Would you require customers to take photos of their property with their phones and send them over? Or maybe 🤔 the likelihood of them moving forward with the service lessens the more you require of them?
Reputation is priceless. And you just cost your reputation for what? $1200? You were gonna get paid $500, and said the job went up to $1700. I know the math isn't as simple as that and there's more involved, but just to keep things simple... about $1200. Bad decision by you. Do the job you said you were gonna do. I understand there's a limit. Say for example, you agree to do a job for $500, and then realize partway through the job, it's going to cost you $10,000. People draw the line at certain points, and I understand there is a line.... but $1200 for you reputation?? Doesn't seem worth it to me.
I do that plus add a disclaimer. Stating that the price I give them is only an estimate. That price is subject to change...Also the customer is responsible to supply us with water and electricity as needed.
This is like the second time remote quoting is hurting you. The customer can complain on Yelp Reviews, Google Reviews, Thumbtack or whatever website they found you on and the BBB. You miss quote means you need to do the work or face the consequences of a bad review and the only person to blame is yourselves.
Not a business owner. But can ya have customers send a video walk thru? And have them go in detail with what they want while they are doing the walk thru
One thing I respect is that you share your mistakes and don't hide them from us. That speaks to your integrity and your future growth. You've earned a new subscriber!
I've run into this with carpet washing as well, a customer telling me that their basement only had a couple small rooms. It was easily a 7000sq foot home and when I arrived and went to the basement there were two rooms off the main room, that main room (carpeted) took up the remaining square footage of the basement. I always get customers that don't mention area rugs during the quote and always ask "can you do those as well" basically for free. People are sneaky, not expecting to get charged for hallways and staircases, it's sad but yeah, folks always want something for nothing. Driving to jobs now for quotes, especially out of town is very costly with gas prices having skyrocketed
yup I agree raise you price I include fuel ⛽️ with a quote so my truck gets 10 mi per gallon if I gotta drive 20 miles you can guess how much that would be lol
Man, from 6:45 to the end us what every new business owner in this line of work needs to hear. I own a lawn and landscaping, power washing, and construction business and I lose sleep all the time because of quoting. Always wondering if I should've charged more and if I would have gotten the job if I did
I'm retired from tree trimming business and now I detail RVs. Even at my age giving quotes is a pain. Absolutely add 50$-100$ to your bids. I've done tons of tree work and I usually would mess one up every few months
I installed Alumawood patio covers and screen room add-ons for several years here in Vegas and I worked with my (at the time) my fiancé and he works for this brother whom owns the business. I asked him one day of he ever Googled the address to the houses he was going to do a quote for and he said "No why would I?" I was like "To have an idea of what you're walking into". Because if its just a dirt yard you're gonna need to dig footers and get that inspected unless he also wants the patio poured. Or maybe it's poured but there's a hot tub or built in BBQ or maybe there's a bunch of crap on the side of the house that allows us access to the backyard. So I was wondering is that something that you guys ever do when its a "remote quote"? Granted google most likely won't be exactly the same as the current establishment or residence or it might.
@@snakepliskin1185 you are looking at it as a lost, but you have gained an experience...a lot of people cannot say this because they worked for others all their lives with nothing to show
@@renostubbs8504 Yeah you learn for sure, but you learn less if you attempt to weasel out. My point is you finish what you agreed to and at least get paid. It's a contractual agreement. I'd still do good job because doing quality work is my way of getting more work, not advertising. And if they see you have intergity, the cusutomer might even pay the extra, leave you a huge tip, or give you some good referrals.
Weather it's a remote or in person estimate does not matter. Once the estimate is agreed upon it now becomes a binding contract for home owner and buisness. 20 years of not being clean, amount of chemicals, time spent, etc etc etc is all on the contractor now. The owner not removing items in area to be cleaned is breach of contract. Owner should be contacted by text, email or video record conversation with consent. Offer solutions like discount, reschedule with mobilization fee, price to only "remove" items. Solutions with extra fees would help regain your losses from estimate and also keep buisness name good in that neighborhood. Then tell the owner if you refer anyone we will give you a $$ referral fee if you get the job. That could lead to finishing that job with extra fees and landing other jobs
Exactly. I agree. There’s no way anyone should have to pay for a job not completed especially if it’s not their fault. Some folks may disagree but that’s just my opinion. It wouldn’t feel right charging them.
Respectfully, As someone who has done house washing for 15 years, the mistakes you made with this one job are mistakes that shouldn’t be made. 1. If you are going to do remote quoting (I don’t recommend) you should at bare minimum be asking for pictures of the job so you know what you are facing. Every house is different. 2. You didn’t ask the homeowner exactly what they wanted done and to make sure you had a clear scope of work. 3. You didn’t walk the property before you started to make sure the price was at least somewhat accurate. Dogs or no dogs you should walk to the job first to get a layout of what you need to do. In the end you spent time and resources on a job and then got no money from it and probably couldn’t get much else done for the day because you were stuck on this job. You would have been better off actually going out and looking at the job and getting a good number in front of the customer. Even if they didn’t accept your quote you wouldn’t have given the customer a negative experience and a chance to leave a bad review or tell others negative things about your company because you came out and did half a job and then just left because you changed the price. Definitely recommend refining your systems and processes to make sure you are being upfront with your customers and giving them a good experience
Agree I do most of inspections in person as much as possible, will set up my schedule to bundle work and estimates in the same areas of town if possible. Or remote sometimes if a very straightforward estimate. High ticket stuff I always drive out. You definitely have to ask all the questions especially objects on decks and around the house ect. And the most part is set expectations, because if not it looks pretty amateur. Been through that before when I started. Communication is key or forget about 5 star reviews.
