Want to make your own x-jet?

[Mark]

Johnny,

Welcome to www.PowerWashNetwork.com

I do not believe that Ron is trying a "bait and switch" here.

I understand that Ron can make about $90 an hour washing houses at $99 each. based on his post, that sounds like pretty decent pay to me, so NO I do not think it is bait and switch!

Stick around a while and I am sure you will agree.

 

[Larry L.]

No,not to me it doesn't,the way I read Ron's is as add ons not switch.He saved money by not going by there beforehand to give a est.,they do not have to take any of the add ons.For just a house wash,most can wash them for 99 dallors,I can and I think most on the board can.It all boils down to how good a salesperson you are if you think your worth more by adding onto the 99 dallor wash job,you already know your going to make 99 dallors without the added cost beforehand,so its not the same.

 

[ron]

I learned this from the carpet cleaners. 3 rooms for $99.
Then the little *
*=10x10 rooms
*=stairs extra
*=hall ways extra
*=stain guard extra
*=large spots extra
*= specials on upolstery[add-ons]
*= drapes extra
Once your there,you sell your service.
Sure some wont take the extras buy lot's of people will.
I wont clean it any diffrently if they dont take the extras because it's got my name on it, and i want there friends and niebours to see my work,and like it.
Dont confuse cheap for crappy work.
Some people buy used cars because that's all they can afford.
Why not fill that void in the PW industry.
If you drop to a lowballers price that is doing crappy work,and you do good work,where can the lowballer go?
OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then next season it's $150 a house and you do a couple of the extra's.
Bait and switch. That is easy to get around,for a co.
*limited quanitys in very very small print.
All i am doing is learning to sell from reading the newspaper.
People that dont make money cant afford to put an ad in the newspaper every week. So i look at the co. that advertise's week in/week out. Then see how they word things and look for the *********
Advertising is bait,the salesman is the hook.
That's why bigboy is a good fisherman.
Before any fishing lure can catch a fish, the lure must catch the fisherman first. You got to buy it to try it.

 

[timhays]

I think Ron's intentions are good,but i tried a similiar tactic when i started pressure washing full time,i advertised a $100 housewash special on a proffesional flyer with a short introduction about our services,these flyers were distributed amongst the dirtiest upper income neighborhoods,we received not one call from this marketing,it could have been for several reasons.
1 flyers dont work (never have for me)
2 the price might have scared off potential customers
3 if people dont want to clean,price wont convince them to.

if i could have lined up many houses in one neighborhood it could have been profitable.

I also onced subbed from a local paint company doing there prepaint washing,who lured me in through the local newspaper offering $1500 week cleaning there houses. they paid $60 for small house $80 for medium,and $100 for large houses.

no matter what size house they give me i could clean it in an hour so 60-80 dollars an hour seemed like a decent deal,the thing was it would take me 1 hour to get to job,1 hour to do job,1 hour to get to next job,that is if the homeowner dont start asking a bunch of questions wasting your time asking you to get this since your here.

then you got to figure rush hour traffic at 8 am 12 noon and 6 pm

i could only get 3 maybe 4 houses in a day tops,

if you can find a way to make it work ron please share your success.

i am just sharing some of my failures.

i do agree on following other advertisers leads,especially if there same ad runs continuously.

 

[Chuck Richard]

there are some very good views coming in this thread. I am learning alot, more about members than business, but still alot alot about both.

 

[melsmobile]

Well hell i just wonted to say that i agreed with Mark, I can wash an 1,500 sq ft house one story in less then 1hr. you bet on problem. Mark this all started all over an home made x-jet , now mine and Chuck have about 25 % draw and if your using a good chemical way would need 50% draw?


Chuck R. look what you started all over a home made x-jet. lol...
69 replies!

Mel

Mel's mobile wash

 

[melsmobile]

Yes Justin , your right about the wash time , so 1hr wash 30mins b/s.

You make some good points!

Mel

 

[Larry L.]

Money is not actually the issue here at all.


In a post WAY up above I said it doesn't matter what the thread started out as we'd talk about anything.What was the issue anyway hmmm who cares as long as some are learning.Somebody will start a new thread wanting to know something which will get answered and it'll be back to business again talking about anything.

