Been Asked To Remove Moss From Roofs

[Richard Barnes]

Went canvassing yesterday had 4 people ask if i could qoute to remove moss from tiles on roofs. 2 of these were bungalows which would be fairly easy,

Any Body done this before

 

[Smurf]

Donny on here cleans roofs

I too must get asked a least once a week and say no sorry I'm not a roofer.

For example had a phone call yesterday asking for a the usual gutter clearing quote but custy wanted to know if I cleaned moss from roofs also install gutter guards.

During the conversation I did explain moss will grow back as the spores are airborne. Then to my surprise she said "I know I had the roof cleaned last year a paid a fortune to have it done and it looks just as bad now as it did before."

Bit off topic but as far as installing gutter guards I did explain they are not maintenance free. I spend a lot of time taken them out of gutter clearing jobs I do as they don't work aswell as they say they do in our wet climate. Eventually the whole gutter run gets blocked underneath it so is a waste of time and money as costs extra for me to remove. All jobs that I have done so far with gutter guards installed customers do not want them put back.

If you want to get into roof cleaning then you will also need to be able to do roof repairs too and follow H&S good working practises to stay within the law..

Good example of cleaning a bungalow roof - not something I would like to do myself to be honest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK3oAaXZAW4

.

 

[nwcs]

ive done some......

not as easy as it look

very time consuming it done come off very easy,

last one i did was just the front side of the roof as the back was clear,

it was 1980 box standard 4 bed house, it tuc 2 of us 2 and a half hours,

was in the summer so nice day, customer said how much after we had finnished,

£75.00 i said, she gave us £120. and was over the moon.

i had told customer before i didnt have a clue about price as didnt know how long it would take but said it would be about £30.00 an hour

DONT UNDER PRICE YOURSELF AS IT MAY TAKE TWICE AS LONG AS YOU THINK

 

[nwcs]

also i wouldnt deam of using a pressure washer as could cause leaks,

i just get up on the roof on a nice day and use scrapers and a brush.

not a job for this time a year, i would say yes i would be happy to come back in spring to do them.

 

[Richard Barnes]

thanks chaps seems as much trouble as i thought, and i am not 1 for heights even bunglows,

 

[Donny]

If somebody cleaned her roof and its as bad a year later they didnae do it properly, if you do it offer too spray it with a sealer or Mosskill to slow down regrowth, i usually do and its a good earner an aw, in that video thats posted ive never seen the moss up here come off that easily lol, plan on taking 2 days and charge £360 at least, lay down tarps, put up a quick scaffold, you will need a fall arrestor, you will need a roof ladder obviously, you will need at least a 15lpm pressure washer and a turbo nozzle, it aint a pleasant job but you can charge top dollar for it, done well the moss will stay away for 4 years ish sometimes longer.

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[Smurf]

Sounds a lot of hassle Donny,

Have you ever had any complaints after like the roof has started to leak?

 

[Newbie123]

Saw somewhere that some Americans install copper strips across roofs with heavy foliage nearby to combat the moss on shingles etc only seemed to combat about 4-5 shingle depths but still a result for em don't know where they get cheap copper though think it would get knicked over here something to do with the ppm the copper adds to rain water

 

[Newbie123]

Just can't think of a cost effective way of using copper over here as the clay tiles seem to get messed up with moss

 

[Donny]

Its no that much hassle, lightweight tarps. i only scaffold 2 storey or above and charge for it an aw, once you have the right gear its easy

Never had water get in a house in 7 years of doing them.

The copper wire works in theory but in reality is pish, most tiles are shaped so the water runs off the copper and runns down the valley of the tiles so you get clean streaks and the tops of tiles dirty, also it needs too be earthed as its a lightning conductor, and its bloody expensive and some pikey will just nick it anyway lol

 

[Smurf]

So how do you work out the price?

 

[Donny]

Experience really, dont ever rush them, an avg proper clean takes 1.5 days i charge for the full 2 though, some smaller roofs you can do in a day.

One storey bungalow , no scaffolding , 1 day =£250 2 days =£360 add £20 for van and powerwasher fuel

2 storey house 1 day £300 2 days £500 add £100 for erecting and taking down scaffold tower add £20 for fuel

Add ons you can get, spraying anti fungal, spraying roof sealer, spraying roof coatings , now thats bigger money /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Smurf]

Thanks Donny, so how do you work out the cost for spraying anti fungal, spraying roof sealer & spraying roof coatings?

 

[Donny]

Anti fungal , i buy Mosskill concentrate, costs £75 for 20 litre drum but can be thinned 1 to 40 so can last a long time, use a backpack sprayer, you can cover a big area from one position.

Charge Labour, 1 day( the biggest roofs only take a day but charge for a days work anyway ) £180 and charge £10 per litre used (thinned at 1 to 40) so profit on Mosskill as well, and fuel for van avg £10 obviously if its a high roof add £100 for a labourer if you do it off ladders, ( i leave scaffold up after clean for those that want it.

Roof sealer is £90 for 20 litre drum i charge £120 for it and charge £200 a day for spraying it ( its slightly more hassle than anti fungal but no much, avg roof takes 1 drum and even a bigroof usually only a day

Roof Coating is more hassle, you have too mask off windows and fascia , paint edges and round lead with a brush, avg job takes 4 days

Coatings are about £100 for 20 litres, difficult too say how much youll use , depends on tiles condition, always buy too much and you can use extra on another job and charge initial customer for it anyway ( cough) i sayon average youll need 50 to 60 litres for a average house ( 2 coats), i use a HVLP sprayer, i charge £300 per day as always 2 of us and normally take 3 days too 2 coats avg job is about £1500 /emoticons/biggrin.png after fuel etc

 

[Smurf]

Nice one Donny /emoticons/wink.png