Looking to the future

mario said:
same here so now i offer 3 types of service, a wash n go, basic service for a small 1 story and small 2 story, and a full service. which one do you want lady? im no expert and still a newbie but my ice cream shop gotta sell more flavors than just choclate
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Sounds like a great idea. Good analogy too
 
jlpressure said:
I dont want to get all political but its the times we live in. Nowadays, people want everything and everything cost money. When I was growing up all the way to the age 16 my parents didnt own a dining room set. They had a picnic table painted cranbury and a nice table cloth. Why? because they couldnt afford it and were saving for the future.

These days everyone one wants everything and will get everything and that means many many people shop on PRICE, they have to, for all they want and on top of shopping on price, many are shopping on borrowed money (credit).

I know many will say things are better than they ever were, but the past decade plus, while everybody is wanting and getting everything they want, we are slowly slipping into a crunch as a nation. We have great booms and mild recessions, but in these times employment has drastically changed. Two parents have to work, many work two jobs, just to get by. Now just getting by is different than it was 25-40 years ago. Now just getting by is to own a home that you cant afford, have a nicer vehicle than you can afford, buy your kids $90 sneakers and $75 jeans. So people price shop, The Walmart factor. The NAFTA factor,Jobs have gone over seas, good paying jobs, now people dont have the security of a long term good paying job, they have to pay part or all of their health insurance, no pensions. Now the economy has slowed some so some are out of work or need more than their job pays, so they do things on the side like Pressure washing. Many just need enough to make their payments, so they go and do a house wash for $75 or they are bums who just who want beer money.

The economy and the times have people scared, not as scared as when the economy is booming, but things have slowed, so more & more people will be shopping price, but this isnt anything new its been like this for many years. Every generation has bettered themselves we are in a time and it may be here to stay, were we just get by. Im not saying everybody, but the middle class is changing from what it was in the 50' 60's & 70's. Back then the middle class almost always was more conservitive with their spending and they had chances to advance, now the middle class is just trying to maintain, and its slipping ever so slowly, but it is slipping. So people who never thought they would be looking for the BEST PRICE, now are looking for that BEST PRICE. Face it most home owners in middle class homes probably wouldnt see much of a difference in a $400 house wash or a $100 house wash, their neighbor told them "hey the guy charges $100 and does a great job" They are going to go with it

How can we stop it, I just dont know or see it happening, Look at Apple Chris, he's seen a lot and it over years is just getting worse & worse for pricing. But its just like everything else, ya TV's are cheaper, toys are cheaper, but so arent wages and so isnt what people want to pay for a house wash

I'd say get together with guys in your area, but there will be others coming along to do the low pricing. I say the only way you can maintain & grow is working with you customer base and grow off of them

We are not in a day or time where our prices will go up, they may maintain or even go down, Illegals, Walmart, NAFTA and a goverment that is more for large biz than the average joe and thats Dems & Republicans for the past 15-20 years. They are going where they get their money from.

Work hard and do quality work and hopefully you will grow in these tough times
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i also think that Russ, Reef, Ron, and all the other experts should come up with some kind of labor rate price book that us newbies and part timers could go by. ill run copies and give them to the lowballer. maybe he dont know what the rates are and hes scared to charge. the only prices i had to go by were the damn 99.00 coupons i got in the mail.
 
More people than over own homes as well, and the paper one day talked about the incredible amount of people spending as much as 70 percent of their income on house payments. People live beyond their means, and they have to scrape dollars on just about everything else
 
Another problem is people shop price and not value. I mentioned a house I washed for $300 that was done for $170 less than a year earlier. This house was dirty again all the way around from top to bottom in 9 months. I would be very surpised if this house needs washing again in less than two years after I did it. I'm not saying it will stay spotless but this guy won't need to spend money again for probably two years. So what was cheaper, spending $170 for a wash that lasted less than a year or spending $300 for a wash that lasts two? Not to mention that the customer spent additional money to clean the windows after the first clean and the guy never did the gutters after saying he would.
 
