Rip Off Driveway Cleaner

[Vince Green]

Got to a customers today to find some dodgy character cleaning the driveway. The customer's a widow and I have been doing her windows for years so I feel a bit protective towards her.

Well he had all the gear, signwrittten transit, honda pressure washer etc but what a cowboy! rubbish job is too good to describe it . He didn't even move the tubs. Water and mud all over the back door, patio doors etc bits missed all over the place. He didn't do the side alley at all He was wandering up and down waving the lance like it was a metal detector. Then he was gone

I later found out he had charged her £350!!!. Its only a small drive on a 3 bed semi. I felt really sick about it when she told me.

I told some builders working next door and they were shocked, said he couldn't have been there more than a couple of hours.

I got his number from the van but what can you do? If this was CIU there would be pressure washers on there saying he was just a better business man than I am and get over it

 

[M.K Cleaners.co.uk]

''small drive on a 3 bed semi''

You shouldn't compare the size of a house to the size of a drive, they vary way to much lol.

​A couple of hours on a drive is the norm for me. The time spent will vary on your machine and attachments.

​As for price... Where was he travelling from? Keep in mind, the ground has to be dry before he can re-sand it so he will need to come back to it.

As for the rest there no excuse for that at all.

 

[Smurf]

I hate ppl being taken for a ride like that :angry:

If the customer is not happy with the job then she should consider reporting the guy to trading standards. Especially if he came over menacing when asking for the money...

 

[harunh]

hmmm it cant be a rip off price though if the customers agreed... if it was a rip off price the customer would of said no... they both agreed the price and thats it mate

plus... if shes not happy she has a right to call him back and complain if he comes around and does it again then fair enough

 

[Vince Green]

​As for price... Where was he travelling from? Keep in mind, the ground has to be dry before he can re-sand it so he will need to come back to it.

As for the rest there no excuse for that at all.

No idea where he came from he knocked on the door and offered to do it. He wasn't booked and he had not arranged to come back and resand it. I would be amazed if he did. She won't see him again, or her money.

When I say a small drive I mean parking for one car. If she has her car on the drive I would not be able to get my van on as well. He had a strong Irish accent If you get my meaning.

He also told her there was a sealer in the water.

 

[Smurf]

Sounds like a right rouge to me but if ppl are silly enough to be taken advantage like that then rouge traders will continue to go about ripping ppl off.

 

[CNS-southwest]

That's just dumb on the clients part.

£350 for a driveway clean /emoticons/ohmy.png who has that money just sitting at home and thinks, o yer why not clean my driveway for that.

I know there is a sealant you can buy for driveways as our neighbors had it done, but it don't go in the water, not the one I saw anyways.

 

[Smurf]

Small block paved driveway like that i would charge no more than £140 inc re-sanding. Approx 4hours work split over 2 days as would need to come back when dry to re-sand. As far as sealing the pavers which adds another call back to the house to do properly i don't do anyways as bumps the cost up considerably as I've found most of my customer either doesn't want it done or can do it themselves once i've cleaned it properly.

Sealant in the water my ****... /emoticons/ohmy.png

Guess what colour these pavers should be?

 

[Smurf]

well,... did you guess right? /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Dodger]

And we're positive thats the same drive?

 

[Smurf]

No it was a patio area actually /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[Smurf]

And here was the path....

 

[Dodger]

LOL ya too easy Smurf, nice job mate. No I didn't guess right either.

 

[Smurf]

Ta dodger, don't worry as even most customers forget what colour their pavers are until i clean them /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[CNS-southwest]

Wow smurf, nice job!

 

[Smurf]

Ta cns,...was one of my first jobs a few years back...I've got a wee bit better since. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[CNS-southwest]

Well that one is good mate.

Quick question, do you mix the sand with cement? When I did "my bit for the community" we always mixed the sand with cement so it didn't news re doing so often?

Also how long did that one take mate?

 

[Smurf]

Just kiln dried sand no cement...

That one took if i can remeber as going back a few years about 4 hours + another 2 for re-sanding. Back then was using only a Ryobi 8 lpm 3000 psi petrol pressure washer & turbo lance that i got from ebay for £250. Was very slow compaired to what I use now but paid for itself very quickly. Still have it as a backup as I'm a bit of a horder you know /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Gmeister]

Good work there Smurf!

Would never have nown that there was a design in those bricks!

That path and patio looks brand new! /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[harunh]

smurf thats a very good job /emoticons/smile.png

 

[david247]

well,... did you guess right? /emoticons/biggrin.png

well im sorry to say but that was a cowboy if they had muck and dirt up the doors etc :angry: