Put an ad on the Facebook Marketplace and within a few hours I have my first job lined up. Going Friday to check it out and measure surface cleaning square footage. House is 3,726 square feet and probably 1500-2000 square feet of surface cleaning. It’s a doozy for a first one!
I am giving a 10% discount for a business startup discount, 5% discount for house wash and surface cleaning combo, and 2% veteran discount.
I know that’s a lot but the customer really liked the veteran and combo discount! Jumped right on it.
I could be slightly undercutting myself but I think it’s a good start. Will be about $720 job after the discounts. Two story home. A bit intimidating honestly. Without discounts it would be a $860 job, by my pricing structure.
I haven’t lined up a good sh source yet so I’m thinking of having 20 gallons of 8.25 on hand and gonna just straight downstream it with a surfactant. I’ve only got 150’ if hose so I may have to move the trailer a few times.
Going to do it in sections so the mix doesn’t dry on me. Wet the house and grass/shrubs in the area, then soap… let sit 10-15 mins. Rinse. Move to next section.
I have a jrod to reach second story im hoping. Also have an xjet but don’t really want to use it and lug a bucket around if I can help it.
I wasn’t expecting to get such a large job… And this fast. Any tips or advice anyone want to chime in with? Should 20 gallons be enough? I’m going to take my time and make sure it’s right.
Going to get trash bags to cover the main electrical box and exterior fans, and nitrile gloves to cover exterior outlets.
Wish me luck, this beast has me slightly intimidated.
Don’t wet the house before you soap. It just makes it harder for the soap to work. 15 minutes is a long time for soap to sit on a house. 3 or 4 minutes should be plenty. soap two sides, come back and rinse.
Maybe wash your house or someone’s in your family first. You are going to go wash a pretty big house and it appears you never have done this. Hats off to you but there’s so much more than just spray and rinse. Good luck and do call IBS cause he may save your business from disaster out of the gate.
Yep, with the temps being cooler you don’t have to pre wet the house like you might in the blazing summertime That being said call IBS, he offered, tell him what you’re planning to do. A ten minute phone call could save you hours of work and worry.
Joe
I try to pre-wet the house but I always pre-wet the windows. Doesn’t hurt anything and only takes a minute. I haven’t had a problem Not wetting it and I haven’t noticed it causing a longer dwell time. Definitely don’t let your mix dry on the windows.
From a rookie… I highly suggest getting some practice and use out of your machine before taking on any job at all. I also suggest having a scrub brush and a pump up sprayer for a stronger mix, a good degreaser, and a rust remover. Insurance is a must have. You can also use Google maps for measurements. Hope this helps. Btw I would take up IBS on that phone call in an instant.
I have to assess everything Friday when I go to look at it. It’s all vinyl. I want to see it in person to better decide if I want to take this on. If I feel I can do it, I am going to do it. And the driveway/sidewalk.
I have a pump sprayer, don’t have a brush. I did my driveway the other day, looks damn good. Haven’t done my house yet.
Degreaser and rust remover can be picked up easily.
I’m working on insurance, should have two separate quotes tomorrow to decide on.
I’ve tried that Google maps thing to get the area, it’s not very easy to get it accurate. Even on a laptop. Dropping the pins in the right spot is a bitch.
House looks fairly easy. Always count big porches like that into the square footage. You’ll spend more time on those than doing an entire side until you get your system down.
Make sure you move those ferns, most of them don’t like SH.
Don’t prewet house, do prewet plants, but don’t have to soak, Just rinse them well after while you’re rinsing each side.
20 gal SH should be plenty. Even with 8% you don’t have to shoot straight SH with 6gpm. About 70% SH, rest water along with your soap. If it’s not killing mildew in 5-7 min, add more SH to mix… That’s the kind of house a M5DS nozzle would really come in handy.
Would still be nice if you could practice on yours or friends first. Take plenty of pics before and after when you go out Friday.
I explained to the customer that I would like all plants and belongings pulled away from the house and in a safe place so whatever they have out there wont be damaged etc.
I just used a different site to use maps to calculate sq. ft. and the driveway is about 3,500-3,600 sq. ft. It’s really long. Gonna take a while and most likely more SH.
I was actually looking to get the M5DS nozzle before I got the rig I got from Mr_G. I don’t have any local shops I can pick anything like that up, I will have to order online. I do have an xjet he threw in there with the rig. Not sure if its the one with the M5DS…there are two different kind, right?
Just did a house just like this today. It was a brick house. Things happen that you dont plan for and you have to know how to tackle them. Things that you never thought to look up on here. 2 things happened to me today that i never expected.
The big columns on the front porch had old paint( i guess) that ran down onto the brick while i was washing. It stained it and wouldn’t come off with what i had on the truck.
My hammerhead surface cleaner vibrated like crazy and was shaking side to side. I stopped right away.
I got the running paint off the brick but i have to come back and do the driveway. She paid me already even after i declined pay till i finished. House wasnt really that bad other than the bottom 5 feet. Did another house when i left that one and i went as i planned.
I love problem solving so im kind of glad its not as easy as just “spray and rinse”
yep, xjet high pressure, m5ds is low pressure. When you’re doing porch roofs can fan out nozzle real quick for soap and rinsing. Good for rinsing around screens too. Where you live?
