Multi Neighbor Discounts?

Pressure Clean is way off. There is nothing illegal about advertising a job for $65.00 and discounting it $15.00, regardless of what you charged previously! Where you come up with these pseudo laws baffles me. You can even take a $50 item one week, mark it up across the board, advertise it at $65 the next week and offer a discount of $15.00 Still nothing illegal. Learn the facts before you spout off information someone might rely on to their detriment.

Zippo
I'm not a lawyer, I just play one on Television
 
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Anna, I just have to say this. The pressure washers out there that will do this for less are not real pressure washers. They have bought a $300.00 machine at Walmart and aren't really in bussiness. We do not go anywhere for less than $100.00. You have to consider the cost overall. When you go to a Doctor you are not paying for the thie he spends with you, you are paying for his knowledge he has obtained over in the time he was in school, his staff , building and so on. Those of us that do this as our only job have tons of insurance cost, equipment cost phone cost, advertising cost and everything else it takes to conduct our business at the levels that we have. If you are doing this part time and then make the move to full time you can't just go up and adjust the prices that you have set prior to cover all of the cost you will have when you quit your full time job. I know this because I knew about these things when I went in business and planned on the hidden cost at the beginning. I learned there things from my father who was an electrical contractor for over 50 years. When you build up over a few years you will not need to discount your prices. Most people know we charge more and have no problem with that. They see what happens with the cheap price guys. You get what you pay for.
 
Hi Anna,

I thought about Mobile Homes after I went back to work today. I figured that's what you had to be washing. The good news is that most of them only have a 10' - 11' run, top to bottom - including the skirting. Also, Florida is pretty strict about MH electrical hook-up's, so I'm sure that helps. Now, if you could just keep people from planting all those flowers 3" away from the skirting, you could probably get the job done in half the time lol!

I'm glad you guys got paid for that job today. Maybe you could try to get a deposit before you start? If necessary, sight the incident that happened today.


Paul
 
House prices

I wash houses at a minimum of $200. Trialers are a minimum of $150. As far as discounts I may let someone talk me down alittle if I can take a little away from the job. My price is my price and you get what you pay for. As far as neighbor hood discounts I will definitly give a package price for being able to do all in one day (3 houses @ 175 =525). This satisfies my daily requirement of viamin Cash. I have raised prices in neiborhoods when approched by neighbors. A quote I gave to a customer ($275) was thought to be so good I raised my prices for his block.
As far as washing houses for $50. If my compitition was washing for that I would still charge 2-3 hundred dollars per house. If I never washed a house again, NO proplem. Thier is plenty of other work.
 
Zippo,
On this one it is obvious you are not a lawyer, or that you state, or countries laws are different than my state. If it can be proved that you raised the price to a higher level, before lowering to the previous level, similar to what you outlined, in my state it is very illegal, and they will come after you. I am pretty sure that it is a federal law. There is even a term for it, but I can't remember what it is:confused:
So before you go blasting someone for saying something I would suggest that you make sure you have your facts straight.

For that matter, even if it is not illegal, in my opinion, it is far from ethical. Of course, some people like to live their lives like that.

Scott Stone
 
ron p /scott

its true you cant do the price thing with merchandise but service is diffrent.
i dont/or want to do this type of thing but you can do it with service because you can say you raised prices for a lot of reasons. gas prices,insurance raises,how your washing,ect...
 
ron p/rolling

i did not see that you were doing trailer parks.
thats a diffrent story.
run a flyer that has a 2 day special[2 day only]
or 5 day but 2 day is better.
show your reg price then offer that anyone that signs on for the 2 day special will get a % discount say reg $65 for the job, on sale for $50 and will add a "gloss enhancing shine" for free
*normally $10 put wax in the rinse water
very cheap this way you can get maybe 10 or 20 trailers within 1 mile
10 a day with no travel at $50 would at least make it worth while.
anyone can make money with a pressurewasher but "How much you make depends on what kind of salesman you are." a good salesman makes twice as much doing half the work.
P.T. BARNUM the best salesman there ever was.
 
ron p

also if everyone will do it cheaper you need to do it better or offer something the others cant.
try this
for $175 we clean your home and apply a special "exterior surface sealer" with "mildew retardat"
even if you do get some mildew it will rinse off with your garden hose. comes with a one year warrentee. Slightly darkens and "ENHANCES" the look of your home. for a 2 day special $150.
your cost per trailer about $10 and 10 min more.
now you only need 5 per day.
rottie72@aol.com
things like this set you apart from the pack, and your trailers will look much better a lot longer then the rest.:D :D :D
yes you loose the second wash for the year but you made it up in the price and did a better job then anyone else washing in that park.
yes this stuff works on the walks and decks also.
sil-o-wet by the e people
 
Just an added note: We just don't do House Washing our added feature is Carpet Cleaning. We do the Dry Method Host Carpet Cleaning.