I don't understand how you can do quotes without seeing the location. Seems like that would be nothing but trouble because we all know customers will never lie to us.
sometimes it happens and it WILL happen. i made a similar mistake, my wife wanted to upcharge her to make up for the mistake but she wasnt already pissed off so i decided we will just do it for what we quoted and ended up essentially working for free. the reason i did this out of the 3 options i had was because we have a recurring service business and so it benefits us to have recurring work at a lower cost than one time jobs at a higher cost. well because of my decision to bite the bullet we gained her as a recurring customer and she loves us. turned out to be a pretty good customer and now we will make more off her in the long run than we ever would have up charging her or potentially losing her altogether.
As a contractor, I have made mistake quotes, on both ends... I do the job and bite the bullet when low and when high I cash the check... Sometimes very happy and sometimes 😑
It’s always helpful to ask those clarifying questions…when’s the last time the house and concrete were pressure washed really well? Do you have a lot of trees and bushes or vines? Stuff like that influences pricing a lot.
"own up to your mistake" !? You didn't own up to your mistake! You quoted a price and then bailed on the job! You're the type of guys that give the rest of us a bad name!
If you are quoting online request photos, you can also get square footage and/or acreage of a lot via your county recorder site. As an interior cleaning service I would find out how many folks are not honest about the size nor condition of the home and expect to pay nothing.
I felt like the customer was trying to find a way to get over. That's why he took so long moving the dogs in the back. Then it left all of a sudden. Hmm suspect to me.
Sounds like you should’ve done the remaining side of the house for the original 500 though? Besides that, handled it well I think. A mistake you won’t be making again I’m sure.
Cases like this, it becomes inflammatory if you charge them anything. They wanted the entire house done for $500. If he did the other side for $500, they would have demanded the rest be done or he would have done MORE work for free. He cut costs of the front of the house because the customer would have been upset either way.
Yeah like you said throughout the video... It's not anyone's fault but your own. So as a business owner, you take the hit. That's what people call cost of doing business. You are going to make mistakes. It's not on the homeowner. You gave them a price, do the work for that price and move on
@K O True dat. The back was one thing since the customer didn't remove stuff as they were supposed to. Not doing the side just because it "is dirty" is bad form. If you're going to offer a price for a job based off of Google Earth than that is part of it. Live and learn. I don't blame the customer for being upset on this one
That's funny... You're charging almost what we would have charged to paint an entire exterior 15 -20 years ago. $1700 -$2000 to power wash lol? What a racket.
Always walk the property before doing any work to ensure you don’t have any surprises. Let the customer know you found significant stains or plan changes to your original quote and will have to make adjustments. Most customers will understand and will be willing to pay for your services as long as they trust you and understand. 👍😊. Trust is Key. If the customer doesn’t have trust in you or your company, then they wont want you to do the extra work or any work for that matter. Good customer relations are key.
I meet the majority of my clients. I know it's time but I like meeting who I'll be working with beforehand. Plus you get a good look at what you're doing. I don't care for remote quoting.
I learned years ago not to price job without looking you loose more than you gain by pricing and not going to look I’d have one person to do the estimate if I had to
That's extremely unprofessional, you should have went in person. You had already agreed on a price and then you turn your back on the house owner. Own your mistakes
This was always a problem with my flooring company that I worked for nobody from the actual crew would visit the job site prior scheduling of the job it's self just pictures and a rough floor plan from home Depot or Lowe's or our parent company would send us a floor plan with no pictures just square footages and rooms that actually needed work so many times we had the wrong amount of materials and materials like vinyl flooring being left outside during the winter or extreme heat vinyl is plastic plastic warps under extreme hot and cold temperatures I offered to show up a day a head for free to check jobs and that wasn't allowed
Well.. that sounds like a mess all around. I want to give a big thanks to you for sharing this learning experience though. That’s keeping it real. We all make mistakes and can grow. But most people try to hide their errors. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn.
Why would anyone buy a course from someone who doesn't even go over expectations, materials, and what a job entails before agreeing to do a wash for a set price?....
Do you not use a satellite and street view of the property? And then confirm that you're both looking at the same thing? It seems like that would help avoid this issue.
This is exactly what concerns me about remote quoting, it does save a lot of time but you never know how a property really is unless you see it in person. Especially the back part
Just an idea for you. I work for the largest independently owned window cleaning and pressure washing company in the nation. We will quote most window cleaning jobs over the phone but we never do that with pressure cleaning. We do what we call an “estimate and do”. We go out and evaluate the job then give a price. If the customer likes the price we stay and do the work. If not, we leave them with a quote and follow up a few days later. Using this method we win the job around 85% of the time.
