I’ve been cleaning the windows at quite a few banks for a local cleaning company for a few years now, with the occational work ticket for power washing coming up that I was able to handle with my weekender machine from lowes.
I was approached yesterday about taking on the exterior power washing of all of the branches before the end of October and am trying to educate myself as quickly as possible. I know that I need a commercial grade machine though.
Does anyone work with banks, if so what machine and methods do you recommend? I was looking at Hotsy, because I have a local dealer and they have a financing option. Portability is key for me. I don’t have a vehicle that can tow a trailer with water on it.
This is just for cleaning the building, no sidewalks, parking lot ect.
I clean banks out here. Not a lot, but I have a handful of them. I would get them for their sidewalks too! Give them a rate for the building wash and then a rate to include the sidewalks as well. Make them an offer they cant refuse!
As far as cleaning it goes, I see you are in Virginia so I would not be the best guy to help you with this question. I just use an X-Jet and rinse building down to remove dirt, cob webs, and debris from buildings out here. No algae or any of that green stuff you guys get… Thank God.
But I can tell you this, when doing the building wash make sure you tape off the ATMs with plastic and then when you are done with the cleaning wipe the ATMs down with something that cleans and kills germs. We offer that to our branches and they love it!
Definitely get the sidewalks and drive thrus. Don’t leave that money on the table. Good luck!
[MENTION=5128]AZ PowerWash Pros[/MENTION]
Thanks for the reply. I am subbing the work so im not sure how much say I have in it as far as scope of work goes. It is about 50 locations and they already had prices.
What kind of machine do you use, and do you fins it adequate? Im going to be running it 30-40 hrs a week for the next month or so.
Right now I have 9 hot water units and 2 cold water units. They all run between 5.5GPM to 8GPM at between 3000-4000PSI. Most of my machines have a General Pump TS2021 on them as we switch out our pumps and replace them with TS2021s when they go bad. But my Landas cant fit theTS2021s so they are 8GPM Landa pumps.
If you are subbing the work why are u buying the equipment? Sub some work my way!!
I work closely with a local company that does solely interior commercial cleaning. They were losing bids because they couldn’t offer professional window cleaning and pressure washing so they contacted me and we’ve been growing up together for a few years. Save them having their employees on ladders and messing up expensive power equipment.
I am leaning towards the pressure-pro eb4040hg from pressuretek.com.
My first unit was a Pressure Pro. Its not the machine that matters its the tech behind the wand. As long as it has 3000PSI at least 5gpm and a burner you should be good.
Thanks so much for your advice. Ordering a belt drive and x-jet from Bob in the morning. He has great customer service.
Am I being naive to think there is a solution other than bleach that is somewhat effective? I have to do this during business hours and am terrified about using bad chems around bank customers and their property.
This is where you need someone with experience in that area to help you. I am not the right guy. I have never used bleach in my life. I am in Arizona, there is no need for bleach. I remove dirt, gum, and traffic stains from concrete. I rinse off dirt, bird waste, and cob webs from buildings. Roof cleaning is just dirt, leaves, and bird waste. So you have to ask someone in the east coast and south about mildew, mold, moss, and anything green. I don’t get that here.
I am going to try and see how much I can get done in 5 weekends. Hopefully the machine will arrive next week and it doesn’t leave me much time.
I honestly don’t know how much productivity to expect. After pouring over this forum, I don’t think I have done anything correctly in the past.
I can’t start until 6 in the evening during the week and after 12 on weekends. Most are around 3000-4000 square feet. I am hoping I can tackle 5 a day on the weekends.
You will be busting it to get 15-20k worth of concrete done a day. I would say it’s hard to get 10k worth of dirty concrete done in a day at multiple locations with one 8gpm machine and a surface cleaner.
I dont have any concrete to clean. This is only the bank structure itself. No sidewalks, no parking lots. 90 percent of the buildings are single story lightly soiled brick (no visible mold) with vinyl guttering/soffit.
I purchased both the m-5 x-jet and the set of 4 downstream nozzles hoping to cover the basics.
Off topic a bit, but is there a recommended chemical for softwashing brick? I’ve trying searching the forum but cant find anything.