Most of the people once we get there to wash inquire about our Carpet Cleaning. It requires little drying time so I do pick up alot of extra jobs. In Florida no one wants carpets that stay wet for fear of mold.

We run an Add in the local newspaper 7 days a week for $75.00.
They also insert a coupon book with our Adds for $55.00 a month. As soon as the coupon book comes out the phone is ringing.

The development he works in has over 30,000 homes and still growing. The old side has all mobiles. The rest of the area gets the newspaper too. You are right has to be a good catchy add to attract customers.

Thanks again for all your help keep on posting . I really
appreciate it.

Anna
 
Anna; last month I did a multiple house job for a group of retired people.( 3ea) Homes were singel story vinyal siding average size= 980sqft cracker jack boxes. They had gotten multiple bids from other PW averaging around $125ea.( which is about $1 LF) I agreed to do the homes on the same day for $100.ea.I rolled from one house to the next, it made for a long day but It was the easiest $300. bucks I earned that week. One little old lady even gave me a $5.00 tip! Plus Ive done two referals from there bridge club. I am also in fl. However if your doing houses for $ 50.00 you will not long be in busness! Unless there trailors. Singal wide $50-75. Double wide $ 75-125. Do not call a modular home a trailor, lol! I have a min trip charge( $ 75 ) so can normally find some thing ells around there house that needs washing so they feel there getting what they payed for.PS dont know what part of FL your from but I am all for price fixing!
 
Squirt,
If you all are talking about mobile homes,i wouldnt argue about the price,i could do one in an hour,we just call them trailers here not houses.
As far as your other questions,yes the man might be getting $100 an hour,in fact he is not washing it in one hour ,he is half doing it.How long do you think he will be in business.There is half a dozen that advertise every spring and dissapear.The fact is he only wanted a hundred but i got two,so what if i spend 3 extra hours there.When i asked the costumer if happy ,the answer was absolutely.Had i done that house in one hour and cleared $200 an hour,is that something to brag about?????I can rinse any house in hour with water hose and charge that much ,should i do that?
Johny
 
Sorry, Scott...I beg to differ with you. There is no federal law (that's a fact) and I seriously doubt ANY state laws that would prohibit what I outlinned. There are "anti-gouging" statutes on the books in certain jurisdictions, but I did not outline that scenario.

What I said was that if you are selling a service for $50.00 on March 1st, and you incrementally increase your prices on April 1st due to insurance increases, labor increases and inflation to $65.00, you may offer a discounted coupon to customers without violating any laws. Whether you are offering it to seniors, the unemployed or those in a particular zipcode. You just can't offer it based on class or ethnic distinction (race, creed, color, religion, handicap, or sex)

The caveat is that you cannot go and lower the price the following month.

You have never been in a store where the prices changes from week to week and you have a mfg or store coupon offering a discount?

To regulate what you propose would fall under restraint of trade and THAT is illegal by Federal statute.

Sorry, unless Arizona operates under a unique set of laws, I believe the same would hold true.
 
I work for Sears part time on Sundays and I will tell ya that they advertise in there sale catalog that comes out every week stuff that is at regular price. They just mark it with a sign that says as advertised. It is not on sale it is just advertised.
 
All interested...
I'm attaching a link to the FTC's web site. This is an extensive document. It outlines what you can and can not do with regards to pricing and deceptive business practices. I think it will clear the air.

There is alot of information throughout the document, and I suggest reading all of it if you are interested in it.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-decept.htm

Beth
:)
 
In my state there are anti-gouging laws. They were implemented because of the large number of retirees in the area, although they apply to everyone.
Your caveat is what saved you. If it is a permanent price increase, or at least a price increase that is longer than the period of hte ad, you are covered.
However, Squirt said that it does not apply to services, and I am pretty sure that he is mistaken. If it covers materials, it covers services as well.
One thing is that you can offer a discount to a particular group or class of people. Go to dinner with my Dad, and you will find out what a senior discount is, the movies do it as well. I do think that any service is subjest to this guideline.
Of course, this is just my opinion and I may be wrong. It is the guideline that I follow though. Of course, I don't do residential, either.

Scott
 
Actually, you have to be very careful about offering pricing to a "class".... but that's another soapbox altogether. Zippo's statement was correct with regard to offering to a particular race for example.

Also, Federal Law supercedes State law. (just as the Supreme court can overturn anything a State rules as I recall) Read the link. There are many interesting things in there.

Price gouging is also different than what we were talking about I think, although in an area and industry that is compeditive, you will be had pressed to find it.

Beth :)
 
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