Am I to low on price, cleaning flat concrete

[Ike]

A grocery store in my area got us down to 4 cents a square foot for 3400 sf. They want this cleaned once a week before 8am. We also clean their windows to. I use a cold water 3500 psi Karcher with a turbo nozzle. They say if we give them a deal, they will use us for all their stores. Am I to cheap, to high, or sound to desperate. I am doing just fine as a window cleaner.
Thanks for any insight[nb] [bf]

 

[ron]

ron p

PLEASE TELL ME YOUR NOT GOING TO CLEAN ANYTHING OTHER THEN YOUR CAR OR HOUSE WITH THAT 2.5 GAL UNIT YOU HAVE!
sorry but with cold water and only 2.5 gpm you will be there for ever.
$135 to clean 3400 sq ft of cement with 2.5 gpm, cold water, with a turbo.
Do it one time and you'll never do it again. Your back wont you.
I am glad you want to better yourself but your starting out with the wrong equipment for the type of work your looking to do. You will go broke and get discouraged real fast. You will kill, what might have been. Mark has a wash unit on sale right now for $1200.[today and fri only]
Go back on e-bay and sell your unit ASAP.
Dont let that HOMEOWNER wash unit kill your hopes. Then learn everything you can about CHEMS. they do most of the work for you.
What were/are you going to use as a cleaner[chem] you cant afford to use much at $136.00
and your not going to get it clean with that unit you have without chem.
Dont let the ASS that screwed you on your wash unit, screw-up your hopes.

 

[Dan Flynn]

The first commercial job I did was a store. It was a concrete cleaning job about the same size you’re talking. With a machine about the same size you’re talking about.

I almost never washed again. It took six hours and looked like crap when I was finish. I was very tired and frustrated. I was afraid to bill the store it looked so bad. I got paid and was very surprised I did. That job was billed for $500.

Same job with hot water 5 gpm and 3000 psi takes 2.5 to 3 hours with setting up until I drive away and looks incredible.

Plus if that unit is a direct drive you got ripped even worse. I have a spare unit belt drive 3000 psi at 4 gpm. I paid $1100 locally for it.

 

[john orr]

2.5 gal/min? Isn't that a 4 gpm unit? And 4 gpm is fine. If it were me, I would much rather have hot water for this job. A surface cleaner would be nice too. A turbo nozzle is rather abusive to concrete over time, so if you get the contract, you'll definetely need to invest in a suface cleaner...I've used an 18" Whirl-A-Way everyday for over a year, and love it...with a 3500 psi/4 gpm unit. I added a hot box (I paid $750) for situations such as yours.

As to the price, its a little low, but with the prospect of volume and frequency, I would probably take it.

 

[melsmobile]

IKE,

HOW MANY STORES ARE THERE TOTAL?

IF THERES AT LEASE 5 STORES, I WOULD GO BUY A HOT WATER RIG

BUT LIKE DAN SAID AT LESS 3HRS TO DO ONE IF THEY ARE NOT 24 HR STORES, IF THEY ARE THEN AD 1 HR TO THE JOB AND ALSO IS THERE WATER AT EACH STORE.

THE FIRST JOB I EVERY DID WAS A GAS STATION, FOR $125 IT WAS ASPHALT AND CONCRETE , THE STATION HAD NEVERY BEEN CLEANED. I HAD COLD PRESSURE WASHER 6GPM 16HP ,I SHOVELED UP A PICK-UP LOAD OF DIRT IT TOOK 11 HRS. THAT WAS 16 YEARS AGO, AFTER THAT IT ONLY TOOK 2.5 HRS CLEANED IT EVERY 2 WEEKS . I SILL DO WORK FOR THIS MAN.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Ike]

I appreciate the advice. We told the facility director for the district it would be 4 cents psf once a week, 6 cents every other week, 8 cents every 4 weeks, and 12 cents quarterly. It took me 3 and a half hours cleaning 3400 sf with my 3500 psi karcher turbo nozzle. It hasn't been done in three weeks.[ddddeee]

 

[gull maint>]

3500? 4 gpm?....does that mean you straightened that out on e-bay. Inquiring minds want to know,please let us know.

Thanks
John

 

[Ike]

NO, I bought a lightly used Karcher for 3500 psi for $700 locally. So for $1500 I figured I broke even for the two. The ebay seller to stay away from is Dennis Comar,{Comar007}. Always look for pictures before you buy I learned! Thanks for the feedback![whip]

 

[Jon]

Hi Ike,

The others have pretty much said it all, hot water, surface cleaner and be sure that each store has water outlet.

What State and city you in, would be nice if you added that to your profile.

Jon

 

[Ike]

I'm from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Thanks Jon

 

[Phoenix]

Pretty well, I think all has been said, but I will agree, hot water kicks butt.. as far as pricing.. let your conscience be your guide, dont be afraid to set your rates at wht you feel you're truly worth. Th lowballers dont ALWAYS get th job, and there are lots of folks that think ya can still buy a Rolls for a VW price. I tell my customers Im not the cheapest guy, but I'm not tryin to be, I give a quality service for a fair price.

 

[Craig Knight]

Considering its a grocery store, not a restaurant, and its once a week cleaning, not monthly or quarterly, you will get by fine with cold water. I do agree that hot water is the way to go, but we have ran out of diesel and just used a high concentrate of our homemade brew degreaser and with a longer dwell time, it will clean up fine. Especially since it wont get nightmarishly dirty from one week to the next.

4 cents a square foot is low. But contracts are great to have during the slow winter months. be sure to tack on a drive time charge if your going half way around the country hitting these stores. They understand thats its required, but you have to hit them up for it.

 

[Clean County]

If not using chemicals then Hot water will almost cut your job in half. I know because recently while cleaning a store front sidewalk my burner shut down so I had to use cold water and what a problem to pop the massive amount of gum on this sidewalk.

As for chemicals this store chain specifically looked for a contractor with a hot water set-up and not to use chemicals except for stained area's if needed only.

Also if your going to use chemicals most area's want the water to be reclaimed around here and if your not in compliance you could be faced with some heavy duty fines.

Just another reason why I only use water to clean commercial sidewalks. Down the road I may get into the water reclaiming end of this business.