Dirtiest filters we have

Tony Shelton

BS Detector, Esquire
Here is a short video of Chris cleaning the dirtiest filters we have installed. They are over a heavy smoking casino and are filled with tobacco smoke. The day may come when we have to clean them occasionally with some soap, but for now, even after two years in service, hot water is sufficient.

We have 19 of these filters at this location and we get $9.87 each to clean them. The cleaning is the bottleneck. One guy cleans, the other guy pulls and reinstalls. Look at how long it takes to clean and do the math.:cool:

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Those were very dirty, glad you got them clean.

How does the casino feel about your services and how you save them money?

Do they complain about spending he money or they happy that you are helping to save them money?





______________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513
Low Pressure Roof Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Shingle Roof Washing and Tile Roof Washing in Corpus Christi Texas

I've had these guys for almost three years now. I was referred to them by an HVAC company that had just installed 2 new units to replace some burned out ones. The HVAC company told them they need a service to change their filters or the units are going to keep burning up.

After we started changing their filters most of their problems stopped, but two units' evaps were so jammed up they kept freezing. We told them they were going to destroy those units unless they got the coils cleaned. They hired a company to clean their coils (before we were up and running on the coil cleaning) and since then they haven't had a single breakdown. (BTW the company charged them twice what we would have charged)

I raised their price 30% this year citing the extra time because of the tobacco. They were happy to pay it and paid me for the entire the day after they got the invoice.
 
I cant watch the video to see how long it takes, but 19 at 9.87 is only $187.53. Doesnt seem like much...How many filters do you clean per day?
 
I cant watch the video to see how long it takes, but 19 at 9.87 is only $187.53. Doesnt seem like much...How many filters do you clean per day?

That building took us less than 25 minutes from park to drive.

Yesterday I had to get new batteries installed in the lift and we went around working on selling concrete cleaning. In between that we hit 13 small buildings (small being between 1 filter and 20 filters). These were all bimonthly (every other month) accounts. We grossed 880.00 for cleaning 77 filters in a little less than 3 hours including drive time. Two guys. The lift increases profit (by decreasing time) by about 30%.

Keep in mind also that the cost goes up with smaller accounts which have minimums i.e. to go on a roof to clean one filter is $25.00 each time and takes between 5 and ten minutes. To clean two is $18.75 each, etc, etc.

Today we have only condenser coil cleaning scheduled. It's a group of small one story buildings with an average of 15 units each. This is the most profitable aspect of our work and is annual.

I've got a lot of data from past work, but I will post tomorrow actual times and let you know how we make out tonight. We plan to work it from noon to 8pm.
 
Wow, thats awesome. Is this a relatively untapped arena? How hard of a sell is it compared to flatwork and other types of cleaning?
 
Wow, thats awesome. Is this a relatively untapped arena? How hard of a sell is it compared to flatwork and other types of cleaning?

It's not too easy to sell. Most places fall into three categories:

1) They have a filter service already changing filters (in line with my prices)

2) They have an HVAC maintenance agreement that changes filters. (usually higher than my prices)

3) They don't give a crap about filters because they are just tenants.

In case #1 it's a time issue. We've been doing this for less than 5 years and my competition's been around for over 20. They use conventional filters that everyone understands. Our filters are different. The customer has to be educated and it takes time. Sometimes years of frequent contact. But once you have them they stick.

In case #2 the HVAC company will tell them you are crap, your filters are crap and that you eat children for breakfast. Don't be offended, they do that to each other too. Sometime take a look on the HVAC boards. They are some of the most hateful people I've ever seen. (not all, but a good portion of them are like that). I've lost a lot of bids to HVAC guys telling them my filters will burn up their equipment. The one's I eventually got, were due to PM's networking together and a PM that uses me singing our praises to the guy who isn't. (or when they finally realize what a liar their HVAC guy is)

Case #3 is the easiest sell for us in our infancy. Pictures from the roof and some invoices borrowed from an HVAC friend showing the cost of repairs can sometimes be just the thing to do the trick.

There are also a lot of property managers our there who are leaving the filter changes up to the tenants. I take pics, then go down and talk to the tenants and use their own quotes like "I've been here 3 years and I didn't even know there was a filter there." And "I changed them last year" and "the landlord takes care of changing those".

Right now the market is good for getting pms to start changing the filters via our company because the tenants are walking away breaking the lease leaving beat up equipment. Before, they just charged the tenant for repairs, but these days the tenant can't pay anyway.
 
It's not too easy to sell. Most places fall into three categories:

1) They have a filter service already changing filters (in line with my prices)

2) They have an HVAC maintenance agreement that changes filters. (usually higher than my prices)

3) They don't give a crap about filters because they are just tenants.

In case #1 it's a time issue. We've been doing this for less than 5 years and my competition's been around for over 20. They use conventional filters that everyone understands. Our filters are different. The customer has to be educated and it takes time. Sometimes years of frequent contact. But once you have them they stick.

