Pressure Washing Marketing Podcast – Episode 05: What Makes a High-Performing Facebook Ad for Pressure Washing Work

Podcast Introduction

Welcome to the Home Exterior Cleaning Success Formulas Podcast. This show is for pressure washing, window cleaning, paver sealing, roof cleaning, and pretty much any home exterior service business owner who wants to grow smarter and scale faster.

I’m David Kunstek with Clean Marketing, where we help home service companies generate more leads, book more jobs, and build predictable growth systems using Facebook ads, Google ads, high converting websites, and search engine optimization.

In each episode, we break down what’s actually working in marketing, sales, and operations so you can build a stronger and more profitable business.

Let’s get into it.

Guest Introduction

Hey, what’s up there, everyone? David Kunstek here with the Home Exterior Cleaning Success Formulas Podcast. Today here I have Tyler Haley of Xcure365 Pressure Washing.

Now, he resides in the Memphis, the greater Memphis area. And we’re just going to get right into it.

So what we’re looking here for, Tyler, is, again, just so we can lay a baseline of where your business is at, where it’s going. Just give us a quick snapshot of where your business started and where you’re at today.

Tyler’s Background and Early Start

So there’s a whole backstory I’m not going to get into about how this started, as every business has its backbone. We have. It’s backbone. There are three different ways to start it, but needless to say, took some life changes, and then I had a baby, and I had two bonus kids at the time.

Yeah, I get it.

And working off one income at $15 to $20 an hour with a family of five just doesn’t cut it. So we had to start out. I know I wanted to get into the pressure washing business. I had no idea what soft washing was.

I knew how to work a pressure washer, and I knew how to clean things. And then I found out that people paid for things to be cleaned.

Yep, yep.

So then we started, started in small pressure washing jobs. My dad was one of my first clients.

Yep. Yep.

Growth, Family Pressure, and the Leap

And then it evolved to kind of put on pause and my son was born. And then we had a concert to go to and we had no air in either one of the vehicles. They were not making it eight hours to Kansas City, Missouri for a Taylor Swift concert.

Didn’t have the hotel room. Didn’t have spending money. I had the tickets and the whale to go, and that was it. On top of the family and everything else.

Then I started offering auto detailing services, gutter cleaning, small pressure washing jobs, and that kicked off.

All at the same time, I was still working a nine-to-five with a newborn baby out. There was no time at home.

The day came, I looked at my now wife, and I asked her, I said, what do I do?

And she goes, what’s your job?

You don’t hear that every day.

Yeah.

I looked at her and I was like, Okay, now I have to marry her. It was a plan anyways, but that was the starting point.

Quitting the Job and Faith

And when she said, quote, she had the confidence she had in me and the faith we had with our religion with God at the time was very, it gave me confidence that she had confidence in me and that she had confidence in God that I could quit my job and support all of us.

So I quit my job.

How long ago was that?

That was June of 23.

23?

Yep.

Early Challenges and Scaling

And just give us kind of progression. You quit your job, started this in 23, just hit the ups and downs, and you’re on your way to current day.

Yeah. So we went through our first down season. That was a pain in the butt. And that’s what scared me the most until this day.

That kind of is what worries me the most is coming into down season. But… we progress to 2024.

By this time I’ve done built out three rigs, two rigs, two, two rigs, uh, by April or May, whenever my taxes hit, I went and got my soft wash system.

So, and then last year was our first full wash seasons. We’re in, we’re all a season and a half in, uh, technically it’s still, I mean, we’re past the two year mark technically, but, um, yeah.

Where the Business Is Today

Bring it forward till today. And we have excelled to the point that we’ve built a brand. We have built trust within our community.

Right before, literally seconds before I logged on to this, we have a local amphitheater that a bank, it’s all the artists. I mean, you got Jelly Girl. We just saw Kane Brown. Teddy Swims is coming. I’ve seen ZZ Top out there. I mean, you name it.

And they come here to South Haven, Mississippi.

Well, I noticed while we were there that it needed to be cleaned. Right before this, I just sent an email to the parks and rec director asking to see if we could walk through to do it.

