Hello all.
I’ve been reading through the forums for about 6 months now, started my business about a month ago officially and, as with many who are just starting out, bidding jobs seems to have quite the learning curve.
While doing research for ballpark bids for jobs, I’ve come across homewyse which has a rough calculator and bases pricing on a zip code you input.
I’m curious as to how accurate it actually is. I put together a spreadsheet that I use for estimates based on everything I’ve read on the forums on PWRA and other pressure cleaning forums out there. It seems to be close for where I’m at.
Has anyone seen or used this in the past? Any insights; positive or negative.
In my opinion, the best way is to just get out there and do it. Figure out your total cost and what you need to make and start bidding. If you don’t get many bites on your bidd, you’re too high. Try to price where you’re closing the majority of them. That’s what my wife and I did and it worked out very well for us. I certainly wouldn’t rely on anyone else to determine your pricing. You’re goal isn’t to be the cheapest, it’s to be the best at a fair price.
I just ran my “power wash house option” and I fall into their price range for my zip code. The supplies and labor was off by a good amount though. The window cleaning and concrete/driveway are off for me by a large amount. Disclaimer I am brand new to the PWing side, I am a window cleaner first. Take my advice at your own risk my friend.
One guide that I have been using is for every sold job I increase the price for the next until I start hearing the “no’s” once I get too many, I can use the info very quickly to get a baseline price for my area. Good luck
For my zip code, homewyse has driveway cleaning at .27 a sqft (low end) which is totally absurd. I’d be a millionaire by now if that were possible. I’d take that site with a heavy grain of salt. As usual, your mileage may vary.
I have to agree with thepelican! I just did a bunch of different jobs, and learned how long it take me based on what I am looking at, I know how much an hour I will work for, and as long as I am in that range I am happy working. Now I have missed bid on a few jobs ‘to low’ and I ended up working for like 22 bucks an hour, I was not a happy camper. on the other hand yesterday I did a back wall/driveway/porch and I was at 75 bucks an hour…that was a good job, to be honest I thought it would take me longer than it did.
I think I am getting faster at this, and still keeping my standards high at the same time, may sound strange but I really look at the jobs as if I was doing the work for myself, helps me to go the extra mile… a lot of times I clean things the customer didn’t even ask for, like yesterday I could not stand it, this guy had this bird bath, yep you guessed it, its clean now. He was like dang, thanks!!! I found little things like that make the customer happy, and it took me all of 5 mins…
Be careful with freebies. They can lead to liability issues. I’ve scaled back on the freebies a bit.
If I don’t touch it, then I won’t potentially ruin it. Not that I don’t know what i’m doing.This is my philosophy after 13 years of freebies. Get your check and get out of there.
Good advice, to be honest that thought had crossed my mind as well. As a matter of fact, while washing that bird bath it kind of wobbled, and I thought if I break this thing I am buying it… So to be honest I think you’ve made a very good point, and I agree with you.
I still do small ones. I did one the other day. A small cement pad about 3’ x 3’ .
Alot of customers like to play the add on game. Which is fine to an extent.
They take it over board I play my own add on game $$
