[mike roberts]

Been in office all week Paper work, accounts errr  + quoting ... lots of new leads which is very encouraging ..

HOWEVER.... Since new year we have quoted for three commercial block paving cleans  various sizes smallest 450 sqm, just can't believe prices some other guys are charging 

For this particular one due to condition ie 6" weeds we priced at £2.5 sqm, Just spoke to customer (National trust) they have been quoted £1 sqm - seriously!!

What can you do  .. we were recommended to them... 1.5-2 hr meeting  ... demo - great results... seemed to go really well 

If this is what guys are quoting for commercial paving cleaning - I think we will be leaving the market 

[Matt Gibson]

How maany m2 was the national trust one?
Easy access? access to water? open space? I go in cheap if its easy like that and the M2 is big.

[mike roberts]

firstly what muppet moved this??? makes no sense

Matt mate, it was 450 given the state of it ....problem with access need to use 100+ m hose + water supply = £2.5 seemed cheap to me. We also covered all of these issues in our meeting, really priced job to hopefully gain ungoing work. Again I spoke to the guy today explained our costs and I believe in pricing jobs up sensibly not simply underpricing first job then starting to increase costs with future work. Justs seems at mo company charge rates are crazy. very frustrating 

Hows it going with yourself looks like youve had some sh-t weather - have to excuse this as writting fast need to be somewhere else Best Mike 

[Kenny83]

The best way i find to quote jobs bigger than say 150m2 is to charge by the day rate, per man.
Also does the other guys quote include the resand? As that is a job in itself on areas that large.

[Blast Away]

The best way i find to quote jobs bigger than say 150m2 is to charge by the day rate, per man.
Also does the other guys quote include the resand? As that is a job in itself on areas that large.

No disrespect to anyone who charges by the square meter but it's a shiite way of doing it. Pricing that way doesn't guarantee you the work.
In these times you've gotta grab the work. I'll look at a job and know exactly how long it will take to do, weigh up the drainage situation, the water supply etc etc and price it by just that plus the profit and expenses etc.

I gain work by not being greedy but just keeping the money coming in.

[Matt Gibson]

firstly what muppet moved this??? makes no sense

Matt mate, it was 450 given the state of it ....problem with access need to use 100+ m hose + water supply = £2.5 seemed cheap to me. We also covered all of these issues in our meeting, really priced job to hopefully gain ungoing work. Again I spoke to the guy today explained our costs and I believe in pricing jobs up sensibly not simply underpricing first job then starting to increase costs with future work. Justs seems at mo company charge rates are crazy. very frustrating 

Hows it going with yourself looks like youve had some sh-t weather - have to excuse this as writting fast need to be somewhere else Best Mike 

I agree, although i used to price up per m2, i learnt the hard way. I still am not totally up to scratch on the whole quote thing, but its getting better. The only jobs i quote per m2 now are the huge 1000+ jobs on tender/contract.

But having to run 100 meters of hose with 6'' weeds to remove etc, worth more than £2.5 a m2!!

The weather has been a absolute c**t up here, but its been quiet up till last week, so i was all rugged up indoors with my slippers on 

[mike roberts]

The best way i find to quote jobs bigger than say 150m2 is to charge by the day rate, per man.
Also does the other guys quote include the resand? As that is a job in itself on areas that large.

No disrespect to anyone who charges by the square meter but it's a shiite way of doing it. Pricing that way doesn't guarantee you the work.
In these times you've gotta grab the work. I'll look at a job and know exactly how long it will take to do, weigh up the drainage situation, the water supply etc etc and price it by just that plus the profit and expenses etc.

I gain work by not being greedy but just keeping the money coming in.

none taken   .
We didnt quote a £/m But thats what the job equates too, obviously other factors come into play. Trying to build a relationship with customer so that for future works they know the sort of price we will charge. was going to be benchmark / trial - Surely you use std price per m for sealing ?
To myself charging a customer for cleaning blocks £500 for 450 sm is bloody crazy.
Not kidding this job will take atleast 3 days (1 operator) with our gear this time of year + problems. Reason i measured it was one of the gardeners had started to clean it with a large hot karcher taken him 4 days yes 4 days to clean 70sm   thats how bad it is.

[Matt Gibson]

Lawnmower? 

