[COLOR=#333333]2 Garages done last month and 2 more coming up. This first garage here was 2million sq’. We were contracted to clean 1.3 million which took us 10 looooooooong nights. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333]If you look at the first picture and look all the way down to the left you can see 1 of my trucks. The floors were over 800’ long each and there were 9 of them.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333] These pics are of us damming up drains and using sump pumps to get to the sludge. These are the “Self made” ponds we would make in a garage to get to the sludge which can’t go down the drains or they can clog them up.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333]The last picture here is one of my guys shoveling this yuck. We took out almost 2 tons of this stuff which was then dumped at an approved facility. The sludge can also be disposed of on an onsite dumpster that is set aside for this.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#333333]Here’s some pics of the 2nd garage which was aprox 300,000sq’. This consisted of also cleaning the stairwells and also by the Elevators which can be extremely costly to the contractor if water goes down the shaft!![/COLOR]
There’s great money in garage cleaning. In the total of 19 projected days to clean these 4 garages will be more then I make in 2 months in the heart of my residential season.
For you newbies and season vets don’t be afraid to attempt to clean these behemoth’s. They can be daunting and challenging and can really test your patience especially when the garages are kept open like the first one was…but… just keep your mind on the $$$$$ and you’ll find a way to GET ER DONE!!
[MENTION=2754]John T.[/MENTION], that is awesome. How large of a crew do you have working on these projects?
And is that a riding surface cleaner? I didn’t even realize they made those (but it makes perfect sense ;)).
Very nice work John.
Did you use any reclaim on these jobs?
It would be nice to start bidding on these type jobs, but if reclaim is essential the cost factor would def come into play.
Hey Alex-- usually I have 4 guys working on these jobs. Occasionally 5. Rinsing is the biggest problem and the hardest part because of the sludge build up. As for that riding surface machine it’s no longer in production.
Hey Kevin reclaim is not that hard. Yes we reclaim at some of these jobs but not at the micron level the west coast guys do. We reclaim the water and filter it out on scene. By that We use those sump pumps your seeing to pump that pond water into 55g drums that have screened bags and oil socks in there. From there it gets pumped out and down a drain that leads to the sanitary sewer. No sludge can go down these drains so we collect it.
hey john T awesome job…thanks for the info
the sheer size of those jobs is enough to scare me…what would you say would be the minimal kind of equipment if one wants to get into this size job…if you are able to perhaps shed some light on pricing
The minimal amount of equipment I would recommend on these parking garage is at least 2-8gpm machines. That would up to 300,000sq’. After that you would need more machines unless they gave you a long time frame to complete these jobs. In most cases these jobs have to get done ASAP because garages are usually revenue streams and they don’t want you to cost them money.
Also a very bare minimum reclaim type system where you have a way to reclaim the water and filter it out. This is not hard to do unless your like the state of Cali where they want your water to almost be purified before it gets released.
I know of guys who charge from 2 cents a sq’ all the way up to 25cents a sq’. Your market will determine that. In my area I found that I can get most of these garage jobs anywhere from 5-9 cents a sq’.
[MENTION=2754]John T.[/MENTION] is my hero
John T, is that how much you would charge for this job? 5-9 cents a sqft?
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Hey Dave-- if I had to bring in a scrubber I would add around 1.5-2cents a sq’. Without that I would charge in the range of 5-9cents per sq’ by me. You should be similar in range by you.
thanks John T very informative…appreciate you sharing
Hey everyone doing a 3 level car park first level is 654m other 2 are 1225m typical car park lots of oil, acid and food stains. I run a 3500psi 17lpm (5gpm) with 20 whirl away. Iv only been doing more residential as I’m just starting out and this is my first commercial job so bit nervous and unsure what to expect.
My questions are, how much should I charge hourly? How long will it take with one man cleaning the other two recovering, am thinking of hiring a second pressure cleaner but. If this is done well it could be a quarterly contract so don’t want to stuff it up. There are a lot of doorways and areas I have to prevent run off so it will be time consuming. Iv done up a rough quote but it’s in the thousands and I’m not sure if it’s to high. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
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I know this is an old thread, but I just found it…How do you go about finding these jobs…through property management companies? (Not many garages in my area, but TONS of parking lots)
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This was a bit of luck i think first one. but i got recommended by a previous customer, you could hit up the agencies. This car park is for an apartment building so i would just pop in and let them know of your services.
Good info. Thank you!
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Very nice work John!
