May 4, 2025 • 21 mins
Struggling to price your pressure washing services? Feeling pressure to match those ultra-low $199 specials you see advertised everywhere? This eye-opening conversation between industry veterans Matt Jackson and Clay Smith tackles the epidemic of underpricing that's holding back pressure washing businesses across the country.
Matt and Clay dive deep into the psychology of pricing, revealing why the fear of losing jobs to competitors drives business owners into a dangerous race to the bottom. They share candid insights about their own pricing journey, explaining how they've built a business model where $500+ is their standard job price during busy seasons. Rather than apologizing for premium rates, they've created a value proposition that makes customers happy to pay more.
The hosts break down exactly why those tempting $199-$250 jobs are actually business killers. From sky-high insurance costs to equipment maintenance, fuel expenses, and the need to build capital for future growth, they deliver a masterclass in understanding the true cost of running a legitimate pressure washing operation. As Clay pointedly asks, "If I were to go and do a $200 job, that's completely wasting our time... so why would I do that?"
Beyond just the numbers, this episode explores the qualitative difference between budget-hunting and quality-seeking customers. Matt shares how building a portfolio of 300+ Google reviews has created a reputation that allows them to charge premium rates while still earning enthusiastic five-star feedback. They explain why customers actually leave better reviews when paying higher prices, contrary to what many business owners assume.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up an established pressure washing business, this conversation provides the mindset shift and practical strategy you need to stop undervaluing your work. Follow their advice to break free from the treadmill of low-margin jobs and build a sustainable business that rewards your expertise, investment, and professionalism.
Want more business-building insights? Subscribe to the Wash Pros podcast and follow Matt and Clay on YouTube and Instagram to continue learning from their combined decades of industry experience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
what's up, guys?
It's matt jackson and claysmith and we are the wash rose.
Welcome to episode 13.
This time we're going to diveinto pricing and, uh, how to
really like price based uponwhat you're worth and how to
even know your worth.
So you want to take this thingoff, clay as?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
always, I don't mind at all.
First of all, as always, I wantto appreciate everybody for
listening in.
Thanks for tuning in.
Whether it be YouTube, spotify,apple Podcasts, anything of
that nature, obviously we'reabout everywhere, on every
platform.
Today, we're going to talkabout how to stop undervaluing
yourself, how to stopundervaluing your work, how to
(00:48):
stop, I mean, just undervaluinganything that has to do with
your business, right?
So one of the biggest thingsthat undervaluing happens is
just the fear of losing a job toa competitor, right?
So, whether it be Facebookgroups, I see a lot of guys in
(01:08):
our area they're all over theFacebook groups advertising
these really cheap prices.
And you know, maybe you've beenon Facebook too much, maybe
you've been inhaling too much onthe internet, maybe you've been
seeing these guys all over theinternet advertising these $199
prices, and sometimes I feellike we get caught up in the
wrong things and it messes withour mentality a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Absolutely.
And people don't care about theprice, they care about the
value they see in you.
Because I've pressure washedand Clay's pressure washed and I
think it's the same job or thesame house of somebody that has
thrown a clip flyer with theprice already marked on it and
we were over a hundred dollarsmore than that price and it's a
small ticket.
So, of a job that we charged300 something dollars for,
(01:50):
somebody went in and said we cando this for 200 bucks.
So like that's not how it works, that's the whole.
Oh, I'm the upsell guy, I'mlike the low ticket.
Like if you're too low ticket,you're going to be noise to
somebody because they're like,why am I going to hire that guy
who's just throwing trash in mydriveway?
Why am I going to hire the guywho's the cheapest guy?
Like what's, like that's,there's no value there.
(02:12):
So like one thing with us is wealways learn, like we try to
understand.
Like, ok, what does our valuemean?
The value means like, howbooked up are we?
If I'm really needing work, Ihave less value.
So If I'm really needing work,I have less value.
So if somebody is saying, okay,I need to have my house
pressure washed and you know youcan be aggressive and get that
job.
That's how you should price it.
But as we get into the season,like we're in now with May,
(02:32):
where we're booked out a week,two weeks, full of, like
multiple crews and trucks, likewe better be hitting that like
$500 plus price point per job,otherwise we're undervaluing
ourselves and that's kind ofwhat Clay and I mean.
Like if you're, if you're,stuck chasing $200 jobs, you'll
forever be stuck chasing $200jobs.
You're not going to attractthose best clients, the ideal
client that you want.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
And another thing I know that me and you had talked
about uh earlier in the day, ormaybe earlier in the week, I
don't remember.
We have a lot of conversation,but the biggest thing that I
fear, as a business owner myself, is okay, you don't want to be
so cheap that it bites you inthe ass in the long run, right?
So you don't want the customerpopping up in three years saying
well, you only did it for $250or $199 last time.
(03:16):
Why are you trying to charge me$400 or $500 to do the same
service?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Exactly right, because you will get busy being
cheap because there's plenty ofcheap people out there.
There's so many more Toyotassold than Porsches.
You don't want to be the Toyotabecause that's a commodity and
then it's a race to the bottom.
You see, the people buyPorsches for more than MSRP
because there's value in them,they're sought after.
People buy Toyotas at lessinvoice pricing because it's
(03:44):
just about moving units.
You can say, okay, I'm busy, I'mdoing this much, but if I'm
only charging so much money andI have so many stops per day,
I'm going to burn myself out.
I'm not going to be able tohandle any business issues that
come up, whether it be taxes,whether it be insurance rates
climbing.
