[drive surgeon]

hi, i threw a quote in for gum removal. it was 450 sq metres of flags but only a quarter of that had gum on around an entrance.  i charged £2.50 a sq metre so the cost came to around £1180 or something.  im a one man band.  does this sound too dear, i to0ld them the job would take 2 to 3 days. that was just to cover myself for any problems.  the gum was what would take the time as the rest would just be whirlaway and turbo.  im worried it might be too dear in their eyes?  they dont know im a 1 man band mind.  they think im a big firm.

[thewaterwizard]

  hi drive surgeon
  that's how it goes i came out of yellow pages for that reason got fed up spending time
  surveying jobs and working out prices and never hearing back from them phoned one back
  to be told oh we didn't get the job but your price was ok  end of the day they were quoting
  the job as well!! they don't get it you don't get it and they don't let you now
  plus you get constant sales calls (really pee me off) thanks to yellow pages
  rant over hope you hear back phone them if you don't

  robin

[BDCS]

Do you really xpect to get every job you quote on? I work it round the other way, I only expect to get about 60% of the bigger commercial jobs else I'm too cheap. I went on a business link course and they gave out a table showing how much work you can loose by putting up prices and still be better off - theres a saying about a busy fool. Better to keep the more reasonable rates for your regulars

[drive surgeon]

i know wot you mean, you never know if your to cheap or too dear with commercial and they dodnt get back to you? :

[Andy Foster]

450 square metres of gum removal and cleaning would only take 1 long day (or 2 short days), I would have asked for £750 plus the VAT.
 

[drive surgeon]

well i dont charge vat  and i quoted around £1,180, i said the job would take 2 to 3 days max.  just in case there where any probs.  do they worry about time or just how much it would cost?

[Andy Foster]

They normally go for the cheapest quote and then tell you they want it done yesterday!
Still good money though and not exactly hard going if you have the right kit.

£1180 for this job is REALLY good money, nice one!

[drive surgeon]

yeah but i have had no reply from them. i have not even got a hot washer. thats why i charged quite high so i could sort kit out.  one of the guys off here said to go in with £2.50 a sq metre so i did.  cos just normal jet washing with cold is £1.50 a sq metre.

[Andy Foster]

Commercial though... £1.50 for domestic... no gum, cold wash.  Would be about the same for commercial gum removal and clean... I work all over the country doing this and the price remains the same wherever I go.

[drive surgeon]

so you charge £1.50 a sq metre for gum removal/jet washing?  but gum removal taked longer doesnt it andy?  maybe i went in too high then?      i dont know you see as i have not done gum removal before.  should i email them and ask for feedback on the quote?

[billyc]

Just done 200sqm of chewing gum removal - £1.50 per sqm- took 4 hrs, a company sub this work to me prior to them applying sealant, mainly town centres- good possibility of a lot more work.
Started 2000hrs, used my hot box and turbo to shift the gum then fsc to clean up flags


Regards
Billy

[Andy Foster]

so you charge £1.50 a sq metre for gum removal/jet washing?  but gum removal taked longer doesnt it andy?  maybe i went in too high then?      i dont know you see as i have not done gum removal before.  should i email them and ask for feedback on the quote?

Its called economies of scale.
100 sq mtre drive for £150, do 3 in a day - £450 a day - no gum to remove, 3 lots of selling, pack and unpack 3 times
2000 sq mtre paved area clean and remove gum - £3000 - 300 sq mtres a (short) day - £450 a day - 1 lot of packing and unpacking - 1 lot of selling

I tend to stick to the same price on domestic for just cleaning as on commercial for both... keeps my life simple and I seem to get most jobs I go for.

Like billyc says... 4 hours -200 sq mtres

Thats good money in my book.

[drive surgeon]

yeah ok andy,  trevor perry said i should charge 2.50 a sq metre, as he says he charges between 2.50 and £3.00 a sq metre for chewing gum removal.

i think i might have over charged them. but wot can i do now?  ring them or email them and ask do they want to negotiate a price?

[Andy Foster]

You could call them to 'make sure that they got the quote' and to ask if there is anything that they would like to discuss.  It might be a way into a conversation with the person who is deciding who gets the job.

£2.50-£3 seems very expensive to me, but if you or anyone else can get the work at that price then all credit to you.  Maybe you could get the work at £3 a sq mtre and then sub it to me for £1.50...  nice easy way to make money for you eh? 

[drive surgeon]

thanks andy, i might email them,   i used to quote 1.50 a sq metre on commercial for just jet washing but i thought as this place had a lot of gum on i should charge more as it will take longer than just normal jet washing.  does this not make sense?  i also would have had to hire a stand pipe and hot washer or sub it . :

[Andy Foster]

It only 'makes sense' if you are still getting the work.
If you are not then perhaps this is down to the price you are asking for.

Hot box (decent one) would set you back about £1k including the generator to run it.
If they are not able to supply the water from one of their sources, then I would add the cost of the standpipe to the quote... this will probably spur them into finding a source.  If you are getting plenty of work in a particular water authority area then it could be worth getting one yourself.