Where we’re at now to where we were is we built a six-figure business in right at two years.

Major Contract Win

That’s impressive, especially going from nothing.

Yeah, it’s truly the epitome of success. There was an idea and there was a seed that was planted to where we are now.

I’m not going to name it on the podcast, just legalities here.

I got you. And there’s the NDA. You know who it is, I’ve told you.

But we just secured over the course of the next three years, it’s official, it signed a half a million dollar commercial contract.

That’s insane, though. That still blows my mind.

Yeah, I haven’t wrapped my head around it either.

Hustle, Motivation, and Family

I just know that the way that I do this and the way that I go about doing it, as far as the hustle and the grind and the never stopping, as far as networking or seeing opportunities and knowing how to season, I don’t stop.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that is what’s helped.

I mean, plus the motivation from now the… What’s that? 1, 2, 3… five mouths, five mouths.

Oh, I get it, man. I get it.

Including myself.

I got seven. So I, I know.

Well, yeah, with me at six. So yeah.

Um, that’s a big motivator, but it’s an adrenaline rush to go out here and know that you built something from nothing to what it is now.

And we’re not even five years in yet.

How the Commercial Opportunity Happened

Yeah. Now, um, I know you told me, but I don’t know if we talked about it here yet.

As far as, you know, how did you come to know this person for the, uh, This $500,000 project is $500 million.

Yeah, right.

If you made it $500 million, we wouldn’t even be talking right now.

Right. I’d be on the beach somewhere.

I would just like, hey, go build this, and I would outsource it, and there you go. I’ve got another business.

Mm-hmm.

We, in the realm of property preservation, so when the wintertime hits, we do snow removal.

Yep.

So if we have to go rent equipment and we have equipment, you know, whatever it is, we get these contacts.

So throughout that, and we’re in Mississippi, so like where you’re at, you get two feet of snow in your area.

We’ve had, since I’ve been a kid now, I’m almost 50 in this area, we’ve had three blizzards that were actually, like, unplowable.

But I will say, even with what we do, we’ve had, in the last three or four years, dude, we have had not that much snow.

It’s been, you know, I’m going to say no more than three or four snowstorms, and they weren’t even really big ones.

Snow Removal Context

But, yeah, I felt bad for the people the last couple of years that bank on snow removal season because it has not snowed.

Well, and that’s the thing is, like, we get it, and that’s… Down here, nobody knows how to handle it.

And when it comes to snow removal, we’re in the south. Everybody’s got a tractor.

Everybody’s got a tractor.

If you don’t have a tractor, you know somebody with a tractor.

So all it is as simple as, hey, I can get ice and plow the snow.

How the Contact Was Made

I went into a commercial restaurant. It’s a nationwide chain. And I spoke with their operating partner.

So with their operating partner, the way that they operate is they have a stake in that location.

It’s a franchise still in corporate. It’s weird how it works.

It’s not franchise. It’s corporate.

You can buy into a franchise, their franchise, but these are corporate rent.

So they have operating partners that have a stake in that business.

And they run it, they own it, whatever you call it.

Well, I got their information, talked to them and their personal cell phone number, the work email, work cell phone and all that stuff and reached out and said we could do it.

And the way Mississippi goes is the snow came in on a Friday.

Weekend Shutdown and Missed Work

So everybody was like, we’re just going to close, have the weekend off, you know, enjoy, have time with family.

So all the work that almost everybody had lined up, which I mean, we had $20,000 lined up. It’s no remote.

And everyone’s like, eh, it’s alright. We’re just going to take the weekend off.

Noticing the Opportunity

Fast forward, I go to this restaurant and go through the drive-thru and I notice at their doorway that they have a heavy grease stain.

When I say heavy grease stain, I’m talking like I’ve worked in restaurant management. I did for 12 to 15 years from here to Nashville managing restaurants.

And it’s the worst one I’ve ever seen.

So I called her. I actually pulled over and let my kids and wife eat. I went inside.

Um, and I was like, Hey, where’s so-and-so at? Is she here? Can I speak with her?

Walkthrough and Initial Objection

So we did a walkthrough and she goes, yeah, we’re not happy with the services.