Because if you guys arelegitimate businesses and carry
workman's comp insurance, carryliability insurance, carry
(04:06):
professional commercial truckand vehicle insurance, like
that's going to eat you up and Idon't see how you guys can
afford doing jobs for under $300minimum.
And and then too, like whathappens when you want to hire
somebody, you're going to justsay oh well, I'm going to do a
$200 job, I'm going to pay a guy$20, $25 an hour to do that job
(04:29):
and then you're making negativemoney on that.
So it's like Clay's saying isimportant is, if you're new or
if you're in it for a littlewhile, to get your pricing
situated first, because youdon't want to have a customer
base full of $200 pressurewashers, pressure washing jobs,
and then, when you raise yourprices to 400 bucks, those
people leave you because they'rejust interested in you because
of that 200 price point yes, andI believe that's the true
beauty of making sure that youfinding your value and stop
(04:50):
undervaluing yourself with yourprices.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So, um, the biggest thing is knowing, knowing your
true cost of doing business.
Like, what are you spending ongas today?
I like to break it down by theday and then kind of break it
down by the week, and then frommy week I can break it down by
the week and then from my week Ican break it down by the month.
So figure out how much yourbudget is a day or how much for
gas, your true cost of business,your maintenance.
Put money aside.
(05:12):
Say, okay, if a hose blows onme today, I have this money here
to you know, be able to go anddo that right.
So if you're doing $199 housewashes, it's going to be tough,
like it's going to hurt when youhave a $200 hose blow right.
So if per se, I went and boughttwo new pressure washers last
year.
I got tired of dicking aroundwith two that were giving me
(05:33):
trouble.
Like you want to be able to goand do that if something goes
down, so you're not missing outon work.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Exactly right and as I was growing, I was trying to
get everything I could.
And, yeah, I think it's great,as you grow your business, you
get your brand out there.
You are like getting greatGoogle reviews, you're getting
word of mouth.
But it's important as we kindof go back to what Clay was
saying is, you don't want to beword of mouth in a Facebook
group where people are lookingfor the bottom dollar customer.
And Clay had a post today onhis personal Facebook I don't
(06:04):
know if you guys have seen it orsaw it.
Essentially he said it's funny,where I have $60,000 invested
in equipment, I pay professionalinsurances and people want the
bottom dollar price and it'slike, hey, you can't get both.
You want the cheapest.
It's going to be a high schoolkid, the job's going to be crap
and you're not going to.
You're not going to pay a lotof money but you're going to get
(06:25):
less than if you just hiresomebody like Clay or I and hire
somebody the right way.
And I feel like on social media,people all the time are asking
hey, does anybody know a goodpressure washer?
I was like they ask thesequestions so often.
They're looking for somebodycheap.
They're looking for somebodydesperate that's wanting to jump
on them and DM them and givethem a best price, and then
you're going to be one of fiveguys and it's going to be a race
(06:45):
to the bottom.
So that's one of those deals Idon't even really deal with on
my end because I think thatlowers the value of our brand.
And we have customers that arewilling to pay $1,000 plus for
us to service their home andthey're not going to think twice
about somebody coming in andtrying to undercut us.
As you get more volume andbusier, it's like this is the
time of year where we'reliterally getting we're talking
(07:07):
Clay and I were talking andwe're getting like 20 inbound
reaches between phone calls andemails and quotes.
So like, if you're getting thatmuch lead volume coming through,
you sift through and you saywhat is my value worth?
These high-end customers whoview us, who like us from our
social media or they see all ofour Google reviews, or they have
good word of mouth, or we'vedone work for them in the past
(07:28):
they're they're saying noproblem, thousand dollars,
pressure wash my house, do thewindows, do the driveway,
perfect, five-star review.
These are the customers that wekeep and we farm and and that's
where our value comes from.
It doesn't come from sayingsorry, customer, we're booked
out three months because we'retaking on every two hundred
dollar job and that's theproblem I see guys do.
They get stuck chasingwhatever's coming at them and
(07:49):
usually it's low dollar ticketsand it's not moving the needle.
And if you don't know yournumbers, you can be making
revenue but you're not makingprofit.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, it all boils to in your pricing.
You can kind of gauge yourbusiness off of your speed, your
reliability, the equipment thatyou have, and I think that's
the biggest kicker is knowinghow fast you can work but also
maintaining the quality.
And then you can kind of planyour day.
You can plan your week andfigure out okay, I can do 20
(08:18):
jobs in a week or I can do fourjobs in a day, I can do five
jobs in a day and that's kind ofhow I do it.
Right, I know that I can go outand I can watch an average home
to a basic house washing in 45minutes to an hour.
So I know that I can do four tofive of those, depending on
logistics, where they'rescheduled, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Exactly.
And all of that goes intopricing what you're worth.
And just don't want to say likewhen, when we're getting gas in
the morning I got two trucksgetting gas.
We're filling up the pressurewasher, we're filling up diesel
in the Ford and we're filling upgas in the Chevy truck.
Like it's a lot of money, itisn't something I'm spending 200
bucks before I go to the bleachstore and then buy a drum of
(09:00):
bleach for $260.
So it isn't like right off thebat we're spending four or $500.
So if I were to go and do a$200 job, that's completely
wasting our time.
So that's why it's reallyimportant to say okay, we gotta
be making a lot of money on eachjob, maximizing how much we're
making per job, because there isgonna be a time where a truck
goes out.
Oh, you wanna invest in a wrap.
(09:20):
Okay, you wanna invest inadvertising to get better
customers.
This is not even factoring inwhat we're trying to make
personally.
After after all of our expenses.
