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AUSTIN'S AQUA-CLEAN
Guest
would you guy's like to share how you got the first job you ever did?? and what the job was, and what you got paid for doing it.
scott
scott
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Express clean
New Member
My first job was a white 2 story colonial with aluminum siding. i got the job from an ad in the paper.It took me almost TWO days to clean for $250.00.Pretty good huh?
Our first power washing job was a deck. 15X20 on the ground with a standard rail around it. It took me 2 to 3 days to do at 500 and something.
Today that same deck would take 1hr to clean and 1 to 2hrs to stain.
Great question.
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Dan Flynn
Flynn Service Pro
www.powerwash.net
708/715-4206
Today that same deck would take 1hr to clean and 1 to 2hrs to stain.
Great question.
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Dan Flynn
Flynn Service Pro
www.powerwash.net
708/715-4206
my first job was a 2 story alumunim office building took me 4 days and when i was done it still looked like ****... i nevered did bill them...........................
i hate doing houses .i wont do another one .
i have been in this bussines for 6 years and i did a total of 3 houses..when i do a deck and they want there house done i refer them to someone else ......... i stay happy and they they still get it clean.oh and by the way i still make out when i dont do a house i refer .because i sub it out..
i hate doing houses .i wont do another one .
i have been in this bussines for 6 years and i did a total of 3 houses..when i do a deck and they want there house done i refer them to someone else ......... i stay happy and they they still get it clean.oh and by the way i still make out when i dont do a house i refer .because i sub it out..
C
Craig/PowerWashUnlimited
Guest
Scott,
Got the bright idea of pressure washing from a friend of mine. So i called up his distributor and said, set me up a 16ft trailer with the works. Everything that my friend had on his. Obviously they were glad to help out, and about 8 grand later, i went and picked it up. Brought it home. Was out in my driveway staring at it when a lady whipped into my driveway and said, thank god, i need your help. She was having an open house the next day, and needed her house washed, mold and mildew removal. So i said you bet, she told me where it was, and left with my promise i would be right over. As soon as she left, i started calling my friend, lives about 3 hrs from me, and got a 10 minute CRASH course on how to start the dang thing, and what NOT TO DO when cleaning this house. Took me all of that day, and about 3 hrs the next. But got it clean for the noon open house get together. Oh yeah, forgot to say, i told her 75 bucks.
Learned alot since then.
Craig
Got the bright idea of pressure washing from a friend of mine. So i called up his distributor and said, set me up a 16ft trailer with the works. Everything that my friend had on his. Obviously they were glad to help out, and about 8 grand later, i went and picked it up. Brought it home. Was out in my driveway staring at it when a lady whipped into my driveway and said, thank god, i need your help. She was having an open house the next day, and needed her house washed, mold and mildew removal. So i said you bet, she told me where it was, and left with my promise i would be right over. As soon as she left, i started calling my friend, lives about 3 hrs from me, and got a 10 minute CRASH course on how to start the dang thing, and what NOT TO DO when cleaning this house. Took me all of that day, and about 3 hrs the next. But got it clean for the noon open house get together. Oh yeah, forgot to say, i told her 75 bucks.
Craig
Dave Olson
New Member
Hi Scott,
We bought out a fellow that had been in business for about 7 years. Along with equipment we took over the accounts that he had.
The first work that we did was heavy equipment in a scrap yard. Loaders, cable & hydro cranes, engines, raditors. Mud over your shoes, scrap metal all over the place. Very noisy and smelled of burning rubber, etc. Had to inspect our truck tires for slivers of steel before you go back on the highway!
If I remember correctly we spent most all day (2 of us) and billed $400 or so.
This was 16 years ago April 1984! We still do work for that company. Conditions there have improved somewhat but still not a nice place to be.
Now we bill them time & material. They say we are too expensive so they only bring us in when they cannot do it themselves. They tried another fellow because his hourly rate were less expensive. They said he took over twice as long to do the same equipment and he ended up charging them even more than we would have!
Wow, brings back the memories, great question!
Dave Olson
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Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com
We bought out a fellow that had been in business for about 7 years. Along with equipment we took over the accounts that he had.
