$99 guy just became something of the past

I’m talking about not doing add ons. They are a time suck. You can make a ton of money walking $99 houses without adding on stuff.

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Loving this discussion so far :grin:

I think it’s all in how it’s presented. We’re experimenting with flat rate pricing and so far it’s worked well. I have yet to do a job for just the flat rate price. We always do a concrete demo and that clinches it for up selling. One thing I do like about it is when I get a house wash call it’s not can you come drive thirty minutes one way to give me an estimate it can we make an appointment to come do it. I have been saving on my gas bill because of it

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If your market dictates a 250 dollar house wash, no add on’s… you undercut your competition by 151 dollars just to push volume? I don’t understand the value in that

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Id rather do small houses and be driving off in 1-1.5 hrs. Or end unit townhomes, super easy.

Most in area i work are 2.5-3 hr and driving off, i live getting calls for the smaller house… only issue i have to worry about it parking.

But unlike most i dont book a full schedule and dint mind adding on and making a $100 extra for a driveway.

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A $99 house wash for me is anything under 2000sqft no add on necessary. Typically takes less than 30 minutes. Most of the time customers will add work on there own . I book every job as an hour on the schedule anticipating this.
Most $99 jobs end up closer to $250 by the time we leave .
When doing condos we bid it as a whole community not per unit. This way if we are not able to clean them all we still get paid the same .

I’ve done well with add ons. I just finished a job today where I went to clean a very small driveway and sidewalk and upsold the roof and house. It wound up being about 2000. Worth of add ons for a little over 8 hours work

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It’s just all in how you’re setup and what your goals are. I personally have no interest in being high volume. I like being a 1 and 1/2 man business. Not nearly the pressure and I can take my time and clean the property like I want and deal with the people I want.

Nothing at all wrong with the high volume model. Each person just has to figure out what they want out of their business and lifestyle.

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This is exacltly what he does. I talk to him on facebook about his pricing model. Sure he does some $79 house washes but most are up charged for many details. Patios, gables, you name it, its an upcharge. But technically its no lying.

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I’m still trying to wrap my brain around people useing Wal-Mart as a positive example for business. Successful?yes …positive?no. I feel that the 2 are directly related and a balance should be sought. If people would focus more on ethics and less on greed I think the world would be lot less crappy. If that makes me seem naieve than ill take it as a compliment.

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That’s us sort of. We’re kind of in between. If I can schedule a typical day of two per day I’m tickled. We don’t have to rush and can over deliver and get referrals

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Must be winter… By February a $59 housewash will look genius

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I think it comes down to understanding your market. Many areas can command high prices without much issue.
If you try that in my market your business will be short lived . I talk to guys all the time that Bragg about there prices. Then follow it up with how slow work is next time I run into them. For me it’s the opposite I stay slammed with work but my rates are low . Low enough to not hurt customers financially during the holidays. Low enough general contractors can sub us out for a profit. Low enough that our PMs usually won’t get other estimates. But still make a honest living.
This works in my market the same way it would fail in others.
With all this low rate talk I should probably state we still generate $200-$400 an hour . This weekend I did $1500 in 2 1/2 hours
LOW RATES DO NOT EQUAL LOW PROFIT.
Invest in your equipment and it will make you money.

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Well said

Ok. Got it now. I thought you meant it was good to take a 99er and upsell to $700 for a half days work.

Per person or truck with two workers?

Nailed it. Splashing that price around is bad for everyone. Yes there is room for both BMW and Toyota. Yugo not so much!

$200
Per person per hour is probably about average. But there is many time that it drops way lower and way higher.

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Another thing about it is that it catches the eye and generates a call. You are then talking to a person that wants to buy and you can explain anything you want at that point.

My Dad had a successful communications company for many years. This was pre internet/facebook. He did most of his advertising in the yellow pages and on our truck. On the side of the truck was a huge starburst with a 1/2 in it. It said 1/2 price telephone company. But half price off what? It didn’t matter people saw it and called for an estimate for a system.

When he started his basis was he was 1/2 the price of C&P based on an hourly rate, but it really didn’t matter and rarely ever came up. People got an estimate they liked ad bought his service. The tagline was simply what generated the call.

Joe

It’s marketing. He doesn’t appear to be deceptive. That’s common practice in retail is blank with prices starting at 19.99 and so on. An example would be Mattress Firm advertising queen size mattress as low as 179. It’s a real mattress you can really buy but most people see the value in spending more to get more.

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