One of my competitor's ads

Mike V

Mike V

Member
This is classic! I talked with the guy and he sounds like an intelligent person, but not when he explained that $50 for an hour or two of work is good. I was going to explain about net vs. gross but decided against it. I covered up all the company info for obvious reasons. Enjoy.


pressurewashingad.jpg
 
Maybe 6 months....don't really know or care, he won't be around long. And really I was kidding when I say he is my competition. Guys like that have a certain demographic that is willing to hire them because of the price, I generally do not market to that demographic.

I have seen lots of pw companies come and go in my area over the last 10 years and I wish them all luck, there is plenty of work to be had, I just hate that they think they have to basically do it for free.

The ad just struck me as funny....they are really proud of bringing their own water.
 
AZ PowerWash Pros said:
If a customer is concerned about us using their water then they obviously can not afford our service.
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It's not the customer.....its some landscaper turned pressure washer that thinks it's a selling point. Water costs exactly the same at the HO's faucet as it does at mine. filling and hauling would actually INCREASE costs. This is the equivalent of pulling a gas tanker around town when there's a gas station on every block.

Like I said, you can't fix stupid.....
 
Ohio pressure wash said:
It's not the customer.....its some landscaper turned pressure washer that thinks it's a selling point. Water costs exactly the same at the HO's faucet as it does at mine. filling and hauling would actually INCREASE costs. This is the equivalent of pulling a gas tanker around town when there's a gas station on every block.

Like I said, you can't fix stupid.....
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I know what it was. I'm just saying that is a stupid sales pitch. Who cares about $1.00 worth of water... this guy is obviously marketing to the wrong areas.
 
Ohio pressure wash said:
It's not the customer.....its some landscaper turned pressure washer that thinks it's a selling point. Water costs exactly the same at the HO's faucet as it does at mine. filling and hauling would actually INCREASE costs. This is the equivalent of pulling a gas tanker around town when there's a gas station on every block.

Like I said, you can't fix stupid.....
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Bringing in your own water can be a big advantage on jobs with no water access. Lots of HOA's wont let you hook up to residential homes to do your cleaning. I have won many a bids being able to bring in my own water. Try doing a 500,000 sq ft S/C on a garden hose hook up?
 
Although I think his prices are ridiculous and I don't agree with that aspect, I do think he has a valid concern of the customer with the bringing your own water thing. I wouldn't poo poo it so quickly. What little itsy bitsy pressure washing I do, I have been asked by a couple people about that.

Especially in these economic times, people worry about where their money is being spent and they see some pressure washing guy out there using gallon after gallon.... I think this guy is entering the conversation going on in the customers' heads.

It's too bad that his prices make him seem like a fly by night hack, because he's on to something with his ad.
 
HotShot_Anthony said:
Although I think his prices are ridiculous and I don't agree with that aspect, I do think he has a valid concern of the customer with the bringing your own water thing. I wouldn't poo poo it so quickly. What little itsy bitsy pressure washing I do, I have been asked by a couple people about that.

Especially in these economic times, people worry about where their money is being spent and they see some pressure washing guy out there using gallon after gallon.... I think this guy is entering the conversation going on in the customers' heads.

It's too bad that his prices make him seem like a fly by night hack, because he's on to something with his ad.
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While I won't share here, we boast of several "givens" as well that seem silly to me because I know it is part of the process but does imact the customers decisison.

We are also commonly asked about bringing water by HOAS and we of course are set up to accomodate their request.
 
The Cleaner said:
Bringing in your own water can be a big advantage on jobs with no water access. Lots of HOA's wont let you hook up to residential homes to do your cleaning. I have won many a bids being able to bring in my own water. Try doing a 500,000 sq ft S/C on a garden hose hook up?
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No water access is a completely different issue. So is your 500k sq foot residential example. We can all throw out extreme and rare examples....that's why they are generally called "exceptions" to the rule.