The first work that we did was heavy equipment in a scrap yard. Loaders, cable & hydro cranes, engines, raditors. Mud over your shoes, scrap metal all over the place. Very noisy and smelled of burning rubber, etc. Had to inspect our truck tires for slivers of steel before you go back on the highway!
If I remember correctly we spent most all day (2 of us) and billed $400 or so.
This was 16 years ago April 1984! We still do work for that company. Conditions there have improved somewhat but still not a nice place to be.
Now we bill them time & material. They say we are too expensive so they only bring us in when they cannot do it themselves. They tried another fellow because his hourly rate were less expensive. They said he took over twice as long to do the same equipment and he ended up charging them even more than we would have!
Wow, brings back the memories, great question!
Dave Olson
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Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com
M
Monty & Sherry
Guest
We read your posts on your first jobs and it brought back memories and giggles. Four years ago, our first job...a steel building covered with rust from sprinklers and avian excretion (pigeon poo!). We can clean that...afterall we are Mr. Powerwash. After about 4-5 hours of playing with our equipment and rig, we gallantly proceeded to the jobsite. We hadn't counted on things like a 50mph wind, attack pigeons and Murphy's Law. The pigeons were swooping us, the wind was blowing everything around, the product was drying to the surface as fast as we could put it on (whatever the wind allowed us to put on), the burner wouldn't burn, and the metering valve wouldn't meter. Finally out came the brushes and scrub buds, backed up with a rotating nozzle and alot of elbow grease. After 6 hours of frustration and hard work we left with a twinkling building, a happy customer, and $125.00!! And that included wages for a helper! At that point we wondered what the heck we got ourselves into. Desperation and persistance have become our greatest allies and we learned alot about pricing since then. Its now 4 years later and we're still here!!
Laurie Grathen
<br><b>Premium Member<b><br>
A motor home for $60; took about 3 hours! We were out bidding our first job, cleaning a restaurant parking lot filthy with construction dirt, when the motor home owner asked if we could clean his rig. Didn't get the parking lot but the motor home looked twice as clean sitting in the dirt on the lot. Made a nice picture and we were proud of our first money in the business.
Scott Stone
New Member
We did about 15 cranes. It took me about 4 hours. What a mess. They had never been cleaned regularly before that. We still do the same customer, and it takes us a little over an hour and a half.
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Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? are the afraid someone will clean them?
Just a guy driving around trying to make a living washing trucks, Wouldn't know a deck if it bit me in the hind quarters,
Bus. Phone 480-834-3434
Cell Phone 602-509-9741
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Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? are the afraid someone will clean them?
Just a guy driving around trying to make a living washing trucks, Wouldn't know a deck if it bit me in the hind quarters,
Bus. Phone 480-834-3434
Cell Phone 602-509-9741
Jon
New Member
First job was two of those trucks that make and pour cement at the job site.
Customer rebuilds them, had to get all the years of grease, oil and caked on cement off.
Charged $40 an hour, too 5 hours, had fun, got as much water on me as on the trucks!
Learned a lot since, found doing flat work much more to my liking.
Customer called for more work, told him price went up to $65 an hour, never heard from him again, oh well
Jon
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Beep beep, the OPC Roadrunner coming through.
Jon Fleischer
Oasis Pressure Cleaning
(909) 792-2247
Fax (909) 792-5633
Customer rebuilds them, had to get all the years of grease, oil and caked on cement off.
Charged $40 an hour, too 5 hours, had fun, got as much water on me as on the trucks!
Learned a lot since, found doing flat work much more to my liking.
Customer called for more work, told him price went up to $65 an hour, never heard from him again, oh well
Jon
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Beep beep, the OPC Roadrunner coming through.
Jon Fleischer
Oasis Pressure Cleaning
(909) 792-2247
Fax (909) 792-5633
A
AUSTIN'S AQUA-CLEAN
Guest
thank's guy's and gal's i thought it would be kinda neat to see all the differnt way's everyone had started out,and for your self's to see just how far you all have came thank's for you replying to the post.
scott
scott
Russ in Chicago
New Member
I was selling my 67 Camaro to finance my new venture and one of the tire kickers was a regional manager for Shell. He didn't buy the car, but wanted quotes on 12 corporate stations. "Man," I thought, "This business is gonna be really easy!" Then I had to clean them. So much for that easy crap.