I just finished my first house of the season and all I can say is what an experience. Much different than washing your family and friends homes. Learned a lot about how I need to go about completing jobs. It was a rather large 2 story home. Quite bigger than most around my area. Took me slightly longer than expected. Some things I learned:
100ft of garden hose was barely enough. Bring more next time.
Leave all pressure hose connected. I would use 100 ft at a time. Silly me.
Hose reels are an absolute must.
My chemical ratio needs some adjustment.
Now here’s a question. How do you guys deal with PITA customers? This gentleman essentially followed me every step of the way. After 5 minutes he said what I was doing wasn’t working and I wouldn’t be getting paid unless it did. I just explained that the solution needed some time to work and he had my word that it would come clean. Then he proceeded to walk around the house and point every little spot out that needed attention. Mind you, I hadn’t even been to those spots yet.
Finish the job you committed to do, politely decline next time they call. Learn to spot the signs of these customers. The traits are consistent. Politely let them know you are probably not the right company for them when you start spotting the signs or let them know it’s going to be two months to get on the calendar. They’ll likely call the next guy in line…
Congrats on learning some lessons. That’s more important than the money you made and will return a whole lot more.
Thank you kindly @squidskc. I had a feeling when I got the call but figured I’d give it a chance since I was hungry for that first one. Should have listened to my gut.
I remember my first paying job…no hose reels…not quite sure about ratios…new j-rod that flew off and hit the siding because it wasn’t on tight enough…took almost 2 hours for a 2200 sf box. You’ll learn a ton of things as you go and learn to more efficient.
As far as those customers…everything that @squidskc said. Men especially who have their own PW and have done their own work for years blasting away at the house are wondering how you are going to do a better job than them. The funny thing is that now I’d probably have his whole house finished by the time he got his PW out of the garage, hooked up, and started. Ive had a few people watch me but more in amazement of the process. Maybe he sensed your newness to the industry…not sure. But if someone seems to overly picky on the phone then I walk away because they will find something to complain about.
That’s a very good possibility. I felt like a duck on a pond. Calm on the outside but underneath paddling a million miles per hour. Maybe he sensed that. I guess it was a good first experience. Knocked out two birds with one stone. A real pain and my first house.
Congratulations hard wood. You’ll get more confident and better in no time. Best of luck
Congrats @Woody8806. A ton of great info on this forum and it gets u much more prepared but no amount of reading will teach you what you learn while doing actual jobs.
There will always be customers like that… i love the ones who comment on why there is no ladder.
Tell them you will come get them when you are done and walk around with them afterwards.
Someone on here had a good saying. (We charge to take it off,if you’re not happy, we’ll put the dirt back on for free)
@racer will put them to work. I came around the corner one day and the guy was pulling hose and washing the house​:joy:
the guy was loving it lol. Free labor
That was on Alex’s door hanger i think.
@JayDavis absolutely. I’ve read and read until I didn’t think I could read anymore. I think I learned more on that job than I did with most of my reading
Close. It’s on my business cards. It’s a nice icebreaker, and alerts me to potential problem customers 
It’s like a wedding cake, it’s a long process with different layers, trust me you will be happy with the end result.
Like @squidskc mentioned, you will learn the traits and signs of these customers.
I “won” a quote, conditioned on our timeline for a house, roof, deck, patios for $1,650 that I’ll be politely declining ( push the schedule) because the customer had 100 questions and has been a pita just in the estimating process. All signs go back to previous pita customers. No thanks.
I love the Mom whose 45, send estimate, they reply awesome when can you do it, send them date and time…they say awesome let’s do it…show up and there at work…do the house wash, send invoice via text…get paid, get review…cya next year.
I haven’t had anyone follow me around sinc I started to fire, or not hire certain customers.
One year though a guy was making me mad and following me around coming around corners. I just acted like he wasn’t there and I sprayed (water) where I needed to with no regards to where he was…he got soaked. Sorry, didn’t see you
" How it begins is how it will end." Remember this quote from the very first time you speak to the potential client. It has proved true for me for years!
If the customet follows me around I tell them my soap has bleach in it. Less than a minute later I throw water their way. If they don’t move then I change to my mix and do the same thing. A little mist of sh in the face will get the toughest customer moving.
My guys know if a customer follows them around, to stop washing, roll up and leave