 

[Larry L.]

hmmm moving flowerpots,moving chairs,checking windows,ect. hmmmm sounds like add ons to me,thats not in the 99 dallor deal.A phone call will let them know when you'll be there,so get the stuff out of the way or its extra.You have to train the customer not the customer training you,teach them how they can save money by moving things around and out of the way before you get there.So you see we're not all the same when it comes to pricing things by the job or planning a route to save time.It doesn't take long to wash a house its the other stuff that will slow you down,even opening trailer doors will slow you down as to a open trailer.
When one hallowers you cann't they is or they are somebody that can.

 

[johnny]

You are walking on some very thin ice by drawing the analogy to the capet cleaners. That is the #1 industry that has been singled out for bait & switch. The state of NJ is pretty harsh on the subject and has been known to triple fine companies for complaints on b & s. One disgruntled customer can upset your whole apple cart. The way the good carpet guys are combating the lowballers is thru marketing different levels of service. You obviously do it, but you're not saying it. Put it in writing! The Economy Wash, $99.00 - we just do the siding. The Economy-Plus, we do siding plus the outside of the gutters for, $135.00. Up to The Super Duper or whatever you call it for $375.00, includes siding, gutters, walks, windows, etc. (Those numbers don't mean anything they are just for instance).That's the truth in advertising thing that the lawyers go for. If you offer them the choice, they perceive the value and you have raised the bar. It also takes the emotion out of the price you charge. In other words," the levels of service that our company has to offer are and these are the prices." That's where the sales aspect comes into play and you can kick everyone's butt!

 

[ron]

this thread is out of control because because people are sick of lowballers. So am I.
The POINT of the advertising is to get the phone to ring.
The cust. calls. You ans. The customer ask's about the $99 special.
You tell them what they get for the $99.[just the siding washed]
Then you tell them about your OTHER specials. Better known as the PACKAGE. wHERE THEY CAN CUSTOMISE WHAT SERVICES THEY WANT. Then you tell them when to exspect you and the things that are exspected for them to do.
These things are in print on my contracts.
Driveway must be clear of all cars.
Windows and doors must be tightly shut.
Dogs must be inside.
Water must be turned on
Pics of prev. damage will be photo.
There is more but im not going to give away everything.
This is done at night,not done when i can be washing.
You dont send flyers to upscale houses. They wont even look at them. They are upscale.
You place cheapo ads where cheapo people look.
Not in your yellow page ad.
That is where you hunt the big fish. If you know how.
*tip-use the names of upscale towns in ads where your looking for upscale work and dont cheap out on the ad.
**tip 2- use the names of the towns where mostly blue coller workers live and use words like "very reasonable" "cheaper then you think" "FREE EST."
I will say this, you guys on this thread have some good points.
I have re-read the entire postings 3 times.
I am going to change my ad because of two reasons.
One because $99 is too cheap.
Two doing a house without doing the gutters will hurt my reputation and kill sales from friends and walk bye's.
So now im going to inc. gutters and bump up to $150,with the same rules i had for the $99.
I will also add the words "and up"
Thats $150 and up.
That removes the bait and switch thing,completly.
Has anyone ever herd those ads on TV that say
"could save you up to $150 or more"
You do know that that line means apsolutly NOTHING.
That word "could" makes it all leagle to say.
call PRO-WASH i could save you up to $200 on your next house washing.
We are blasted with advertising every sec. of the day. Unless you block it off in your own home. Even then a logo is advertising.
I just wanted some advertising that works.
Thanks for everyone's input on CHUCK'S thread.
Will the SEARCH button find this type of info when looking for it or just come up when looking at x-jet info.
If it wont come up i suggest a mod sep the two threads.
Hate to see it get lost

 

[Larry L.]

I think it should stay as it is,sorta hidden,if it was under another thread you may not get as much info out of me.Its sorta like setting around shooting the bull with ways and ideals to help each other that is posting in the thread.One thing about it the searcher will learn maybe more than on how to build a x-jet...it doesn't matter to me,think it should stay as is tho.