A lot of people are like oh,$100,000.
Cool, that literally pays yourbusiness to move forward.
You need to get past that stageso you can afford living life
yourself and this can be a truebusiness and you're not stuck in
(09:41):
this kind of hamster wheel ofpart time that you see a lot of
people live in and we're kind oftalking about it a little bit
on our last episode and previousepisodes of that.
Like, don't be stuck on thetreadmill of part-time and not
taking risks.
You're not investing inyourself and raising your brand
and growing this as a businessas it should Like, if you're
gonna be half-ass and lukewarm,it's doing nobody any good.
(10:03):
So it's if you're charging, ifyou're taking on everybody just
to be busy, just to say, oh,look at me, I'm, I'm doing all
these jobs, I'm, I can helpeverybody, you're doing yourself
a disservice, your customers isdisservice, and if you ever
have employees, you're doingthem a disservice.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I agree with that.
And then, once you get on thevalue that the value we're
talking about, value so much.
I think we're talking aboutvalue, but we are talking about
value, but you get what I'msaying.
Anyway, once you get to thepoint of where we're at, as far
as the level that we're at inbusiness, you get to, you find
that you're competing on valueor on price, right?
So my thing is I try to create agreat reputation online.
I try to say, hey, mr or MrsCustomer, they probably had a
(10:42):
bad experience and they'recalling me and they're they're
scared, they're asking a millionquestions and I'm like hey, mr
or Mrs Smith, hey, we have 300and some Google reviews online.
Why don't you go take a look atour work?
Why don't you go take a look atwhat other people have to say?
And that provides value topeople, versus some guy that's
just come out of the woodworksand saying that they're the best
(11:03):
, they have the best equipment,they bought a $30,000 rig, they
slapped the logo on their truck,they look legit, but there's
nothing there.
You can't find anything aboutthem online.
And I think that that onlinereputation, if you could do a
good job of building that.
It takes a lot of time buteventually it starts to pay off
and customers see that andthey'll pay $50 to $100 for you.
(11:25):
You know, then, the guy thatdoesn't really have anything
online and there's there's notrack record no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And that's kind of like when we deal with these
customers where it's a supersmall job and we say, hey, we
have a minimum place of three orfour hundred dollars, they're
gonna, they're gonna.
They're gonna say, okay, well,do I want to hire this guy?
And that's where your, yourvalue as a company really comes
in.
Are they looking just to havetheir driveway clean for the
lowest bidder?
That's where you weed thesepeople out on the front end.
Hey, I have a minimum, it'sgoing to be this much money.
(11:54):
They're going to say, yes, Iwant to do business with you, I
will pay that premium price tohave that service done.
Or they're going to say, no,thanks, I'm going to the next
person.
If you allow them to lower yourstandards and lower your value
and you take money off the tablejust because you want to have
that one customer, you'reallowing the customer to dictate
how you run your business, andthat is a very low value trait
(12:15):
and it's one of those reasonswhy you get bad customers.
These people just want to takeadvantage of you.
They can kind of almost smelllike a sucker and I think in the
Facebook post that Clay thatclay made, a couple people
commented where they're likepeople sense the energy of a
weak negotiator or a weak personor somebody that's so like
insecure in their value thatthey just let people walk all
(12:37):
over them.
And you're not doing anybody agood service and you'll probably
get a bad review too.
It's.
It's amazing like people leavebetter reviews paying more money
than if they were getting acheap job done, because they see
the value they're going to payfor that.
Wow, this guy was delivered apremium service.
Here's a five-star review.
So if you guys think, oh, yougot to be super cheap, you got
to break your back and doeverything that is not right at
(12:58):
all and you're lowering yourvalue, so don't do that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, my biggest thing is I always try to offer.
I don't really try to offer,but what I try to do is I try to
provide value.
I always try to provide valueto the customer.
Hey, I've done X amount of jobs.
We have professional equipment.
We have 300 Google reviews.
Check us out online.
We're on TV.
(13:22):
You can see us on Channel 7.
And all of those are thingsthat are providing value.
The customer feels like theyknow you before you ever step
out to their house and they'reexcited to see you.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, exactly Like I was at Home Depot the other day
getting plants for my garden.
That's never-ending and I hadmy T-shirt on that had Matt the
driveway guy on the back of itand the guy's like it's like
Matt the driveway guy, it lookslike a Matt the driveway guy
shirt and I'm like it's likematt the driver guy.
That looks like a matt thedriver guy shirt.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And I'm like, yeah, and he's like I've used you a
few years ago and I was likecool, thanks it was kind of
almost like an awkward situation.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
but he was like you guys do good work.
I was like, nice, that's anexample of having your brand out
there building value.
And and like a guy sees another, a person with a t-shirt on of
a pressure washing company thathe used a couple years ago and
there's enough value built therethat he said hey to me he's
like, oh, cool, and that's theobjective you guys want to have.
And, like Clay says, withsocial media, these people
(14:17):
follow you.
You think, oh, I did this guy'shouse four or five years ago.
He doesn't know what's going on, but he could be a big fan on
Facebook or social media or seeyou on the news media or see you
on the news.
And people have reached out andthey're like, oh, it's cool to
see you grow.
Or it's like it's cool to seeyour kid stuff like that.
And that's why you got to putyour branding forward and put
your marketing forward andalways, always be adding value,
(14:37):
whether it's directly selling acustomer or just keeping,
keeping your leads and keepingyour customer base warm.
One thing we did this past weekwas send out another email
blast.
So we have the 2000 somethingcontacts with emails in our CRM
and we just blast out.