I said, well, they’re not using any degreaser and they’re not using hot water.

And I don’t use hot water. I don’t, I don’t have to, uh, because the degreasers and the solutions, the chemicals that we use are good enough that it looks like we use hot water.

Uh, so, and I don’t charge for it. I mean, I don’t charge for hot water for not using it.

I do charge for the kill that we use.

Attempt to Do the Job Independently

And she, she was going to pay for it out of her pocket.

I threw her a little bit of a deals. You know, she’s like, can you do the walkway and like the dumpster pad or something?

So that’s all it was.

And then she came back and was like, hey, legal team said I can’t do it because even if I pay you out of my pocket and do this, it breaks the current contract that we have.

So I was like, I get it.

The Call That Changed Everything

But then July 3rd rolled around.

I got a phone call from one of the other operating partners in the area of another restaurant.

I feel like it was July 4th this year.

Yep.

The day, I mean, not even 12 hours after my daughter was born.

We went to the hospital that night. I woke up the next morning, I had a missed phone call.

And then they texted me and said, hey, this is so-and-so from so-and-so.

Negotiation and Pricing Shift

And I called him back and he goes, is that price still good?

And I was like, no, it actually isn’t.

I was cutting her a deal to get in with you guys to do her a favor.

You know, scratch my back, I scratch your back, I did this for you at a discounted price this time.

We send the before and afters up to your management, put a word in for me, we can do it.

Getting Connected to Corporate

Well, what he ended up doing was he got me in contact with corporate.

And when I got in contact with corporate, they were like, I want you to bid the whole thing.

The drive-thrus, the vent hoods, the dumpster pads, the building, the rooftop, all of it.

Submitting the Bid

So I sent it over in a bid and they go, your numbers look good.

I didn’t undercut myself.

Yeah. Yeah.

And they were like, well, the Vena hoods were discounted. They’re small Ben hoods. It’s not going to take long.

And I threw him a little bit of discount on that.

Pushback and Persistence

Um, he was like, well, I got to send this all to my people and my leadership.

And he was like, I know the price of the Venta hoods. This is all we’re needing.

We’ve already hired somebody for the pressure washer.

So I was a little bit of a bummer.

I didn’t let the opportunity get.

Selling the Local Advantage

I spent another 20 minutes with him on the phone and I was like, look, dude, I’m local.

Y’all hiring people to travel.

If something happens, I can be there at any of your locations within 25 minutes and I can offer all these services.

So he was like, okay, let me just talk to him, whatever.

Waiting Period and Proof of Work

And there was nothing promising because the end of the conversation with you’re just gonna have to wait until the contract is up and bid it and hope you get it.

We’re just going to have to give you a little bit of something now and then see where we’re at down the road.

Well, I sent him some pictures of some work I was doing at the moment on Crystal’s restaurants.

The greasing, the drive-thrus, you know, a dumpster pad, you know, all that stuff.

Full Scope Interest

Send it over to him while I get an email the next day and he goes, it was the whole scope.

It was the building, the drive-thru lanes, the dumpster pads, the vent hoods, and the rooftops.

He, after that, I called him and he goes, well, they want to see what your pricing is for all of it.

I was like, oh.

He goes, they’re interested in considering giving you the whole thing.

Yeah.

Final Pricing and Approval

So, did my numbers.

Went up like an extra $100 because they added the buildings.

Buildings aren’t bad. None of them are.

It’s a quick soft wash. It’s going to take me 20 minutes to soft wash the building.

So, it’s just for the chemical costs.

Um, and waited a few days and then they came back and he was like, numbers are good.

Contractor Insight on Pricing

And you know, the contractors watching this pressure washing guys, watching, watching the soft wash guys, whatever, that’s the moment that we feel like we just shot ourselves in the foot when they come back to say the numbers are good.

Because I always made, I was going to say that, but I don’t want to interrupt you.

It’s like, if they don’t choke on it just a little bit, you know, you were too cheap.

Yeah, but where the numbers are at, this is what I’m saying, is it’s 10 locations.

Job Scope and Logistics

The pressure washing for the building and the drive-thru and the dumpster pad are monthly.

