Anyone have a moment to help me make my first official bid? It’s an auto repair shop with 69 windows. Nine are regular storefront but about 60 windows are on bay doors (panels of windows about 1.5 ft x 3 ft each on garage doors- I’m counting each window individually). I want to bid low enough that the owner might consider monthly. Do you guys ever lower prices based on frequency? How long should this take? I was thinking of quoting $1.50 per side (69 windows x 2 sides = 138 sides @ $1.50 per pane = $207). This seems high especially if they want monthly. Not sure how often they will want them done.
Do you think auto windows are going to be extra grimy? They have not been done professionally in some time but not sure how long.
how many garage doors are there 7 I’m assuming . They will be very dusty every time you go there on the inside. An yes if they want them done twice a month lower your price a little per cleaning. I do two gas station an I get 10 a door at one 12 at the other once a month. I think I would charge 15 a door once a month I would charge more if its quarterly or bi-monthly for a auto body shop . The other plates charge $2.00 per side. BTW I hate doing gas station doors!
Ok, thanks very much for the info. There are 7 bay doors total (some have 6 windows, some have 9, and one has 12 - 50 windows total). Do you mean $15 total inside and out per door? Do you think $138 (for all inside and out so $1 per side for 69 windows) if they want them done once per month is too low? Hoping to close the deal but don’t want to underbid…thanks again!
Yes $207 is high for an auto body shop. In fact I am surprised they don’t PW the windows themselves. Yes they will be quite dusty every time you do them. Any job that involves mechanics is going to be dirty. Most of them don’t care if the customer can’t see out the window. I would quote them the lowest I thought I could do it for and still make it worth my time. Maybe $149 plus tax. You can always increase it slowly every year. Just make sure you don’t bid too low and not make a decent per hour rate. You should be making at least $40+ ph on that type of job. And remember, it’s your business, you make the rules.
Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.
[MENTION=9844]dnefox[/MENTION] thank you for the input! This forum is amazing. I’m thinking I will bid $20 per door if one time or less than quarterly. $18 if bimonthly and $15 if monthly. Plus those same rates for the waiting area storefront. That would be $160, $144, or $120 respectively based on frequency. She also asked for a rate that excludes 4 of the 7 bay doors in the back. This would be $80, $72, or $60 respectively for half the job. I’m thinking she might opt to maintain the front monthly and do all less frequently.
Sorry for more questions, but will I need special chemicals to remove auto dust? Should I buy a different washer just for the doors. I’m worried my mops will be insufficient or get messed up. Thanks again guys!
No you will not need different chemicals. Just use the same solution that your using . Not going start a soap war. Make sure that your rubber is fairly new. Your mops will get very dirty (Just an Idea) maybe have a fresh bucket of water to ring them out in after every door
I do a similar door (like both those connected) and charge 40 for it. I’m assuming your door will be open for the majority of the business’ working hours. That means a lot of dust/grime is going to settle on the outside that will be facing upwards when the doors are open.
If so, maybe consider a ‘brush and flush’ (carwash brush the entire door and hose it down) on the outside of the whole door and clean the glass on the inside. (depending on availability of hose bib close to door) that way the whole door(s) look nice when closed.
just an option if you run into excess grime and exaust residue.
You can also offer that service (brush and flush all exterior doors) at a later time if the glass looks great and the doors look shoddy.
looks like a good account to have, let us know how it turns out.
Hi Natalie, not sure if this helps or not, but we do a car dealership 2xmo 3 buildings in and out plus 2 garage doors in the repair dept, 25 small panes per side, 100 total. I charge an addt $50.00 for the doors. Good luck!
I’ve done a few subcontracting jobs for another guy the last few years (which I’m finally growing out of next month!!), and 2 of them are car garages.
I can do a series of 3 doors, each 3 columns x 5 rows, in about 20 minutes. If they are next to each other, I just do all the panes across the top, then reset (like a type writer) and do the next row, and so on. I like this because it allows time for drip down.
On another series of doors, they are all 3 x 7. Each door takes me about 10 min.
I don’t know how you’d price that, but there you go. I’m not the fastest, for sure. But I know I’m not the slowest
Your mop will get dirty, so you may be interested in swapping your water out a little new regularly.
How busy are these shops? If you’re trying to do the doors during busy times, it can be a REAL drag.
Since I don’t have a vice-versa or anything, I like to have 2 poles: one to soap, one to squeegee. Saves a lot of time bringing poles up and down.
Hope it works out for you.
I don’t know if you like baseball, but my uncle lives in STL, and i customarily tell all St Louis citizens “Go Cardinals!!”
We do a lot of Tire Kingdoms monthly, most of them are on a monthly basis for the storefront windows not the garage bay windows. The garage bay windows will take some time depending when the last detailed clean was, go based on what your time is worth and how long you think you can get this done. The pictures below is one of the jobs we did and we charged $75 a bay for 1x a year. Depends on the individual owner and sometimes it can get pricey.
We did a few different methods of cleaning the grease off windows, you could go the traditional way(mop,scrape,mop,squeegee) or what I found easier was 3 to 1 ratio of ammonia, spray on glass let it sit a few minutes then mop,scrape(if need be), squeegee. Also have a different bucket with a separate mop and fresh water for the final mop.
I am currently cleaning an auto body shop. Take a close look at shop doors. They could have a lot of debris which will mean more scraping and derail work, and time. Don’t be afraid to charge a higher price.
Thanks, Jimmy. I will keep that in mind. I’m hoping it doesn’t turn out to take forever if they are seriously dirty. I think she’s interested but I’m waiting to hear if I sealed the deal or not. I’m hoping Dawn dish soap will be sufficient. Is there a product I should have on hand for really tough jobs?
Yes, Sharen. Thanks! That is helpful. The manager called today and said my bid was very low, but she didn’t have any other bids so not really sure. Thanks, again!
Ha! We are a serious baseball town as it sound like you’re aware.
Thanks for the information. I hope it doesn’t take forever. I think they are pretty busy and they have trying to clean the windows themselves - unsuccessfully. I asked if she thought I could come before they open or after they close, so I’m not working around the cars and customers (and I don’t have a hard hat haha). I only have one pole right now, but it sounds like I should invest in a second. Thanks again!
If they need a lot of scraping, I might be in trouble time wise. The residentials have been taking me 1000 years to do. I spent 11 hours cleaning my sisters and she only has like 33 windows. Yikes. This is my first commercial job. No storefronts or anything yet. Thanks again!
Thanks! The first time might be daunting, but it sounds like it will be easier if I am maintaining them each month. I will bring an ammonia solution like the one you described in case they are really bad. Do car places have hoses to freshen my water?
