No, Im not talking about Dan. Just sold a roof to a guy who got a flyer in the mail for $199. Im not panicing Cuz if it's true, surely it wont last long. I been trying to call this guy and hopefully talk some sense into him.
I already called him Pat. His said it was probably a mistake since he has kids passing flyers and quoting the jobs. He's going for "volume". He lives in Pa but has crews in central Jersey and also Cherry Hill near Mike D. 1st year in business. I'll pm you who he is if you'd like. Im moving to LI. Im teaming up with you Pat. I was still able to get $479 from someone who got the $199 flyer.
Great now I have low balls Dan and hang my nuts in vise new guy. WTF is wrong with people. Ed shoot me his name and number so I can put the Italian squeeze on his ass. I have had it with these freaking low price skim suckers. What good is volume when you can do the same in sales with half the amount of jobs. I will drive to this dudes house and spray him for free with my 12%. Dan if you are reading this stop crying about the winter and raise your f*cking prices.
We like to mention what it's costs to pay for 2m in liability insurance and W comp in case of an accident. Then we mentioned that to stay alive in a residential service business that your direct operational costs need to be about 35% of job price, so how long will they be in business because nobody can clean a roof for 66.33 cost basis.
If we like a buyer, we work with them, we politely tell our prospects that we are beyond doing jobs for practice.
I will leave it in your hands Ed, I don't have to go through my thoughts on pricing again. I just don't get these guys......Your going up on a ladder for two hundred bucks? I did half a cape and a garage roof Monday for free. I was driving to my next job and a older man was on a horrible ladder with a power washer and his wife footing it. I told him to come down I will do it for him. He asked how much I said for free because if i didn't one of them was going to get badly hurt. He gave the two guys I was with a twenty spot and he went on to power wash his house. Home owners are not equiped to do this work, I have a soft spot in my heart for the elderly. I wont do any house { one side } for under $350, so 200 is just insane. These guys { some on here } are foolish in thier pricing and will destroy thier own market. I gave a women an estimate on a Friday afternoon...front of a colonial, no garage or porch roof, the est. was 425. She called me up screaming like I was 12 yrs old, how dare I charge that price, it is not that dirty. Is she going up there? Does she know the cost of the materials and ins? I told her I was sorry she felt that way and she hung up saying she would find someone else. She called me Monday morning accepting the job. Why do that job for less?
I will leave it in your hands Ed, I don't have to go through my thoughts on pricing again. I just don't get these guys......Your going up on a ladder for two hundred bucks? I did half a cape and a garage roof Monday for free. I was driving to my next job and a older man was on a horrible ladder with a power washer and his wife footing it. I told him to come down I will do it for him. He asked how much I said for free because if i didn't one of them was going to get badly hurt. He gave the two guys I was with a twenty spot and he went on to power wash his house. Home owners are not equiped to do this work, I have a soft spot in my heart for the elderly. I wont do any house { one side } for under $350, so 200 is just insane. These guys { some on here } are foolish in thier pricing and will destroy thier own market. I gave a women an estimate on a Friday afternoon...front of a colonial, no garage or porch roof, the est. was 425. She called me up screaming like I was 12 yrs old, how dare I charge that price, it is not that dirty. Is she going up there? Does she know the cost of the materials and ins? I told her I was sorry she felt that way and she hung up saying she would find someone else. She called me Monday morning accepting the job. Why do that job for less?
Kudos for taking good care of our senior citizens. We take extra good care of them as well.
So when the other lady called you back on Monday morning accpeting the job, did you commit to doing it? I mean she B'd you out and then hung up and all.....
Its actually in his own hands now Pat. I talked to him and he knows now if he wants to stay in biz he better raise the prices. The customer who told me about the $199 flyer was an 82 year old straight shooting guy. The kind of guy who you know had no reason to bs me. I will be cleaning this guys roof Saturday for the correct price.
I guess that hit of Crack, or seat at the Bar must be calling to whoever is doing this ?
Much of this lowball chit started on another forum. I remember very well when it started too, and where!
Just like all of us were tossing rock flyers (remember them?) people on that forum (I will be nice and not name names) were being encouraged to sell 99.00 Housewashes!
I think you were right to contact this so called roof cleaner that has low ball prices. I dont have alot of competition in NH right now but I know it will not be that way for long. I have a Roofer and A PW company that under bid me constantly. This post has given me the idea of contacting both of these companys and talking some sense into them
Who is low ball Dan? I hope not me, I like to work less and make more money. I am getting .29 a sqft up here. And after talking with Mike I been upselling like crazy, I just took a $540 ranch and turned it into a $700 Roof and House.
I will leave it in your hands Ed, I don't have to go through my thoughts on pricing again. I just don't get these guys......Your going up on a ladder for two hundred bucks? I did half a cape and a garage roof Monday for free. I was driving to my next job and a older man was on a horrible ladder with a power washer and his wife footing it. I told him to come down I will do it for him. He asked how much I said for free because if i didn't one of them was going to get badly hurt. He gave the two guys I was with a twenty spot and he went on to power wash his house. Home owners are not equiped to do this work, I have a soft spot in my heart for the elderly. I wont do any house { one side } for under $350, so 200 is just insane. These guys { some on here } are foolish in thier pricing and will destroy thier own market. I gave a women an estimate on a Friday afternoon...front of a colonial, no garage or porch roof, the est. was 425. She called me up screaming like I was 12 yrs old, how dare I charge that price, it is not that dirty. Is she going up there? Does she know the cost of the materials and ins? I told her I was sorry she felt that way and she hung up saying she would find someone else. She called me Monday morning accepting the job. Why do that job for less?
I had a lady call me the other day and ask for a price. I told her $600, a "guestimate", without looking at the home and she was floored! She called me back later and we set up a time to look at her roof. When I got there, she said, she only wanted half of the roof cleaned and said she would only pay $300 since I told her $600 for the whole roof! My price for 1/2 the roof was $450 and I wouldn't do it for less. She asked why and I told her I am not willing to kill my own market by lowball pricing. Just because I am only cleaning 1/2 of the roof, doesn't mean 1/2 the price. I told her to have her husband climb up a ladder and use some DIY stuff to clean the roof, see the results(or lack of results) and then tell me it's not worth the $450!
Who is low ball Dan? I hope not me, I like to work less and make more money. I am getting .29 a sqft up here. And after talking with Mike I been upselling like crazy, I just took a $540 ranch and turned it into a $700 Roof and House.
Dan sorry for the confusion. I was not talking about you. There is a company on here Pristine Roof/tree/remodeling/fix your tires on here that is way undercutting the market so he can buy his beer for the week and weekend.
I did do the job i don't let personal feelings get in the way. The customer is always right....right? As far as the 600 roof wash where the women wanted it for 300 I just tell them It's 450 for the front...but since I am here I will spray the rest and just charge you for what the material cost me....150 or so.....that usually seals it.
Our sole competition is a company that figured if you can shampoo carpet, well why not roofs....
Oh yes, they now use a gentle "disc sprinkler" to rinse...
Hmm I guess softwashing is making inroads in discerning customer's minds.
I can't begin to imagine in today's 95 degrees standing on the roof peak lowering that " disc sprinkler" up and down.
I am very thankful to have found RCIA when I got tired of being ripped off by internet roof businesses in a box.
Thanks for being here. Now, we enjoy a healthy bottom line and know we are solving a growing problem safely for our neighbors.
Indiana County will be a cleaner place to live.
We hope we can enhance the image of professional softwash roof cleaning in our markets with your help, and give back to all of you in some small way to express our appreciation.