What do you guys do with all that chemical run off? Your not allowed to let this onto the street and go down into the sewer systems or you can be fined.
I’m a blaster too for me if it’s a leave on chemical the sun just helps activate it faster, with a chemical that needs rinsing if the suns beaming you just reduce the time you leave the chemical before rinsing, so not so much reacting differently but more so faster 🤙
I like how half the comments are people understanding that a mistake was made and that he seems to have learned from it and made this video to inform others, and the other half is just giving him crap other making the mistake, like give the man a break, everyone makes mistakes every now and then no one is perfect
That $500 is not 500 in the back pocket though. I'm sure they guys would have kept at it if it seemed worth it. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.
I hate when people say “whenever” when the right word is “when.” “When I got home.” Not “whenever I got home.” Whenever is for recurring events. “Whenever I GET home early I always forget to take out the trash.” “When I get home today, I’ll take out the trash.” Ok. I’ve been “that guy.”
I don't junk removal and moving as well. That's why I take a look at things again before I start. If things are more than I. Quoted I tell the customer before I start
You generally get better results if you spray your sodium hypochlorite/soap mix first, as it will kill and soften up the crap before you hit it with the machine.
Uff this hurts my soul that you just left...we work on construction and had to bite the bullet on things that had costed us thousands and well we had to do what we had to do to make the customer happy this is painful 😩
I've learned to not care and walk away if the job is a lot higher then we thought, might not make any money that day but whatever avoids major problems
Everything make sense like you saying, but was you have the address you can check on the Google Maps the housing you are looking without getting there. I hope it helps
I understand that mistake in the price I’ve done it a time or two myself. But at this point in the job wouldn’t it have been better to just do the 3rd side for the 500 rather than walk away with nothing?
If you actually watched the whole video instead of stopping halfway to make this comment you would have seen that he admitted to underquoted and owned up to his mistake
You have a short talking about using google maps for remote quoting and getting measurements. Depending on how far out your customers are, always best to do an in person quote. Mistakes happen, all you can do is learn from them.
Maybe yall could help me with this concept. So im new new new to all this soft washing stuff, and I've seen videos where people mix Dawn Soap and Bleach, or pool cleaner in a water tank, then basically wash everything down with it, but I've seen others that just use bleach, and i'm wondering, what does the Dawn Soap do? Does it create foam to help it stick to the house or is it used as a degreaser?
The soap acts as a surfactant, so it reduces the surface tension of the bleach mix, allowing it to penetrate and cling better to surfaces. A straight bleach mix will drop right off walls before it has time to do its work. Adding the soap reduces the tendency for it to fall off, and ultimately saves you bleach costs and time. You'll notice when guys are washing roofs they use a ton of soap so the chemical lazily creeps its way down, wiping out everything in its path.
Hey Justin, I got one question. I have had a lot of different hose issues, and I'm getting new reels for my trailer, so I wanted to ask what hoses do you use for reels and stuff? Thx. Josh
Man, one thing I've learned from these videos is that your not a man of your word. You know the risk of giving a remote estimate. You know to say that there may be plus cost on anything extra or anything that has to be moved. Other than small pots and chairs. I've watched a many of your videos and it seems like your only after the money. Don't get me wrong yes that is why we are in business. But there is making money and then there is pure greed. If you quote a price, then that is what you do it for. It's your job to make sure everything is explained in detail. You are supposed to be the expert, not the customer. I've seen on several of your videos where you quote a price, then try to add cost to it just because it's a bit more work. That is laziness bro. You do excellent work bro, I'm not doubting that at all. But your number one priority when in any business, is customer satisfaction. I own my own painting and pressure washing business and run a non profit organization. And the customer satisfaction is number one priority to me. If I quote a price, then that's what I do it for. Idc if I end up losing over $1000.00 on a job, I'm doing it. Because without satisfied customers, I don't have a business. I understand also not letting the customer take advantage of you as well. But when it's your fault, then it's your fault. Maybe you should stop giving remote estimates. And make every detail clear. AND make sure they know that there might be plus cost if any extra work is involved. Any extra work is considered an add on to the original agreement. And should be made very clear.
This is absolutely the worst thing you can do. Word of mouth is the best and worst seller in your business, Imagine how many people they will tell about your failure. Imagine how many people you are losing as customers, just because of this one job. You would have still turned a profit on this job, of course not as much as you like, but that's business. I was a trucker long before washing houses, sometimes you gotta take a crap load to get to the good loads.
I hear your POV of a sky rocketed price due to an increase work load. But from their POV when a person has a price in their mind, a little wiggle is one thing, a HIKE is another. Im sorry they'd expected a huge job for pennies on the dollar. But once a price range is in mind, a jump is kinda unpleasant.
I’m a detailer and yeah very similar situations happen in my business but I recently got some new software and it quotes everything for them and I set the prices you should look into something like that for your business I’m sure there is something
#Patience Bro. I also quote remotely but I ask the homeowner to send me a wide angle photo of each side of the house and any problem areas. It’s at that point where I determine if an in person visit is required or if I can quote it remotely. In my terms and conditions of House wash, I have in big bold capital letters to remove all items from porches and patios or there will be an up charge. Do I still move stuff for free? Absolutely, when it’s someone that has a handicap or no one to help them. However, that being in my terms and conditions does eliminate about 90-95% of me having to move a bunch of stuff. Time is money!
