Production Rate estimate Help

S

sprayandclean

Guest
I have the opportunity to bid on a small fleet, full size vans, small 'bread truck' vans and large 'bread truck' vans.

I have never done fleets on a production basis, so I need some help on the actual working time to 'knock out' a fleet.

Thanks,
Bates
 

ron

New Member
what

what is your method of washing trucks? what equipment do you have? do you need to recapture the wash water? wash them how meny times per month? Do you have to move them to a WASH AREA?
first wash,get some help use buckets and brushes. 2 helpers, 5 min. each truck
1 guy puts soap on with a shur-flo system that you make for about $250 [tank, hand cart,pump, battery,hose and trigger gun] the second guy brushes,then you rinse with hot water. Dont let the soap guy get to far ahead of the brush guy,let him stop and pick up a brush.
Then with the right soap,next time you can apply the soap yourself[to a couple of trucks,if its not to hot outside] and hot water rinse with no brushing.
You will get fast and make more per hour. You may need to brush once in the spring and once more in the fall.
in the beginning figure 10 min a truck plus set-up time and clean -up time.
 
S

sprayandclean

Guest
Small Fleet Wash

Ron,
Thanks for the reply.

I have been in the P/W biz for 11 years full time. I was interested in this contract (?) just to have year round income. I have hot eater, shur=flo etc. set up for other forms of cleaning.

I like your bi-line about doing it right, my feelings exactly. Bearing this in mind I will ask your opinion, should I proceed pursuing the 'fleet contract' as a one man operation? I have not been able to find reliable help in my area, plus finding part-timers is even harder.


The reason for the (?) is, the company has at least 3 sets of specs for the "vehicle cleaning program". It seems strange to me that a large poeration has told me 3 different specs verbally, and the writtten is different from those three.??? Written specs rules of course, but I've been around long enough to know what a skunk smells like without lifting his tail.
Thanks Again,
Bates McLain
 

ron

New Member
i would

evan if this co. your looking at is not the right one i think a certian amount of truck washing will round out the $ over the slow/cold months. as far as help All i have to do is go down the mcdonalds in the middle of town and stop. About 10 to 20 mexicans will fight over who gets to talk to me about a days work. I would'nt let them touch anything but a bucket and brush and only need them twice a year. I would venture to guess that most towns have a spot like this for getting some temp. labor. Ask some building contractors in your area they will know where to get some day help. High school kids are good for this also.
I have a leed on a fleet of 30 trailers and 15 trucks once a week trailers need inside and out cleaning say you got$ 15 per truck $10 on the inside of the trailers $15 on the outside
thats $975 a week 2 days work at most thats more then most make a week in a 40 hour week evan after exspenses.
 

PressureClean

New Member
We have actually gone to Labor Ready and St. Moritz a few times when we needed day labor for different projects. You call them up, they set you up an account and then you're ready to go whenever you need them. They'll even drop them off at the job site for you. Labor Ready is nationwide, they have four offices here in Pittsburgh, don't know about St. Moritz if it's National or not. Nice thing is that they cover workers comp on their comp plan, not yours. If the guy ends up being a drunk or gets hurt, they come and pick him up and get you somebody new fast. If you use these companies though make sure you are ready to be all over the guys they send to keep them working because they are typical disposable labor and lazy if you let them be. Also, make sure you explain everything to the rep at the company about the type of job and the requirements for the laborer. They didn't bother to ask us one time about climbing and our job foreman made the guy climb scaffolding. After he got about 20 feet up he decided he was deathly afraid of heights and he froze on the scaffolding. It took us nearly two hours to get him down from the scaffolding.

I guess the saying is right, you get what you paid for... :)
 

timhays

New Member
go down to the local duron paint store, guys always hang around
early in the morning looking for contractors who need temp. help.
if you put a note on the bulletin board looking for help you will get 20 calls a day. most guys work for $8 to $9 hour.
 

timhays

New Member
ps the temp service is a more professional way to do buisness,especially since they cover insurance,but they only pay the guys $5 hour plus take out boots gloves transportation out of there pay,we always get the bums who live under the bridges coming from the temp serv.
 

