[John Gregory]

Hi all

 I've done several quotes this week cleaning and sealing block paving , not got any of the jobs , this is my 3rd summer doing this sort of work , and now a lot of my enquirers are coming from referral's . I'm using techcleans acrilic sealant and doing a decent job. what do you reckon does £8 a sqm sound about right

Thanks John

[allyoops]

Sounds expensive John,just done 90 sq mtrs @ £4.00  total hrs worked six ,materials £90 if you do the math you seem really expensive,cheers Neil

[BDCS]

I charge £9 for acylic and £12 for polyurethene but the art of selling this is reading the customer, If by the look on their face when quoted I qualify it by stating that its cheaper to clean every other year, after all you will still need to clean once sealed. I find customers have already made their mind up before you turn up t5hat they want it sealed. personally I'd ratherjust clean and resand

[John Gregory]

Neil   I can't clean resand and seal 90sqm in 6 hours , or use £90 in materials £4 a sqm is a silly price
John

[trevor perry]

Neil   I can't clean resand and seal 90sqm in 6 hours , or use £90 in materials £4 a sqm is a silly price
John

why cant you do this area in this amount of time it sounds reasonable to me.
 Trevor

[allyoops]

Just cleaned 90 sq mtrs time from arriving and srtting up to departure and cleaning up two and a half hours,call back when dry, resand will take less than one hour, sealing another hour ,cant understand why you say you cant do it in the time or within the costing,cheers Neil,

[John Gregory]

Right

3 or 4 bags of sand                      £10
petrol to run machine for 3 hours  £8
roller to a apply sealent                 £4 

So that leaves £68 to apply 2 decent coats of sealant ? What about all your other running costs , Van, advertising , insurance, etc , I reckon It would take me 6 hours to sand and seal a area that size , I must be very slow or very consensus

John

[allyoops]

John,dont get me wrong,I am not criticising you or your methods and I am sure you are concientious just as I am,maybe I am doing something different,I dont know
costings petrol £8
              sand  £10
two coat sealant £ £100 sprayed acrylic 26%solids
total spend £118
charged      £360
margin        £242
averages out at £40 per hour,I try and work at a minimum of £35 and put £10 towards running costs,hope this makes things a little clearer,if you have any suggestions they will be gratefully recieved,this forum has been extremely useful for me,cheers Neil

[John Gregory]

Neil   tell us a bit more about spraying the sealant rather than applying it with a roller, the way I do it is after I,ve sanded I go round all the edges with a brush getting loads of sealent in the big gaps then put 2 decent coats down with the roller . surely spraying the sealant it wont fill the big voids , hence 2 months later weeds come throu which means no referrals and no repeat business

John

[allyoops]

John I use a steel sprayer with a large fan nozzle capable of spraying up to 35% solids ,plenty of sealant goes down good coverage much faster than using a roller,no pooling great results every time,only downside cant be used if wind is too strong,cheers Neil

[DavyP]

£8 sounds steep, but if you can get it good luck to you, suppose it depends on what the competition is pricing at etc.  To be honest where i work there's plenty of money about, but they have there head screwed on and would never pay that.  Again time-wise I agree with the other posts, would'nt take too long to clean, sand and seal(properly).   Maybe by the fact you had to ask is £8 expensive you've answered the question for yourself?

Maybe this is'nt what you want to here but i was giving my honest reply to your question so no flaming please.

[John Gregory]

Thanks  for the replies lads , in the process of doing a job at the moment 107 sqm @ £8 per sqm so far spent 3 hours deweeding by hand and 4 hours cleaning customer delighted with job and the effert I've put into it    £856  , will be sealing with techcleans acrylic sealant at the cost of about £280

John

[DavyP]

 Congradulations John, thats a good result.   No doubt as you grow in experience and confidence you'll learn to manage your time better and be sitting on a potential goldmine.   You should look to invest some of that money in to a good quality pressure washer and fsc to help speed things up, I cleaned a similar size area in just 1.5 hrs yesterday, again customer was over the moon.

  I would also suggest applying weed killer to the worst areas when your quote is accepted then when you return to do the job you'll not have to crawl about on your knees for three hours.  As I say its all down to experience and confidence, you'll learn through time you can do a good job with the right technique and right equipment.

As I said  you're sitting on a potential goldmine there, good to see some customers are not feeling the credit squeeze, wish i was as lucky, 852 for what would take me 4 - 5 hrs tops sounds superb. Congrats, but work on your technique to reap the full rewards.

[John Gregory]

Davyp   I've got a half decent setup I use a honda 13 hp power with a interpump set up running at 250 bar I don't like using a fsc I prefer using power lance thingy or what ever they are called , My mane business is carpet and upholstery cleaning and I only sell this service to my own clients , they trust me to do the job right , I personally don't think you can make a living cleaning and sealing block paving cos of our weather , at this point in time I've got 3 drives to seal but it has been lagging it down for the last 2 weeks . When the weather picks up if need be I will clean the drives again , Whats more important to my business is that I return to clean there carpets at a decent price


John

[cswc]

Davyp,

is your main business pressure washing floors,
as you have given me some good tips !! thanks,
do you do mainly domestic driveways if so what is your price per meter as an average,

thanks for your help