VCT Pricing Question

BLewis

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First off I offer VCT strip & wax just for regular clients convenience ( I don't want them calling anyone else). We usually bid jobs 1k sf or under. My price over 500 sf is .45 under 500 is .50 psf. Lately we have been bidding more than normal new clients and have been awarded more jobs lately. I talked with Stanley steamer techs at a gas station last week and they claim they get 2.00 psf. That sounds rediculous to me, am I behind the times? I was under the impression that the big boys were .21-.35 psf. With our strip/turbo/mop/3 Coates of wax I barely manage $100. per hour at .50 psf.
 

AshleyMckendree

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Billy as you know I HATE vct work, I bid a large church contract at .90 hoping I would not win, of course I DID get it.
I was NOT the cheapest, they said that the lower bids just made them feel that they were desperate.
One of them MUST have been desperate, because they bid .20 :shock:
 

AJR

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same here I been taking on vct work to keep the door closed to the commercial cleaning comp. I personally think there is not much money in the small jobs. getting the wax off is hit or miss. Takes a lots of steps and equip. and the floors we usually get are trashed and have had no maint. with several layers of old crappy wax to remove. I been bidding about .65 strip/wax/3coats 20% solids or better wax (all kinds of quality in wax) and for jobs less than 500 sf I shoot from the hip. and add for moving appl. Etc.. Realize that the real comp. in this vct market does not even want to mess with smaller vct jobs, so the SS guys you ran into may actually be getting $2 sf for S/W res. Jobs. Figure a kitchen and baths in a home about 300 sq. ft at 2.00 is $600 and you will go thru several pieces of equip. and be there about 4 hrs total incld waiting for wax to dry and supplying materials. For the most part with our current commercial customers we get the jobs, but like I said not a lot of money in it due to the amount of time involved. On the new custy its hit or miss on getting the work, big jobs we may or may not get them at .65 sq sf all though we get some. I have invested in several pieces of equip to make us more efficient. Like shovel nose vacs, backpack wax applicators, auto scrubbers, and waxomatic (large area wax applicators) and much more, kind of ridiculous for so little profit lol. And those tolls only help if your working on large areas. But like I said if I don’t provide the service I will be leaving the door open to my comp. example: I went into a Ryans restaurant this weekend, the carpets were being kept in pretty good condition but ceramic tile in baths and buffet was in worse condition than the ones in a truck stop restroom. I approached the manager and asked who maintained their floors she replied “no one” just them with a mop. I asked if they had a carpet cleaning company and she replied that the had one come in monthly and were under contract but that they did not clean the tile. After acknowledging they had a problem I said that we could provide them with some assistance in solving their floor odor problems and cleanliness. Well I was there the next morning doing a bid on the tile and also was asked to bid on the carpet. Like I said some services we are not going to make as much profit as others but we need to keep an eye on the back door lol.
 

Shane Deubell

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BLewis said:
First off I offer VCT strip & wax just for regular clients convenience ( I don't want them calling anyone else). We usually bid jobs 1k sf or under. My price over 500 sf is .45 under 500 is .50 psf. Lately we have been bidding more than normal new clients and have been awarded more jobs lately. I talked with Stanley steamer techs at a gas station last week and they claim they get 2.00 psf. That sounds rediculous to me, am I behind the times? I was under the impression that the big boys were .21-.35 psf. With our strip/turbo/mop/3 Coates of wax I barely manage $100. per hour at .50 psf.

They must be talking about residential when homeowners have wax on slate or whatever.

For commercial you are right on, i would raise it little higher when the job goes below 250 sqr ft. Also if the area has a lot of corners or desks to work around, this kills your labor.

Ultimately you should price it based on the gross profit you want, our profit on vct jobs is only slightly lower then carpet.
 

floorguy

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much like anything else in this world and this biz....

it is what you make it....

"most" VCT type guys would laugh you off the boards at .50 on up...can you get that????? sure but the % is lower...(say out of 100 jobs....maybe 10%)

The thing is when you are in the door...1 of 2 things happen....

