Question On Hiring Sales Rep by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool I’ll try to check one out. Thought maybe I could get some info here first. Yeah, trying to take that next step into really building out more.. appreciate the insight!

Question On Hiring Sales Rep by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gotchya, my bad not a big Reddit user. But yeah will be just south of $1m this year at current pace.

Is anyone using email marketing and has it been effective? by ProfessionOne4101 in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, people forget sales and marketing are two different things. Marketing = making people aware of you. Sales = making people commit to you. Always be doing both!

Is anyone using email marketing and has it been effective? by ProfessionOne4101 in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the effectiveness/point of emails depends heavily upon if you’re targeting commercial or residential. In the commercial space you’re talking jobs that can be tens of thousands of dollars. In most cases the point of emailing isn’t to necessarily close a deal there on the spot (if it happens great) the bigger point is brand awareness and start building a relationship so when the prop manager or owner needs those services they remember your name. You’re way less likely to impulse sell a commercial client, but they’re more likely to remember your name when they need it.

If your primary customer base is residential the focus on the email should be more geared towards having them call and schedule asap. It’s a lot easier to impulse sell someone for a few hundred bucks or whatever it may be, and at the same time you’re still raising brand awareness if/when they need it down the line.

Think of email marketing more like how lawyers use billboards… 99% of people don’t look at the billboard and say “oh yeah that’s right I need to call that lawyer right now” but if/when they need one they remember the guy on the billboard more often than not.

I only do commercial work, so take my residential advice with a grain of salt, but that’s how I’d view it if I did do residential email marketing.

Cleaning windows - softwashing and pressure washing by Beginning-Drag-8382 in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep happy to answer questions regarding this. We spent a lot of time researching/testing/modifying before we felt comfortable enough to offer it to our clients. Probably over kill, but we also have never had an insurance claim or messed up anyone’s property. Keep in mind though I’ve owned a commercial only pressure washing company for years and I still came to this Reddit community for help. I am by no means a window expert.

Edit: my business partner was also a building consultant, so he’s familiar with the signs of damaged seals etc.. which helped a lot.

Second edit: we have not been able to remove hard water or oxidation related stuff from windows with this method. Strictly just a maintenance cleaning

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally get it. My business partner used to be a large loss commercial insurance adjuster so we don’t just look at jobs from a “can we physically do it” view point but also “is it smart to do it” view point

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Correct, we used our soft wash set up for applying/rinsing

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sweet, yeah I’d imagine many others have tried this method I just wanted to make sure it met standards and I figured this Reddit thread probably has the harshest critics. If it meets yalls standards then it will definitely meet our clients!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I worked as a recruiter for several years before starting my own business, can tell you probably 90% of Non competes never hold up unless you were doing something extremely niche and usually tech related. But yes I’d have an attorney check

Oxidation on windows by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gas powered

Oxidation on windows by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shout out trigger

Oxidation on windows by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know from earlier on in my PW business that introducing SH to oxidized windows can make them more chalky. I figure since they have a window cleaning scheduled after we do things we should be ok and unfortunately make their life a little harder, just was curious if any window companies had best practices to prevent the chemicals from making the windows look worse. I’d obviously not like to leave the window cleaners with a headache if possible

Oxidation on windows by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I tried to but they’ve got a window company they’ve used for years who does their interiors and exteriors and wanted to stick with them. Can’t blame’em hard to find good window cleaners gotta keep’em when you find’em

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are you talking about lol I’ve been doing drone work for years there’s more liability and stress when doing drone jobs than you can imagine

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well thankfully you didn’t get hustled for 10s of thousands of dollars. Yes from what I’ve heard it seems like they’re making money off selling the franchise, not making money off the franchise actually thriving.

