This morning after dropping my daughter off at school I stopped at a local shopping complex to get something for breakfast. While I was there I noticed the condition of the roof over the supermarket and drug store. One of the smaller vacant retail stores had a banner in the window advertising the lease information. I said to myself what the heck and called them and introduced myself and the services(Non Pressure Roof Cleaning). The representative for the development company that owns the shopping plaza listened and then offered an email address so I could send along some information, which of course I did. Not long after sending the email and attachment I received an encouraging email back from their president who asked me for a proposal to clean the roof. Before I left their property this morning I took the liberty to measure and evaluate the roof and I've sent them the proposal already.
Below you find several photos of the roof, which has a steep pitch. The total square footage is 4000. Although I'm confident in my abilities to do the work I'm also open minded enough to seek advise from more experienced professionals. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Hank
-- Edited by waxman18324 on Tuesday 20th of September 2011 08:14:30 PM
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
I just submitted the proposal today via email. Tomorrow I'll be out in the field all day doing a roof cleaning demonstration on a time share for a local resort(part 2 of their bid process), doing an estimates for the other areas(lawn care) of my property services business, cutting grass for five large properties and then taking my daughter to get her hair done(I'm a widower with two children). As soon as I know anything I'll post it.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
I'm not the best at it either. My belief was the worst they could say is "no". And as far as I know "no" is not a bad word unless you're 3 years old and then it's the end of the world(LOL).
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
Excellent hunting skills Hank! The job itself looks fairly straight forward. I'd probably step up the surfactant a bit.
I'd price it to win it, because GOOD pictures, before and after, can be a very valuable addition to your portfolio. Imagine the next commercial job you bid on where you include glossys of this job.
Roof Cleaning Northern Virginia (571) 250 9650 wrote:
Excellent hunting skills Hank! The job itself looks fairly straight forward. I'd probably step up the surfactant a bit.
I'd price it to win it, because GOOD pictures, before and after, can be a very valuable addition to your portfolio. Imagine the next commercial job you bid on where you include glossys of this job.
Well done.
Ted,
Thanks. Since both retailers are open at o'dark thirty in the morning & close late I had to take this in to consideration. They also recieve a ton of foot traffic. I'll have to tape off areas to limit both pedestrian and vehicle traffic below. The downspouts daylight right out in to the parking lot and this will have to be monitored and controlled by my ground guy(s). The pitch is steep as well. I've quoted them 23 cents a square foot. I know every market is different but if you have any input I'd love to hear it.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
Like Ted said. These are good picks. Get the before and afters and learn from this job to sell more like this. You Aint gonna come out "going rate" with something new to ya. I have a 42k job posability, But it the same as you right now. We are both in the same boat, just more zeros.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
you said 4000 sq ft, it looks bigger than that, Did you take the pitch in your calculations?
23 cents is a fair price, but if i am calculating your numbers correct it comes out to $920.00, I would have to say i would bid that roof much much higher
it is commerical work so it should be bid higher,
good luck with it
I myself would use my normal roof mix using ammonox-M
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Elite Roof Cleaners Roof Cleaning Missouri & Kansas City
you said 4000 sq ft, it looks bigger than that, Did you take the pitch in your calculations?
23 cents is a fair price, but if i am calculating your numbers correct it comes out to $920.00, I would have to say i would bid that roof much much higher
it is commerical work so it should be bid higher,
good luck with it
I myself would use my normal roof mix using ammonox-M
Thanks for the feedback. I actually measured the roof square footage. The length(202') was easy. For the width I went up on the 2nd floor of the retail areas where the roof over the supermarket meets the mezzanine level of the complex and was able to literally measure(20') the roof there. If I get this work it will give me several hundreds of dollars, if not more, worth of exposure/advertising.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
I have something simliar to the gutter cane that I've had for years. It was something my late wife would use to water flowers in hanging baskets. When I set up for roof cleaning I use a 3 way manifold to hook up one hose to this, one to a sprinkler and one to a hose for my ground guy. It all depends on the work. I've even thought about building a recovery pump and tank for certain jobs. Just plug the downspouts and use the inlet hose to recover all used solution. Right now it's just an idea.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
Never underestimate the power of cold calling...we submitted over 20K worth of bids this week to customers met from cold calling!
You're right when it comes to cold calling. I'm overcoming my fear of rejection now. Next weekend my daughter and I are going to walk a neighborhood in Stroudsburg and knock on doors or just place flyers in doors. Heck the exercise will do us both good. The folks up this way are a little more relaxed about this type of sales pitch. The townships don't have issues with it either. Many of the residents from this area are commuters traveling to New York City and aren't home during the week until late in the day/evening. We'll have the truck and trailer nearby stocked with mix to do demos, if it's requested. I'll spend quality time with my daughter(yes, she loves doing this), get exercise and possibly generate work.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
I have something simliar to the gutter cane that I've had for years. It was something my late wife would use to water flowers in hanging baskets. When I set up for roof cleaning I use a 3 way manifold to hook up one hose to this, one to a sprinkler and one to a hose for my ground guy. It all depends on the work. I've even thought about building a recovery pump and tank for certain jobs. Just plug the downspouts and use the inlet hose to recover all used solution. Right now it's just an idea.
Hank
once I put a sprinkler on a deck, used the spliter. Worked great! Roof cleaning. job 2 weeks ago helper got ahead of me and started scrubbing gutters above a deck. I did not get up there with the water soon enuf, it was prewet, plent of water when spraying the roof, but it had been a few min. Deck needs to be cleaned too but passed because I never did a gazebo. Too scary. There were some clean spots on the wood. That were from soap falling from gutter scrub. The damage wasnt that bad. I got there soon enough for that.
Point being using spliters and sprinklers is a good idea.
I've done the same thing Mike, but you should always check to make sure that water isn't being forced inside the house. If they have an old sliding glass door the potential is there.