High Pressure,
It would be better knowing who you are, but I guess for this question, it probably doesn't matter.
I agree that $75.00 an hour is a little pricey, but only in certain situations.
If housewash is the example, $75.00 per hour is a bit pricey for someone like myself who I consider a novice for at least the first year. This is why the Journeyman on this network have set different pricing guidelines and methods to choose from.
I use the $1.00 per linear foot for one story and $2.00 per linear foot for two stories. This way the customer doesn't pay for my training and the Journeyman of this profession are not embarrassed to be associated with me.
If I were to do a home of about 300 linear ft with about $65 in chemicals and fuel, I would charge the customer about $365 or somewhere there about. This is a fairly reasonable price I think for that size of house. In the beginning this house would have taken me about 8 hours to do, depending on how much prep was involved. If I were to charge $75.00 an hour this would be about $665.00 give or take. Do I think it would be worth that price, yes I do, but I probably wouldn't get the job in this area because the people here are simply not educated as to how much I may be saving them.
If you think $75.00 per hour is to pricey think about this.
Many times I get a call to wash a house where the customer was told by their painter that they needed to have their house washed first with a mildecide product before they paint their home. If you know what it cost to have your house painted by a professional painter, then you will know what I'm leading up to. In a lot of cases I wash the house and guess what? The customer comes out during the process and says, " I didn't know powerwashing a house made this much difference. The next thing I know, the customer has called the painter and canceled the house painting. Many of my customer are totally flabbergasted.
Now when you think about it, you have saved this customer hundreds of dollars. I have actually drove off leaving the customer starring at their house shaking their heads smiling and waving back at me. Now if I would have charged the customer $665.00 would I feel guilty? Probably not.
This may be a poor way of looking at it, but when you add it all up, you come up with your answer. $75.00 per hour is not always pricey.
For a Journeyman, $75.00 per hour is probably a little low in many cases.
If your a novice and want to stay on the safe side, use the linear foot method and I think you will find it will work OK for you.
If you feel that the linear foot method is to pricey...well...you probably won't make it in washing houses for long before you start to suffer from burnout.
If your customers are not as astonished as mine are, chances are your not using the right chemical mix. This alone makes the cost seem to the customer, worth every penny.
To top it off, I know my pricing is probably to low because many of my customers are giving me $25 to $50.00 tips when I'm finished.
Hope this helps.
Richard R.
