Motor Home and RV Parks

Grime Busters LLC

Grime Busters LLC

New member
Been slammed busy recently in a couple RV parks. Snow birdes are in town and business is consistent.

Wondering how many people have spent time in this market. Here in Phoenix, the lowballers (unlicensed, uninsured) have price some of these jobs ridiculously low, but also do crap work.

I paid $35.00 and provide one of the parks 400 full page fliers. After getting my first couple jobs last week, the many other RV owners witnessed the quality of our work. They have paid as low as $40.00 for a wash on a 40' class A Motor Home. I'm now doing complete details from $175 to $300, and have endless work.

The profit margin is obviously much less than the flatwork contracts I have enjoyed, but most of the PM's I have dealt with have cut their budgets big time, and most of my contracts have slipped to 90 days, couple have canceled.

Dealing with residential's are a pain in the a*s, but keeping me busy
 

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Thats great Jim! Way to take it all instride and keep going. How long does one like in the picture take, and what a "full detail" consist of?
 
Scott D. said:
Thats great Jim! Way to take it all instride and keep going. How long does one like in the picture take, and what a "full detail" consist of?
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Complete detail includes using a fleet wash product to remove all the crap of the roof of the Motor coach, initial rinse, wash using Simonize wash/wax product, rinse, quick dry, followed by a coat of Turtle Wax ICE (great stuff), hand buff, then exterior windows, wheel cleaner and tire dressing, if requested.

A 42" unit like the one pictures took 3 of us just under 3 hours. This unit had not been professionally washed in quite some time. The unit is 7 years old, front was covered with dead bug juice. Had a lot of pre existing hard water stains. Really needed a buffing, but the customer pre paid and left before we even started the RV. Gave the guy a break, $285.

The darker colored units are much more of a challenge, especially with the hard water we have here in Phoenix.

Did a 26' 5th wheel trailer before this unit, took us 1 1/2 hours, $185. It was white w/ cream colored decals.

Did one other unit today, have 3 scheduled for tomorrow, and 5 already scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday (since rain is forecasted for Monday)

All pay cash, a couple have paid with a personal check. Tax breaks are another plus.
 
Steele said:
A 42" unit like the one pictures took 3 of us just under 3 hours.
Gave the guy a break, $285.
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Did I understand you to say that it took essentially 9 man-hours (3 guys-3 hours each) to clean that for $285?
That doesn't seem like too good a money for dealing what you dealt with...
 
Biodude said:
Did I understand you to say that it took essentially 9 man-hours (3 guys-3 hours each) to clean that for $285?
That doesn't seem like too good a money for dealing what you dealt with...
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You're absolutely correct, but with my commercial contracts slowly disappearing, and my "competition" (mostly illegals doing a slash and dash) charging 2/3rds less, it beats a zero for the day.

Its very labor intensive, ans a niche market this time of year with all the sow birds in town.
 
Not all are going to take 3 hours so you have better margins at times. You also have to be reasonable to some extent, $300 for a car wash is pretty good dough for a person to shell out.
Congrats on being creative, keeping working and paying some employees at the same time. They should appreciate the work.
 
Yea good job Jim. While the situation may not be ideal, it is better to make less money than you're used to than going home with nothing each day wishing you had work.

Most guys would just throw in the towel
 
Around here when a modular or mobile home is up for sale many of the developments require it be washed before the sale is done. Check with the PMgr.
 
Great pictures Jim, keep up the good work.

Did you give them business cards or even better....magnetic business cards so when they come back next time they can call you?

You might think of doing that if you have not done so, it would be easy for them to call someone that they had good dealings with and will help pass the word around.





_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
prostaff@superiorpowerwashing.com<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Fleet Washing Corpus Christi Texas
 
Christopher said:
Great pictures Jim, keep up the good work.

Did you give them business cards or even better....magnetic business cards so when they come back next time they can call you?

You might think of doing that if you have not done so, it would be easy for them to call someone that they had good dealings with and will help pass the word around.








_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
prostaff@superiorpowerwashing.com<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Fleet Washing Corpus Christi Texas
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Absolutely, gave them both magnetic and business cards. Word of mouth referrals are my #1 source of new customers, and so far all the customers we have done in these parks have guaranteed they will call me next year when they return.

It's a great niche market for now, still pursuing my past PM's and new leads to get me back doing flatwork on a regular basis. But these RV parks are generating income for now. Less of a profit margin that I am use to, but beats a zero.

