Parking lot sweeping question

Mark 8262

Mark 8262

Residential and Commercial Pressure Washing Specia
For those of you that do parking lot sweeping, can you tell me how you handle parking lots that have a lot of gravel and rocks. Are you able to just sweep it into an area and pick it up? Can you vacuum it up if it is small rock even if there are a lot of them?

I have been given a strange request to help clean up some parking lots. Some are ashphalt some are concrete but all have a lot of dirt and small rocks

Thank you for your input
 
We also run a sweeping company which has 3 road sweepers and a couple parkade sweepers. My suggestion is to hire someone who has proper equipment to get the job done if you are not equipped. We generally use a mechanical broom sweeper to pick up the heavy stuff and follow up if necessary with a vacuum sweeper. A vacuum sweeper on it's own will pick up lots of sand and gravel but it's a bit hard on it. The vacuum sweeper will leave the lot spotless if the operator is good where generally a mechanical sweeper will leave fine sand/silt behind.

To clarify on your question...... sweepers pick up the dirt as they are going. Unless you have a bobcat with a broom on front you are not able to sweep it into piles.
 
I have serviced parking lots in the past and If you are capable to operate a bobcat. You can go and rent a bobcat with a broom and collection bucket on it. u will need a bin to dump your collection of dirt in, Ive also rented a billygoat blower, it blows all the small stuff from the edges and curbs into the middle so u can sweep it up with your bobcat system...

Good luck
 
Thanks for the advice
 
I agree with Mike above and just hire a professional company with the proper equipment. Companies will do it for a pretty cheap rate. I think your price may be too expensive once you rent the equipment, pay for the labor, and the fuel. Unless they are looking into a weekly, biweekly, or monthly contract I wouldn't bother doing it myself.
 
Ryan said:
I agree with Mike above and just hire a professional company with the proper equipment. Companies will do it for a pretty cheap rate. I think your price may be too expensive once you rent the equipment, pay for the labor, and the fuel. Unless they are looking into a weekly, biweekly, or monthly contract I wouldn't bother doing it myself.
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If you were doing it on a regular basis the customer would be expecting a better quality job than what a bobcat or a broom sweeper would ever be capable of. Google regenerative air sweeper and you'll read about ppm and why properties should be swept on a regular basis to prevent waste water runoff from their properties.
 
Exactly Mike. That's why you hire a professional company and they can bring the proper equipment. A bobcat isn't a productive method of lot sweeping. We use the regenerative air sweepers as well.
 
By the sounds of it Mark does not do alot of lot sweeping, and the air sweeper you guys are talking about i estimate would run approx 75 to 90k to purchase.
You would think that the company that is requesting Mark to do the work prob has already gone down that road and has looked into the cost from a lot sweeping service provider.
Thus why they have contacted Mark.

Mark have you discused with your company contact what ther expected budget is for the jobs they would like you to do?

I have done many Mc Donalds, Wendys and Burger King parking lots sweeps. If you start to contract out other contractors to do your job, it just means less money in your pocket. If you are not comfortable with going out and renting the necessary equipment and operating it your self to get the job done, and mabey hiring a couple of young bucks to help push a broom and pick up smaller stuff, then just tell your contact to find someone that cleans lots as ther regular services...

We are in this industry to make money not to give it to someone else...

If you have to bring in a contractor to do more than 50% the job that you have been requested to do then i suggest you just tell your customer that its not in your line of work.

and go get another job that has a better ROI.

Just my thoughts

Richard
 
Power washing and sweeping work very well together so if it's something you are interested than proper equipment is key. Sweepers (depending on sand amounts) are quite expensive to maintain because of the abrasion. If you have a lot of commercial customers that get washing done they will easily hire you to do the sweeping in order to save hiring two contractors. We hit the ground running very hard when we started 7 years ago in the sweeping division. We now do all the work for line painters, sealing companies, airports, mills, malls, cities, private roadways etc just because we have excellent equipment and do quality consistant work.
 
This is a really strange request from my customer. He knows that I am not a Sweeper and insists he wants this area pressure washed and not just swept. I will probably just sub the sweeping, I just was not sure if it could be swept if it looked like this. Even though this is asphalt customer still wants it "washed"
photo(5).JPG

Thanks for the help everyone, it is appreciated
 
Mark 8262 said:
This is a really strange request from my customer. He knows that I am not a Sweeper and insists he wants this area pressure washed and not just swept. I will probably just sub the sweeping, I just was not sure if it could be swept if it looked like this. Even though this is asphalt customer still wants it "washed"
View attachment 19517

Thanks for the help everyone, it is appreciated
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Get someone in with a good vacuum sweeper and get them to clean it real well. If you can't find someone in your area than get someone with a parkade sweeper and get them to pickup the worst of it and wash the rest towards the drain. You'll have some browning in the asphalt by the look of it so that's where the washing will make it look good. Bring a bucket and a shovel as the sweeper might leave some behind especially when that tight of a lot. I would bet that after a good rain the browning will be gone if they opt not to wash it.
 
Why don't you hire some labor guys for the day and powerwash into mounds and have them shovel into rolling garbage cans and dump them in the dumpster?

We just did something similar and still managed around 100/hr on a parking lot for about 80 cars.

Chris has some pictures on his phone. I'll see if I can get him to post them.
 
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