1500????? like i said people better off getting their own pressure washer only $215 do it yourself easy .this is why i won’t ever hire anyone to do anything to my home people be try to over charge for everything
Long enough for it to have a chance to work but not long enough for it to dry. 5 minutes is a good guideline. I recommend watching Dans Vlog channel and Aaron's Lean Mean Academy Channel. If you're using the injector on your waterblaster/pressure washer, that thing dilutes your chem by 4 to 1, so you want to already have your bleach/soap/softwash mix at about 4 or 5% strength so it cuts to about 1% or lower by the time it hits the walls. A good tactic is to run weaker percentage mix but spray it on 2 or 3 times with a 5 minute wait in between. Don't let it dry or you'll get streaks. Also, if your mix is too strong when you hit old paint on weatherboards, you'll tear out some of the oxidised paint, and you'll be crying. Don't go too hot on concrete or you'll strip out the top lime and the concrete will be etched Af forever. For roofs, you can pump on a mix up to 6% and leave it without rinsing, but make sure you've added plenty of soap so the stuff clings and runs down the roof slow., and make sure there are no leaks in the gutters or it'll destroy whatever it falls onto on the ground below. For those roof jobs, a 12v sprayer such as an ATV sprayer or purpose built softwash sprayer is normally a better option than using a waterblaster because you can pump a hotter mix with it. At the end of the day, you can do just about any job with the most rudimentary equipment once you have experience with the chemicals. We've had water restrictions in my area for a couple months, so I've washed quite a few houses using nothing more than a long soft broom, a bucket and a garden hose - the result is just as good as using a pressure washer or other pump but it takes longer and is harder work.
Remote quoting ? I could never do that cause even when I go look I still under quote lol but seriously appreciate the honesty and just from my experience never take a job unless you get your own eyes on it cause it’s never as expected
Those sidewalks look like the bottom of some of the streams I fish here in Minnesota. I've never seen anything like that in the upper Midwest. Where do you guys work?
Remove the spark plug, drain the gas tank and fill with petrol. Pull the cord a bunch of times without the plug installed. You need to flush the diesel out of the whole system but it should be ok eventually.
This happens often in my business when customers send you pictures of video. They don't know what I'm looking for and omit some things. Sometimes on purpose unfortunately. Customer service not customer's always right is my motto. Many of them try to make it right but so many more want you to do them right by giving them the work. Thanks for sharing this. Just did a debris clean up and they added to the pile, but they scheduled a call back. They weren't surprised when the price increased though!
This is why I'd never quote over the phone. You always go out and check just in case, for me at least. I rather meet the customer and know everything about the house.
The problem with not walking the site/property is that you miss things like this.. The problem WITH walking the site/property is you use up alot more time. This has happened to me in our business lots.
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Would you require customers to take photos of their property with their phones and send them over? Or maybe 🤔 the likelihood of them moving forward with the service lessens the more you require of them?
Why aren’t you using the surface cleaner in this
Reputation is priceless. And you just cost your reputation for what? $1200? You were gonna get paid $500, and said the job went up to $1700. I know the math isn't as simple as that and there's more involved, but just to keep things simple... about $1200.
Bad decision by you. Do the job you said you were gonna do. I understand there's a limit. Say for example, you agree to do a job for $500, and then realize partway through the job, it's going to cost you $10,000. People draw the line at certain points, and I understand there is a line.... but $1200 for you reputation?? Doesn't seem worth it to me.
I always ask the clients to send me photos of all the areas that needs cleaning (when I do remote quoting) to avoid these frustrations
thats exactly what i do
I do that plus add a disclaimer. Stating that the price I give them is only an estimate. That price is subject to change...Also the customer is responsible to supply us with water and electricity as needed.
Obviously this guy doesn't wanna work anymore lol but who's the homeowner gonna complain to lol
This is like the second time remote quoting is hurting you. The customer can complain on Yelp Reviews, Google Reviews, Thumbtack or whatever website they found you on and the BBB. You miss quote means you need to do the work or face the consequences of a bad review and the only person to blame is yourselves.
Not a business owner. But can ya have customers send a video walk thru? And have them go in detail with what they want while they are doing the walk thru
One thing I respect is that you share your mistakes and don't hide them from us. That speaks to your integrity and your future growth. You've earned a new subscriber!
I've run into this with carpet washing as well, a customer telling me that their basement only had a couple small rooms. It was easily a 7000sq foot home and when I arrived and went to the basement there were two rooms off the main room, that main room (carpeted) took up the remaining square footage of the basement. I always get customers that don't mention area rugs during the quote and always ask "can you do those as well" basically for free. People are sneaky, not expecting to get charged for hallways and staircases, it's sad but yeah, folks always want something for nothing. Driving to jobs now for quotes, especially out of town is very costly with gas prices having skyrocketed
yup I agree raise you price I include fuel ⛽️ with a quote so my truck gets 10 mi per gallon if I gotta drive 20 miles you can guess how much that would be lol
Man, from 6:45 to the end us what every new business owner in this line of work needs to hear. I own a lawn and landscaping, power washing, and construction business and I lose sleep all the time because of quoting. Always wondering if I should've charged more and if I would have gotten the job if I did
I'm retired from tree trimming business and now I detail RVs. Even at my age giving quotes is a pain. Absolutely add 50$-100$ to your bids. I've done tons of tree work and I usually would mess one up every few months
I installed Alumawood patio covers and screen room add-ons for several years here in Vegas and I worked with my (at the time) my fiancé and he works for this brother whom owns the business.