mario said:
i also think that Russ, Reef, Ron, and all the other experts should come up with some kind of labor rate price book that us newbies and part timers could go by. ill run copies and give them to the lowballer. maybe he dont know what the rates are and hes scared to charge. the only prices i had to go by were the damn 99.00 coupons i got in the mail.
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it doesn't matter what labor rate you come up with, someone will always go lower no matter what. to some PW'G is a business, a way to make a living, to others its just a way to make a couple of bucks.
 
mario said:
same here so now i offer 3 types of service, a wash n go, basic service for a small 1 story and small 2 story, and a full service. which one do you want lady? im no expert and still a newbie but my ice cream shop gotta sell more flavors than just choclate
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exactly Mario! i am working on my"packages" as we speak, i will list each package and the cost to complete. i will also offer a note explaining that any one that could do it any cheaper might be a liability to homeowner. pretty simple.... risk 50-75$ for a potential lawsuit or pay for professional service....
 
bigchaz said:
My point is just that youve been in business 14 years, you obviously know what your doing, so why all the complaining? Figure out a better way to make money, if you are struggling so bad. No one has a magical answer that will automatically make all homeowners want to pay 1000 dollars for a housewash. You will never be able to combat lowballers. They will always exist.

You seem to have a niche in commercial work. If you cant get residential work for the prices you want to get, than maybe its not meant to be. Or you need to come up with a way to make it work. Be more efficient, offer more services, find better marketing, lower your costs, get it done quicker. You have some sort of attitude towards doing wood for some reason, but Im trying to tell you how much work there is. Expand your horizons and explore new services. Hood cleaning, fleet work, decks, drain jetting, windows, historic restoration. Come up with another speciality. You may have done well in the past sticking to solely pressure washing, but times change. 50 years ago it might have been nice to drive around in a truck all day and deliver milk to people, but pretty sure they had to move on eventually. Probably complained about the lowballing grocery stores and how residential deliveries were dropping off year after year.

Just saying. I can tell your a smart guy and a good businessman, but I just cant understand how people get so worked up over this stuff. Good luck to you
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Thats what get's me! people that started when the gettin was good and now blasting folks trying to figure out a solution for success in the current market?!!
i am not defending "LOWBALLING" just trying to understand what i am competing against. as for as a group of old timers setting prices for work...what??
 
MIKE FP said:
it doesn't matter what labor rate you come up with, someone will always go lower no matter what. to some PW'G is a business, a way to make a living, to others its just a way to make a couple of bucks.
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your right! but if you inform the customer of the choice they have and they still insist on hiring the person who could
1) destroy property
2) sue them for injury's
3) offer no guarantee on work
then WTF can you do!!!! except pray the druggy falls of the ladder hits the circuit breaker (whatever the f###!) and burns they're house down....just to save a few dollars.
 
I get less and less price shoppers everyday.Why would I compete for unfaithful low margin residential customers?I'd rather do MARKET RESEARCH,Get advice from people who've been around for a while, buy mailing lists,and build a company image that brings the type of customer that pays for quality services to me.If my numbers showed an indication that building a new residential pw business this way was'nt a win win situation then I would seek other options.I'm not too good to do poor quality work for a low wage but thanks to everything I just wrote I've never had to.
 
why does it have to be poor quality or low wage??? i provide high quality with very competitive price's? and really nobody has questioned my price's are tried haggling with me? well one time a guy underbid me that did not even own a PW but that is a different story..and like i said 100$ an hour is not bad for me, might be low margins to some. and nobody is faithfull when it comes to the almighty $$...
 
DOG said:
why does it have to be poor quality or low wage??? i provide high quality with very competitive price's? and really nobody has questioned my price's are tried haggling with me? well one time a guy underbid me that did not even own a PW but that is a different story..and like i said 100$ an hour is not bad for me, might be low margins to some. and nobody is faithfull when it comes to the almighty $$...
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true, i would believe that different regions have different pricing standards, so what may be lowballing in one region may be a standard price in another.
 