We did one in February to kindof kickstart the preseason sales
and we just recently did one inMay just to remind everybody.
(15:00):
Hey, like it's that time ofyear, here's a button, click
here, get the quote.
And we've had a lot of peoplewho are like, yeah, I'm ready,
thanks for letting me know,thanks.
Had a lot, of a lot of peoplewho are like yeah, I'm ready,
thanks for letting me know,thanks for reminding me.
And it's part of adding value isnot being reactive to people,
it's it's saying hey, mrcustomer, like we've done
business two or three years ago,I'd like to earn your business
again and just an act of that,you're able to sell at a higher
(15:20):
price point than if you werejust a bag on a post on facebook
where there's 50 other guysresponding to the same thing,
because you're going toliterally be competing with
people who have no idea whatthey're doing and have equipment
that is nothing close to whatyou guys have so like, figure
out what pond you want to fishin and be the best person you
can be in that pond yeah,another thing with these uh
(15:41):
facebook posts is, uh, it'salways like scraping the bottom
of the barrel, right.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So I feel like that, these customers, when you
eventually do get them it's justmy experience when I first
started, because I did a lot ofthe facebook stuff those
customers feel like they, theycan run over you.
They feel like they, right,they basically grabbed you by
the balls.
It's like they're going to getthe most they can out of you for
that price, because they knowthat.
You know that you are upagainst all those other people,
(16:05):
right.
So you're you have the fear ofthis is calling the other, you
know.
So you just got to make sureyou're just providing that value
.
I don't worry about that stuffanymore because I don't really
care, right, if I'm losing ahundred dollars, whatever, I'm
not going to do it all, right,then you're either going to use
me or you're not yep, and byallowing yourself to be open and
and serve your better clientsat higher price points.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Like I did a, we did a storage facility, uh, early
this week, soft washing couplestorage units and like a car
wash section.
It was like a 1200 job.
I think we banged it out inlike four and a half five hours.
It's pretty easy.
The guy's like, hey, uh, likegreat service, like quality work
and a reasonable price, and Igot a five-star review and that
(16:49):
was 300 250 dollar an hourproject.
That was pretty fun.
I was booking jobs on my phonehalf the day.
Those are the type of customersyou want.
Now I have other customerswhere you're, they're beating
you up over a 300 job oncleaning patio furniture and
like you got to separate the two.
You got to figure out okay, who, how's my customer, how's,
how's my company best set up?
Do I have the right equipment?
(17:09):
How efficient am I at cleaningstuff and what do I want to
clean every single day and justplow forward on that and when
somebody comes and says, hey,can you clean this thing, don't
say yes, don't be that handyman,because that lowers your value
there.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
It's like we want to be laser focused and we want to
be a sniper here yeah, I had anolder gentleman call me last
week and he's like I need you towash my house, but while you're
up there, can you take theseshutter downs for me?
I'm like I do not take shuttersdown, sir, I just pressure wash
, yep.
So that's a good example.
Just stick to your services andstick what you know.
(17:43):
Don't start putting your handsin other things, no matter what
it is yep and two, it's one ofthose things you can.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
An easy thing to say is look, my insurance doesn't
cover that.
If I get on your roof and Ifall and I'm replacing your,
your shutters on your roof, myinsurance is not going to cover
that.
It's going to come back to youand you're going to get sued.
Like do you want to call ahandyman, a professional who's
licensed for this, or do youwant to have me get up there and
try to do it and sue you?
But again, they're just tryingto see what they can take from
you.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
They're like I don't want to call somebody I don't
want to call somebody else, goget up there and do it yep,
they're just trying to get thatmore bang for the buck, like
what I was talking about earlier.
Just know your value.
I also had another incidenttoday.
It was going to spread out thetop of her and, uh, very, very
quickly that we're not a guttercleaner.
She needed to call a gutter guyyes, I, I don't do interior
(18:29):
gutters.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
We both share the same guy who we throw work to
just because it doesn't fit inour business model.
And I tell customers all thetime I'm like hey look, I pay
this guy personally threehundred dollars, um three
hundred dollars, to clean myhouse gutters.
So you, that's about how muchit's going to cost you on top of
the house wash that we're doingto your house today, cause,
like no matter how hard we couldtry to spray it out ourselves,
(18:51):
unless you're on a ladderscooping it in with your hand,
it's not worth it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Agree, because then you start blowing them out of
the gutters.
They blow everywhere, they blowall over the yard, they blow
all in the bushes and then yougot another problem.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So that's.
It goes back to knowing yourvalue and setting the terms with
your customer.
You don't want the customer todetermine how much they're going
to pay you and you don't wantthe customer to determine, uh,
your job scope.
Because if, if, if you'resaying, oh yeah, sure, just pay
me.
What's fair?
Well, it's fair for you to workfor free, because why should I
pay you?
Like you're not giving me acompelling reason to pay?
(19:25):
You's like like people will tryto find easy the most ways they
can squeeze you as possible,unless you you give them a
boundary.
So know your worth, know yourboundary and and weed out bad
customers when everybodypressure washes.
You don't want to be everybody,but yeah, we're like yeah,
there's, there's so many others.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
There's no shortage of pressure washers.
So know your value, set setyour value, know your numbers,
make sure you're working on thaton-run reputation, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
And understand that it's more important to have the
right marketing, have the rightbusiness, than it is to know how
to pressure wash.
I can train a guy in one to twoweeks to be a better pressure
washer than most people outthere.
It's not that difficult.