[trevor perry]

The best way i find to quote jobs bigger than say 150m2 is to charge by the day rate, per man.
Also does the other guys quote include the resand? As that is a job in itself on areas that large.

No disrespect to anyone who charges by the square meter but it's a shiite way of doing it. Pricing that way doesn't guarantee you the work.
In these times you've gotta grab the work. I'll look at a job and know exactly how long it will take to do, weigh up the drainage situation, the water supply etc etc and price it by just that plus the profit and expenses etc.

I gain work by not being greedy but just keeping the money coming in.

none taken   .
We didnt quote a £/m But thats what the job equates too, obviously other factors come into play. Trying to build a relationship with customer so that for future works they know the sort of price we will charge. was going to be benchmark / trial - Surely you use std price per m for sealing ?
To myself charging a customer for cleaning blocks £500 for 450 sm is bloody crazy.
Not kidding this job will take atleast 3 days (1 operator) with our gear this time of year + problems. Reason i measured it was one of the gardeners had started to clean it with a large hot karcher taken him 4 days yes 4 days to clean 70sm   thats how bad it is.

 what equipment are you using, i honestly cant see 450 sm taking anywhere near the time you say of 3 days no matter how bad it is

[mike roberts]

thks!

250 bar /18ltrs /min er... drainage terrible water supply terrible low pressure what else.. jes...

from that comment assume that sounds like your sort of rate

[Griffus]

thks!

250 bar /18ltrs /min er... drainage terrible water supply terrible low pressure what else.. jes...

from that comment assume that sounds like your sort of rate

With rubbish pressure the trick is to take at least one, but more if you can, 1000 litre poly's. Fill these before you start the job then turn to them when you main tanke runs dry. On larger jobs this can easily save a day or two, nothing worse than running out.

As far as drainage, again, with bigger jobs, this isn't so much of an issue. When pooling, move to another area. If two of you then one can speed things up by shifting the water.

I'd agree however that £450 for this job is way too low. It might be worth you double checking the spec they are offering. It may be that this is for wash only and everything else is extra. Have the chat.

[mike roberts]

Ian I agree   I have restricted this to a single m/c and van due to the water problem. Was planning on using their hydrant point on site to fill IBC, then feed via low mains but as pressure is so low allowed for refilling via std pipe as reqd. But all takes time!
As you say drainage not major prob as we can even vac / pump if really reqd just another factor, main prob is water supply - as we all know it doesnt take long to use 1000ltrs.

Appreciate responses but we are experienced in this type of work  
The actual Post was ----- Block paving cleaning prices   ---- basic question £1/sm for area of 450sm ie £450 - do you think thats Bloody cheap ??   The question wasn't how do i clean block paving ?  

The whole point of post was to gauge what other 'professional' companies are charging at present - something which may not be achievable on this forum. If it is that low I would prefer to market our company on other areas of our business.

[Kenny83]

Ian I agree   I have restricted this to a single m/c and van due to the water problem. Was planning on using their hydrant point on site to fill IBC, then feed via low mains but as pressure is so low allowed for refilling via std pipe as reqd. But all takes time!
As you say drainage not major prob as we can even vac / pump if really reqd just another factor, main prob is water supply - as we all know it doesnt take long to use 1000ltrs.

Appreciate responses but we are experienced in this type of work  
The actual Post was ----- Block paving cleaning prices   ---- basic question £1/sm for area of 450sm ie £450 - do you think thats Bloody cheap ??   The question wasn't how do i clean block paving ?  

The whole point of post was to gauge what other 'professional' companies are charging at present - something which may not be achievable on this forum. If it is that low I would prefer to market our company on other areas of our business.

i stick with about £2.50 for clean and sand up to around 100 - 150 m2, that way you get a good price on your smaller jobs, anything over that size and it's by the day rate as you can't start charging £2.50 if it's say 200 m2 = £500 and would take you less than a day on your own (including sanding)... in my opinion that would be far too expensive to charge a customer, they'd think they were being ripped off if you were gone in a day with 500 notes in your pocket... hence the day rate would come in... it's the only way to get work I find. I'm a sole trader so can afford to price that way, if i were bigger and had large overheads etc then it might be a different story.
The point is it's mainly sole traders who may be your competition and if they price jobs similar to me (I know a few that do) then that may be the benchmark you should be aiming for. when i price jobs i always stress that i have insurance, industrial gear, etc and you average jo with a karcher doesn't, that helps me get work even though I wasn't the cheapest I get told... i suppose it's about selling yourself aswelll, not just putting the cheapest price in.

