[Del Boy]

I just wondered do many of you guys use smart seal products for your driveway cleaning i.e sealers, tarmaseal, oil remover ect. I have been looking on the internet and have found cheaper products but I'm aware that cheaper doesn't always mean better. I just want to be using good products so that customers will be happy with the end result.

[Smudger]

Smart seal is expensive and imo sealing drives is a waste of time and effort.
Best avoided where possible

Darran

[Del Boy]

really a waste of time? I thought this type of work would be standard procedure for driveway cleaning company's to offer this service.

[Smudger]

Standard ? - I think in 4 years ive sealed exactly 1 drive  - done several patio's and pathways, i am asked to seal around one in forty drives, but after asking why they want it sealed ( which is usually because the customer thinks they will never need to have the drive cleaned ever again ) some of the acrylic type sealers can pluck then there's the cost of the stuff another £400 on top of the clean if your doing it to make it worth while.

The more modern impregnating sealers ( invisible ) are worth using but again drives still get dirty and weedy in the joints

Darran

[Del Boy]

Standard ? - I think in 4 years ive sealed exactly 1 drive  - done several patio's and pathways, i am asked to seal around one in forty drives, but after asking why they want it sealed ( which is usually because the customer thinks they will never need to have the drive cleaned ever again ) some of the acrylic type sealers can pluck then there's the cost of the stuff another £400 on top of the clean if your doing it to make it worth while.

The more modern impregnating sealers ( invisible ) are worth using but again drives still get dirty and weedy in the joints

Any ideas to the best place to buy sealer

Darran

[M Roberts]

Stopped sealing over 4 years ago as it was simply not worth the hassle associated with it.

Don't get suckered into sealing by the likes of smart seal,
very few experienced guys (in my area) still offer sealing, the ones that do tend to use resiblock   

[Del Boy]

Stopped sealing over 4 years ago as it was simply not worth the hassle associated with it.

Don't get suckered into sealing by the likes of smart seal,
very few experienced guys (in my area) still offer sealing, the ones that do tend to use resiblock

So what do you say when the customers ask if you can clean and seal the driveway just a simple sorry we don't offer sealing or would there be a better way of explaining why.

Also secondly would this have a big effect on the amount of money I will earn by not offering sealing as a service ?

thanks for your reply

[Peter J Haigh]

Hi
 I have sealed a number of drives over the past few years along with using the smartseal products along with many others.
The smartseal products are ok but not neccessarily worth the upilift in price

 I now tend to agree with the other posters though and try to avoid sealing if possible,.
 I normally inform the customer that they will need their drive done again in around 2/3 years if unsealed but if sealed it will still need doing again in 4/5 years and will also require resealing. When they see the difference in price they generally are happy just to clean and sand.

 Whatever you do, do not seal clay pavior drives !!

[M Roberts]

Stopped sealing over 4 years ago as it was simply not worth the hassle associated with it.

Don't get suckered into sealing by the likes of smart seal,
very few experienced guys (in my area) still offer sealing, the ones that do tend to use resiblock

So what do you say when the customers ask if you can clean and seal the driveway just a simple sorry we don't offer sealing or would there be a better way of explaining why.

Also secondly would this have a big effect on the amount of money I will earn by not offering sealing as a service ?

thanks for your reply

If a customer asks at enquiry time we will still carry out quotation, whilst with the customer we will then explain our point of view in ref to coating.....

Weather needs to be dry for set period b4 and after sealing (Hence problematic for us)
Driveway needs to sound ie no dips or undulations .. as once sealed any puddles will be exaggerated
Can not guarantee against weeds - it will help inhibit weeds forming between blocks but they can still grow on top of seal
Far cheaper for customer to have drive cleaned every few years and simply maintained via set weed kill programs

Very few customers have insisted on sealing if they do we suggest they go elsewhere

Honestly, Yes it may initially effect your turnover,  as you can make a decent profit from sealing from the outset, but what smart seal wont tell you is if it goes wrong it can cost you dearly.  It doesn't matter how carefully you plan with sealing it can occasionally  go wrong this is mainly down to our wonderful changeable climate.  Its then down to yourself to rectify the problems which takes time and more money.

When we used to seal we was constantly moving customers around  to try to match the weather, which was a royal pain in the arse, as we became more established we have more than enough washing jobs so why bother trying to 'fit in' sealing jobs ?

IF you go into pressure washing my advice is try and find your niche market, ie Chewing gum removal, Cladding, decking etc ours is roofs far too many guys out there 'Floor' cleaning 

 

[mikey]

this has helped me a lot i was in 2 minds for sealing  save me money now

[Del Boy]

Stopped sealing over 4 years ago as it was simply not worth the hassle associated with it.

Don't get suckered into sealing by the likes of smart seal,
very few experienced guys (in my area) still offer sealing, the ones that do tend to use resiblock

Thank you so much for your reply and taken the time to answer my question. I think I will still quote if customer wants the sealing but certainly wont be pushing for it and will also make them aware about the different variables that can have an effect to the end result of the sealing. I think going forward I'm going to push for as much cleaning only as possible

So what do you say when the customers ask if you can clean and seal the driveway just a simple sorry we don't offer sealing or would there be a better way of explaining why.