The difficulty is having thatcustomer experience from the
start on, having people seevalue in you and then running it
(20:14):
as a business, becauseeverybody can pressure wash,
whether they're the 16 year oldkid down the street with a four
gallon a minute machine orsomebody with a 16 gallon a
minute machine.
We're all doing the same job.
So like it's how we treat thecustomer, how we position our
business and how efficiently weknock down work and that pretty
much sums it up.
Matt Yep, I think.
(20:35):
So you got anything to add.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Clay, just make sure you continue to listen.
We've got some more bangerscoming out for you.
I know that we've gotten a lotof great feedback from all the
guys that have been in my inboxand I know that you've had some
guys message you as well.
Matt, it's been great with thisjourney.
Make sure you're following uson YouTube, watch us on
(20:58):
Instagram.
If you have any questions, justreach out to us.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yep Sounds like a plan.
We'll see you guys on the nextone.
what's up, guys?
It's matt jackson and claysmith and we are the wash rose.
Welcome to episode 13.
This time we're going to diveinto pricing and, uh, how to
really like price based uponwhat you're worth and how to
even know your worth.
So you want to take this thingoff, clay as?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
always, I don't mind at all.
First of all, as always, I wantto appreciate everybody for
listening in.
Thanks for tuning in.
Whether it be YouTube, spotify,apple Podcasts, anything of
that nature, obviously we'reabout everywhere, on every
platform.
Today, we're going to talkabout how to stop undervaluing
yourself, how to stopundervaluing your work, how to
(00:48):
stop, I mean, just undervaluinganything that has to do with
your business, right?
So one of the biggest thingsthat undervaluing happens is
just the fear of losing a job toa competitor, right?
So, whether it be Facebookgroups, I see a lot of guys in
(01:08):
our area they're all over theFacebook groups advertising
these really cheap prices.
And you know, maybe you've beenon Facebook too much, maybe
you've been inhaling too much onthe internet, maybe you've been
seeing these guys all over theinternet advertising these $199
prices, and sometimes I feellike we get caught up in the
wrong things and it messes withour mentality a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Absolutely.
And people don't care about theprice, they care about the
value they see in you.
Because I've pressure washedand Clay's pressure washed and I
think it's the same job or thesame house of somebody that has
thrown a clip flyer with theprice already marked on it and
we were over a hundred dollarsmore than that price and it's a
small ticket.
So, of a job that we charged300 something dollars for,
(01:50):
somebody went in and said we cando this for 200 bucks.
So like that's not how it works, that's the whole.
Oh, I'm the upsell guy, I'mlike the low ticket.
Like if you're too low ticket,you're going to be noise to
somebody because they're like,why am I going to hire that guy
who's just throwing trash in mydriveway?
Why am I going to hire the guywho's the cheapest guy?
Like what's, like that's,there's no value there.
(02:12):
So like one thing with us is wealways learn, like we try to
understand.
Like, ok, what does our valuemean?
The value means like, howbooked up are we?
If I'm really needing work, Ihave less value.
So If I'm really needing work,I have less value.
So if somebody is saying, okay,I need to have my house
pressure washed and you know youcan be aggressive and get that
job.
That's how you should price it.
But as we get into the season,like we're in now with May,
(02:32):
where we're booked out a week,two weeks, full of, like
multiple crews and trucks, likewe better be hitting that like
$500 plus price point per job,otherwise we're undervaluing
ourselves and that's kind ofwhat Clay and I mean.
Like if you're, if you're,stuck chasing $200 jobs, you'll
forever be stuck chasing $200jobs.
You're not going to attractthose best clients, the ideal
client that you want.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
And another thing I know that me and you had talked
about uh earlier in the day, ormaybe earlier in the week, I
don't remember.
We have a lot of conversation,but the biggest thing that I
fear, as a business owner myself, is okay, you don't want to be
so cheap that it bites you inthe ass in the long run, right?
So you don't want the customerpopping up in three years saying
well, you only did it for $250or $199 last time.
(03:16):
Why are you trying to charge me$400 or $500 to do the same
service?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Exactly right, because you will get busy being
cheap because there's plenty ofcheap people out there.
There's so many more Toyotassold than Porsches.
You don't want to be the Toyotabecause that's a commodity and
then it's a race to the bottom.
You see, the people buyPorsches for more than MSRP
because there's value in them,they're sought after.
People buy Toyotas at lessinvoice pricing because it's
(03:44):
just about moving units.
You can say, okay, I'm busy, I'mdoing this much, but if I'm
only charging so much money andI have so many stops per day,
I'm going to burn myself out.
I'm not going to be able tohandle any business issues that
come up, whether it be taxes,whether it be insurance rates
climbing.
Because if you guys arelegitimate businesses and carry
workman's comp insurance, carryliability insurance, carry
(04:06):
professional commercial truckand vehicle insurance, like
that's going to eat you up and Idon't see how you guys can
afford doing jobs for under $300minimum.
And and then too, like whathappens when you want to hire
somebody, you're going to justsay oh well, I'm going to do a
$200 job, I'm going to pay a guy$20, $25 an hour to do that job
(04:29):
and then you're making negativemoney on that.
So it's like Clay's saying isimportant is, if you're new or
if you're in it for a littlewhile, to get your pricing
situated first, because youdon't want to have a customer
base full of $200 pressurewashers, pressure washing jobs,
and then, when you raise yourprices to 400 bucks, those
people leave you because they'rejust interested in you because
of that 200 price point yes, andI believe that's the true
beauty of making sure that youfinding your value and stop
(04:50):
undervaluing yourself with yourprices.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So, um, the biggest thing is knowing, knowing your
true cost of doing business.