I can do it in two nights with the setup I have.

And then the vent hoods and rooftop or corridor, I can do those in two nights with the setup that I have and the manpower I have.

And just to give a little insight on that, the quarterly, I have that planned out for a weekend at the same time you have the pressure washer.

Revenue Breakdown

So that’s a $19,000 job.

Per month?

Quarter.

Quarter, that’s right.

Message to New Contractors

Doing it, and this isn’t to brag, doing all this, I want to talk to – I want to be able to express to the younger guys.

Guys just getting in.

I’m still a baby. I’m not a guru. I’m not a – I mean, I’m a professional.

The way we handle ourselves and conduct ourselves, we’re professional.

But other than that, I’m not a guru in any of this.

Closing Thoughts

So – Okay. I’m going to bring you back.

That was a piece of problem because I thought you were going to be, that’s why I called you.

That’s fine. I’d have made it with my marketing team real quick. Sorry about that.

You’re good.

But that’s, that’s where that’s at.

And that’s a, we’re very blessed to be able to have that and to be able to do that.

And it’s one of those things that to the younger guys getting into this industry, the possibilities are endless.

Going After Opportunities

You just have to go out there and get it.

No, I agree, man. It’s crazy how people don’t go after that kind of stuff or they think they’re just not capable of it, you know?

Right.

Why Exterior Cleaning Is a Luxury Service

Well, and that’s the thing. The capabilities with it are, that’s why I call it a luxury service because you have to know what you’re doing.

You know, anybody can go out here with a pressure washer and clean concrete or clean brick or anything like that.

But when you get into the nitty gritty of it, like roof washing, that’s a niche.

And to be able to know how to wash a roof, the benefit, like it’s cosmetic, right?

Every home every homeowner thinks it’s cosmetic because it is.

But the nitty-gritty of it is the shingle manufacturers when they say hey you want a 30-year roof this is how you get it but they put it in the fine print print they don’t tell nobody it is in the it is in the shingle manufacturer warranty to every shingle manufacturer in the united states if it’s gap amco amco if it’s you know owens corning whoever it is the american roofing manufacturers association sets these guidelines that they all follow and they all mandate.

Roof Washing and Product Knowledge

Because at the end of the day, it’s a product. It’s an asphalt sheet. You have to make it.

Well, in order to make it last, just like changing the oil in your car, you can’t drive 15,000 miles and not change the oil in your car.

You know, you get to a five-year roof, you probably need to go ahead and get washed because it’s going to add five to eight years of life expectancy to that roof every single time you wash it.

So that’s how you get your 30 year root. It keeps it alive.

So knowing the product knowledge behind that, what does it, what makes it do that and what the benefit is to the homeowner, knowing that they’re not going to have to replace that roof unless it’s a tornado or wind damage.

The shingles aren’t just going to dry up from being baked in the sun for 20 years.

It’s a game changer.

Learning Curve and Experience

But when you go ahead.

No, I say, I agree. I don’t know exactly where you’re going with that.

Yeah.

So, but there’s a lot that goes into it.

I mean, I, Probably research and not in the field, like learning.

I mean, over the last few years, I’ve probably put in close to 5,000 to 10,000 hours.

I mean, I’d have to do the math on that, but yeah.

Yeah.

Core Services and Specialization

So as far as services, and obviously we’ve been talking about this commercial account that you’ve got going on, what would you say are the specific services that you guys specialize in?

The exterior planning, so I mean the roof washing, that is a niche that I have really, really honed in on, and I would say is a specialty.

Soft washing as a whole, yes, because you have to know what chemical goes with what.

You have to know what does what, when it does what, and how it does what.

So there’s a whole slew of different things that go into it, and it all falls under the category of soft washing.

What Makes the Business Different

All right, all right.

Now, how about, let me see here.

Other than that, is there anything else unique about your business that might be different than other people in the industry?

Yeah. Our personal relationships.

That’s one thing that sets us aside.

Purposes-wise, I mean, anybody can go to YouTube.

They can go to Southeast Softballers.

They can go to any of them and figure out how to do a water restoration or do this or do that.

