I did two in the past, and I got screwed it took me forever to get it done. I charged $475 for this one but I already know this one is going to take forever too it’s a lot of cement. What’s the trick?
The trick is charge more. I don’t do what I would call heavy commercial such as restaurants, but I can’t imagine anything at any Burger King I’ve ever seen that I would do for $475.
If I were looking at the Burger King in my town I would have to rent a hot water machine - charge more. I would have to work at night which I don’t like to do - charge more.
I might do the 1,000 or so square feet of sidewalk attached to the building for $475 but that alone wouldn’t make it worth my while for all the hassle above. They would have to want more cleaned and that would cost more.
You don’t say what all you contracted to do but next time don’t sell yourself short. On a more positive note, I’m glad to see you picked up some work.
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What I found is the Dumpster Pad that is bad on all of them…
More info?
Machine specs?
Heat?
Chemical used?
Surface cleaner specs?
Square ftg?
Degree of dirt?
Gum?
Hose length?
Reclaim?
Downstreaming?
Ratios?
Working alone or with someone?
Daytime or night?
Rust?
Tire marks on curbing included?
Is it a one-off or maintenance schedule?
Scope? Sidewalks, patios, drive thru, dumpster pads…
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Well I know nothing of surface cleaning. I almost sub contracted out the two burger kings to another company, I had them quote it any everything. I was going to give it to them but then we had a falling out so I just ended up taking the quote, buying a surface cleaner (18" general pump) and did it myself. I had a guy with me but it was pointless really cause only one guy cause use the surface cleaner at a time so I’m doing this one myself. I just need money bad now and since I already did the other two bk’s at the price I did, I kinda have to charge the same for this one since they are similar in cement. I’m just doing the cement, he’s not picky about tire curb and stuff and it’s a brand new bk (opened in march I believe) so the cement really isn’t bad. He’s getting the cement sealed and just wanted a cleaning the day before.
What are you going to do about the gum if you don’t have hot water?
I just pop it off with the red tip
New concrete is very “soft”. Even older concrete would have a hard time standing up to 0°. You will damage it.
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That’s what keeps my from going after some of the local fast food businesses. People are pigs and throw tons of gum away on sidewalks.
Not even a maybe. It’s unavoidable.
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Really? I mean it didn’t seem like it damaged anything? Well what are people suppose to do if they don’t have hot water?
Yeah it takes a lot of time going thru popping each one off, I mean maybe I didn’t red tip it was more like a green tip but still a lot of pressure to pop it off and even then sometimes it left a little ring on the really bad ones
I’m concerned.
How much research have you done?
Not use a zero degree.
Or not do the job.
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Go buy a little bottle of goo-off and a heavy duty scraper( about 18" handle and 6"blade on it from HD. Spray the goo- off on it, let sit for about 10 min and then use the scraper. Will peel it right off of there. Will still have stain marks from the gum. DO NOT use your red tip. New concrete you need to be especially careful.
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Thanks Rick. Now that I think about it I never used a red tip but I did use either the green or yellow, it was still really high pressure I have a 4200psi machine (4gpm). I have a down stream injector, is it better to just get a back pack sprayer from HD or something and apply a SH mix that way?
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Thanks I think I got the picture on not using a red tip, did you have a solution you recommend? I haven’t actually done research about the damage a red tip can do. And I actually use the forum for most my research because people are usually extremely helpful on here
@Racer Just gave you all the answers you need for removing gum.
Pre and Post treat the area with your house wash mix through your downstream injector. No need for a backpack sprayer or even a pump up sprayer.
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Oh ok I didn’t think the house wash mix was strong enough for cement I thought you had to use a spray pump or something because then it doesn’t dilute it just goes straight on
John, depending on how dirty, if it’s bad like where the cars sit in drive, trash areas or right near door and places like that, I use a pump up and hit with a lot stronger mix. Usually EBC mixed about 50-50 or a butyl with Sodium hydroxide like BD200 , maybe even lightly scrub and let dwell for awhile, like 15-20min and and then spray whole area with my concrete mix.
You don’t need to add much bleach to the mix usually. You’re not killing mold. Then wash it.
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I know it’s tempting to just throw the question out to the forum, and im probably guilty of it from time to time, but you really should get into the habit of searching first, especially on basic straight forward topics. Saves everyone time, and usually tells you exactly what you need to know, and then some.
For example, i just typed ‘remove gum with cold water pressure washing forum’, and i got tons of results with people saying the same thing that has been said here, as well as some additional methods.
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