[mike roberts]

thks for comments Lee, we do charge day rate for repointing and have done for a few jobs where customer knows us and trusts us. Problem we have found with 'day rate' commercials is they need final figure as it needs approval Po etc. Spoke to customer late Friday have another meeting with cust next week (which is encouraging) will offer day rate as an option. We always sell the positives + demo for this one we were recommended which obviously helps.

Would be great to win this contract but it was a diificult sell. Guy I was left to deal with, was the landscaper he was supervising the curent cleaning- the quality of which was really poor - very hard to point out our cleaning would be far superior tactfully! they never re sand  we always re sand and compact using vibrating plate. Also provided additional costs for weed treatment which we are licenced for.

Must say for larger jobs we obviously have an idea of timing by simply looking but also measure - I personally feel portrays a better image to client then simply rubbing the b###ocks and coming up with a figure 

[Kenny83]

It's interesting that you use the whacker plate mate, that's good, no one really uses them to resand, even though it's the proper way to do it.
have you maybe thought about giving them the option of providing the same service as the cheaper guy? Ie ... 'we can match/beat that price but bear in mind you will just be getting the clean'?
Some people just want a cheap/quick fix as opposed to the full service
Good luck
 

[chris scott]

You cannot weedkill/clean/resand/residual weedkill for £1per sq metre. impossible! It takes at least 2 maybe 3 visits to site to do the job. I would say £2.50 per square m is about right for a fairly straight forward job.My number is 07973216502 if you want to discuss prices .cheers chris

[All-Seal]

Ian I agree   I have restricted this to a single m/c and van due to the water problem. Was planning on using their hydrant point on site to fill IBC, then feed via low mains but as pressure is so low allowed for refilling via std pipe as reqd. But all takes time!
As you say drainage not major prob as we can even vac / pump if really reqd just another factor, main prob is water supply - as we all know it doesnt take long to use 1000ltrs.

Appreciate responses but we are experienced in this type of work  
The actual Post was ----- Block paving cleaning prices   ---- basic question £1/sm for area of 450sm ie £450 - do you think thats Bloody cheap ??   The question wasn't how do i clean block paving ?  

The whole point of post was to gauge what other 'professional' companies are charging at present - something which may not be achievable on this forum. If it is that low I would prefer to market our company on other areas of our business.

i stick with about £2.50 for clean and sand up to around 100 - 150 m2, that way you get a good price on your smaller jobs, anything over that size and it's by the day rate as you can't start charging £2.50 if it's say 200 m2 = £500 and would take you less than a day on your own (including sanding)... in my opinion that would be far too expensive to charge a customer, they'd think they were being ripped off if you were gone in a day with 500 notes in your pocket... hence the day rate would come in... it's the only way to get work I find. I'm a sole trader so can afford to price that way, if i were bigger and had large overheads etc then it might be a different story.
The point is it's mainly sole traders who may be your competition and if they price jobs similar to me (I know a few that do) then that may be the benchmark you should be aiming for. when i price jobs i always stress that i have insurance, industrial gear, etc and you average jo with a karcher doesn't, that helps me get work even though I wasn't the cheapest I get told... i suppose it's about selling yourself aswelll, not just putting the cheapest price in.

We charge £4 sq-mtr just to powerwash! So would the company wanting the work done if they were doing it. No matter what you charge it problems arise they will call you back. Companies that charge to cheap ruin it for others

[Steven Lawrence]

let the east europeans do it for £1 sm. the only one who loses is the customer!

[Dave Graham]

Using your methods listed above then guys what would you charge for the following:

Part block paving part slab pavement around a retail park approximatly 480meters length by about 5 meters width.  To remove Gum and powerwash path.
To be done after 8pm weekdays, 7pm saturday or after 5pm Sunday

I would like your thoughts please
 

[Matt Gibson]

how much gum? thats nearly 2500m2, i always drop my price a bt when its that much. how long do you think it will take you?