[semy]

I was pricing a small block driveway today and there is a oil stain that is at least one meter square, I am going to buy OT8 and it will need a couple of goes as there is a lot of oil which looks like its been there for a while.
 My question is how much do I charge? at the moment i'm charging £2.50 a meter for block with sanding to give you an indication of my prices.

Cheers  Michael

[Mike Halliday]

It's a hard question to answer, on a big well paying job I might include it in the price (as long as it doesn't take a second visit)

Another option would be to charge the cost of the OT8 plus the time it took to do the removal.

How badly do they want the stain gone?

[semy]

Thanks for the quick reply Mike the drive away is quite small approximately 30 metres square. The customer wants the stain gone he was thinking about changing the blocks over if the stain can't​ be removed

[Jonny Swirljet]

In my experience, If the stain is very old then the chances of removing it completely is almost nil and it will only fade. I only offer a stain reduction service as you can't just assume the stain will successfully be removed. I explain this to the customer and also reflect this in the quotation to cover my derrière. Its not your fault the blocks have oil stains. Explain your thought process to the customer and ask them to bear this in mind and are happy for you to proceed with their driveway cleaning.

Also, if you clean the driveway and then allow for the two dry days to reintroduce fresh kiln dried sand to the joints you might find the customers cars have left more oil on the clean driveway, this has happened to me on more than one occasion.   

[semy]

Thanks for the reply Jonny l think that is sound advice and will let him know what the situation is and then it's up to him. I will charge chemical plus time which i guess to be about half an hour to scrub the oil stain think that is fair enough

[Don Simon]

If you are using OT8 dont scrub it you will only make it worse !     You have to apply with a soft brush and if the OT8 doesnt go brown you have no chance of removing the stain.     I always say I will try my best but you have to be honest with customer and tell them it will probably not go.     Under promise and over deliver