In case #2 the HVAC company will tell them you are crap, your filters are crap and that you eat children for breakfast. Don't be offended, they do that to each other too. Sometime take a look on the HVAC boards. They are some of the most hateful people I've ever seen. (not all, but a good portion of them are like that). I've lost a lot of bids to HVAC guys telling them my filters will burn up their equipment. The one's I eventually got, were due to PM's networking together and a PM that uses me singing our praises to the guy who isn't. (or when they finally realize what a liar their HVAC guy is)

Case #3 is the easiest sell for us in our infancy. Pictures from the roof and some invoices borrowed from an HVAC friend showing the cost of repairs can sometimes be just the thing to do the trick.

There are also a lot of property managers our there who are leaving the filter changes up to the tenants. I take pics, then go down and talk to the tenants and use their own quotes like "I've been here 3 years and I didn't even know there was a filter there." And "I changed them last year" and "the landlord takes care of changing those".

Right now the market is good for getting pms to start changing the filters via our company because the tenants are walking away breaking the lease leaving beat up equipment. Before, they just charged the tenant for repairs, but these days the tenant can't pay anyway.

This is very appealing to me for a couple of reason. 1. Doesnt seem like most companies would have 30 filter cleaning companies calling them every couple of days like w/ flat work, because there arent 30 filter cleaning companies. 2. The harder the sale due to having to educate the customer, the higher potential for larger profits.

Its why I like roof cleaning so much. In Houston, its not an easy sell most of the time. You have to educate them on methods, benefits, etc...Our average job runs about $800 for just the roof w/out house washing and other cleaning. We dont even sell the house wash until we lock in the roof, because once we get a signature for the roof, we can charge full price for the house wash. Versus them taking our bid to a competitor to start a bidding war (which we dont negotiate, so we usually lose those anyways).

I wish I could be home so i could make it out to LV for some hands on education, because it is definately something I am interested in for future expansion. Thanks for the info Tony.
 
Great info Tony, Thanks.

How are those new batteries working out? Hope they are doing better than the last set.

I don't know if I told you about getting new batteries for my truck. I had one dead battery and the other was slowly going bad and I had bad connectors on the cables so I got the best batteries they had and got the wires fixed.

The truck starter turns faster than when new! It is amazing that a Diesel engine could turn over that fast! I am glad I got the better batteries.





_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Driveways Sidewalks and Walkways in Corpus Christi Texas
 
Great info Tony, Thanks.

How are those new batteries working out? Hope they are doing better than the last set.

I don't know if I told you about getting new batteries for my truck. I had one dead battery and the other was slowly going bad and I had bad connectors on the cables so I got the best batteries they had and got the wires fixed.

The truck starter turns faster than when new! It is amazing that a Diesel engine could turn over that fast! I am glad I got the better batteries.





_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Driveways Sidewalks and Walkways in Corpus Christi Texas


You jinxed me Chris! This morning my truck batteries were dead. I charged them back up. I hope it was a one-time thing.

I got Trojan T-145's. They are 260 AHr's and are the largest things that will fit in the lift.

With the 220 Ahr Centinnial batteries we could go up 5 times and the lift would start dying. Today going up and down getting stuff we needed we went up a total of 8 times and the battery is still showing 100% charged!

I'm pretty happy with that, but they cost $711.00 with tax for four of them.
 
This is very appealing to me for a couple of reason. 1. Doesnt seem like most companies would have 30 filter cleaning companies calling them every couple of days like w/ flat work, because there arent 30 filter cleaning companies. 2. The harder the sale due to having to educate the customer, the higher potential for larger profits.

Its why I like roof cleaning so much. In Houston, its not an easy sell most of the time. You have to educate them on methods, benefits, etc...Our average job runs about $800 for just the roof w/out house washing and other cleaning. We dont even sell the house wash until we lock in the roof, because once we get a signature for the roof, we can charge full price for the house wash. Versus them taking our bid to a competitor to start a bidding war (which we dont negotiate, so we usually lose those anyways).

I wish I could be home so i could make it out to LV for some hands on education, because it is definately something I am interested in for future expansion. Thanks for the info Tony.


Scott, I had to pm you about our work tonight. It's very profitable and I didn't want to post it.
 
Considering that I neglected the batteries in my truck and it is an 05', I almost got 4 years out of them so I guess I got my money out of the factory batteries.

I will be taking care of the new batteries this time. I asked about those green and red washers and the battery guy told me that they don't really do anything, he told me to get that red spray that they spray on the battery terminals and the wire connections and spray everything once a month and they will never corrode. I will give that a try.

Sounds like those new batteries are good ones!

Hope you get a lot of use out of them for that price.





_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Driveways Sidewalks and Walkways in Corpus Christi Texas
 
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