I asked him one day of he ever Googled the address to the houses he was going to do a quote for and he said "No why would I?" I was like "To have an idea of what you're walking into". Because if its just a dirt yard you're gonna need to dig footers and get that inspected unless he also wants the patio poured. Or maybe it's poured but there's a hot tub or built in BBQ or maybe there's a bunch of crap on the side of the house that allows us access to the backyard.
So I was wondering is that something that you guys ever do when its a "remote quote"?
Granted google most likely won't be exactly the same as the current establishment or residence or it might.
That is accountability at it's finest...thank you for sharing this, I made a same like this just a week ago.
Blessings to your company
No it isn't! Bailing out and working for free?
@@snakepliskin1185 you are looking at it as a lost, but you have gained an experience...a lot of people cannot say this because they worked for others all their lives with nothing to show
@@renostubbs8504 Yeah you learn for sure, but you learn less if you attempt to weasel out. My point is you finish what you agreed to and at least get paid. It's a contractual agreement. I'd still do good job because doing quality work is my way of getting more work, not advertising. And if they see you have intergity, the cusutomer might even pay the extra, leave you a huge tip, or give you some good referrals.
Weather it's a remote or in person estimate does not matter. Once the estimate is agreed upon it now becomes a binding contract for home owner and buisness. 20 years of not being clean, amount of chemicals, time spent, etc etc etc is all on the contractor now. The owner not removing items in area to be cleaned is breach of contract. Owner should be contacted by text, email or video record conversation with consent. Offer solutions like discount, reschedule with mobilization fee, price to only "remove" items. Solutions with extra fees would help regain your losses from estimate and also keep buisness name good in that neighborhood. Then tell the owner if you refer anyone we will give you a $$ referral fee if you get the job. That could lead to finishing that job with extra fees and landing other jobs
Sorry you underquoted but you did do the honourable thing. You'll make it up later in good reputation.
Exactly. I agree. There’s no way anyone should have to pay for a job not completed especially if it’s not their fault. Some folks may disagree but that’s just my opinion. It wouldn’t feel right charging them.
@@andydrew3320 00pppppp nl9p
Respectfully, As someone who has done house washing for 15 years, the mistakes you made with this one job are mistakes that shouldn’t be made. 1. If you are going to do remote quoting (I don’t recommend) you should at bare minimum be asking for pictures of the job so you know what you are facing. Every house is different.
2. You didn’t ask the homeowner exactly what they wanted done and to make sure you had a clear scope of work.
3. You didn’t walk the property before you started to make sure the price was at least somewhat accurate. Dogs or no dogs you should walk to the job first to get a layout of what you need to do.
In the end you spent time and resources on a job and then got no money from it and probably couldn’t get much else done for the day because you were stuck on this job. You would have been better off actually going out and looking at the job and getting a good number in front of the customer. Even if they didn’t accept your quote you wouldn’t have given the customer a negative experience and a chance to leave a bad review or tell others negative things about your company because you came out and did half a job and then just left because you changed the price. Definitely recommend refining your systems and processes to make sure you are being upfront with your customers and giving them a good experience
That’s right lol 😆..
So you add insult to injury. He admitted his mistakes and then you tell him that he made mistakes. Jared, start your own channel.
Agree I do most of inspections in person as much as possible, will set up my schedule to bundle work and estimates in the same areas of town if possible. Or remote sometimes if a very straightforward estimate. High ticket stuff I always drive out.
You definitely have to ask all the questions especially objects on decks and around the house ect. And the most part is set expectations, because if not it looks pretty amateur. Been through that before when I started. Communication is key or forget about 5 star reviews.
@@raiden9284 it's constructive criticism
Perfectly said
You helped me out a lot man I appreciate your content. You have a good teaching voice for sure. Shoot a good speaking voice in general
Thanks Jae
I don't understand how you can do quotes without seeing the location. Seems like that would be nothing but trouble because we all know customers will never lie to us.
sometimes it happens and it WILL happen. i made a similar mistake, my wife wanted to upcharge her to make up for the mistake but she wasnt already pissed off so i decided we will just do it for what we quoted and ended up essentially working for free. the reason i did this out of the 3 options i had was because we have a recurring service business and so it benefits us to have recurring work at a lower cost than one time jobs at a higher cost. well because of my decision to bite the bullet we gained her as a recurring customer and she loves us. turned out to be a pretty good customer and now we will make more off her in the long run than we ever would have up charging her or potentially losing her altogether.
Love the content bro always showing us every aspect of the business. Much respect my guy 👏🏽🙌🏽
As a contractor, I have made mistake quotes, on both ends... I do the job and bite the bullet when low and when high I cash the check... Sometimes very happy and sometimes 😑
It’s always helpful to ask those clarifying questions…when’s the last time the house and concrete were pressure washed really well? Do you have a lot of trees and bushes or vines? Stuff like that influences pricing a lot.
