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they will run themselves out of business with those prices. they are not licensed and insured i can bet you that

Well you never know what their marketing plan really is. He claims to be in business for 20 years in Orlando.
They may well use the initial price to try and sell a package. Or might claim the customer needs to pay more for an extra step or ingredient such as algaecide.

There are hundreds of those guys with those prices in Florida.

Most use a pressure washer.
A few use SH from a pool supplier, water and a little dawn and spray 15 gallons on a 2,000 sqft house.
None of them run a business. It's Bob and Tom and equipment they hope never breaks.
None of them use safety gear.
None of them have a freaking clue as to the why's and how's.
All of them bid in my area!

The truth is the home owners don't care.
Most of the home owners in Florida will be dead in ten years and their houses are worth 1/2 of what they were 5 years ago.
You're lucky to find 10 people in 1,000 who will pay more than that for a qualified, responsible, insured roof cleaner.

They'll pay $100 a day to golf, $200 a month for green grass, but they have a heart attack when you say it'll be $450 to do a $3,000 sqft barrel tile roof the right way.

Anybody hiring?

'cause I'm about to either move my business or crawl into my mix tank and take a deep breath.

Matthew wrote:

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There are hundreds of those guys with those prices in Florida.

Most use a pressure washer.
A few use SH from a pool supplier, water and a little dawn and spray 15 gallons on a 2,000 sqft house.
None of them run a business. It's Bob and Tom and equipment they hope never breaks.
None of them use safety gear.
None of them have a freaking clue as to the why's and how's.
All of them bid in my area!

The truth is the home owners don't care.
Most of the home owners in Florida will be dead in ten years and their houses are worth 1/2 of what they were 5 years ago.
You're lucky to find 10 people in 1,000 who will pay more than that for a qualified, responsible, insured roof cleaner.

They'll pay $100 a day to golf, $200 a month for green grass, but they have a heart attack when you say it'll be $450 to do a $3,000 sqft barrel tile roof the right way.

Anybody hiring?

'cause I'm about to either move my business or crawl into my mix tank and take a deep breath.

---

Sounds like mowing around here, $30.00 to $35.00 a yard, its been like this for 6 years????

I'm thinking of taking some a/c classes at night, everyone needs a/c.....

 

dan wrote:

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yep thats why i gave up the tree service and now its the same with the roof cleaning

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Yes sir, I got two live oaks trimmed last month, 4 hours- $65.00, plus they hauled all the branches on a 16' foot trailer-

 

99 dollars...are you kidding, a roof like that is worth at least $110

Really is amazing if you think about it. If he's going UBER cheap and only has $25 in materials in the job ( which is ridiculously low) , he's only bringing home $74 for 2 hours of work. Thats $37.00 per hour, plus non-material expenses on top of that (labor, fuel, insurance, etc). He'll be lucky to clear $15.00 per hour by the time he's done. WOW...i'd rather work at Home Depot for that kind of money. At least its air conditioned, and you don't have to deal with lowballers.

Matthew wrote:

---

There are hundreds of those guys with those prices in Florida.

Most use a pressure washer.
A few use SH from a pool supplier, water and a little dawn and spray 15 gallons on a 2,000 sqft house.
None of them run a business. It's Bob and Tom and equipment they hope never breaks.
None of them use safety gear.
None of them have a freaking clue as to the why's and how's.
All of them bid in my area!

The truth is the home owners don't care.
Most of the home owners in Florida will be dead in ten years and their houses are worth 1/2 of what they were 5 years ago.
You're lucky to find 10 people in 1,000 who will pay more than that for a qualified, responsible, insured roof cleaner.

They'll pay $100 a day to golf, $200 a month for green grass, but they have a heart attack when you say it'll be $450 to do a $3,000 sqft barrel tile roof the right way.

Anybody hiring?

'cause I'm about to either move my business or crawl into my mix tank and take a deep breath.

---

After reading all the posts so far in this, I agree with Calahan. I go bid tile roofs in the 2500 - 3000 sq ft range in an area called Englewood Isles. When I give them my $350.00 - $500.00  price, very often, they say, "there is a guy doing them for $150.00 each here I'll call you back later" and I only get 50% of what I bid there, at best. There are a number of other developments with a similar scenario around here. Like Waterford in Venice, there is a guy doing tile roofs for $125.00 in there and the people are happy with him and I only get maybe 20% of what I bid there!
In general, I usually get over 80% of what I bid-probably more than that?
These guys most likely have no license or insurance and are happy to make  a hundred bucks a day average. Heck, their last job and life's experience was saying "Do you want fries wiith that"?
Nothing can be done about it. I faced one guy down and tried to reason with him on what he was losing out on. I told him "I make in 1 day, what you make in a week, doing the same thing" He nicely said, "I'm happy if I can make $15.00 an hour or more" He really didn't seem to care at all????
All we can do is be more professional, remind customers what can happen to them if they hire inexperienced, unlicensed, uninsured workers and just price the jobs for what we need to make.
On the other hand:
Oh Oh, this is where I step on toes?
I have seen a number of roof cleaners here talk about doing roofs in 2 - 3 hours and making $700.00 [ that sort of thing ]
Now, to me, that is just about as bad for this business! Sure, a few people will fall for that overpricing, but in the long run, you are pushing them toward the lowballers, by overcharging them so much.
We all need to be fair and reasonable-no $99.00 roofs, but neither do we need to be making $300 - $400 an hour either.
I shoot for $500.00 - $600.00 a day in my area.
That's either 1 job at $550.00 or maybe 2 smaller ones at $250 - $300 each.
There is stupidity $99 roofs, Decent wages $500.00 a day and greed $300.00 an hour. We are not brain surgeons!
I've done this no pressure roof cleaning since 1991 and I've tried a little lowballing, when I was newer at it, to get a few jobs under my belt, but regretted it later, when that same customer, or his neighbors, wanted a similar price next time.
I have also gotten in the greedy mode, when business was thriving and gotten roofs for $700 - $900.00 and did them in 4 hours. Most of those folks, learned from their friends and neighbors, that my price was ridiculously high and I lost the customer - and neighborhood, completely, to a more reasonably priced professional. But, for the last 15 years or so, I've learned to use common sence and get decent daily pay and keep the customers. I now have a large enough customer base, that I am planning on stopping all yellow pages advertising this year! I cut out about $300 a month of it already. To me, that's better than making an occasional killing and ruining your name in a neighborhood.
Well, I'm ramblin' again!
But, I have had enough years of experience, to know there is some truth in what I'm saying. Of course, I am talking about a 1 man operation-not 2 or more. If a 2nd man [perhaps a ground man ] is needed, you have to add his daily pay to yours + a little extra.
I'm sure there are lots of folks here who feel differently. I wonder though, how many feel the same?
Chuck Bergman

 

Chuck said it all, I will take your rambling on any day. Very sound insight! I agree.
Kim R