toyota panel van . Still had my oily clothes on from yesterday. Fell a sleep in the van last night! On the way over I didn't have any breakfeast so I picked up a quart of Colt 45( in a paper bag of course). Gee , I thought the home owner's wouldn't be home? But I was measuring up the house and had to take a leak. So there I was peeing and the curtain swung open and up came the window ! Who are you? the owner said; the Power Pee'er, I, I mean Power Washer you called. I gave the name of the other Power Washer who had and Ad in the paper and got out of there pronto !!. Went home showered changed got my nice truck went back and got the job and they told me about my competitor. LOL

lol gggggg

[Douglas Hicks 128]

EPA licenses painters and pw?

I know people in the fire business who have taken the time to teach the low-ballers how to do the job to code and how to price their services so as to make a profit. One of the goals of the proffessional orgs is to raise the bar and encourage quality service. Raising the bar also increases profits.s That painter who priced out his work $ 6,000 or $7,000 less than hte nomral rate, just hurt everyone in the trade.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Douglas Hicks

[James 624]

Roof cleaners and roof signs are every where. They can't wash a house but they can clean a roof ?