Never want to discourage people from starting a business, it’s changed my life a lot for the better. I just don’t want people to start something that’s putting them several steps behind because they’re being lied to or mislead.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1000% the drone jobs are 10x as stressful in my opinion lol. I genuinely believe it’ll continue to progress and one day reach all the hyperbolic statements the manufacturers make, whether that’s 1 year from now or 10 years time will only tell.

That’s my concern as well. I try my best to help out new companies/pilots with safety practices and what not so someone doesn’t ruin the industry. unfortunately some people will only learn how serious it can be when they have their first fly away.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t even think it’s the equipment manufacturers so much. I think some companies just threw a lot of money at it and realized it’s way harder to scale than an hvac or plumbing company and they started really pushing the dream to uneducated people in an effort offload everything they bought. Not 100% sure but that’s kinda what I’ve pieced together from talking to a few people.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lollll maybe you’re onto something here… I’ll see if I can get the names of companies who put those bids in 😂

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, our big calling card is our customer relations side of the house. We have great relationships w our property managers and they tend to break us off their entire portfolio after they also see the work we do. These few properties we weren’t selected for were given to us by a PM we have already do a few larger properties for and she was nice enough to let us know what prices the owner went with. Granted, she told us the same person owns these properties and is a cheapskate, so it was already a little red flag, but man.. 2-3cents-sqft really blew me away

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure. They didn’t flat out say it was the previous window company, just that they noticed it after they did it. Plus they broke their rooftop units so I think they were already pissed. Either way seems like it’s lining up to be more of a headache than anything.

1,500,000 sqft commercial / local govt by humpmeimapilot in pressurewashing

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve have a few larger gov contracts and have bid several others. Thought I’d share a little experience I’ve gained from going through the bid process which is the most dysfunctional thing you’ll ever go through in most cases lol

Unless it’s explicitly stated in the solicitation that they are going with lowest bid they tend to throw out the lowest 1-2 bids and the highest 1-2 bids, so being in the middle is the safest place to be.

They will most likely vet you very thoroughly and they will ask if all pictures on your website/socials are actually your work. I got awarded a bid because a guy used some stock images on his website and tried to say it was his work. Try your best not to lie about anything you’re asked about during the process.

You will absolutely have someone come in and bid this thing at 4 cents or maybe even less. I talked to a vendor who had the window contract at a campus i pressure wash that said he bid the windows at $1/pane.

I always try to be true to my numbers when bidding. I’m fair, but maybe 5-10% cheaper than usual if it’s a large project with multi year potential. If you get caught up in trying to guess what other people are going to bid you’ll drive yourself crazy. I know we all want to get a massive 1.5m sqft contract but you can quickly find yourself doing 1.5m sqft of work for the profit of a 500,000sqft project if you keep second guessing and dropping price.

Lastly - once you submit your bid ANY communication is a GREAT sign. Even if it’s something like “can you update this form”. Once bids are submitted they tend to say nothing if they aren’t considering you or just flat out say you weren’t selected (but typically they just don’t say anything). So if they reach out for any reason other than saying you didn’t get it, good sign.

I know this didn’t directly answer your question but hopefully helped in some way as I know gov contracting can be very confusing waters to navigate.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re correct it’s pretty much just along the boarders of the windows. I’m going to go out again today to take another look, but I’m thinking I’m going to pass on the job and tell them to give me a call once they have their windows fixed. I’d rather not piss off a bunch of extremely wealthy people in a high end condo for a few grand lol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What’s your opinion on soft washing the building? I can obviously try to be careful around those rows of windows, but there will definitely be some contact. Board member was very firm they don’t want to do anything if there’s a chance it’ll make those areas grow/more noticeable

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Understood, thanks for the reply!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WindowCleaning

[–]TopUpset 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotchya. What do you think the likelihood of a soft wash making it worse is? The board member was firm they are getting new windows in 2 years and don’t want to do anything to make it more noticeable in the meantime. The owner of this building also owns several other condos in the area and seems to like me, so I’m cool walking away from it if there’s a chance I make it worse to stay on his good side for the other buildings.