I first want to say what a great forum this is. It literally has a wealth of information. I have read where you charge by the square footage. I was curious if you actually measured the roof or just guessimated the footage. I know you pros can drive up in the driveway and know the footage. I was wondering if you guys had any advice for newbies. Thanks!
Every exposed tab of a shingle is about 5" so if you count every tab and divide by 12 you'll have your height then measure your width of the house . i don't do this i look at the house,what is the house covered with like wood, vinyl ,the pitch , the work involved in protecting the landscape ,whats in the backyard - decks, furniture , patios etc. watch any cloth material items
Thats pretty much what I do too. The roof can be walked off in the front of the yard and measured up using the 5" count. say you have 36 shingles going up.....36x5/12= 15foot then measure your front masurement that you walked off(each step is approximettly 3 feet) lets say it was 40foot 40x15=600 sq. ft. panel. But it is actually more important to focus on the prep work, like painted wood or intense landscaping. A few hundred ft. difference is not a major change in costs for you, most of your time goes into prep, set up and tear down. Most of your chemical cost goes into how dirty the roof actually is as opposed to the size. There are many was to price it, some even put a flat price on various types of roof. Hope this info helps. Good luck!!
I normally look up the sq footage on our county property appraiser web site. I add in the sq ft of the living area, garage and any patio's etc...that are covered by shingle or Tile. I then check on a satellite view of the home to make sure of what I'm getting into. I then charge the customer by the sq ft. This is more of a footprint sq footage that an actual with pitch. If I were to try and get an actual it would not only take me forever to figure it out it would also end up being soooo costly ( by Florida standards ) that I would never get the job. I do charge a decent price per sq ft for all Roof Cleanings so it probably works out anyway. remember,,,We Clean Roofs all year long down here and cannot get the same prices as seasonal Roof Cleaning jobs further up north.
remember,,,We Clean Roofs all year long down here and cannot get the same prices as seasonal Roof Cleaning jobs further up north.
I am learning that Larry. Lost one or two jobs due to over bidding. We are on the low end of the industry in Florida as far as bidding goes. But then again, yes, we can work all year long.
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Prime Choice Power Wash LLC Roof Cleaning Kissimmee Florida
Google " How to measure sq ft of Roof" it will answer alot of your questions. I my self like to be face to face with my customer when doing an estimate and also do a demo for them . People here in "The show me State" Missouri are pretty ignorant when it comes to Roof cleaning it is a whole new industry..
KID
-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Branson/Springfield,Mo (417) 230 8103 on Friday 17th of July 2009 11:05:21 AM
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Elite Roof Cleaners Roof Cleaning Missouri & Kansas City
Over the years I have been charging by the square foot in the range of 20-25 cents/sq.ft.
I quickly learned some roofs are so hideous and consume a lot more chemical that I anticipated that I ended up losing a little money from not charging enough.
Now I give the customer a rough estimate over the phone, and when I get to the jobsite I'll give them a more accurate written estimate based on how much chemical I think it will take.
In other words I am now charging by the gallon. I have enough experience I can look at a roof and tell how many gallons it will take to come clean.
I am usually within 5 gallons of my initial estimate.
Some jobs I overestimate, some I underestimate, it usually evens out.
A good rate for me is about $10/gallon or $400 for 40 gallons (average roof job)
If you can charge more and get away with it, by all means do it.
Never hurts to make more money!
-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Pro Greensboro NC (336)362 7659 on Friday 17th of July 2009 11:52:14 AM
Is it really that important to figure out the exact amount of square foot per roof?
It seems to me that the average roof could be 20 feet or more down one side, so walk of the length of the house and you have the square foot? give or take a bit.
Then some jobs make be harder to access so charge ever how much more you think it would take.
When the home owner see you standing out in the front of the yard scratching your head trying to figure out precisely the square foot he will know your inexperienced.
remember,,,We Clean Roofs all year long down here and cannot get the same prices as seasonal Roof Cleaning jobs further up north.
I am learning that Larry. Lost one or two jobs due to over bidding. We are on the low end of the industry in Florida as far as bidding goes. But then again, yes, we can work all year long.
Yea tell me about it..lost 2 to "over bidding" @ .17 Can't see how they can do a roof for 165.00
I try to reassure my customers by using flat rates. What I charge you is the same that I charge Bob down the street.
Using a measuring wheel, I actually get up on the roof and take pretty accurate measurements. Compared to using the square footage of the house, exact measurements gives me a higher square footage to set a flat rate to. 12 cents a square foot is what I've been charging, which translate into, basically, a medium sized house would probably run about $350. (again this rate is not based on square footage of the home, but actual square footage of the roof, which gives me more square footage to play with).
Are exact measurements a waste of time, or should I go by square footage of the home and increase my rate per square foot? What say you?
I am new at this too, but I would just measure from the ground. There is a thread that has roof pitch multipliers to get fairly accurate roof square footage. Too much time and trouble to get on the roof just for a price quote.
I try to reassure my customers by using flat rates. What I charge you is the same that I charge Bob down the street.
Using a measuring wheel, I actually get up on the roof and take pretty accurate measurements. Compared to using the square footage of the house, exact measurements gives me a higher square footage to set a flat rate to. 12 cents a square foot is what I've been charging, which translate into, basically, a medium sized house would probably run about $350. (again this rate is not based on square footage of the home, but actual square footage of the roof, which gives me more square footage to play with).
Are exact measurements a waste of time, or should I go by square footage of the home and increase my rate per square foot? What say you?
As a beginner, I have decided to use the sq ft. of the home X pitch multiplier + add'l charges for things that involve more work and area; I think it looks more professional and it will help me arrive at a fixed/variable formula in the future.
Today, to arrive at the total I used the full roof area X flat rate + a charge for extra difficulty with heavy vegetation,+ having to disassemble a gutter that feeds into a tube (not a regular feed either) + a difficult, hard to reach area at back.
This also helped me give a price for half the home as well. (the house is very large) I added an add'l charge for coming, and dropped the vegetation and gutter charges while halving the sq. ftage. This helped me arrive at a number that I felt was fair for both of us.
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Roof Cleaning Wake ForestNC27587 919-412-2432
Roof Cleaning Wake Forest, Raleigh, Knightdale, Rolesville, Youngsville NC
ive been using l x w x pitch [whatever that chart says to convert it to] x amount per sq ft. is this wrong? its what i got from the pitch formula chart on the thread.
The last job I did I sketched out the roof for the customer and walked it off figuring the length times width times approx 1.5 and told her I charged .20 per square foot. I calculated the square foot and multiplied by .20 and came up with $403 for the roof. Due to the way it was presented I ended up getting the job with out any questions and a deck to go with it. Hope this helps
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