Steven Rowlet

New Member
Do any of you really want that type of people representing your business? When I hire someone to do work for me I DO NOT want someone performing the work that is temporary. Would you want that if you were paying between $50.00- $100.00 per hour for work to be performed for you? I don't think so. Image is everything.
 

timhays

New Member
i agree thats why i work alone,a homebuilder i worked for uses the temp labor for digging ditches and cleaning houses.
they are not public friendly
 

Dan S

New Member
I agree with you steve........

I will call you this week If everything goes well If not you will be hearing from me next week.... Im still trying to pay "catch up" (Christmas).... and I need your product BAD.........
 

Bill B

New Member
In reading your threads, I wondered what range are you paying your help. I have developed a standard of $5.25 per hour, plus an incentive based on amount of work done. A helper generally makes a total of $9-$10 per hour, average; more experienced people make $10-$12. I had two guys a couple of summers ago that I put on a straight incentive, and they averaged $11-$14 per hour, paid on a weekly basis. I have considered paying more, but am not confident that I get any better employees/commitment. Your comments? B2
 

PressureClean

New Member
Steve, we do a lot of masonry restoration work and use the temps to haul mortar buckets and things I don't want my regular guys lifting and carrying around. The temps don't use acids or actually wash anything and they have no interaction with the customers. As a matter of fact they have specific instructions to get the job foreman if anybody asks them anything related to anything while they are working on the job or they risk getting sent home. We anticipated the idea that they wouldn't be very public friendly.

Out here we start our guys at $8/hour and bump them to $10 if they work out. Foremen/supervisors get average $15/hour while on the job site, $10-12 other times. Plus we give bonuses to foremen based on ratios we use for production, material usage, time on job, etc. This year we also started holiday bonuses and the guys seemed to really like that one... :)
 

ron

New Member
are you kidding

you cant get a guy to work around here for less then $15 per hour the mexicans without papers get $10 cash per hour our local MCDONALDS PAYS $8 to start they advertise that on the billboards. $5 for bums thats funny. The cheapist 1 bedroom apt. no utilities payed in todays newspaper was $650 per month.
As far as would you want a temp to work for you,as in hireing a guy with no working papers.
Hell yes they never stop , work harder then anyone ive ever seen, and unless you speak spanish they just point to me if you try to talk to them. It is exspected that contractors show up with this type of help. Its the norm.
As far as "i do it all myself" thats what i do right now also. On occasion i do pick up help when im backed up or want to brush everything.
If you are happy with your living great. I want to get to the point where i go out to do the est. and send one of my crews out to do the job. When do you think the last time the owner of FLEETWASH got wet from a power washer?
I set my goals high so evan if i dont all the way there ill be a lot farther ahead then when i started. No plan. No goal. No goal. No point. step your goals and celebrate your achievments. Thats what gives you what your looking for.
At least thats what im looking for by working at my own biz.
as far as "i do it all myself" do you really want to be holding that wand when your 60?
"image" t shirts $3 hat $3 one color no printing they match my printed shirt and truck and trailer.
i work 2 jobs plus power wash at night its well worth letting a guy run a surface cleaner for $10 per hour while i sleep in the truck[nights no one around] charge $1500 fuel labor $200
ill take that all night every night
 

Steven Rowlet

New Member
As for the Mexicans without papers the Tyson company in Tennessee got hit hard for smuggleing Mexicans into this country to work cheap. Like most large corporations they denied it and blamed lower management for it. Give a job to an American I had a friend that operated a Mobile Oil gas station in the 70's. He too wanted to let his employees run the show while he was gone. After many complaints the station was taken from him. No matter how large you want to grow you have to control the situation. I just can't see turning a $75,000 wash rig over to Mexicans while I sleep, I would toss and turn all night. Of coarse everyone has their own outlook on this subject.
 

PressureClean

New Member
Good managers and company builders know the most important part of their business IS their people. Andrew Carnegie once said, "Take away my steel mills and equipment, but leave me my men and I'll be back in business by tomorrow".

The object in building your company with the right people is to be able to go to your kids soccer game without thinking about who's selling the tires off your trailers and trucks for rent money. If you know you've got quality people working for your company with the same goals as you in mind, then you don't have to worry about what's going on with the "mexicans, bums, or unemployed gas station owners" working for you. No I don't think you should be letting the Mexicans joy ride in your $75,000 rig, but at the same time if you've only got Mexicans working for you, then you've more problems than just your rig at stake.