 

[johnny]

Hi Justin,

I think what you mean when you say warm fuzzies is also called "the sizzle." If you can get them to hear the sizzle and smell the juices people soon discover they need that steak. Customers buy that sizzle. What I was referring to in regard to removing the emotion from the pricing pertains to the contractor's emotion. When you as a small businessman go out to "sell" a job the customer is unknowingly trying to get inside your head to tell you "it's too expensive" by their reaction or body language. A sales trainer once said, "don't sell from your back pocket!" In other words, just because you can't afford it- doesn't mean that they can't. When you package the pricing and indicate what each represents the customer feels they have made the wise decision by calling your company in selecting the best bang for the buck. Your prices are not you, they were established by the imaginary home office (in your check book.) You can offer discounts but the prices are things.

 

[Mike Hughes]

Originally posted by ron
A guy like Dave Olsen can run a 52inc surface cleaner with his equipment and beat the heck out of anyone with a 27inc.

Even if Dave could do it twice as fast, that doesnt mean you charge half as much. All that equipment doens't come free........

 

[ron]

Hi Mike

never said anything about 1/2.
Two ways to beat the heck out of the compition.
price and quality.
If you can do a better job at a 5% discount you wont have any trouble beatting the heck out of the compition. Then add the fact your doing it in 2/3 the time or less.
Equipment you buy once. Help you buy everyday. Your equipment is there everyday and never get's sick.
Yes there's cost's involved in both but i rather pay $100 an hour to a man with a backhoe then $10 per hour to a man with a shovel if i need a hole dug,even if in the end it cost me the same.
There is a thing called "percieved value"
If i wash a house for $99 and im in and out in 1 hr. or 1 1/2 hr even,it's OK. Charge $300 and your done in 1 1/2 hrs, no matter if it's perfect, people get mad.
Customers dont want you to make too much money.
If you did come up with a detergent that you sprayed on a truck and hosed off and it came out perfect. No one would pay what the sevice was worth. You would kill the market.
They make a tire that will go about 500,000 miles but they dont sell them. They RENT them to bus co. Why dont they sell them. It would kill the market.

 

[JR Wood]

You are all wrong and you are also right. Some people shop price some shop emotion, some will only use referrals. Ron you are too cheap period. Instead of using $99 put $179 I guarantee unless you are a bad face to face salesman you will get just as many if not more house washes. Up here in northern jersey there are lowballers galore and there are the companies that have been charging $350 for a house wash consistantly for years and guess who are still around. My basic price is $179-$249 for a house wash(thats vinyl and gutters) I only sell house washes to my deck customers which actually adds more in your pocket because you are on the scene and it is mostly labor. I can clean a house in about 1 hour and 45 minutes and since I am there for other stuff the interaction with the customer and other setup times are minimized. I also try to sell a gutter cleaning and driveway sealcoat at the same time (tip: sell other services after you clean the deck, I do a really good job and that alone can get you all the other services)

The reason why the x-jet is the "X-jet" is the draw. It saves time and labor. A hose barb only draws as much as the injector will draw. I use it all the time but it is no x-jet. You can just get a cheap injector and put it on the end of your wand and it also works.

 

[Chuck Richard]

I'v got this thing working on a 5-1 draw rate now. Has anyone tried to build it yet? Did you figure out the secret part that goes inside to make it work?

 

[Dan S]

What a thread !!!!!!!!!!!!!

turns out Chuck it seems you made somefolks mad ( other BB )

people you just gotta love 'em.

dont loose any sleep buddy ..........

what a world huh?

is it a zero nozzel .................................. I cheated

 

[Marv]

Chuck,
Did you use a porportioner to draw from hose? What size, or ratio? Have you tried not using the hose, or have the hose draw air?

I am wondering if I used a heavy surfactant, or foaming agent in a downstream (like a chem injector) and put x-jet on wand and let it draw air, would it give me a foam?

 

[DOWNEASTER]

Use a piece

of 1/2 pvc 30 in. or so and put hose through it. stays in 5 gal. bucket good and also works as stur stick. Works good. Earl