Once you explain to the customer that you buy the water from the same place that he/she does and that filling and hauling it adds xxx dollars to his price, they'll be happy to let you pull water from their faucet. If you need 10,000 gallons and can't hook to the customer's water.....get a hydrant permit.

I can bring 800 gallons on one of my rigs.....I really don't want to and I don't offer it. I have it as an option. Pulling that much weight is dangerous, hard on the truck and trailer and it costs in wear and tear as well as gas not to mention the time to fill it.
 
Mike V said:
We are also commonly asked about bringing water by HOAS and we of course are set up to accomodate their request.
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in the past 4 years, I have been asked probably a couple of dozen times if I use or can use my own water. Excluding the rare cases where there is no water on site......0.0% have accepted the additional charge for bringing my own water.

This whole discussion reminds me of the "Brush or powerwash" request (vs soft wash). If your customer asked for his house to be brush washed would you simply eat the labor cost and brush it, raise your price or would you explain the process and results of a soft wash?

I suppose there is a market niche for stupidity and I didn't think of that when I criticized the $50 hack......apology's.
 
Ohio pressure wash said:
No water access is a completely different issue. So is your 500k sq foot residential example. We can all throw out extreme and rare examples....that's why they are generally called "exceptions" to the rule.

Once you explain to the customer that you buy the water from the same place that he/she does and that filling and hauling it adds xxx dollars to his price, they'll be happy to let you pull water from their faucet. If you need 10,000 gallons and can't hook to the customer's water.....get a hydrant permit.

I can bring 800 gallons on one of my rigs.....I really don't want to and I don't offer it. I have it as an option. Pulling that much weight is dangerous, hard on the truck and trailer and it costs in wear and tear as well as gas not to mention the time to fill it.
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First off it was a 500,000 sq ft S/C, second I'm sure your right...:thumbup:
 
This topic was obviousely more about the hack price but we too have hauled in water on jobs and charge accordingly for it wherever possible. The last project we hauled in 15,000 gallons from water ATM's as we couldn't hook to hydrants either... the city wont allow it. I don't think I've ever in 14 years hauled it in for a resi job though.
 
Andy Mebruer said:
I've hauled water to about 60% of my residentail jobs this year
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Why? Do your residential clients request you haul water to their property? I have never had any customer complain about taking water from their property. Even when you get your carpets cleaned they take the water from the home. Commercially, I have had to bring my own water for paint prep and some other jobs but never residential.

You should stop hauling around so much water. Losing mpg. No one cares if you take their water. At least in AZ.
 
most of my houses are in a 50 mile radious of me and with the econ the way it is it really has been helping sell. Usually theres a water tower pretty close with coin meters. Usually i wash about 2 house per tank and book them close to one another.
 
Andy Mebruer said:
most of my houses are in a 50 mile radious of me and with the econ the way it is it really has been helping sell. Usually theres a water tower pretty close with coin meters. Usually i wash about 2 house per tank and book them close to one another.
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You couldn't just land the job then pay the HO for a couple thousand gallons?


<table align="center" border="0" width="450"><tbody><tr bgcolor="#2b94bf"><th colspan="2" align="left"> Residential Water Charges
</th> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td nowrap="nowrap" width="205"> Basic facilities charge </td> <td nowrap="nowrap" width="235"><dl style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><dt>$ 5.06 per month </dt></dl></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td nowrap="nowrap"> First 3,000 gallons </td> <td nowrap="nowrap"><dl style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><dt>$ 3.95 per 1,000 gallons </dt></dl></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td nowrap="nowrap"> Next 6,000 gallons </td> <td nowrap="nowrap"><dl style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><dt>$ 5.00 per 1,000 gallons </dt></dl></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td nowrap="nowrap"> Over 9,000 gallons </td> <td nowrap="nowrap"><dl style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><dt>$ 8.31 per 1,000 gallons</dt></dl></td></tr></tbody></table>
 
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