Speaking of Mexicans, I'm not sure it's prudent to be discussing whether or not your company hires illegal migrant workers, be it Mexicans, Cubans, or any other nationality. Especially on a very public internet bulletin board a click away from prying INS eyes and their drinking buddies over at the IRS. All of you post your company names and locations along with your comments.

As for Ron's comments, you're going to have different labor rates in New Jersey than us here in Pittsburgh or sombody working in South Dakota. Totally different costs of living. $10 an hour here is actually on the high end of hourly wages for laborers when it comes to contracting. McDonald's workers here are getting $6-7 an hour starting. Micky-D's is generally the barometer of labor rates in any market, watch their starting rates and add a few bucks an hour and you can usually keep your guys happy.
 

ron

New Member
ron p

i am not talking about doing anything illeagal. These guys FOR THE RECORD all have social security cards. I pay the social security tax on there time. When it comes to checking on the SS# As an employer you are not legaly binded to check the #. Off the record i know it costs about $25 to get a SS card made for you. At the end of the year i send them a form to pay there own tax's but it comes back as no one by that name at this address. A green card costs $50 in NY.
i live in a 2 bedroom house on a 100x150 lot and pay $3900 in property tax alone.
$9000 in interest on my mortage plus have to pay my own health care thats why i work 3 jobs

when is the government going to fix the health care and auto insurance instead of sending me
a damn check for $300. What the hell was that for? a 91 ford pick up $1600 for insurance clean lic.
thats bull.



sorry got my W-2'S today
 

Scott Stone

New Member
hmmm, if you are sending them a 1099, that is illegal as well. In order to be eligible for a 1099, the person most be a legitimate subcontractor. That means that they have their own equipmetn, set their own schedule, with limitations set by you of course, and are basically running their own business. If you ar eletting them use your equipemnt, then they are employees. If you are paying their Social Security, they are employees. Everyone think that the 1099 is the easy way to go, but it is really misunderstood, and if the IRS audits you, and you cannot prove that they are a legitimate subcontractor, then you are liable for the taxes they owe. You as the prime contractor are the responsible party.

Scott
 

PressureClean

New Member
Actually as a point of clarification here, you are responsible for the employment taxes that YOU should have paid them plus any interest and penalties since it wasn't filed. Also, in many cases you can go back to the IRS and plead your case that the contracting industry as a whole has 1099 contractors on the job sites for these kinds of positions and they may waive the taxes and penalties you would have been responsible for provided you commit to do it right from here on out. Yes, they can come after you for both sides of the employment taxes but they usually don't.

If you have a question about this you can search the IRS's web site, specifically in their small business IRS site, for the publication that deals with 1099 contractors. They will tell you flat out that the classification of employee versus contractor goes to several criteria that they set, but the major ones are control of behavior and equipment. If you have a say in controlling the activities of that contractor while in the completion of his/her job then they are considered an employee. However general that is, they look at whether or not they use equipment provided by you and whether or not they do the job how they see fit or do they have supervision or input by you as the supervisor. If there is circumstances when you direct them in how they carry out your orders, then you are an employer. They also put a lot of emphasis on that equipment item. They use your equipment and you are directing them, then you are screwed if the IRS wants to do an audit. Keep in mind that all it takes is one of your "contractors" not paying their taxes when you notify the IRS that you have sent them a 1099 and they can come back at you for an audit. Any contractor that you fire could also trigger one if they get a bug up their butt and want to cause you problems by calling the IRS. 1099 Contractors are also one of the areas the IRS loves to scrutinize because so many small business owners try to get away with things with it.

It costs more and it's a pain, but we put our guys on payroll. Plus I can sleep at night knowing my guys have workers comp in case they get hurt and if we get really slow in the winter when it's below zero they can go on unemployment so they aren't starving or freezing to death.

Isn't this stuff wonderful? I read a quote one time that said, "The difference between the "joy" of natural child birth and the "joy" of running your own business is that child birth is over after a few hours." :)
 

Tim Mcculla

New Member
I agree - I think is not the best thing to be dicussing doing illegal things on this board. Also, do you think sometimes customers may visit this board? I don't want them to think I 'cheat' the government or my workers. I would prefer them to think I charge a 'fair' price to produce a great job and fair wage for my workers.

I think we should be pushing to raise the level of proffesionalism in our industry. We should be talking about things that increase how efficiant we operate and how to better market our service so that we can afford to pay our help a good wage.

Just my thoughts - Tim
 

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