Like, what are you spending ongas today?
I like to break it down by theday and then kind of break it
down by the week, and then frommy week I can break it down by
the week and then from my week Ican break it down by the month.
So figure out how much yourbudget is a day or how much for
gas, your true cost of business,your maintenance.
Put money aside.
(05:12):
Say, okay, if a hose blows onme today, I have this money here
to you know, be able to go anddo that right.
So if you're doing $199 housewashes, it's going to be tough,
like it's going to hurt when youhave a $200 hose blow right.
So if per se, I went and boughttwo new pressure washers last
year.
I got tired of dicking aroundwith two that were giving me
(05:33):
trouble.
Like you want to be able to goand do that if something goes
down, so you're not missing outon work.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Exactly right and as I was growing, I was trying to
get everything I could.
And, yeah, I think it's great,as you grow your business, you
get your brand out there.
You are like getting greatGoogle reviews, you're getting
word of mouth.
But it's important as we kindof go back to what Clay was
saying is, you don't want to beword of mouth in a Facebook
group where people are lookingfor the bottom dollar customer.
And Clay had a post today onhis personal Facebook I don't
(06:04):
know if you guys have seen it orsaw it.
Essentially he said it's funny,where I have $60,000 invested
in equipment, I pay professionalinsurances and people want the
bottom dollar price and it'slike, hey, you can't get both.
You want the cheapest.
It's going to be a high schoolkid, the job's going to be crap
and you're not going to.
You're not going to pay a lotof money but you're going to get
(06:25):
less than if you just hiresomebody like Clay or I and hire
somebody the right way.
And I feel like on social media,people all the time are asking
hey, does anybody know a goodpressure washer?
I was like they ask thesequestions so often.
They're looking for somebodycheap.
They're looking for somebodydesperate that's wanting to jump
on them and DM them and givethem a best price, and then
you're going to be one of fiveguys and it's going to be a race
(06:45):
to the bottom.
So that's one of those deals Idon't even really deal with on
my end because I think thatlowers the value of our brand.
And we have customers that arewilling to pay $1,000 plus for
us to service their home andthey're not going to think twice
about somebody coming in andtrying to undercut us.
As you get more volume andbusier, it's like this is the
time of year where we'reliterally getting we're talking
(07:07):
Clay and I were talking andwe're getting like 20 inbound
reaches between phone calls andemails and quotes.
So like, if you're getting thatmuch lead volume coming through,
you sift through and you saywhat is my value worth?
These high-end customers whoview us, who like us from our
social media or they see all ofour Google reviews, or they have
good word of mouth, or we'vedone work for them in the past
(07:28):
they're they're saying noproblem, thousand dollars,
pressure wash my house, do thewindows, do the driveway,
perfect, five-star review.
These are the customers that wekeep and we farm and and that's
where our value comes from.
It doesn't come from sayingsorry, customer, we're booked
out three months because we'retaking on every two hundred
dollar job and that's theproblem I see guys do.
They get stuck chasingwhatever's coming at them and
(07:49):
usually it's low dollar ticketsand it's not moving the needle.
And if you don't know yournumbers, you can be making
revenue but you're not makingprofit.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, it all boils to in your pricing.
You can kind of gauge yourbusiness off of your speed, your
reliability, the equipment thatyou have, and I think that's
the biggest kicker is knowinghow fast you can work but also
maintaining the quality.
And then you can kind of planyour day.
You can plan your week andfigure out okay, I can do 20
(08:18):
jobs in a week or I can do fourjobs in a day, I can do five
jobs in a day and that's kind ofhow I do it.
Right, I know that I can go outand I can watch an average home
to a basic house washing in 45minutes to an hour.
So I know that I can do four tofive of those, depending on
logistics, where they'rescheduled, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Exactly.
And all of that goes intopricing what you're worth.
And just don't want to say likewhen, when we're getting gas in
the morning I got two trucksgetting gas.
We're filling up the pressurewasher, we're filling up diesel
in the Ford and we're filling upgas in the Chevy truck.
Like it's a lot of money, itisn't something I'm spending 200
bucks before I go to the bleachstore and then buy a drum of
(09:00):
bleach for $260.
So it isn't like right off thebat we're spending four or $500.
So if I were to go and do a$200 job, that's completely
wasting our time.
So that's why it's reallyimportant to say okay, we gotta
be making a lot of money on eachjob, maximizing how much we're
making per job, because there isgonna be a time where a truck
goes out.
Oh, you wanna invest in a wrap.
(09:20):
Okay, you wanna invest inadvertising to get better
customers.
This is not even factoring inwhat we're trying to make
personally.
After after all of our expenses.
A lot of people are like oh,$100,000.
Cool, that literally pays yourbusiness to move forward.
You need to get past that stageso you can afford living life
yourself and this can be a truebusiness and you're not stuck in
(09:41):
this kind of hamster wheel ofpart time that you see a lot of
people live in and we're kind oftalking about it a little bit
on our last episode and previousepisodes of that.
Like, don't be stuck on thetreadmill of part-time and not
taking risks.
You're not investing inyourself and raising your brand
and growing this as a businessas it should Like, if you're
gonna be half-ass and lukewarm,it's doing nobody any good.
(10:03):
So it's if you're charging, ifyou're taking on everybody just
to be busy, just to say, oh,look at me, I'm, I'm doing all
these jobs, I'm, I can helpeverybody, you're doing yourself
a disservice, your customers isdisservice, and if you ever
have employees, you're doingthem a disservice.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I agree with that.