Thanks for your feedback guys. I'll never just sit on my ass waiting for my stimulus check or "distribution of wealth" check the new messiah has promised.
 
Motorhomes for these old guys are fun. Most of them are a blast to talk to, and are grateful for anyone that treats them like they have some intelligence.
Jim, are you working mostly out on the west side on the motor homes? I do some work on the east side, but I think that I have seen your truck once over here.
 
I do about 15 RV's monthly at the auction locally. I get a decent price for them. we make our own PANEL BRIGHT mixture and then rinse off. Takes about 10-15 minutes with one person outside and one is inside cleaning it out cleaning out sinks, counters, cabinets, throwing everything away, sweeping, no mopping, no vaccuming, no toilets, no making beds, just clean it out and get all the crap out of them. We average $175.00 per hour depending on how many we are doing at a time.

There is money in doing them however for my area you will not see many prevost buses. the ones that have them would be willing to pay 500 for a wash, and wax though. Those are 1-200k buses and its just like a car wash.

Say that bus is 6 times the size of a impala. A mobile detail guy would get about 80-100 for full wash and hand wax on the impala not including the inside so asking for 500 is not such a far fetched thing.

I realize this was just one example and others have bashed the pricing you mentioned above. I would not make out so well if I were doing 12-15 Prevost buses either but the ones that are money are the little campers that take 10 minutes inside and out. Money can be made washing these if you do enough of them to get fast.
 
If I'm reading that correctly 6 of those man hours are employees and 3 are yours. At $12 hour that means $72 for the employees and $213 less materials and overhead for your 3 hours. With more jobs in the same area your windshield time and setup will go way down. We too have been loosing commercial accounts each month due to the economy. I'll gladly take some $65-$70 per hour gross jobs. It also makes a difference if you are an owner that works in the field.

I too am a subscriber to the "adapt or die" business philosophy.

You can't sit around and wait for the govt to make it better.
 
Scott Stone said:
Motorhomes for these old guys are fun. Most of them are a blast to talk to, and are grateful for anyone that treats them like they have some intelligence.
Jim, are you working mostly out on the west side on the motor homes? I do some work on the east side, but I think that I have seen your truck once over here.
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All west side Scott, NW Phoenix, Surprise, Avondale, etc. I've done jobs all over the valley, but never and RV parks on the east side.

You're right, I only target the 55+ parks, and I have always had much respect for my elders, and these men and women are all mostly retired, love to talk and truly appreciate treating their retirement mode of transportation like gold.

I did a 1.5 million dollar Class A coach last week, plus the guy pulls a double deck 40' trailer to haul his SUV and Harley's. Price was not his concern, just make his "baby" look like brand new. I believe I have a few pictures of that rig on the link I provided above.

It's a niche market, this time of year, and allows me to keep beating the pavement getting to the commercial PM's.
 
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IndyExterior said:
If I'm reading that correctly 6 of those man hours are employees and 3 are yours. At $12 hour that means $72 for the employees and $213 less materials and overhead for your 3 hours. With more jobs in the same area your windshield time and setup will go way down. We too have been loosing commercial accounts each month due to the economy. I'll gladly take some $65-$70 per hour gross jobs. It also makes a difference if you are an owner that works in the field.

I too am a subscriber to the "adapt or die" business philosophy.

You can't sit around and wait for the govt to make it better.
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Exactly bro. Action speaks louder than words. I get my first job in a park (usually target one on "Main Street"), and before the days over I have 4-6 more jobs lined-up. My (our) work speaks for itself, word of mouth advertising is priceless. And the gradification when you view the completed project is one of the biggest reasons I do this work.

I've heard the story countless times from owners that have paid as little as $40.00, and then realize the RV looked worse after wards than it did before the splash and dash artist took off with their money.

Last unit I did Friday was a 35' 5th Wheel. After washing and beginning to wax (Turtle Wax Ice), I realized the paint was so oxidized that the unit needed more work than I first quoted. The owner agreed and I will return next week to remove the oxidation and do a complete power buff.
 
All I am saying is that you should recognize the risks involved and be paid for them. All it takes is for you or one of your employees to fall down from up there and $285 doesn't sound so good. $285 without leaving the ground sounds a lot better to me. Your insurance company better be aware of what you're doing and if these retired people are sharp, they will ask to see a copy of your insurance before they let you start washing.
 
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