First day (night) with the surface cleaner

Tony Shelton

Tony Shelton

BS Detector, Esquire
Well, It started off disappointing.

I did a small area at a side loading area of a little restaurant that looked like it had never been cleaned. (black) I had spoken with the manager the other day and told him I would do a section and get back with him today. The concrete cleaned up nice but the blackness at the door remained.

I left the mgr a note saying that I could get up more with chemicals but I just used water to show him what we could do with just hot water. It didn't look good wet.

Next I cleaned outdoor tiles in front of one of my current customers stores. That was really easy and turned out sweet. :) I'd really like to get that little strip mall account, at .10/ft it's only about $125.00 but I can do the whole thing without moving the truck and I already change filters there every other month anyway.

Then, after a little coffee, I headed towards another large strip mall we clean filters at to do a little demo area.

On the way I saw a gas station being cleaned by a company that's been around for a long time. I parked across the street and watched them go at it for about an hour. Two guys, one with the surface cleaner (Steel Eagle 30) and the other with the wand. They were really going at it and the guy with the surface cleaner was going about a foot an hour seemed like.

Meanwhile, in my rear view mirror I noticed another company working on a strip mall behind me. He was done and just cleaning glass. I spoke with him and he gave me a lot of encouragement. He's trying to get out of the business and later when he's not busy I'm going to try to get some of his leads.

Afterwards I went on to the large strip mall I set out for and cleaned in front of one store as a sample. ( I knew the owner of that store). I left him a note to inspect the outside and let me know what he thinks. He called me at 8:00 am and said it looks great and it's all dry now and he can distinctly see where I've cleaned. He's going to call and recommend me to the property mgr and tell her the other guy isn't doing a good job.

Then I went back to the gas station to inspect the competition's work. It was clean, but filled with all kinds of stains and marks. I went in and asked the manager what she thought about the job they did and she said they did a great job :confused: and that the concrete probably only gets cleaned once a year. :eek: This is a local 50 store chain that I've been working on for filter service for almost 3 years and they are TIGHT! :mad: So it didn't surprise me that they only get it done once a year. What did surprise me was that the mgr was happy with the way the pad looked. Now I am starting to feel a little better.:)
Next I went back across the street to inspect the other guy's job at the first strip mall. He did a good job, but there was still a lot of staining. Now I felt even better. :D

I think my expectations on my ability to clean the concrete were a little to high.

Still, I couldn't help but think about how nobody ever INSPECTS the filters to see how clean they LOOK. All I have to do is get them clean. This is going to be hard because clean concrete is subjective.

Long night.:eek:
 
He does AC filters. It does not sound like a total waste. You have a potential for a few leads, you learned how terribly low expectations are for people on pressure washing, and besides, you got to enjoy the Vegas night life. Sounds perfect to me.
 
Tony

Thats your daughter with the surface cleaner? She looks like a joy. At a restaurant or gas station (or anywhere else I think) its all about the soap! Let the chemicals do the work. You will get the results you want and impress even yourself. I believe in some kind of caustic but you need a way to get it down that works for you and there's a threshold of strength below which it cleans ok and above that it can be a miracle worker. Good luck in developing your system.
 
Hot Shot Power Clean said:
U talkin' about hood filters?
Click to expand...

Electrostatic air filters, metal framed with polyester inserts. You can put them anywhere a pleated filter goes. Once units get over 20 tons I use a different throwaway filter made right there in Nashville. (I grew up in Columbia, TN by the way)
 
After a night on the town with this stuff I think a guy could make decent money with this as long as he has enough work to hire at least 3-5 good guys. BUT, the air filters are easier and faster.

There are trade offs. For example:

Costco - Changing paper Filters - TAKES ABOUT AN HOUR $700 each service, net profit (after paying 2 guys and paying for the filters) $340.00/hr
TRADE OFF- This service is QUARTERLY so annual income produces is only $1360.00

Costco - Cleaning Electrostatic filters. TAKES 3 1/2 HRS $700 each service, net profit (after paying 2 guys) $610 or $175/hr.
TRADE-OFF - Quarterly, annual income only 2440.00 after the first year but only about $600 the first year because of the initial purchase of the filters.

