Hello, Rich Ellis here. I am a relative newbie here in Orlando, FL and I was wondering if anyone else was charging more for a post-treatment on concrete? My current price structure is 10 cents per SQFT for cleaning and it increases to 12 cents a SQFT when a post-treat is applied for stubborn stains left behind from infrequent cleanings. Does that sound on track or should post-treating just be included in the original 10 cents per SQFT? Thanks for the help.
G’day Rich, as always there are 2 big questions when assessing price charged and work done;
- are you getting work?
- are you making enough money on each job?
and only you can answer those.
Personally, I don’t have a “set in stone” rate, especially for smaller jobs as there can be a huge difference in time & chemical required depending on the type of concrete finish (most of my jobs are “plain” concrete, but also a lot of “exposed aggregate”, plus a few “stamped” and covered with a spray on coating which may or may not be worn off in places) and how dirty/mouldy/oily it is.
For example, I’m cleaning a driveway this week which is approx 60m2 and only a few years old according to the home-owner (and looking at the street-view image confirms this) but my price is my 1.5 hour minimum (to cover travel etc, especially as it’s a bit out of my usual area) even though the job will take little more that half an hour. While last week I cleaned a driveway that was 3 times the size and I charged for 2 hours (half an hour for the free quote and 1.5 hours for the job).
Hope that makes some sense.
John
Im in the same boat as you. I was looking at up selling a post treatment as well. What im figuring i will end up doing is up sell them if i can. If not after im done rinsing if it looks like it could use a post treat then i will apply anyway. The cost of chem is minimal so it wont hurt my wallet. You have to consider other potential customers that might see you work and if it looks like you did a half A job then you could loose them as a client.
The other thing you could do is just charge the .12 cents and not worry about up selling but i think the going rate in Florida is .10 not sure.
Try both and see which works better.
Thanks for the replies fellas.
The thing that baffles me the most in Orlando, FL is that I’ve looked online to see the prices of my largest competitors and they charge a whopping $.15 per SQFT but only when you use their online coupon. The branding difficulty that I am having is that I am profitable at $.10 per SQFT (because I average 1,000 sqft per hour), but I don’t want to be too far below the competition because that comes with the perception that I do less quality work. I suppose that as my business seasons and I have more professional-looking rigs, website, and uniforms I will start to raise my price to meet the competition. Right now, though, with my 6 GPM and a decent 5x10 trailer, I just don’t think it makes sense to price as high as the more established businesses.
Also, I think I am just going to take on the flat price per SQFT somewhere between 10-12 cents per SQFT because in the end it will average out. Some jobs might take longer and some might be shorter, but it should average out to about $100-$120/hour.
