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Industrial Clean Pricing

Daniel Perkins

Premium Member
Messages
773
Location
Dublin
I have to quote this job next week. Usually it wouldn't be an issue but they want the metal cladding cleaned aswell which I have never quoted or cleaned on this scale with wfp. Glass and cladding front and sides quarterly. Anybody do this type of work?

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I do one, absolute PITA but pays really well. My first thought would be quarterly cladding cleaning will be overkill and they may realise this which could cost you the job very quickly. The building I got was potentially 2 maybe 2.5 times the size of that one and the guy I was quoting against recommended Bi-Monthly cladding cleans, when I recommended annual I got the contract even though I was twice the price.

I would suggest @Pjj is your man for this. I would drop him a message, not sure how comfortable he would be discussing prices on this on the open forum.

 
No worries at all cheers for the reply. This company are a monster so drop in the ocean to them paying quarterly & what they have been doing for years apparently, friend works there and said facilities manager is easy going. I have seen it in person yet but just wanted to get the opinion of others as the cladding isn't really my bag.

 
If they're happy with quarterly then happy days mate. Looking at the top panel with the big green mark the last bloke wasn't doing a good job. The one I do is 6 months into the year and starting to look a little mucky in areas but nothing like that.

Forget how easy going the facilities manager is for a second and make sure you price it well for the first clean. Managers come and go, the next guy might come in with his own people in mind and sack you off after 1 clean.

 
Do you think a chem is necessary on every cladding clean? 
Not quarterly but a £30 20L bottle of Viro-sol would be a worthy investment for the first clean. @Part Timer once recommended to me to clean in the rain if you can too. That worked a treat for me as the rain helped wash down the chemicals. The only issue you would have after the first clean would be bird poo I reckon.

 
Yeah I suppose 30 quid is nothing in the scale of things. How long do you leave it on for before washing off?

I have no no nosense degreser here, how does that compare?

 
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Yeah I suppose 30 quid is nothing in the scale of things. How long do you leave it on for before washing off?
Just like a conservatory roof mate, you need to judge the temperature on the day etc, don't let it dry to the building. Also check if that is ''self cleaning'' glass. If it is then you don't want to get chemicals on any of the windows. I know some of the lads on here swear there is no risk and they always do it but I wouldn't risk it with a company that have the financial power to sue you without batting an eye.

 
Yeah it's about 20 mins away from me but I can only carry max of about 475-500l. I would have no issue doing it over 2 days may be sat and sun if price was good. I would do it on my own too.

 
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Yeah it's about 20 mins away from me but I can only carry max of about 475-500l. I would have no issue doing it over 2 days may be sat and sun if price was good. I would do it on my own too.
Personally think you've got no chance in doing that yourself in 2 days. On a high flow you'll empty your tank in around 3 hours and 4 hours, that job has to be more than 2 thousand litres. 

I did this building, all 4 sides glass only, and it took me a very hard 10 hours and approximately 800 litres. I'm quick on big commercials as well. 

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Had 5 x four storey houses to do yesterday on a riverfront only done one as there were slightgusts of wind pushing the the top of the pole about, got to rebooked them in when no wind,  plus I would love an extreme as the slx is shitee  at over 40'  especially with dormers sat back out of the roof.

 
Personally think you've got no chance in doing that yourself in 2 days. On a high flow you'll empty your tank in around 3 hours and 4 hours, that job has to be more than 2 thousand litres. 

I did this building, all 4 sides glass only, and it took me a very hard 10 hours and approximately 800 litres. I'm quick on big commercials as well. 

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How much did you charge for a job this size? 

 
We do quite a few jobs very similar to this , before quoting you need to determine what the dirt/staining is , depending what it is will alter how and what chemical you need to use , especially with a building this size you need to do a test panel first get the customer to see the finished results and agree that they are happy with the finish , you don’t want to do the whole building and them not be happy with it and refuse to pay , neither do you want to have to spend more time on the job than is nessasary , using the right chemical will both speed up the job and make it easier for you . I totaly agree with @Part Timer you are going to struggle to do that on your own and definitely not over a weekend unless you work 24/7 it’s hard work to working at that height with a pole hour after hour , without detailed pictures of how dirty it is it’s difficult to put an exact time scale on it or an exact price but I would certainly be in the several thousand pounds mark to do that m what ever you do over estimate time and material costs it’s very easy to shoot yourselves in the foot with a job of that size 

 
I got £350 per wash, previous cleaner was £280 and I assume I've lost it to someone cheaper as they didn't answer my emails when asking for another contract last year.
Honestly don’t think £350 is expensive for a job that size. I’m not 100% on my quoting as it’s new to me but based on hours it’s not expensive 

 
Honestly don’t think £350 is expensive for a job that size. I’m not 100% on my quoting as it’s new to me but based on hours it’s not expensive 
I wouldn't do it for any less but obviously someone is prepared to as the Office Manager messaged me every time I did stating how happy she was with my work. Unfortunately she didn't make the final decision so they've obviously accepted a lower price. Thing is now I'm a lot busier then when I first quoted this job and if they did ask me to quote again I'd be £400. One thing to remember when quoting on these jobs, when you're first starting, is unless you get one you won't learn anything about difficulty and timescale. I know some on here will disagree but the sharpest learning curb is getting some bad business on the books, commercial cleaning that is, it hurts turning up to do it but at least you've learnt.

 
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