You know what I mean?

Mm-hmm.

It’s the personable relationships that set us apart.

Building Relationships With Clients

And that’s what we try to focus on is making every interaction is what my wife says about me all the time.

I never meet somebody and walk away straight.

Yep.

No, I got you. I got you.

Job Volume and Scheduling Strategy

Now, as far as your business volume, obviously, we’re going to be talking about residential.

Like, where are you guys at, like, on a weekly basis?

Like, how many jobs are you guys doing?

It varies, but I’ve noticed a pattern, especially with the ads that we’re running with y’all, that y’all are running for us.

Grouping Small Jobs

Is I’ll get a bunch of small jobs that might be $2,000 in a day, and I’ll leave at 7, and I won’t come home until they’re done.

But I grip them all in one day.

Bigger jobs, I do plant for them.

I plant out for them.

And then what happens is I try to stay out.

If I’m in the field, I try to stay out two to three days a week.

So I’ll group everything together.

Weekly Job Capacity

Now, if I’ve got three big jobs, now obviously those are going to be three different days.

I plant myself at that house for that day.

I don’t plant anything else.

So, I mean, volume-wise, I can wash anywhere from, I could be out washing a number of job sites anywhere from seven to 12 a week.

Time Management Advantage

Yeah, and that’s actually pretty unique how you take the small jobs and push them into one day so you can go from one to the next and knock them out.

No one’s ever said that before.

That’s a pretty unique take on that.

Well, it frees up my time.

Work-Life Balance and Scheduling

So I’m not a one-man band.

I am as far as, like, my wife does help, but my wife, she has the kids.

So she handles that at home.

And I’m not going to say that’s her job, but that’s the way that me and her have talked about it.

She goes, I have a job too, and it’s to keep this house in order.

Creating Space to Grow the Business

So with that, I try not to work every day.

When I say that, I mean like when we go to work, if I’m out washing, I try to free up at least two days of the week so I can go out and go do other things.

I can go out and go bid more jobs.

I can spend a whole day bidding jobs out, and I do.

Active Job Site Discussion

I’ll wait for them.

Like I have a job right now I can go do this week.

It’s going to be later in the week if I go do it with one job because I’m scheduling everybody out until I’m, done painting this house which we’re going to be finished up this week painting this house.

And that’s the other thing you’re actually you’re actually on that job right now.

I’m all yeah I’m on the job site right.

All right.

Client Relationships in Action

So the woman you saw what what a minute ago that’s the homeowner.

But that’s the thing about the thing about the personal relationships is we’ve created a personal relationship with her.

She’s amazing.

You know that’s not every client is your client I’m saying that you’ve experienced it to be watching this.

Choosing the Right Clients

There was a point in time I had to say yes to everything that came across my plate, even if it was a headache of a customer.

If I knew that they were going to complain about something, no matter if God did it himself, they were still going to complain.

But I had to to get it going.

Now I don’t have to because I have a volume of clients that come in that are pretty reasonable clients and they’re easy to work with.

Risk Management and Insurance

And that’s one thing you want to be able to do is have a versatile, you know, a certain kind of criteria for clients.

Yep. No, I got you.

Because if not, then that one bad client could, and essentially what a lot of young guys need to realize is your insurance and you carry insurance and not just one type of insurance.

But the insurance could save you in the long run.

Avoiding Legal Trouble

Because you have one headache client that decides that, because I’ve been on these sites where it was videoed, it was picture evidence before and after, text messages, signed contracts and paperwork, and they want to come back and say that you did something wrong, even though it was all documented.

That way they went to court.

Probably not, but you don’t want it to ever get there because that one headache of a customer could take your whole business away from you.

Time-Draining Clients

Oh yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent.

And even if they’re not that, like that kind of a customer, if you have one that just ties up a lot of your time that, you know, where you could be servicing other customers, but you keep putting out fires that aren’t really fires like that.

I mean, that’s real in our business sometimes too.

Not Overstretching the Business

Well, right. And they do.

And that’s the thing about it is you want to be able to kind of weed out those clients.

But also, you don’t want to overstretch.