Also secondly would this have a big effect on the amount of money I will earn by not offering sealing as a service ?

thanks for your reply

If a customer asks at enquiry time we will still carry out quotation, whilst with the customer we will then explain our point of view in ref to coating.....

Weather needs to be dry for set period b4 and after sealing (Hence problematic for us)
Driveway needs to sound ie no dips or undulations .. as once sealed any puddles will be exaggerated
Can not guarantee against weeds - it will help inhibit weeds forming between blocks but they can still grow on top of seal
Far cheaper for customer to have drive cleaned every few years and simply maintained via set weed kill programs

Very few customers have insisted on sealing if they do we suggest they go elsewhere

Honestly, Yes it may initially effect your turnover,  as you can make a decent profit from sealing from the outset, but what smart seal wont tell you is if it goes wrong it can cost you dearly.  It doesn't matter how carefully you plan with sealing it can occasionally  go wrong this is mainly down to our wonderful changeable climate.  Its then down to yourself to rectify the problems which takes time and more money.

When we used to seal we was constantly moving customers around  to try to match the weather, which was a royal pain in the arse, as we became more established we have more than enough washing jobs so why bother trying to 'fit in' sealing jobs ?

IF you go into pressure washing my advice is try and find your niche market, ie Chewing gum removal, Cladding, decking etc ours is roofs far too many guys out there 'Floor' cleaning 

 

[M Roberts]

Stopped sealing over 4 years ago as it was simply not worth the hassle associated with it.

Don't get suckered into sealing by the likes of smart seal,
very few experienced guys (in my area) still offer sealing, the ones that do tend to use resiblock

just had a look online resiblock is £217 per 25 litre
smart seal is £109 per 25 litre

You pay for what you get

[Smurf]

Indeed I've found the best way to put them off is to tell them how much 25 ltr of the good stuff (resiblock product) costs.
Works every time 

[Del Boy]

Indeed I've found the best way to put them off is to tell them how much 25 ltr of the good stuff (resiblock product) costs.
Works every time 

That's true . So what about sealing patios , imprinted concrete etc are they worth doing ?

[serj shergill]

Yep totally agree, will always persuade customers against sealing and when I show them the price of resibloc they soon agree..

[Kev Martin]

Indeed I've found the best way to put them off is to tell them how much 25 ltr of the good stuff (resiblock product) costs.
Works every time 

That's true . So what about sealing patios , imprinted concrete etc are they worth doing ?

Without being funny I think you are trying to run before you can walk!  You have been out and bought yourself a load of gear and then you came on here asking for advice.  Nothing wrong with that, but a few have pointed out that the FSC you have bought is a bit OTT for that machine and advised you change it!  Then suddenly now you have jumped onto sealing and you haven't even cleaned a couple of drives yet!  My advice is forget sealing for a while and get yourself a couple of PW Jobs under your belt and then start looking into sealing afterwards when you have some experience of PW'ing

[Del Boy]

Indeed I've found the best way to put them off is to tell them how much 25 ltr of the good stuff (resiblock product) costs.
Works every time 

That's true . So what about sealing patios , imprinted concrete etc are they worth doing ?

Without being funny I think you are trying to run before you can walk!  You have been out and bought yourself a load of gear and then you came on here asking for advice.  Nothing wrong with that, but a few have pointed out that the FSC you have bought is a bit OTT for that machine and advised you change it!  Then suddenly now you have jumped onto sealing and you haven't even cleaned a couple of drives yet!  My advice is forget sealing for a while and get yourself a couple of PW Jobs under your belt and then start looking into sealing afterwards when you have some experience of PW'ing

Firstly thanks for the reply . Maybe your right in the kind of person that's wants to know as much as possible so I do kind of come across as running before I can walk. But as far as the flat surface cleaner I'm not sure what the problem is as the machine that will be running it is a Honda gx390 and runs at 21litres per min ?

[Smudger]

nice post Mr Martin

Ive never been happy with FSC results on a drive - turbo is better unless its a revisit and only a light clean required or for use on tarmac.

a difficault balance between running and walking but maybe more research before parting with the pennies would have served yo better

Darran

[Del Boy]

nice post Mr Martin

Ive never been happy with FSC results on a drive - turbo is better unless its a revisit and only a light clean required or for use on tarmac.

a difficault balance between running and walking but maybe more research before parting with the pennies would have served yo better

Darran

Honest I appreciate everyone's input I really do constructive criticism is always something worth taking note of so I'm fine with that 100% . But it's seems a little vague to say that the flat surface cleaner is to big for the machine and not explain why . the machine is very powerful so much in fact it blow a massive hole in my guttering pipe the other day so would really like to know why the machine would cut the mustard so to speak ?

[Smurf]

Oops! Not a great start. Lesson one methinks...don't go blowing holes in plastics 
How the devil did you manage that?

Regards to block paving a turbo nozzle is most suited to blast out crud, weeds etc from joints as this example vid shows. However the pressure washer being used in the vid is a much higher spec washer than yours but you get the idea  and how much mess it makes too     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-gQsi6c9JE

There is no point in offering to seal a driveway if you cant get it 100% clean first.