I’m having trouble coming up with a price per sq charge or hrly rate…anyone recommendations ?
No offense but only you can answer that. What takes me 30 mins might take you 2 hrs or vice versa. What part of the country do you work? What does your competition charge? What’s your overhead? What are you Washing? That’s a very broad question you are asking my friend.
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15cent a square foot or $60 a hour for a beginner with basic equipment BUT it depends on the job siding, concrete, roof, deck, etc. Once you get better equipment and more experience you can charge more for quality and faster work. I think i read someone on here charges $120 a hour to do roofs. (I haven’t started washing yet so i cant give you a experienced answer)
Just charge what you are willing to do the job for and pay for your equipment. I wouldnt want to be known as the cheapest guy around. Id want to be known as the best guy around. So whats your time worth to you?
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Your equipment, knowledge, experience, and area will dictate what your hourly rate or price/sq ft is. If you’re washing driveways with a 2.5gpm machine or a 8gpm machine you’ll get a different hourly rate. Someone with experience could run circles around you using a 8gpm unit and them a 4gpm unit…just based on experience and knowing how to operate equipment. It’s too broad of a question that only you can answer
My bad, I meant to put “concrete cleaning” in topic description.
South Texas . It’s so random here for pricing bc there are so many low ballers and illegit businesses (or individuals) who are not licensed or insured and doing it more for a side hustle …which is fine I get it and appreciate the hustle but they don’t have the proper equipment.
I have 8gpm hydrotek.
I have a price I typically charge but noticed lately some guys coming in and low balling so bad they win the job. But, I will say I have had to come back time to time and redo their work since they never had proper equipment. Home Depot 2gpm pressure washer and a wand lol
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Use that as your selling point and charge your higher rate
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$75 to $150 hr pressure washing or softwashing
Per person $200 to $400 hr roof cleaned or paver sealing.
This is the Goldylox zone. Above that good for you. Below that you will not survive.
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Wow! I was not expecting that. Man i feel like crap😥 i work my butt off every day in retail and part time in fast food. Just to pay my bills and feed my wife and 2 kids. I need to keep study this trade and keep saving ao i can get a piece of this action!
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Don’t mistake those numbers for profit. Typically only 30 to 50 percent is profit. If your on the low side of those numbers. Obviously you want to be on the higher side. Once you figure in ALL the expenses . And that you may only bill out 20 hours of work but yet you were working in some way all day every day
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So the lowest you make is $22.50 a hour. Ill take it haha i make half that. Im so excited to get my gear. Sadly by the time i have the money will be winter. I literally day dream about being able to provide for my family every single day.
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Close the deal on first contact. And you won’t have to worry about low balllers . I’m in a very similar market.
Sound busy -set up a appointment -show up - close deal - do job go home . No low baller got involved. Btw if the low baller showed up before you it doesn’t matter if there talking to you it’s because they didn’t hire him despite his low price. Every town has areas that are not worth working in you’ll learn we’re that at and how to drive around them
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I’d stick with your prices…those hacks will eventually get weeded out…won’t even be in business next year. Even with their cheap HD pressure washer doing driveways for $40 with a wand…their pump blows up and their PW days are done. We have the typical $99 house wash guys in NC (painters and lawn guys) As was mentioned earlier you’ll learn where you want to avoid and what neighborhoods you want to do work in where you’ll get your prices. I took this pic of a painting contractor down the street that surface cleaned a driveway…if you zoom in they overshot the joints on the sidewalk and curb…sloppy work. At least they didn’t use a wand.
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Wow, that looks horrible. No way I could leave it like that.
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Definitely shoot for the higher end, though. In addition to only keeping 30-60% of your gross, you have to consider:
-No employer funded health insurance
-No matching 401k
-No paid time off
-No workman’s comp if you get hurt and can’t work (you can and should get some type of disability insurance to help cover this)
-Unless you’re a workaholic, or get large accounts like condo associations, you’ll probably never have 40 billable hours in a week. And certainly not for 50 weeks out of the year.
As well as:
-The stress and strained relationships that can result when you constantly “take your work home with you”; can’t stop thinking and talking about the business, etc.
-The anxiety that can be caused from unexpected equipment breakdowns, gaps in the schedule, and the myriads of other stuff you never worry about as an employee
That said, self-employment/business ownership can be quite rewarding. You just have to have a realistic outlook on what you’re getting into.
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I understand. You and others here that chose this trade seem to be doing well. I cant wait to be able to properly support my family. Doing it full time or on my days off. Im sure i can do good in this line of work. Being a manager i have really good customer service. As @racer says don’t t be the cheapest be the best. Ill wash off trash cans door mats anything to stand out and make my service stand out. Ill be putting back most of my profit for awhile for mkre equipment and always have some on hand for equipment failure. I would be very embarrassed to wash half a house and have to wait 2 weeks to have the money to fix the problem.
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I appreciate everyone’s input! Thanks guys!
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eeeek….2.5gpm Home Depot special…God bless whoever did that job lol
I see that a lot in HOA communities. Association is responsible for curb and sidewalk cleaning . So if the are doing cleaning soon , home owner usually tells not to worry about sidewalk and curb.