"own up to your mistake" !? You didn't own up to your mistake! You quoted a price and then bailed on the job! You're the type of guys that give the rest of us a bad name!
If you are quoting online request photos, you can also get square footage and/or acreage of a lot via your county recorder site. As an interior cleaning service I would find out how many folks are not honest about the size nor condition of the home and expect to pay nothing.
I felt like the customer was trying to find a way to get over. That's why he took so long moving the dogs in the back. Then it left all of a sudden. Hmm suspect to me.
Sounds like you should’ve done the remaining side of the house for the original 500 though? Besides that, handled it well I think. A mistake you won’t be making again I’m sure.
Cases like this, it becomes inflammatory if you charge them anything. They wanted the entire house done for $500. If he did the other side for $500, they would have demanded the rest be done or he would have done MORE work for free. He cut costs of the front of the house because the customer would have been upset either way.
@@mrmoore9815 not really. The guy said to forget the back. Which means they could’ve done the last remaining side of the house and gotten paid 500.
Yeah like you said throughout the video... It's not anyone's fault but your own. So as a business owner, you take the hit. That's what people call cost of doing business. You are going to make mistakes. It's not on the homeowner. You gave them a price, do the work for that price and move on
@K O True dat. The back was one thing since the customer didn't remove stuff as they were supposed to. Not doing the side just because it "is dirty" is bad form. If you're going to offer a price for a job based off of Google Earth than that is part of it. Live and learn. I don't blame the customer for being upset on this one
That's funny... You're charging almost what we would have charged to paint an entire exterior 15 -20 years ago. $1700 -$2000 to power wash lol? What a racket.
Always walk the property before doing any work to ensure you don’t have any surprises. Let the customer know you found significant stains or plan changes to your original quote and will have to make adjustments. Most customers will understand and will be willing to pay for your services as long as they trust you and understand. 👍😊. Trust is Key. If the customer doesn’t have trust in you or your company, then they wont want you to do the extra work or any work for that matter. Good customer relations are key.
I meet the majority of my clients. I know it's time but I like meeting who I'll be working with beforehand. Plus you get a good look at what you're doing. I don't care for remote quoting.
I don't know how I got into this, but I have been watching you washing a few houses, now that I am stuck at home with covid....
I learned years ago not to price job without looking you loose more than you gain by pricing and not going to look I’d have one person to do the estimate if I had to
Why didn't you use the disc surface cleaner for most sidewalk and flat concrete areas? Why use the wand for some?
People that wear shorts don’t clean roofs with chlorine .
That's extremely unprofessional, you should have went in person. You had already agreed on a price and then you turn your back on the house owner. Own your mistakes
Just shut up bro
100%. It was his fault
This was always a problem with my flooring company that I worked for nobody from the actual crew would visit the job site prior scheduling of the job it's self just pictures and a rough floor plan from home Depot or Lowe's or our parent company would send us a floor plan with no pictures just square footages and rooms that actually needed work so many times we had the wrong amount of materials and materials like vinyl flooring being left outside during the winter or extreme heat vinyl is plastic plastic warps under extreme hot and cold temperatures I offered to show up a day a head for free to check jobs and that wasn't allowed
Well.. that sounds like a mess all around. I want to give a big thanks to you for sharing this learning experience though. That’s keeping it real. We all make mistakes and can grow. But most people try to hide their errors. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn.
Why would anyone buy a course from someone who doesn't even go over expectations, materials, and what a job entails before agreeing to do a wash for a set price?....
Do you not use a satellite and street view of the property? And then confirm that you're both looking at the same thing? It seems like that would help avoid this issue.
Why use the pressure washer and not a whirly bird?
Also, changing prices on site seems dirty. Misquoting doesnt mean you can back out.
This is exactly what concerns me about remote quoting, it does save a lot of time but you never know how a property really is unless you see it in person. Especially the back part
How much should someone charge per square foot?
Just an idea for you. I work for the largest independently owned window cleaning and pressure washing company in the nation. We will quote most window cleaning jobs over the phone but we never do that with pressure cleaning. We do what we call an “estimate and do”. We go out and evaluate the job then give a price. If the customer likes the price we stay and do the work. If not, we leave them with a quote and follow up a few days later. Using this method we win the job around 85% of the time.
How come you didn’t use the surface cleaner on other sidewalk in video?
I always meet in person and I will NEVER quote with out physically looking at the job
I wonder what type of chemical or chemical combination you would use to clean roofs like that or “ceramic tile “ roof ?thank you
Is using Google street view something that would be a good idea just to get a heads up about add ons or anything?
What do you guys do with all that chemical run off? Your not allowed to let this onto the street and go down into the sewer systems or you can be fined.
City will Just fine him if caught and could lose his business
Yup. You bait and switched him. Pretty jacked up. Only $100/hr wasn't enough? You should have ate it.
I have a question does the chemical react differently if the sun is out beaming on the roof or pavement?