Costco - Condenser coil cleaning - $1100.00 - TAKES ABOUT 4 HOURS. net profit (after paying 2 guys) $980.00 or $245/Hr
TRADE-OFF - only ONCE per year total annual profit $980.00

Costco - Surface cleaning - $700.00/month - TAKES ____________(5?)HRS (after paying two guys) you're left with _________ ($610?) per service profit. Total annual income ___________(7320.00?)
TRADE-OFF, 12 trips per year, schedule not very flexible.

See, surface cleaning is more work for the money, but it takes less customers to make a living.

I'm just going to have to do both.
 
tomtucson said:
Tony

Thats your daughter with the surface cleaner? She looks like a joy. At a restaurant or gas station (or anywhere else I think) its all about the soap! Let the chemicals do the work. You will get the results you want and impress even yourself. I believe in some kind of caustic but you need a way to get it down that works for you and there's a threshold of strength below which it cleans ok and above that it can be a miracle worker. Good luck in developing your system.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's my daughter. She's an angel now, but she's got too much of me in her to be that way for long.

All I can do is pray when she gets older, I guess it's time for my payback since my other two kids grew up rather subdued.
 
Tony

Do you need any hvac certification to do your service? Sounds like a good gig in a hot desert city. Seems like a good schedule if you could do all your service the same month(s).
 
Tony
if you get a chance sometime, give me a call 770-652-1794
Al
 
tomtucson said:
Tony

Do you need any hvac certification to do your service? Sounds like a good gig in a hot desert city. Seems like a good schedule if you could do all your service the same month(s).
Click to expand...

That's where I'm trying to get.

Today I finished bidding 50 gas stations at $56000 + $9000.00 in fuel for 6 filter changes, 2 condenser cleanings, 1 evap clean and 2 concrete cleans.

Condenser, evap,filters,concrete should be 3 hrs each store ONCE.

Condenser + filters ONCE MORE should be 30 mins each store.

Filters alone 4 more times should be 20 minutes each store.

PLUS travel time (est 10 min per store, we already timed this when we bid filters last year)

They are all in Las Vegas. That's $191/hr if we get it. I'm not getting my hopes up, we bid him 17k for filters alone two years ago and he balked. But now he's using a high priced PW company and he might go for it.

In answer to your cert question:

I can clean coils all day.

I can clean units all day.

I can change filters all day.

I can't oil bearings.

I can take all the panels off and to clean, but I can't turn a wrench and change a belt!

In Nv we fall under the same rules as duct cleaners. (who, by the way, can't cut a hole in the duct legally for access. Go figure)

I sub for HVAC companies who don't have want to do filters or coils.
 

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A niche like that sounds good to me - swoop in, clean up and get paid. It sounds like your kind of creating your own market. Do you have any hard statistics on increased efficiency, longevity etc? The flatwork can be really steady when you build up all regular accounts, and you are providing a needed service and 'cleaning up the city' but its still janitor work and dirty and constant maintenance of all the equipment. But I like spraying, its fun.
 
tomtucson said:
A niche like that sounds good to me - swoop in, clean up and get paid. It sounds like your kind of creating your own market. Do you have any hard statistics on increased efficiency, longevity etc? The flatwork can be really steady when you build up all regular accounts, and you are providing a needed service and 'cleaning up the city' but its still janitor work and dirty and constant maintenance of all the equipment. But I like spraying, its fun.
Click to expand...

I wish you hadn't asked that. Where can I email you about 30 gigs of studies? I've got a study from Lawrence Livermore Labs that is over 3000 pages long.

Here's the condensed version:

Dirty condenser coils use 26% more energy. Do the math, the cleaning of the condensers pays for itself in one to two months.

Pleatlink filters (the ones I have a distributorship for that you change instead of clean)(easy money) saved Winn Dixie $0.24 per square foot of cooled space in a blind two year study.

Dirty evap coils will freeze the coil and eventually crack it. (big replacement expense)

Our electrostatic filters hold 150 grams of dirt per 20x30 filter where a paper filter holds about half that meaning they are safe in the unit for extended periods. You can clean one in less than 60 seconds!!!

I can go on and on. I have an entire room dedicated to studies and files on competition.

If you are in a town with more than 100k in population I will guarantee you there is someone there going around just changing filters. THAT would be your competiton.

Take a look at this video at 1:49 and you will see how easy this is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opeAwMNJF0c

I'll be glad to help anyone on this board who wants to get into this. Outside this board I'm charging a lot of money for that information.
 
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