1. you get more because they A. dont shop it because they like you or are lazy

2. you get your avg or slightly less because you want to keep the other side IE carpets furniture etc....


Me I charge what I charge...i am in the .30 range....i get a nickel more for 1st time strips.....I look at it from the BIG PICTURE...

how long do i want to do this acct.?????

because sure you can do that 4000k sqft job once or twice at the .40 ...BUT they will at some point check prices. Or have someone come in and rattle the cage at just the right time..

If you havent been there congratulations....

me i would rather do it for .20, and know i am in all likely hood doing it for yrs to come...(knowing that the following times doing it will be HALF as hard or use HALF the chems)

I have dozens of accts, that my per hr has doubled or tripled, from the 1st time i did it....and thats making on the low side of $60-$75 the 1st time
 

AJR

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i have had accounts have me come in on a floor that has not ben done in yrs. i fight with layers of wax and bring the floor to optimal condition and then they call me back when it looks like crap years later and want a scrub and recoat. in my area the comp does not even completly strip a floor, they deep scrub and slap on the wax. i get calls to fix this all the time. i did a xactimate est. once on vct for and ins. restoration job, it is priced at .75 for basic s/w lol.
 

floorguy

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oh yes agree that, what 80% dont completely strip a floor...and to some extent i dont either...i go 3-4 times if i see it makes a difference...if not...then it comes off when i do it down the road....


I have done more then i can count where they say "ohhh thats what its suppose to look like" :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

a lot of the ones i do, are strip once a year...no buffs, just a strip...and then its cake....a years worth of wear, then taking your own stuff off :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I have a few that are once a month buffs, quarterly scrub and recoat.....then a 12-18 mth strip....depends on how it looks....


I like the "clean, slightly shiny" look....not the "lets see how muc h wax we can throw on this dirt look"
 

AJR

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floor guy when you say dont completly strip, what is it then? do you mean a heavy scrub to get to clean wax then recoat. if so wouldnt that be a scrub and recoat and not a strip and wax? maybe i need to stop striping and waxing.
 

floorguy

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you know when you strip a floor and it doesnt all come off?? you can see blotches....

some you know will blend and others wont as easy..

thats what i mean.....

very few floors you can get 100% off even going over it 2 or 3 or 4 times...usually its around the edges, because that 80% think they need to apply finish alllllll the way to the edges....on every coat X how many times they say they have "stripped" it

as someone once told me...."there comes a point of diminishing returns" meaning you can sit and waste time on it....but right then its not going to do any better


now if i see that by slopping it on again works really well, then ill do it one more time...if not and it doesnt change much....well thats all there is
 

BLewis

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Now Marty, don't start picking on those trying to offer me help! Remember I know exactly where you live! :)
 

juniorc82

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First off when doing vct I have learned that you must approach it not using your carpet cleaning brain. This is a whole differant game and you will compete against a differant type of competitor.I would say btween .35 and .60 depending on build up , moving furniture etc is my bid range.Also you might make a minimum of 4 coats become standard. I doubt that stanley steamer is knocking down 2.00 a square , but I have gotten almost a buck a square on a couple jobs.
I have gotten in to vct and knocked down some good money and almost always average 30- 40% profit per job. I love vct because it is good steady work and helps pay the bills in the winter. Plus it is less competiton especialy if you are a truckmount carpet cleaner in addition. I started doing vct in addition to carpet 2 years ago with a 175 and a couple mop buckets. Started out at small offices and such. By word of mouth I have grown vct to consist of almost 20% of our revenue. I also got into maintaing vct which os alot easier and profitable than just stripping. Now in addition to a couple 175s we have an electric burnisher , wet vacs, a couple auto scrubbers , and 3 propane burnishers with a doolittle trailer to haul it around in. Also have a 2 day a month maintenance contract with a retail store for $1100.00 . So If you can tolerate working nights weekends and watching wax dry there is plenty of money to be made in vct
 

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