I’m a blaster too for me if it’s a leave on chemical the sun just helps activate it faster, with a chemical that needs rinsing if the suns beaming you just reduce the time you leave the chemical before rinsing, so not so much reacting differently but more so faster 🤙
Thanks 👍
I like how half the comments are people understanding that a mistake was made and that he seems to have learned from it and made this video to inform others, and the other half is just giving him crap other making the mistake, like give the man a break, everyone makes mistakes every now and then no one is perfect
Question when and why would you opt to use the wand in such job vs the surface cleaner?
For the price he charges you can go out and buy you a power washer lol
Even if it took you all day to do the job walking home with $500 and a happy customer is better than a wasted day with $0 and a pissed off customer
That $500 is not 500 in the back pocket though. I'm sure they guys would have kept at it if it seemed worth it. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.
Did you use their water ?
I hate when people say “whenever” when the right word is “when.”
“When I got home.” Not “whenever I got home.”
Whenever is for recurring events.
“Whenever I GET home early I always forget to take out the trash.”
“When I get home today, I’ll take out the trash.”
Ok. I’ve been “that guy.”
I don't junk removal and moving as well. That's why I take a look at things again before I start. If things are more than I. Quoted I tell the customer before I start
When you pressure washed the concrete did you treat it before. Or just washed it like that ??
You generally get better results if you spray your sodium hypochlorite/soap mix first, as it will kill and soften up the crap before you hit it with the machine.
I don’t know… this seems very unprofessional
Uff this hurts my soul that you just left...we work on construction and had to bite the bullet on things that had costed us thousands and well we had to do what we had to do to make the customer happy this is painful 😩
I've learned to not care and walk away if the job is a lot higher then we thought, might not make any money that day but whatever avoids major problems
We do remote quoting as well. May more benefits than negatives but the possibility of mis quoting a jobs is a big one.
Everything make sense like you saying, but was you have the address you can check on the Google Maps the housing you are looking without getting there.
I hope it helps
I understand that mistake in the price I’ve done it a time or two myself. But at this point in the job wouldn’t it have been better to just do the 3rd side for the 500 rather than walk away with nothing?
I understand this situation, most of the time we should gain, however, sometimes we lose...this is professional Justin
Very helpful.
That looked like a nice tool your ground level employee had 6:50.
May I know what was that he was rolling?
That’s extremely unprofessional of you. It’s not their fault u underquoted the job. Man up and get the shit done. It was your fault🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
If you actually watched the whole video instead of stopping halfway to make this comment you would have seen that he admitted to underquoted and owned up to his mistake
You have a short talking about using google maps for remote quoting and getting measurements. Depending on how far out your customers are, always best to do an in person quote. Mistakes happen, all you can do is learn from them.
Maybe yall could help me with this concept. So im new new new to all this soft washing stuff, and I've seen videos where people mix Dawn Soap and Bleach, or pool cleaner in a water tank, then basically wash everything down with it, but I've seen others that just use bleach, and i'm wondering, what does the Dawn Soap do? Does it create foam to help it stick to the house or is it used as a degreaser?
The soap acts as a surfactant, so it reduces the surface tension of the bleach mix, allowing it to penetrate and cling better to surfaces. A straight bleach mix will drop right off walls before it has time to do its work. Adding the soap reduces the tendency for it to fall off, and ultimately saves you bleach costs and time. You'll notice when guys are washing roofs they use a ton of soap so the chemical lazily creeps its way down, wiping out everything in its path.
Hey Justin do u think it's a good time to start a business powerwashing
Hey Justin, I got one question. I have had a lot of different hose issues, and I'm getting new reels for my trailer, so I wanted to ask what hoses do you use for reels and stuff? Thx. Josh
Do you use the customers water? Just curious.
Nicely done.
Man, one thing I've learned from these videos is that your not a man of your word. You know the risk of giving a remote estimate. You know to say that there may be plus cost on anything extra or anything that has to be moved. Other than small pots and chairs. I've watched a many of your videos and it seems like your only after the money. Don't get me wrong yes that is why we are in business. But there is making money and then there is pure greed. If you quote a price, then that is what you do it for. It's your job to make sure everything is explained in detail. You are supposed to be the expert, not the customer. I've seen on several of your videos where you quote a price, then try to add cost to it just because it's a bit more work. That is laziness bro. You do excellent work bro, I'm not doubting that at all. But your number one priority when in any business, is customer satisfaction. I own my own painting and pressure washing business and run a non profit organization. And the customer satisfaction is number one priority to me. If I quote a price, then that's what I do it for. Idc if I end up losing over $1000.00 on a job, I'm doing it. Because without satisfied customers, I don't have a business. I understand also not letting the customer take advantage of you as well. But when it's your fault, then it's your fault. Maybe you should stop giving remote estimates. And make every detail clear. AND make sure they know that there might be plus cost if any extra work is involved. Any extra work is considered an add on to the original agreement. And should be made very clear.
I've done many jobs under quoted but at the end of the day, I eat most of the good strawberries 🍓.
What size pressure washer you using?
I like to watch this channel and the explanation of this lad . Well done guys. . RAF from Bournemouth Uk
This is absolutely the worst thing you can do. Word of mouth is the best and worst seller in your business, Imagine how many people they will tell about your failure. Imagine how many people you are losing as customers, just because of this one job. You would have still turned a profit on this job, of course not as much as you like, but that's business.