And then, once you get on thevalue that the value we're
talking about, value so much.
I think we're talking aboutvalue, but we are talking about
value, but you get what I'msaying.
Anyway, once you get to thepoint of where we're at, as far
as the level that we're at inbusiness, you get to, you find
that you're competing on valueor on price, right?
So my thing is I try to create agreat reputation online.
I try to say, hey, mr or MrsCustomer, they probably had a
(10:42):
bad experience and they'recalling me and they're they're
scared, they're asking a millionquestions and I'm like hey, mr
or Mrs Smith, hey, we have 300and some Google reviews online.
Why don't you go take a look atour work?
Why don't you go take a look atwhat other people have to say?
And that provides value topeople, versus some guy that's
just come out of the woodworksand saying that they're the best
(11:03):
, they have the best equipment,they bought a $30,000 rig, they
slapped the logo on their truck,they look legit, but there's
nothing there.
You can't find anything aboutthem online.
And I think that that onlinereputation, if you could do a
good job of building that.
It takes a lot of time buteventually it starts to pay off
and customers see that andthey'll pay $50 to $100 for you.
(11:25):
You know, then, the guy thatdoesn't really have anything
online and there's there's notrack record no doubt.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And that's kind of like when we deal with these
customers where it's a supersmall job and we say, hey, we
have a minimum place of three orfour hundred dollars, they're
gonna, they're gonna.
They're gonna say, okay, well,do I want to hire this guy?
And that's where your, yourvalue as a company really comes
in.
Are they looking just to havetheir driveway clean for the
lowest bidder?
That's where you weed thesepeople out on the front end.
Hey, I have a minimum, it'sgoing to be this much money.
(11:54):
They're going to say, yes, Iwant to do business with you, I
will pay that premium price tohave that service done.
Or they're going to say, no,thanks, I'm going to the next
person.
If you allow them to lower yourstandards and lower your value
and you take money off the tablejust because you want to have
that one customer, you'reallowing the customer to dictate
how you run your business, andthat is a very low value trait
(12:15):
and it's one of those reasonswhy you get bad customers.
These people just want to takeadvantage of you.
They can kind of almost smelllike a sucker and I think in the
Facebook post that Clay thatclay made, a couple people
commented where they're likepeople sense the energy of a
weak negotiator or a weak personor somebody that's so like
insecure in their value thatthey just let people walk all
(12:37):
over them.
And you're not doing anybody agood service and you'll probably
get a bad review too.
It's.
It's amazing like people leavebetter reviews paying more money
than if they were getting acheap job done, because they see
the value they're going to payfor that.
Wow, this guy was delivered apremium service.
Here's a five-star review.
So if you guys think, oh, yougot to be super cheap, you got
to break your back and doeverything that is not right at
(12:58):
all and you're lowering yourvalue, so don't do that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, my biggest thing is I always try to offer.
I don't really try to offer,but what I try to do is I try to
provide value.
I always try to provide valueto the customer.
Hey, I've done X amount of jobs.
We have professional equipment.
We have 300 Google reviews.
Check us out online.
We're on TV.
(13:22):
You can see us on Channel 7.
And all of those are thingsthat are providing value.
The customer feels like theyknow you before you ever step
out to their house and they'reexcited to see you.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, exactly Like I was at Home Depot the other day
getting plants for my garden.
That's never-ending and I hadmy T-shirt on that had Matt the
driveway guy on the back of itand the guy's like it's like
Matt the driveway guy, it lookslike a Matt the driveway guy
shirt and I'm like it's likematt the driver guy.
That looks like a matt thedriver guy shirt.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
And I'm like, yeah, and he's like I've used you a
few years ago and I was likecool, thanks it was kind of
almost like an awkward situation.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
but he was like you guys do good work.
I was like, nice, that's anexample of having your brand out
there building value.
And and like a guy sees another, a person with a t-shirt on of
a pressure washing company thathe used a couple years ago and
there's enough value built therethat he said hey to me he's
like, oh, cool, and that's theobjective you guys want to have.
And, like Clay says, withsocial media, these people
(14:17):
follow you.
You think, oh, I did this guy'shouse four or five years ago.
He doesn't know what's going on, but he could be a big fan on
Facebook or social media or seeyou on the news media or see you
on the news.
And people have reached out andthey're like, oh, it's cool to
see you grow.
Or it's like it's cool to seeyour kid stuff like that.
And that's why you got to putyour branding forward and put
your marketing forward andalways, always be adding value,
(14:37):
whether it's directly selling acustomer or just keeping,
keeping your leads and keepingyour customer base warm.
One thing we did this past weekwas send out another email
blast.
So we have the 2000 somethingcontacts with emails in our CRM
and we just blast out.
We did one in February to kindof kickstart the preseason sales
and we just recently did one inMay just to remind everybody.
(15:00):
Hey, like it's that time ofyear, here's a button, click
here, get the quote.
And we've had a lot of peoplewho are like, yeah, I'm ready,
thanks for letting me know,thanks.
Had a lot, of a lot of peoplewho are like yeah, I'm ready,
thanks for letting me know,thanks for reminding me.
And it's part of adding value isnot being reactive to people,
it's it's saying hey, mrcustomer, like we've done
business two or three years ago,I'd like to earn your business
again and just an act of that,you're able to sell at a higher
(15:20):
price point than if you werejust a bag on a post on facebook
where there's 50 other guysresponding to the same thing,
because you're going toliterally be competing with
people who have no idea whatthey're doing and have equipment
that is nothing close to whatyou guys have so like, figure
out what pond you want to fishin and be the best person you
can be in that pond yeah,another thing with these uh
(15:41):
facebook posts is, uh, it'salways like scraping the bottom
of the barrel, right.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So I feel like that, these customers, when you
eventually do get them it's justmy experience when I first
started, because I did a lot ofthe facebook stuff those
customers feel like they, theycan run over you.
