I know people complain about the cheap guys and giving bad name for rest of those in the field. But i started laughing this evening when i saw what i did.
Just came across some clown (grown man, not a 15 yr old kid) advertising on Nextdoor App for $30 gutter cleaning. Tried to find other post from him and stumbled upon some outstanding rates he offers… $75 single story houses, $50-$75 driveways & walkway, and $50 decks.
Then i stumbled upon him asking if anyone had a lawn mower he could rent/have to use for his landscaping. If on hard times, im not judging, but gees i saw prices and just cant phathom those rates. Will continue doing as i have, but just laughable to see those prices.
40$ driveways? What kind of profit if any would he be making? I was at customer house wrapping things up for the day and a guy passing buy stopped and asked how much we charge to clean his driveway. Before I could even say anything he was like"I had a guy clean it 2 years ago for 60 bucks". I didn’t even bother to ask him further and told him he might as well give the guy a call back to clean it for him. He then asked me "well don’t you want more business?. To him sure i do, and that I would pass on his request.
You have to realize that to people who make minimum wage or who have been out of work for a while, the 40 bucks seems like a lot of money…
But then 1 or 2 things happen. #1 they figure out its not worth it and go away. #2 they figure out its not worth it and raise their prices
The other thing is they really can’t afford to market themselves properly…
With all that being said I am glad they are here - they will do all the small jobs or lower cost jobs we don’t want to do. A lot of lower income people want stuff cleaned and they can’t afford us, but it is good that there are people out there that they can afford. When I run into work I don’t want to do I refer it down the chain, when I run into work I can’t do I refer it up the chain to bigger guys…
I walk away from them and tell them to call me if they need it fixed.
Some have called me back asking for a discount since they already spend $$$ on the job done, i tell them that they wasted that $$$ but my prices are still the same
What’s weird is that one company that advertises that, does a nice plaza by my house, and i saw his ad on the local money saver magazine. I guess that’s his way of getting to peoples houses then upsells?
Also he might like to do like ten small quick driveways instead of five high paying ones?
I haven’t been caught up enough to wash my house in a long time. Ii not driving a truck home on the weekends. Cheaper to pay him and he does good work. I’m pretty sure my wife pays him more than 99 bucks though
But in all seriousness, i dont clean my house either… but its cause i just never feel like it, normally every few years… north side is only bad side and cant be seen from anywhere in the court/road or anyone except my neights if they are in their back yard.
I guess I can say I was once a “$99 guy”… I did some advertising around nearby neighborhoods of $70 driveways for a month. Never drove more than 6-8 minutes to get to a job and the driveways around here are tiny (most are 2 car driveway). When I arrived I would upsell the sidewalk and entrance walkway for another $30 bucks. I was in and out in 30-40 minutes, still reaching the 100/hr rate goal that I aim for.