I was a trucker long before washing houses, sometimes you gotta take a crap load to get to the good loads.
I hear your POV of a sky rocketed price due to an increase work load.
But from their POV when a person has a price in their mind, a little wiggle is one thing, a HIKE is another.
Im sorry they'd expected a huge job for pennies on the dollar. But once a price range is in mind, a jump is kinda unpleasant.
Hi I recommend using the floor washer on all of it wasting time using pressure washer
I’m a detailer and yeah very similar situations happen in my business but I recently got some new software and it quotes everything for them and I set the prices you should look into something like that for your business I’m sure there is something
#Patience Bro. I also quote remotely but I ask the homeowner to send me a wide angle photo of each side of the house and any problem areas. It’s at that point where I determine if an in person visit is required or if I can quote it remotely. In my terms and conditions of House wash, I have in big bold capital letters to remove all items from porches and patios or there will be an up charge. Do I still move stuff for free? Absolutely, when it’s someone that has a handicap or no one to help them. However, that being in my terms and conditions does eliminate about 90-95% of me having to move a bunch of stuff. Time is money!
1500????? like i said people better off getting their own pressure washer only $215 do it yourself easy .this is why i won’t ever hire anyone to do anything to my home people be try to over charge for everything
Thanks for sharing!!!
How long do you let the bleach sit before spraying it off
Long enough for it to have a chance to work but not long enough for it to dry. 5 minutes is a good guideline. I recommend watching Dans Vlog channel and Aaron's Lean Mean Academy Channel. If you're using the injector on your waterblaster/pressure washer, that thing dilutes your chem by 4 to 1, so you want to already have your bleach/soap/softwash mix at about 4 or 5% strength so it cuts to about 1% or lower by the time it hits the walls. A good tactic is to run weaker percentage mix but spray it on 2 or 3 times with a 5 minute wait in between. Don't let it dry or you'll get streaks. Also, if your mix is too strong when you hit old paint on weatherboards, you'll tear out some of the oxidised paint, and you'll be crying. Don't go too hot on concrete or you'll strip out the top lime and the concrete will be etched Af forever. For roofs, you can pump on a mix up to 6% and leave it without rinsing, but make sure you've added plenty of soap so the stuff clings and runs down the roof slow., and make sure there are no leaks in the gutters or it'll destroy whatever it falls onto on the ground below. For those roof jobs, a 12v sprayer such as an ATV sprayer or purpose built softwash sprayer is normally a better option than using a waterblaster because you can pump a hotter mix with it. At the end of the day, you can do just about any job with the most rudimentary equipment once you have experience with the chemicals. We've had water restrictions in my area for a couple months, so I've washed quite a few houses using nothing more than a long soft broom, a bucket and a garden hose - the result is just as good as using a pressure washer or other pump but it takes longer and is harder work.
Been there before! It happens I usually just do the same and bite the bullet unless it’s just too much of a price difference.
Sheiss Happen, but I like that you took ownership and moved on. a profit is always a profit
Walk the job area 👌👍
Remote quoting ? I could never do that cause even when I go look I still under quote lol but seriously appreciate the honesty and just from my experience never take a job unless you get your own eyes on it cause it’s never as expected
I ask them to tell me if the dirt or growth is light, medium, heavy, or extra heavy, if I come and it's more I have a reason to adjust the price.
Those sidewalks look like the bottom of some of the streams I fish here in Minnesota. I've never seen anything like that in the upper Midwest. Where do you guys work?
That’s why it’s very important to always always appear in person to look at a job.
I understand cleaning a house to make it look better, but how can blasting water into every potential crevice of your siding and roof be a good thing?
Brother! What Psi is that pressure washer?
Do you have a service app?
I put diesel in my pressure washer on accident. Is it ruined
Remove the spark plug, drain the gas tank and fill with petrol. Pull the cord a bunch of times without the plug installed. You need to flush the diesel out of the whole system but it should be ok eventually.
This happens often in my business when customers send you pictures of video. They don't know what I'm looking for and omit some things. Sometimes on purpose unfortunately. Customer service not customer's always right is my motto. Many of them try to make it right but so many more want you to do them right by giving them the work. Thanks for sharing this. Just did a debris clean up and they added to the pile, but they scheduled a call back. They weren't surprised when the price increased though!
A mans quote is a mans word.
instead of holding the trigger on the gun the whole time if your using it for a long time use a rubber band a clip or a zip tie... its helps the hands
This is why I'd never quote over the phone. You always go out and check just in case, for me at least. I rather meet the customer and know everything about the house.
No big deal it's called cutting your losses and moving on been there done that
I made alot of mistakes in my life. I just learned the hard way to my ego. Semper Fi.
Do you work for All American? Or mike just lets you use his footage?..
This is a clear rookie mistake, #1 *always* go out and look at a job... #2 refer to #1 always..
Why didn’t you use a surface cleaner?
The problem with not walking the site/property is that you miss things like this..
The problem WITH walking the site/property is you use up alot more time.
This has happened to me in our business lots.
I quote remotely. You win some, you lose some. Worth it.