How profitable?

[Deck Protector 14]

Hi All,

First I would like to thank the moderators for setting up such a great and very helpful website. The information on this site is outstanding pertaining to the powerwashing business.

Some backround...I have done powerwashing and deck restoration off and on for about 3 years. I am planning on going full time this coming season. My concerns are realalistic profitabilty. Being that the season is 8 months here in PA, I figure I would need around 200 jobs(decks, house washing, ect..)this coming season to make a good living.

As far as advertising we going to use Val Pak(3 zones to start, 10,000 homes a zone). Val Pak worked well for me in the past, so I will stick with it. And also call up past clients, hand out business cards, professional looking flyers, use signage, contact and sell in person, property management companies, realtors, and new home builders.

We do good work at good prices( minimal callbacks,satisfied customers).My general question is: Is a powerwashing company profitable?How much can I realistically expect to earn? I was averaging around $50.00/hr profit on my jobs, house washing was always more profitable for me. The deck staining was tricky to schedule due to inclement weather, got backed up often.

So what do you think? Is powerwashing a full time job that will or can be profitable(8 months out of the year) or is it more of a part time gig?I look at it this way if your company does quality work with descent prices , looks,and acts with professionalism, does mass advertising geared towards upper class neighborhoods it has a goood chance of succeding. I think advertising is the key to get the work then what kind of work you do will keep you getting more work and build a reputable company that will be profitable.

It's a gamble to start a full time powerwashing business, but I feel if things are done right it can succede. What do you guys think?Any hints or tips would be appreciated.

Thanks All

Dan

[DustinC 64]

At 50 dollars an hour you will not succeed.I'm sure others with more experience will give you a more detailed analysis.Your rate she be at least double that.Especially since you are based in the north where pws tend to get better rates than us all year round southern companys.

[PressurePros 249]

Dan, do some research on Wood Tux. Eliminates the scheduling issues on decks waiting for the right woood moisture content. I'm right around the corner from you (I go as far west as the edge of Newtown Square but I have done jobs as far as Collegeville and Exton). You can be profitable if you are pricing right.

[We Wash Concrete 64]

I believe Dan said he planned to be making a 50 dollar profit for each hour; not that he charges 50 dollars an hour.

Dan, you will have to find a niche to make the most money. Test the market to find what kind of pressure washing service is open, and run with it. If the house washing market is soaked with competition, try the deck or flatwork market, or vice versa. If every market is soaked, you will just have to be better then the compition, which should be all of our goals anyway. Invest as much as you can back into the business, it will repay itself greatly in the long run. Don't set your expectations too high, it may take 3 years to see sizeable profit margins. The good side to the pressure washing business is there is no limit to profit; you will get exactly what you put into it.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Hi All,

First I would like to thank the moderators for setting up such a great and very helpful website. The information on this site is outstanding pertaining to the powerwashing business.

Some backround...I have done powerwashing and deck restoration off and on for about 3 years. I am planning on going full time this coming season. My concerns are realalistic profitabilty. Being that the season is 8 months here in PA, I figure I would need around 200 jobs(decks, house washing, ect..)this coming season to make a good living.

8 months = 32 weeks = 160 days. Now looking at 200 decks in that time frame is approx 1.25 decks/day and given they will need to be sealed that takes it to .625 decks/day. We in a normal week without weather delays per 2 man crew can avg around 3 (<500sqft) decks/day wash and 3 decks per day seal. Given an alternating schedule of 1 day wash and the next seal you can get 12 decks/crew completed a week with 3 left over for the next week remaining unsealed which is a constant in this industry. Take your avg. price per deck and multiply that times how many you can do. If you have an arbitrary price of $500/deck X 12 decks/week X 32 weeks = $192,000.00/season gross.

House washing is another one that has its price relative to size and scope of cleaning. But to go with and avg. figure arbitrarily to the number you may get in a week, let's start at $300/house and you get 3/week = $900 X 32 weeks in a season = $28,800.00/season gross.

Add the 2 together and you get $220,800.00/season gross.

As far as advertising we going to use Val Pak(3 zones to start, 10,000 homes a zone). Val Pak worked well for me in the past, so I will stick with it. And also call up past clients, hand out business cards, professional looking flyers, use signage, contact and sell in person, property management companies, realtors, and new home builders.

We do good work at good prices( minimal callbacks,satisfied customers).My general question is: Is a powerwashing company profitable?How much can I realistically expect to earn? I was averaging around $50.00/hr profit on my jobs, house washing was always more profitable for me. The deck staining was tricky to schedule due to inclement weather, got backed up often.