DustinC said:
Dog,What brought you to make the decision to be the low price leader?
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DustinC said:
why does it have to be poor quality or low wage??? Because every house under 2500 sq ft cannot be cleaned properly in an hour.
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who says? what is proper? if they want proper they can pay for it right? if they dont am i going to walk away and let the guy every one here is bitchin about get it? BTW i am not that guy..... but i will undercut any proffesional bid if i can proffit from it.

here is the same example A SERVICE MAGIC CUSTOMER i bid 265 for her then got undercut at 200 i told her the lowest i could go was 235 she accepted and we are both happy... what else could you want?


customer qoute...

" eco clean was the most prompt in contacting me to see the house and provide an estimate. He was flexible as far as scheduling and we had a pleasant experience working with him. He made a significant difference in the appearance of our gutters, especially. He was also mindful not to disturb the bird's nest under our porch! Although he wasn't the lowest bid, we still went with him and were glad that we did. I would highly recommend him to others."
 
So Dog you are saying will do any job for 100 dollars I was asked to do 2000 sq foot and 800sq drive I gave here low price 260 she said that she had some give price 175 that is almost .05 sqfoot. after taking out for labor and maintian and ins what are you left with low job maybe 30 or 40 dollars so I say that there is no way you could do good job for 100 dollars 2000 house
 
bigchaz said:
My point is just that youve been in business 14 years, you obviously know what your doing, so why all the complaining? Figure out a better way to make money, if you are struggling so bad. No one has a magical answer that will automatically make all homeowners want to pay 1000 dollars for a housewash. You will never be able to combat lowballers. They will always exist.

You seem to have a niche in commercial work. If you cant get residential work for the prices you want to get, than maybe its not meant to be. Or you need to come up with a way to make it work. Be more efficient, offer more services, find better marketing, lower your costs, get it done quicker. You have some sort of attitude towards doing wood for some reason, but Im trying to tell you how much work there is. Expand your horizons and explore new services. Hood cleaning, fleet work, decks, drain jetting, windows, historic restoration. Come up with another speciality. You may have done well in the past sticking to solely pressure washing, but times change. 50 years ago it might have been nice to drive around in a truck all day and deliver milk to people, but pretty sure they had to move on eventually. Probably complained about the lowballing grocery stores and how residential deliveries were dropping off year after year.

Just saying. I can tell your a smart guy and a good businessman, but I just cant understand how people get so worked up over this stuff. Good luck to you
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If you read the post, it's not a complaint but rather a statement on where the industry is heading? I know about the milk man theory, But with milk at $5.00 a gallon and now you have to go and pick it up yourself i dont see where your going with this?

This industry should only wish to do as well as the price of milk over the last 20 years, but thanks for your input..:rolleyes:
 
The Cleaner said:
If you read the post, it's not a complaint but rather a statement on where the industry is heading? I know about the milk man theory, But with milk at $5.00 a gallon and now you have to go and pick it up yourself i dont see where your going with this?

This industry should only wish to do as well as the price of milk over the last 20 years, but thanks for your input..:rolleyes:
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na plain and simple complaining.. when someone try's to have a real conversation about it they are made to look like the fool with little snide remarks like " but thanks for your input..:rolleyes:" or "call me when you sell your equip." or other such negative comments that doesnt really further the conversation at all... you are not interested in anybody's input unless its aligned with yours.
 
Scare the lowballers it works... Call them and say " If you touch any of my accounts I will do all of yours for nothing and put your butt out of business... I also like to educate new business so they will know that by lowballing they are ruining it for everyone else... Hey we all got to eat.... Maybe we need a gas station lowballer ( No complaint there ) Hey what the hell is up with diesel 2.93 a gallon... I thought diesel was cheaper because it does not have to be refined like unleaded.. Go Figure
 
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