Well guys this is my first year in business and have read and practiced alot. I’ve been fortunate enough to have several paying jobs now. In my limited experience I have learned 2 things:
I price 90% of jobs “sight unseen”… its fine. With experience you’ll get much better at it.
Same here, I wish more were visible on street view, but sooo many are off the rd in the trees around here.
That’s an ongoing debate…to do in person estimates or price sight unseen. Doing in person estimates allows you to sell yourself and service. I did that a lot my first year. Keep in mind that you add all that time to the cost of the house wash or whatever they want you to do.
I price sight unseen now. If I can’t see their house on a Google Maps I use Zillow. I am a realtor so I use old mls listings to look at houses. If no pics I have them send me a few pics. If they’re not willing to do that then I’m not interested in washing their house. Yes some might be more dirty than you expected but when you get really good and efficient it won’t matter. My time for washing a 2500-3000 sf house is now about 45 min from hooking up hose to pulling away (unless homeowner talks my ear off). To me pricing in person takes too much time…but some guys love to do it.
Sight unseen. Google maps or Geo Measure for concrete only usually. Most of my customers book themselves on my website which has preset pricing. I put the basic categories on there. If you want to make a living at this, you cant spend your days burning time and fuel. Of course there will be differing opinions on this.
Also, this helps keep prices down due to lower costs.
90% of my estimates are given over the phone and end in a closed sale in about one min.
10% of in person estimates are reserved for commercial, higher end jobs ect…
Driving to each estimate will get old very fast.
In time you will be able to sell, close and book jobs within one or two min right over the phone.
I have been on vacation pool side with a drink in hand while booking multiple jobs.
Its usually a good idea to start letting them go to voicemail by the 4th or 5th drink…
Well what happened to me was the lady that I was talking to either lied to me about the size of her house or just honestly didn’t know. It was huge prob 4000 sq ft lol
Call people on that! Also, homeowners dont realize the square footage is living area, doesnt usually include garage. Account for that.
Its good to have pricing structures and you should stick to them.
I always ask for “approximate” interior sq footage.
If they say 2500, and its really 3000 sq feet, who cares…
Even 1000 sq ft more if your washing vinyl is so minimal it shouldn’t effect your profit.
Price houses so you have that wiggle room if needed.
Remember, you can always do a quick tax search for the factual home sq footage.
I never ask them the square footage, i Google the home address, a few real estate sites say the square footage right there in the first Google page
Then you can check Google maps for location and to know what the house looks like
Clients send me pics when asking me for estimates