Price is relative to what your costs are. Starting up, they will be lower. As you grow and take on more expenses and employees, the overhead gets higher. Most guys posting here on TGS won't get into a job for less than $75/hr before costs. Some companies are noted at $125.00/hour before costs.

Take your labor costs into consideration and multiply that by 125% to cover incidental costs such as employer contributions, payroll fees, insurance and other costs relevant to your business imposed by local government. Add your costs into that: Fuel, supplies, tools, product, and disposables.

Then take that times 15% to get your overhead as a baseline figure. This will help to set up a minimum pricing system based upon your estimated costs and labor rates.

So what do you think? Is powerwashing a full time job that will or can be profitable(8 months out of the year) or is it more of a part time gig?I look at it this way if your company does quality work with descent prices , looks,and acts with professionalism, does mass advertising geared towards upper class neighborhoods it has a goood chance of succeding. I think advertising is the key to get the work then what kind of work you do will keep you getting more work and build a reputable company that will be profitable.

Given the figures posted, you can prbably come to the conclusion that yeah, it is profitable and will support a family and crew. But the part that is hard is becoming the s.o.b. that made you quit working for others to begin with in order to make your company stay on a successful path.

It's a gamble to start a full time powerwashing business, but I feel if things are done right it can succede. What do you guys think?Any hints or tips would be appreciated.

Vigilance, patience (especially with yourself and your employees), education, networking, advertising, and staying in front of the customer every time a service comes due. I will let others input from here as they have some other points I may have missed to offer.

Thanks All

Dan

Welcome to TGS and good luck. Keep reading and participating.

Rod!~

[DustinC 64]

I stand corrected but That is still very low.

[PressurePros 249]

There have been wood jobs where I wish I made $50/hr. Dan knows where its at, house washing is the true money maker around here.

[RSuds 24]

I'm not far from you and I would say that doing the houses and commercial jobs are the best. We do a lot of decks and I got a couple painters that help seal them and it still seems hard. You can not start till april and then we get some rain and then I will have 32 people call me on the next nice day and ask why I was not sealing their deck. We can do 5 houses a day, get the money and everyone is happy. You do need to do both but commercial work will keep you going.

Val Pak also will put 3 or 4 other P.W. in the same pack with you try Money mailer or United also.

Brian Wendling

Rolling Suds

[DustinC 64]

I'm not a wood guy myself.I guess I jumped the gun on this one.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

You can not start till april and then we get some rain and then I will have 32 people call me on the next nice day and ask why I was not sealing their deck.

I nip this one in the bud by telling our customers personally when we give them the estimate. Some don't ask about things like this, but we make sure to tell them about our scheduling policy and quirks of the weather and how it affects them as they are waiting in line to get sealed. If they don't hear from us, we are taking care of others who were washed before them and we will get to them in turn. This helps keep the phone from ringing on that account and allows us to spend phone time productively contacting those who are next and new prospects.

Brian Wendling

Rolling Suds

I hope this helps others who suffer from expectant customers.

Rod!~

[Don M. 14]

I guess you could say that I came from the "old school of thinking" that if you could charge $50 an hour you would be okay. Wrong.

When I first got into this I didnt really know how to price or anything. I just thought that if I could put into my pocket about 25 an hour I was doing good.

But there is so many cost associated with business you dont think of when going in. Oil Changes, Tire Rotations, fuel for me last year was a tremendous expense because of traveling all over for estimates. Those unforseen cost can bite you big time if you are not careful.

So with that being said I know this year I need around 120-130 an hour to do everything I want to do (including hiring 2 guys).

[PressurePros 249]

I agree, Don there are many costs people do not realize when factoring true profit.

For definition above.. making $50 and charging $50/hr are two different things. I have to charge $100 hr to come out profitable or do 8 jobs per day which isn't gonna happen.

[Scott Stone 604]

Pricing is a curious thing. I sit here looking at what others are charging and then scratch my head and wonder what it all includes. Just as important as pricing is cost control. If all your revenue stream is going out the door in chemicals, repairs, doo dads and the newest, latest, greatest thing, it does not do you much good.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not do decks. I do not even know where there is a deck in my area. The sun here is so intense it eats them up and they are junk within about 2 years. I do a variety of pressure washing. I figure up what my guys are costing me, and keep that at 25% of revenue. I try to keep my overall margin at 45-50%. I have had other people tell me I am crazy for wanting such a large margin, but, I can get it, and it pays my personal bills. There are a lot of related industries that figure their margins at 10%. At that rate the hassle cost of doing business puts it on the "not worth doing" end of the spectrum.

So, what it boils down to is, you need to figure up what your costs are going to be, and adjust your rate accordingly. You do not need to figure out what your rate should be, and then try and work out the costs.

BTW, your rate should always be at least 50% higher than what you anticipate at first blush.

[RSuds 24]

I have been at the job myself told them my standard line(we will try to seal your deck within 2-3 weeks after we clean them WHEATHER is a factor) and most are good but they still call.

We have a minimum of 125.00. Stripping should start around 200.00 . I agree 50% or higher, higher baby and don't ever come down.

Brian Wendling

Rolling Suds

[plainpainter 217]

I wish everyone going into contracting was forced to take classes in estimating and the true costs to run a business. I have been running my painting company and trying to charge $40/manhour to the customer - if I give estimates it's still based on how many hours I think the job will take multiplied by that rate - and so many people think I am total a-hole and how dare I charge that much money. I guess I have to get more into pressure washing. That being said - my rate for painting is going up this year - I don't care how many brazilians are out there. You have to charge folks the money. And $40/hr before expenses ain't cutting it.

[Littlefield 65]

Daniel, are you telling the customer what you are charging per hour? Or are you bidding fixed price?

[Deck Protector 14]

Thanks for the responses everyone. You all have given me alot more to think about. To clarify I was making around $50.00/Hr to P/W(clean), brighten, and stain a deck after my expenses. Stripping a deck would be more money per hour. As far as the question of do I quote an hourly rate to my customers..No. I bid per job at a fixed square footage rate.

Which stains are the best to use if I am concerned about it raining shortly after application? And which stain can be used on a wet or damp deck besides Wood-Tux? And finally, where can I get Wood Tux locally? I could not find the Wood Tux website.

Thanks again all.

Dan

[seymore 90]

Which stains are the best to use if I am concerned about it raining shortly after application? And which stain can be used on a wet or damp deck besides Wood-Tux? And finally, where can I get Wood Tux locally? I could not find the Wood Tux website.

Thanks again all.

Dan

You can't get WTW local just call russ or go to...... Extreme Solutions, Inc. - Wood Restoration Product Information Site

[Deck Protector 14]

Hi all,

Quick question.

what is a fair price to clean, stain(1 coat)a deck that is 10 x 20 w/ 4 steps and has a railing and spindles. the deck would be ground level. I see alot of different styles of bidding. Wolmans certification program says to charge at least $75.00 per man hour. I figure 2 hours to thoroughly clean and around 6- 8 to stain. That would be 10 man hours and a max of 4 gallons of stain.

1 gallon deck cleaner and 1 gallon brightener.

10 hrs@75.00 hr =750

4 gallons stain @ 20.00 = 80

cleaner/brightener =30

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860.00

6% sales tax 51.60

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911.60

that figure sounds really high to me...How does it sound to you guys?

I would add a discount for seniors at 10% or so and a coupon offer of maybe $50.00 off but it still seems high.

Is it a realistic bid? Or maybe it takes me too much time too stain. I need to backbrush. Quess I should look into using a stain that requires minimual backbrushing without leaving the stain looking blotchy and uneven.

[PressurePros 249]

I'd charge between $695 and $775 for a deck that size and have about 6.5 hours into it.

You can't charge sales tax in PA on service though, Dan.

[Jarrod 22]

Thanks for the responses everyone. You all have given me alot more to think about. To clarify I was making around $50.00/Hr to P/W(clean), brighten, and stain a deck after my expenses. Stripping a deck would be more money per hour. As far as the question of do I quote an hourly rate to my customers..No. I bid per job at a fixed square footage rate.

Which stains are the best to use if I am concerned about it raining shortly after application? And which stain can be used on a wet or damp deck besides Wood-Tux? And finally, where can I get Wood Tux locally? I could not find the Wood Tux website.

Thanks again all.

Dan

Dan, you are welcome to call me on Saturday. I can help you.

[Electro 14]

When it comes to pricing for service oriented businesses, the reality is, most don't really know what their labor costs. They may have a ballpark idea. But ballparks come in all sizes. Now here's the part that puzzles me. I think most are afraid to really know. Most would be suprised how much higher their actual costs are than they thought. I'm not talking pennies, but dollars. Take a small company with 3 employees. The average company has miscalculated by 3-5 dollars per hour. That comes to a minimum of $ 17,500.00 for 3 employees. Figure the average owner is in their business for 20 years. That's $ 350,000.00. So why. Most owners are experts in their given field. Most trade associations promote education again in their given field. Where does the average mechanic learn about the business side? If you were offered a 1 night course in either accounting for small business or a demo on the latest hot water powerwasher spray rig with all the bells and whistles which would you attend?

No one ever went out of business for doing to good a job. Find tools that will educate your business mind. Spend at least as much time learning this side as you would the tech side.

Brian

http://www.yourcostcenter.com