They feel like they, right,they basically grabbed you by
the balls.
It's like they're going to getthe most they can out of you for
that price, because they knowthat.
You know that you are upagainst all those other people,
(16:05):
right.
So you're you have the fear ofthis is calling the other, you
know.
So you just got to make sureyou're just providing that value
.
I don't worry about that stuffanymore because I don't really
care, right, if I'm losing ahundred dollars, whatever, I'm
not going to do it all, right,then you're either going to use
me or you're not yep, and byallowing yourself to be open and
and serve your better clientsat higher price points.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Like I did a, we did a storage facility, uh, early
this week, soft washing couplestorage units and like a car
wash section.
It was like a 1200 job.
I think we banged it out inlike four and a half five hours.
It's pretty easy.
The guy's like, hey, uh, likegreat service, like quality work
and a reasonable price, and Igot a five-star review and that
(16:49):
was 300 250 dollar an hourproject.
That was pretty fun.
I was booking jobs on my phonehalf the day.
Those are the type of customersyou want.
Now I have other customerswhere you're, they're beating
you up over a 300 job oncleaning patio furniture and
like you got to separate the two.
You got to figure out okay, who, how's my customer, how's,
how's my company best set up?
Do I have the right equipment?
(17:09):
How efficient am I at cleaningstuff and what do I want to
clean every single day and justplow forward on that and when
somebody comes and says, hey,can you clean this thing, don't
say yes, don't be that handyman,because that lowers your value
there.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
It's like we want to be laser focused and we want to
be a sniper here yeah, I had anolder gentleman call me last
week and he's like I need you towash my house, but while you're
up there, can you take theseshutter downs for me?
I'm like I do not take shuttersdown, sir, I just pressure wash
, yep.
So that's a good example.
Just stick to your services andstick what you know.
(17:43):
Don't start putting your handsin other things, no matter what
it is yep and two, it's one ofthose things you can.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
An easy thing to say is look, my insurance doesn't
cover that.
If I get on your roof and Ifall and I'm replacing your,
your shutters on your roof, myinsurance is not going to cover
that.
It's going to come back to youand you're going to get sued.
Like do you want to call ahandyman, a professional who's
licensed for this, or do youwant to have me get up there and
try to do it and sue you?
But again, they're just tryingto see what they can take from
you.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
They're like I don't want to call somebody I don't
want to call somebody else, goget up there and do it yep,
they're just trying to get thatmore bang for the buck, like
what I was talking about earlier.
Just know your value.
I also had another incidenttoday.
It was going to spread out thetop of her and, uh, very, very
quickly that we're not a guttercleaner.
She needed to call a gutter guyyes, I, I don't do interior
(18:29):
gutters.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
We both share the same guy who we throw work to
just because it doesn't fit inour business model.
And I tell customers all thetime I'm like hey look, I pay
this guy personally threehundred dollars, um three
hundred dollars, to clean myhouse gutters.
So you, that's about how muchit's going to cost you on top of
the house wash that we're doingto your house today, cause,
like no matter how hard we couldtry to spray it out ourselves,
(18:51):
unless you're on a ladderscooping it in with your hand,
it's not worth it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Agree, because then you start blowing them out of
the gutters.
They blow everywhere, they blowall over the yard, they blow
all in the bushes and then yougot another problem.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
So that's.
It goes back to knowing yourvalue and setting the terms with
your customer.
You don't want the customer todetermine how much they're going
to pay you and you don't wantthe customer to determine, uh,
your job scope.
Because if, if, if you'resaying, oh yeah, sure, just pay
me.
What's fair?
Well, it's fair for you to workfor free, because why should I
pay you?
Like you're not giving me acompelling reason to pay?
(19:25):
You's like like people will tryto find easy the most ways they
can squeeze you as possible,unless you you give them a
boundary.
So know your worth, know yourboundary and and weed out bad
customers when everybodypressure washes.
You don't want to be everybody,but yeah, we're like yeah,
there's, there's so many others.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
There's no shortage of pressure washers.
So know your value, set setyour value, know your numbers,
make sure you're working on thaton-run reputation, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
And understand that it's more important to have the
right marketing, have the rightbusiness, than it is to know how
to pressure wash.
I can train a guy in one to twoweeks to be a better pressure
washer than most people outthere.
It's not that difficult.
The difficulty is having thatcustomer experience from the
start on, having people seevalue in you and then running it
(20:14):
as a business, becauseeverybody can pressure wash,
whether they're the 16 year oldkid down the street with a four
gallon a minute machine orsomebody with a 16 gallon a
minute machine.
We're all doing the same job.
So like it's how we treat thecustomer, how we position our
business and how efficiently weknock down work and that pretty
much sums it up.
Matt Yep, I think.
(20:35):
So you got anything to add.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Clay, just make sure you continue to listen.
We've got some more bangerscoming out for you.
I know that we've gotten a lotof great feedback from all the
guys that have been in my inboxand I know that you've had some
guys message you as well.
Matt, it's been great with thisjourney.
Make sure you're following uson YouTube, watch us on
(20:58):
Instagram.
If you have any questions, justreach out to us.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yep Sounds like a plan.
We'll see you guys on the nextone.
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