The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Roof Revivalist wrote:

---

I'm going to be quoting a 4500 sq ft roof and I want to make sure I'm going to make enough $.  Here's my thinking for quick quote.  I just want to clean the affected roof, north & northwest sides, so I divide the 4500 by 2 = 2250.  Then for quickie sake I add 20% to the square feet to account for the slope of the roof.  I'm going to charge customer .35 / sq. ft.  So 2250 x 20% = 2700 sq ft x .35 = $945.  Then 30% off the top to cover equip, insurance, BWC, etc.  Then pay roof guy $12, ground guy $10, product and supplies, then me.  How's that sound? 

---

Sounds complicated to me. 1st off, if you only do what appears to need cleaning, you will be leaving a layer of unseen algae and your job won't last long. The un-killed algae will quickly spread right back over into the cleaned area.

Heck, if I could ever get .35 a sq ft I wouldn't worry about anything.

How much do you guys get per square foot typically?  And is it because there are so many roof cleaning companies in Fla?

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA wrote:

---

hi Judd, FL is like another world so don't look to them for pricing ... truth is, there's no hidden secret, we're all different. figure out your costs and as aaron mentioned, start out by figuring out what you need to make an hour, then price accordingly. you should be closing about 60% of your estimates. on the ones you don't close, ask the customer how much they were quoted by your competition and make the necessary adjustments ... if you can close 60% and charge 20% more than your competition, which is not out of the question, all the more power to you ... once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to price by the square foot, you don't want to charge by the hour once you have experience since you should be rewarded for doing a better job in a shorter amount of time.

good luck

---

Yes, Florida is a whole 'nother world and a whole lot harder to get a decent price for your work. In my area it's loaded with competition. Plus 2/3 of the population have white hair. So, they can be old penny pinchers-many of them have to be to, get by! Unfortunately, that keeps the prices down. Then a few fly by nights running around for 6 months [before they go back up north, back to jail, or just go broke] pricing 2000 sq ft roofs at $90.00 fools people into thinking $90.00 or so is the going rate!

Then, when legitimate roof cleaning contractors like myself, bid a job in their community for $400.00 for a 2000 sq ft roof, they say "A guy did my buddys roof for $90.00 4 months ago, why are you so high?"

I say "Why didn't you call him?" They say "His number is disconnected"

I say, "That's because he was a fly by night, splash n' dash guy, not a professional roof cleaner and that's why he was so cheap. He was not trying to make a living, he was trying to put a few bucks in his pocket and then hit the road. Who knows what damage he did on roofs before he flew the coop?"

Still, when these retired people go play shuffleboard, bingo, golf, go on club cruises etc, they still talk about the $90.00 roof and it takes them years to readjust to real roof cleaning prices. They call 10 roof cleaners, just hoping to hit onto one that's another $90.00 fly by nighter. So, after calling 10, I gotta be fairly cheap or I have no chance. When I moved my business from Ithaca,NY to Englewood,Fl in 1989, I was one of 3 pressure washing contractors in the one phone book that existed here. Now, there are 4 phone books and that Sprint book has 3 pages of pressure washers! .35 cents a sq ft ain't gonna happen here ever again. From 1989 up to around 1997 I was able to get 20-25 cents a sq ft. Those were the days.

Most of the fly by nighters don't even know what our roof cleaning system is. They just pressure wash roofs, houses, pool areas and driveways. It's not uncommon for them to find a house with chalked paint-blow the paint off a half a wall-go get the customer-show the old lady that she needs a paint job- and now *SHAZAM* he's a painter too! FLY BY NIGHT!

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galLWedj4lA

Bergman Roof Cleaning Port Charlotte FL 941-698-1959 wrote:

---

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA wrote:

---

hi Judd, FL is like another world so don't look to them for pricing ... truth is, there's no hidden secret, we're all different. figure out your costs and as aaron mentioned, start out by figuring out what you need to make an hour, then price accordingly. you should be closing about 60% of your estimates. on the ones you don't close, ask the customer how much they were quoted by your competition and make the necessary adjustments ... if you can close 60% and charge 20% more than your competition, which is not out of the question, all the more power to you ... once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to price by the square foot, you don't want to charge by the hour once you have experience since you should be rewarded for doing a better job in a shorter amount of time.

good luck

---

Yes, Florida is a whole 'nother world and a whole lot harder to get a decent price for your work. In my area it's loaded with competition. Plus 2/3 of the population have white hair. So, they can be old penny pinchers-many of them have to be to, get by! Unfortunately, that keeps the prices down. Then a few fly by nights running around for 6 months [before they go back up north, back to jail, or just go broke] pricing 2000 sq ft roofs at $90.00 fools people into thinking $90.00 or so is the going rate!

Then, when legitimate roof cleaning contractors like myself, bid a job in their community for $400.00 for a 2000 sq ft roof, they say "A guy did my buddys roof for $90.00 4 months ago, why are you so high?"

I say "Why didn't you call him?" They say "His number is disconnected"

I say, "That's because he was a fly by night, splash n' dash guy, not a professional roof cleaner and that's why he was so cheap. He was not trying to make a living, he was trying to put a few bucks in his pocket and then hit the road. Who knows what damage he did on roofs before he flew the coop?"

Still, when these retired people go play shuffleboard, bingo, golf, go on club cruises etc, they still talk about the $90.00 roof and it takes them years to readjust to real roof cleaning prices. They call 10 roof cleaners, just hoping to hit onto one that's another $90.00 fly by nighter. So, after calling 10, I gotta be fairly cheap or I have no chance. When I moved my business from Ithaca,NY to Englewood,Fl in 1989, I was one of 3 pressure washing contractors in the one phone book that existed here. Now, there are 4 phone books and that Sprint book has 3 pages of pressure washers! .35 cents a sq ft ain't gonna happen here ever again. From 1989 up to around 1997 I was able to get 20-25 cents a sq ft. Those were the days.

Most of the fly by nighters don't even know what our roof cleaning system is. They just pressure wash roofs, houses, pool areas and driveways. It's not uncommon for them to find a house with chalked paint-blow the paint off a half a wall-go get the customer-show the old lady that she needs a paint job- and now *SHAZAM* he's a painter too! FLY BY NIGHT!

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=galLWedj4lA

-- Edited by Bergman Roof Cleaning Port Charlotte FL 941-698-1959 on Friday 15th of July 2011 06:34:03 PM

---

 DITTO

Hey Judd your price sounds way to high but I don't live in your area so what l do I know.You need to think about your material cost labor and over head and your competition in your area. And adjust accordingly keep in mind that you have to think about what would you be willing to pay for a service such as yours.This will come with time so don't try to over bid until you have done a few jobs you will get better at figuring as you do a job.The main thing is to learn as you go each job will require different amounts of time and solutions even if its the same SF.So good luck and go clean some roofs. And always treat your custumers the way you would want to be treated.

Roof Revivalist wrote:

---

Thanks for the feedback you guys.  I'm thinking it probably sounds better to quote .19 or .20 cents a foot for a whole roof than close to double that for a half, even thought the math favors the 1/2 roof price to the customer.  That way job sounds more complete as well as the whole roof gets treated.

Is there a roof slope calculator that if as example a roof measures say 25 x 100 = 2500 square feet and the pitch is 4/12, is there a multiplier that gives me the true square feet of a pitch roof.  For quick guesstimate I added 20% to the sq ft and used that as total square feet.  Probably too much, huh?   

---