Everyone is tightening their belts at the moment and although commercial work isn't drying up like domestic is, the customers are still become more price aware.
Even so, £1.50 for washing alone is very good money when you can cover about 100 sq mtres an hour on cold wash only.

Each to their own and good luck.

Andy

[drive surgeon]

thanks for the advice andy it helps 

think i will email them but maybe im just not ready for these jobs with not having the gear allready.

can you recoomend a particular hotbox and generator to match my tech clean powertec 250 machine>

[Andy Foster]

Something like this would suit you.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LAVOR-HOT-BOX-HEAT-EXCHANGER_W0QQitemZ330312739796QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM?hash=item330312739796&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

A bit more than I anticipated (as you will still need a generator) but this one is brand new, if you can find a second hand one then it will obviously be cheaper.


A

[drive surgeon]

THATS GREAT MATE, SOMEONE ELSE SAID THE LAVOR VULCANO, THINK IT WAS BILLY C.  CAN MUCH GO WRONG ON THEM AND HOW MUCH IS IT TO FIX IF SO?  AND WOT SIZE GENERATOR ARE WE LOOKING AT?

[Andy Foster]

I think you should direct these questions to someone who is selling one. They will know better than me.

A

[billyc]

Hi Ds

Yes i have this hot box, the guys who provide me with parts and repairs can build a hot box,the coil etc are much the same as on this model, the hot box is smaller than the vulcano-but does the same job, i have replaced the transformer,fuel pump and electrodes, but at some point in the hot box life span dependant on work load repairs are par for the course.

Given my current workload i will be investing in a second hot box, 3.5kva gen is more than sufficent to run, you only need to power the fuel pump-ignition-fan.

I havnt looked back since converting to hot-you will have to consider vehilce size to accomodate any additional kit you have or would like to have

regards

Billy

[trevor perry]

yeah ok andy,  trevor perry said i should charge 2.50 a sq metre, as he says he charges between 2.50 and £3.00 a sq metre for chewing gum removal.

i think i might have over charged them. but wot can i do now?  ring them or email them and ask do they want to negotiate a price?

i did say this price as you had to factor in the cost of equipment as you didnt have hot, you also stated areas where really bad for gum, i recently did one job for as college that had approximately 30 pieces of gum per flag there is no way i could of made that pay at £1.50 a metre.
 i also do another very large job 1000s of metres with just a bit of gum at under 50p a metre and make good money on it, only you after seeing job can determine how long it will take i was just giving you a guideline.

[drivewasher]

Hi Ds

Yes i have this hot box, the guys who provide me with parts and repairs can build a hot box,the coil etc are much the same as on this model, the hot box is smaller than the vulcano-but does the same job, i have replaced the transformer,fuel pump and electrodes, but at some point in the hot box life span dependant on work load repairs are par for the course.

Given my current workload i will be investing in a second hot box, 3.5kva gen is more than sufficent to run, you only need to power the fuel pump-ignition-fan.

I havnt looked back since converting to hot-you will have to consider vehilce size to accomodate any additional kit you have or would like to have

regards

Billy

You can get a hotbox that runs on 12 volt (or 24volt) so you wont need a generator. You either plug em into your van battery or ti avoid being stranded with a flat battery fit an auxillary one that charges all the time when not in use. You could even mount the battery on the hot box and simply plug the hotbox into the van via an auxillary battery circuit when it's stored in there, so charging it up as you drive round

An auxillary battery circut is basically a relay that conects the aux battery to van battery while the engine is running, ans disconects it's when you stop the engine so if you flatten the aux battey you can still start van as their seperate.

[drive surgeon]

steve, i would like to know more about this hotbox system your on about.

[trevor perry]

Hi Ds

Yes i have this hot box, the guys who provide me with parts and repairs can build a hot box,the coil etc are much the same as on this model, the hot box is smaller than the vulcano-but does the same job, i have replaced the transformer,fuel pump and electrodes, but at some point in the hot box life span dependant on work load repairs are par for the course.

Given my current workload i will be investing in a second hot box, 3.5kva gen is more than sufficent to run, you only need to power the fuel pump-ignition-fan.

I havnt looked back since converting to hot-you will have to consider vehilce size to accomodate any additional kit you have or would like to have

regards

Billy

You can get a hotbox that runs on 12 volt (or 24volt) so you wont need a generator. You either plug em into your van battery or ti avoid being stranded with a flat battery fit an auxillary one that charges all the time when not in use. You could even mount the battery on the hot box and simply plug the hotbox into the van via an auxillary battery circuit when it's stored in there, so charging it up as you drive round

An auxillary battery circut is basically a relay that conects the aux battery to van battery while the engine is running, ans disconects it's when you stop the engine so if you flatten the aux battey you can still start van as their seperate.

i would be interested in this hot box too, what flowrate can it run at i was wondering if it would take as low a flow rate as say one and half litres a minute as then it could be used to heat a wfp system.

[drivewasher]

The only link I can find at the moment is from an American site. But I'm sure this gear can be sourced over here. Most of the actuators and controls on our 240/110 volt machines are 12 volt via an internal transformer. The 12 volts dc can be inverted up to provide the spark