Pressure Wash Or Softwash?

I use both. You can't seal concrete without pressure washing it with at least 1000psi, but I prefer 2000-2500 psi. For house washing you have to rinse the soap off the house. It takes a pressure washer to create the volume and pressure needed, that's my opinion. For roof cleaning some rinse and some don't. Pressure would not be good for the roof or affordable/profitable. Without destroying the algae it is likely to return much faster. Some areas have heavy moss and need some level of rinsing to remove it.
 
I use "proper Cleaning techniques" for the surface and service I am providing. That may be, Pressure Washing, Power Washing, Pressure CLEANING, Soft Washing, Non pressure washing, Non Pressure Cleaning, Roof Cleaning, Roof Washing, House Washing and on and on I could go. When a customer ask me "how much pressure do you use" I know immediately they are worried about either someone damaging there home or building or concrete, or already have. I explain that I use the "proper cleaning techniques" and equipment, for the SURFACE I am cleaning or washing that PREVENTS DAMAGE to the surface but provides utlimate cleaning results. How I clean Brick is totally different than I how clean vinyl or hardi plank siding. How I clean a real dirty driveway or sidewalk is different than how I clean one that is properly maintained.

If I say the term "Soft Wash" the customer looks at me confused and immediately say's, "but I need it pressure washed. I want it cleaned." So I did away with all those terms and just use, proper cleaning technique for the surface of your home, building, deck, sidewalk, driveway, etc. Soft Wash is a great term to throw out there to try and make the customer feel at ease, but they do not recognize it in terms of cleaning the exterior of their home or for cleaning their roof. You would be suprised at what term my customers tell me they used in the search box for finding me for Roof Cleaning. Not once has it been "Soft wash my roof".
 
Doug, that is true! I get asked sometimes how much psi I will be using, but felt like if I didn't give an impressively large number I would be disqualified. To say low-pressure or softwash would not result in getting the job. Same thing with hot water. We must have contractors telling everyone their house needs to be washed using hot water. I tell them it is available and used only when necessary.
 
I have out washed a guy 2 to 1 when I was using a 12v pump softwash to put on the soap and rinse with a pressure washer. He was downstreaming only. It all depends on what you are up against and how well you can use your setup.
 
outdoorprowash said:
We must have contractors telling everyone their house needs to be washed using hot water. I tell them it is available and used only when necessary.
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We do here. That's normally my response as well.
You should see the look on their face when they ask what size ladder I use to clean 2 story homes, and I tell them none and I can clean it from the ground using less than 500 psi.
 
I have had customers ask how hot the water is for hot water washing or steam cleaning the house.

I have a nice conversation with them about proper cleaning methods, detergents and cleaning systems and how we are different from most other companies out there and also talk about how quickly the mold, mildew and algae return when the other companies clean their house, how long it takes them, etc...... Those become great customers of mine, need to get more like them so I wish the other companies would get more work and aggravate customers so the customers would start calling me. hahahahaha
 
Christopher said:
I have had customers ask how hot the water is for hot water washing or steam cleaning the house.

I have a nice conversation with them about proper cleaning methods, detergents and cleaning systems and how we are different from most other companies out there and also talk about how quickly the mold, mildew and algae return when the other companies clean their house, how long it takes them, etc...... Those become great customers of mine, need to get more like them so I wish the other companies would get more work and aggravate customers so the customers would start calling me. hahahahaha
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That's a good thing for you, Chris, but bad for the customer. I can't believe you would want to put people through such horror for your own financial gain and to make yourself feel better like that. :tongue:

Do you have any proof that mold, mildew and algae come back more quickly?:killingme:

I feel a responsibility to the community to educate home owners before the other guy gets his chance to do damage, lie, cheat, steal, use scare tactics, gossip and rip people off. It makes me feel good to save them from all the bad guys. :angel2:
 
outdoorprowash said:
That's a good thing for you, Chris, but bad for the customer. I can't believe you would want to put people through such horror for your own financial gain and to make yourself feel better like that. :tongue:

Do you have any proof that mold, mildew and algae come back more quickly?:killingme:

I feel a responsibility to the community to educate home owners before the other guy gets his chance to do damage, lie, cheat, steal, use scare tactics, gossip and rip people off. It makes me feel good to save them from all the bad guys. :angel2:
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Do you have any proof that mold, mildew and algae come back more quickly?:killingme:

I have seen housewashes last only a few months around here. I think they are using a weak soap mix or just plain water with pressure only. We make sure we let the proper mix dwell long enough to kill and release the mold and mildew and get rid of the oxidation. Our house washes usually last over a year. Of course mileage will vary according to conditions.


I feel a responsibility to the community to educate home owners before the other guy gets his chance to do damage, lie, cheat, steal, use scare tactics, gossip and rip people off. It makes me feel good to save them from all the bad guys.

Unfortunately it is impossible to educate your future customers about who is a reputable pw company. Many customers will hire based on price or the impression that if someone has a business that they will know what they are doing. If a customer gets hosed by a pw company it makes them shy about repeating the same mistake twice. Thank God for referals. They are as good as money in my pocket.
 
Kemp said:
Do you have any proof that mold, mildew and algae come back more quickly?:killingme:

I have seen housewashes last only a few months around here. I think they are using a weak soap mix or just plain water with pressure only. We make sure we let the proper mix dwell long enough to kill and release the mold and mildew and get rid of the oxidation. Our house washes usually last over a year. Of course mileage will vary according to conditions.


