I know that we don’t really talk prices here and I’m not asking about specific pricing. I have an opportunity to clean almost 50,000 sq ft of colored concrete pathways and pool deck around a resort. I would be softwashing it with about a 3% mix to prevent the color and cream top from coming out. I will have to move the truck around several times and most likely need to buy a couple hundred more feet of pressure hose to get 500’ total. They mostly are thin pathways that run all over the large property. I’m thinking of doing maybe half of my regular price per square foot since there is so much square footage to do. I also need to consider that I only have 225’ of ag hose to apply my mix so may need to use my battery sprayer for some areas as the rinse hose will go twice as far. Would you go half regular rate for that many square feet?
Stick to your regular price, I’ve never understood why people charge a smaller rate for larger areas, I’m the opposite the bigger the area the more I charge, the workload is the same, why choose to go home with less
I charge about double to softwash over using the surface cleaner. Takes longer with the rinsing and plant management and chem cost of course. For your flatwork do you do the same (charge more for softwashing) or keep the prices the same. I don’t want to use pressure every time I did that always ended up in color removal issues.
@Seandz I’m not sure I would ever softwash a concrete pathway I would use a surface cleaner, if by softwashing concrete you mean pre treating and post treating then I absolutely charge for the SH witch is included in my price. I’m not a charity, I’ve got bills.
With colored concrete the surface cleaner tends to remove a lot of the color and also the smooth finish, revealing more of the rough aggregate beneath the intended look. I have moved on to applying 3-4% mix and using a deck brush on bad areas then rinsing thoroughly. Seems to keep the color and smooth top in place.
Yea, Colored concrete seems to even fade at times… I don’t use a SC on it… SH and rinse
@Chesebro change your tips, I hit them with 1000psi on my 8gpm after giving it a house wash mix pre treat and never see anything other than dirty water. A lot of time time it will lighten up because it’s cleaner than before 
I was actually considering doing that is that what you use regularly on the sc? It seems like it’s too powerful with the standard tips at 3000psi for anything but regular concrete, leaving me to rarely use them (I have both the Hydrotek ant4c and antv5 recovery units) and wish I could use them on more stuff. I’m gonna order some bigger tips to try it out!
@Seandz no I don’t leave the 1000psi tips in there I only screw them in when I’m doing colored concrete and fresh concrete to not etch it and have just enough kick to move dirt. Everything else 3000psi is bang on. Changing tips on a surface cleaner is just part of the job, some days I do it 2-3 times a day depending on what I’m doing.
I’m right between 2,700-2,800 psi at the SC. For Resi
I agree 100% with @MuscleMyHustle. If you want to soft wash that’s fine too, but you can’t charge less, esp if you’re going to be moving around like that. Not like you’re doing a 50k ft pad. Doing paths is going to be a real PITA. I’d be up-charging.
