How Much to charge and how to clean

[Ian Bedborough]

Hi Everybody,

I just bought a petrol pressure washer with flat surface cleaner and have a couple of questions:

1) how much do you charge for the job? I was thinking £1 per pace, or 1m square.

2) Any tips on not going too hard and destroying decking or concrete will be appreciated

Thanks

/emoticons/smile.png

 

[bloxwich pressure clean]

Hi Everybody,
I just bought a petrol pressure washer with flat surface cleaner and have a couple of questions:

1) how much do you charge for the job? I was thinking £1 per pace, or 1m square.

2) Any tips on not going too hard and destroying decking or concrete will be appreciated

Thanks

/emoticons/smile.png

where are you based mate ? im in the midlands and charge £2 a square metre for block paving based on 50 m2 if areas smaller a little more if bigger a little less

 

[Pjj]

£2 per square meter but minimum set up of £150

 

[Ian Bedborough]

where are you based mate ? im in the midlands and charge £2 a square metre for block paving based on 50 m2 if areas smaller a little more if bigger a little less

I'm in Torbay, thanks for the guide price, I'll use that and see if I get the work from it

Always feel a little bad charging more than £50 or £60 for jobs!

 

[Ian Bedborough]

£2 per square meter but minimum set up of £150

Wow that seems like loads, but thanks

 

[Pjj]

Wow that seems like loads, but thanks /emoticons/smile.png

Ime in Cornwall so not that far from you , we are primarily window cleaners but are doing more and more pressure washing as add on jobs , I found it was uneconomical to do anything less than £150 as we could earn more on the glass so that's why I came up with that figure , also a friend of mine had the same pricing structure so I copied him , I don't get all jobs I price but there is no point in doing a path for £50/60 with the set up time loading of equipment, driving to the job , fuel etc smaller jobs as far as Ime concerned arnt worth the hassle unless you have several very close together

 

[adamangler]

Agree with @Pjj once your busy with the windows you'll realise pratting around doing add on work for any less than 150% your window hourly rate isn't worth the hassle.

I tend to price all jobs hourly, if I can do 30 an hour on the glass I'd want 45 an hour to make it worthwhile and that's including setup etc so for a small ish job that's gonna be a couple of hours I'd say 90 as a minimum.

Of course of you're not that busy with windows then you can work for less and get a higher percentage of quotes accepted. But it'd better to be in the position where you can day sod it I'm not doing anything for less than 100 quid no matter how big a job

 

[Ian Bedborough]

Ime in Cornwall so not that far from you , we are primarily window cleaners but are doing more and more pressure washing as add on jobs , I found it was uneconomical to do anything less than £150 as we could earn more on the glass so that's why I came up with that figure , also a friend of mine had the same pricing structure so I copied him , I don't get all jobs I price but there is no point in doing a path for £50/60 with the set up time loading of equipment, driving to the job , fuel etc smaller jobs as far as Ime concerned arnt worth the hassle unless you have several very close together

Ah that's great advice, thank you!

You're right about earning more for windows but I'm still building and learning there too so anything for extra income and I keep thinking money is money at the moment!

With the days getting warmer things should pick up though.

Thanks again

 

[Ian Bedborough]

Agree with @Pjj once your busy with the windows you'll realise pratting around doing add on work for any less than 150% your window hourly rate isn't worth the hassle.
I tend to price all jobs hourly, if I can do 30 an hour on the glass I'd want 45 an hour to make it worthwhile and that's including setup etc so for a small ish job that's gonna be a couple of hours I'd say 90 as a minimum.

Of course of you're not that busy with windows then you can work for less and get a higher percentage of quotes accepted. But it'd better to be in the position where you can day sod it I'm not doing anything for less than 100 quid no matter how big a job

Excellent advice!

Also windows are easier, and I don't get so wet doing them /emoticons/smile.png

That's just where I am with being busy, and I bought the pressure washer as another income source while my round builds. Apart from the odd tricky house I'm down to 45 minutes on a standard 3/4 bed house which is increasing my hourly rate nicely so I need to factor that in when I price for a patio or decking clean.

I'm looking forward to not getting out of bed for less than £100

Thanks again!