I feel a responsibility to the community to educate home owners before the other guy gets his chance to do damage, lie, cheat, steal, use scare tactics, gossip and rip people off. It makes me feel good to save them from all the bad guys.

Unfortunately it is impossible to educate your future customers about who is a reputable pw company. Many customers will hire based on price or the impression that if someone has a business that they will know what they are doing. If a customer gets hosed by a pw company it makes them shy about repeating the same mistake twice. Thank God for referals. They are as good as money in my pocket.
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I somewhat agree with your statements. I was just poking at Christopher since he does that all the time.

In a perfect world my marketing would bring them all to me before the competition gets them, but I am not that great at marketing. There are many other great power washers in my area. Some of them bite off more than they can chew no and again no doubt.
 
The proof that I have is the customers calling me to do the job correctly as they are tired of calling the dumbasses each year that are acting like they know what they are doing but change their story once the truth is out there and act like they know what they are doing but they don't have a clue since they are very new to the business.

Other proof that I have is calling me a few months after the job is done and the mold, mildew and algae is already back, sometimes almost as bad as it was before it was cleaned. I have some pictures of these jobs but not all of them.

It is a shame that guys will act like they know what they are doing, act like they are very knowledgeable but in reality they are new and don't really know a lot and are just wasting people's time and money. They need to learn how to do the job correctly so they are of value to customers.

I do have some pictures of some of the mold, mildew and algae cleaning jobs I have done, just not of all the jobs, trying to get more onto my website.

I cannot control who the customers call but when talking to them I do mention to ask specific questions when talking to other contractors and that will tell them very quickly if the contractor really knows what he is talking about, usually in a minute or less with these questions. Now the customer knows that the contractor does not know how to do the job the right way and safely they need to call another contractor or decide to use my services and I do have a long list of references, residential, commercial and industrial if they would like to call around to check on me.

If a customer never calls me then they are responsible for hiring a contractor that does not know what they are doing.

If they call me first then I give them some questions that will weed the hacks and lowballers out of the situation so if they decide to go with the hack or lowballer then they are taking the care of their property into the hands of the hack or lowballer. If they choose the guy that knows what he is doing then they have a good chance that they will have a good job done and safely, even if it is not me but with these questions they have the knowledge of how to eliminate the hack and lowballer as they will not have a clue about the job they are trying to do.

Any other questions Mam?
 
Being the new guy on the block can have its advantages, especially in industry full of hacks. Hence the phrase, "YOu can't teach old dogs new tricks". There are a lot of very witty and savvy customers out there who would hire a new guy just as easy as an old guy. They are wise enough to tell if the guy is capable or not just with casual conversation. Anyone who wants the job will act like they know what they are doing.

I use to get customers who would give me the third degree about how I would wash their house. They would ask all these loaded questions, just like the other PW guys had coached them. They would ask things like, "Do you rinse from the top down or the bottom up"? I always knew that if you started at the bottom you would only wash more dirt and soap on the area you had already just rinsed. If the customer returned to me to ask questions I always knew I would get the job. Smart people are offended by someone trying to educate them on how to hire a contractor. People who I often work for learned that from their Father who hired out work around the house. Some of that stuff might work on elderly widows, maybe, but kindness and consideration usually rank high. I haven't really thought about it much in a while. I try to focus on communicating to them what they will be getting for their money and how much it will cost.
 
The great thing about smart customers is when you offer advice and knowledge of many years experience to help them protect their property from the newbies/hacks/lowballers that are just out to make a buck, not looking for the long term relationship.

Smart customers appreciate you helping them understand the situation and they will ask a lot of smart questions and even ask what questions to ask other contractors once they realize that you have the knowledge and experience to do the job correctly and safely.

I agree, loaded questions are cheap and tacky. I guess there are contractors out there that advise customers to ask cheesy questions instead of helping the customer to know what to ask on their own and help with questions if they need along with the questions that professional contractors will know the answers to if they really know what they are doing and in the end it is up to the customer to hire who they choose based on their own decision, not by cheesy questions or loaded questions but by the way they hire contractors to do most things on their property.

I have had a lot of customers thank me numerous times for helping them understand what they need to know in these situations and the referrals from them are great, always good to have more great customers and referrals.
 
I think you have to determine what kind of roof you are cleaning. I will not use a soft wash system in South Florida. 98% of the roofs down here are barrel tile. We are just using hot water and 24" surface cleaners. I have roofs that we cleaned two years ago that are still perfectly clean. On that same note, there are some that only lasted a year. There are always factors on how long the roof will stay clean. As for time, we are in a community cleaning 1,100 single family homes ranging from 3200 sq. ft to about 5,000 sq. ft. and are averaging 18-20 homes a day using this method. That is doing the roof and all exterior walls. With the correct equipment, time is not an issue at all. Now if you are talking about shingle roofs, that is a different animal. I do not go after shingle roofs. I will leave that to the soft wash guys.
 
I am not into the chemical thing. It destroys your equipment and anything else it comes into contact with. I have had great success with hot water and would not bother with the chemicals. 18 roofs a day is not as bad as you would think. We have it down to a science. I am also more geared towards big volume sidewalk cleaning. We are currently cleaning 1,000 feet of 4' sidewalk in about 30 minutes. No one in South Florida can touch us when it comes to sidewalks and gutter swells. Again, this is chemical free, just hot water, with no overlap stripe. I am actually going to be in your neck of the woods next week doing a bunch of banks. Come by and visit us if you want so we can meet. I will shoot you an address if you would like.
 
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