What price quote would you give this?

[suzuki98 14]

Hey all I officially have not started my business yet but I was cleaning my sisters fence and her neighbor asked me for a quote to clean his dormers on his house. Since I had not expected this and not priced any work yet I was wondering what price you guys would quote for 2 dormers. That is all no other work to be done. I gave a quote but I'd like to hear from the pros first :)

[John Orr 206]

Can I make a suggestion? Use a camera - digitals are nice - instead of drawing your before and afters! lol Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Seriously, I have a minimum charge of $100. For that, the customer gets about 1 hour of my time. I will clean what they called for and usually find something else to clean as well. Dormers, assuming 2 or 3, should only take about 15 minutes, but the run-off may "clean" something on the way down - be prepared.

[Doug Dahlke 114]

Figure out what you need to make per hour and use that as your minimum fee. John said he charges $100 for about an hour of his time and that is a good figure to shoot for.

[suzuki98 14]

thx guys....the guy also is the father of a coworker of mine, so I didnt want to gouge the price to steep. I told him $50, I guess I will learn from my mistakes :(

[Mike W 14]

I usually tellthe customer my minimum fee for coming out to do any work. This saves a lot of time by weeding out some of the price shoppers. I won't normaly just wash part of something. Get there and sell an entire job. Most customers are more than happy to sign up when you express the benefits they will be recieving for a complete cleaning. If not, after you clean one small section, they can see how good the new section looks and want the whole thing afterward.

[Ron G. 14]

Hey all I officially have not started my business yet but I was cleaning my sisters fence and her neighbor asked me for a quote to clean his dormers on his house. Since I had not expected this and not priced any work yet I was wondering what price you guys would quote for 2 dormers. That is all no other work to be done. I gave a quote but I'd like to hear from the pros first :)

Don, Any more info?

Elevation?

Type of siding?

Vegetation?

Other PITA factors?

[Deck Guy 14]

I have to believe that if you look closer, there is more that needs done. If the dormers are dirty, suggest that you wash the whole house. As you said, you are still learning, so why not learn how to wash a house and get paid. Part of what you'll learn is that people will ask you to piecemeal a job to save money. One important goal should be to learn to upsell, and make each job count for maximum $$$.

My minimum is $175.00, but that's for decks/woodwork. Not sure how low I could go for house washing.

[Ron G. 14]

Don,

I agree w/Mike & Larry, try to upsell. If that does'nt work out, your just starting out, this sounds like a small job, figure your cost (materials/time) If yor getting close to $100.00 per hr. your doing well.

[suzuki98 14]

Don, Any more info?

Elevation?

Type of siding?

Vegetation?

Other PITA factors?

wasnt paying att. to elevation but very easy to reach with ladder. Vinyl siding with general dirt

[John Orr 206]

wasn't paying att. to elevation but very easy to reach with ladder. Vinyl siding with general dirt

Since you didn't draw in the dirt, I may be off, but it has been a long time since I had to use a ladder to clean dormers. (In fact, I recently did a large house with 3rd floor dormers - fortunately no wind that day.) I downstream 12.5% (fortified with my own special blend of "herbs and spices".) but some will use an X-Jet.

[suzuki98 14]

Since you didn't draw in the dirt, I may be off, but it has been a long time since I had to use a ladder to clean dormers. (In fact, I recently did a large house with 3rd floor dormers - fortunately no wind that day.) I downstream 12.5% (fortified with my own special blend of "herbs and spices".) but some will use an X-Jet.

LOL...I didnt draw that picture i found it on the internet, I just showed a picture of a dormer incase someone didnt know what it was. I just got my x-jet, I havent used it yet, so I will practice with it before I do the job and leave the ladder at home.

[suzuki98 14]

I have to believe that if you look closer, there is more that needs done. If the dormers are dirty, suggest that you wash the whole house. As you said, you are still learning, so why not learn how to wash a house and get paid. Part of what you'll learn is that people will ask you to piecemeal a job to save money. One important goal should be to learn to upsell, and make each job count for maximum $$$.

My minimum is $175.00, but that's for decks/woodwork. Not sure how low I could go for house washing.

there is more work there, the soffit and gutters need a good cleaning but the ho said he didnt need that done. He is an older gentleman and cant climb up to dormers to clean

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

X-JET all the way. No need for a ladder. Don, you must always have a minimum whether you are new or old. Set it to what you are comfortable with and covers your costs. e.g.: Mine is $150.00 no matter how small the job is.

[suzuki98 14]

Tom thanks for the advice I will take that and come up with a price for future jobs :)

[Ron G. 14]

Since you didn't draw in the dirt, I may be off, but it has been a long time since I had to use a ladder to clean dormers. (In fact, I recently did a large house with 3rd floor dormers - fortunately no wind that day.) I downstream 12.5% (fortified with my own special blend of "herbs and spices".) but some will use an X-Jet.

Here in the northeast, we have many Capes & Colonial style homes. Some have dormers, Sometimes it is easier for me to throw a ladder to hit the area where the side of the dormer meets the roof. If this area is a north exposure and the house has not been washed for some time, it can get real nasty. Most instances dormers can be cleaned from the ground by D.S. or X-Jet.

[suzuki98 14]

Here in the northeast, we have many Capes & Colonial style homes. Some have dormers, Sometimes it is easier for me to throw a ladder to hit the area where the side of the dormer meets the roof. If this area is a north exposure and the house has not been washed for some time, it can get real nasty. Most instances dormers can be cleaned from the ground by D.S. or X-Jet.

Ron that is exactly where most of the dirt is where you circled the picture. It looks to me that the H.O. tried to reach what he could out the window and couldnt get that corner. I will try the x jet once I do a practice run with it.