You don’t want to spread yourself too thin.

Managing Ads and Capacity

There’s like this morning, I got to take some Connor.

That’s when I was going to turn the ads back up.

Once I’m done on this paint job, I’m going to turn my ads back up.

I know I’m losing money at the moment, potential clients, because I don’t have my ads running.

But I do have organic stuff that comes in.

I have bids out right now, organically.

ChatGPT Lead Discovery

So, with the ad stuff, that’s one of those things that I don’t want to spread myself too thin.

One other thing, I know we talked about this before, with that lead, that big lead that came in.

Now, you mentioned, I believe on our call, when you asked how they found you, they said you came up on ChatGPT.

Yes.

SEO and AI Visibility

So, I got a lead in a couple weeks ago.

I still haven’t heard back from them.

Yeah, I.

And I can, you start to feel, you can gauge these clients that when they’re talking to you and before you even go out to go bid the site, which is a big thing, you always have to go out and bid it.

Like these people like seeing people face to face.

Ranking on ChatGPT

But yeah.

That’s something that I asked him.

I said, where’d you find this?

He goes, ChatGPT.

You popped up number one on ChatGPT.

I was like, huh?

That’s a whole nother ball game there.

That’s just having your SEO right on your website.

Understanding SEO Payoff

Right.

What that comes down to.

Oh, right.

Having the SEO on there.

That’s, you know, where they get your ranking.

Okay.

And there’s people that, you know, I debated with it in the beginning.

I was like, what am I paying for?

I’m not getting leads.

Long-Term SEO Results

No, you’re paying to be paying to get that SEO up there.

So when it does its thing and it’s mature to where you’re being seen.

It’s like I got a lead in last night, gutter cleaning.

You know, they went at 11 o’clock at night.

I got the email.

Knowing Your Numbers

They’re one of their house.

You know, it’s 300 feet of gutter.

You know, I don’t get on a ladder for less than two dollars a foot.

If there’s somebody cheaper, go with them.

But I don’t get on a ladder for less than two dollars.

But that’s just something I’ve learned.

Yeah, we gotta know your numbers.

That’s what’s gonna make your business work.

Mid-Episode Break

A lot of people have different pricing, but man, every situation, every area is so different.

So we’re here at about halftime.

We’re gonna take a quick break so you know how we help business owners just like you.

Clean Marketing Ad Read

Here at Clean Marketing, we specialize in helping home exterior cleaning companies.

That is our core focus.

So pressure washing, window cleaning, roof washing, paver sealing, and more.

We build marketing systems that actually produce consistent leads and book jobs.

We do that through Facebook ads, Google ads, search engine optimization, and high converting websites, which are all tied together with proper tracking and follow-up.

So you’re not just getting leads, you’re getting customers.

If you’re tired of guessing with your marketing and want a predictable growth engine for your business, head over to cleanmarketing.net and book a strategy call with me first.

That’s cleanmarketing.net.

Now let’s get back into the episode.

Marketing Beyond Ads

It is.

So even beyond that there, obviously, I know you do your website with us, you’re running ads with us.

But other than that, you know, how do you mark your business to get new clients and like maybe what you did prior to us as well?

Just to, you know, give a complete picture here.

Hustle and Networking

Um, hustle.

I, you know, social media myself.

I knew social media was a big thing, um, and a key part.

So all I did was, was I opened my social media myself.

I made sure I posted three to four times a day, making reels, posting videos, sharing it on the local Facebook groups.

Networking Channels

Um, networking within the chamber of commerce locally.

And then BNI, BNI is global and it’s not for everybody.

And I got so busy that I couldn’t commit my time to BNI.

So I had to pull back from BNI.

Value of BNI

But the time I was in BNI, before I even signed up and paid my initial dues to be in BNI, I already had two grand on the books from referrals from inside BNI.

So, and I still get calls.

Right.

So I still get calls.

High-Quality Networks

I just went on the other day to a connection.

And that’s what it does is it puts you in contact with the people that have these resources of your higher skilled clients.

So real estate agents, I was in real estate for 30 years.

Door-to-Door Business Development

So I have his entire portfolio of network, his network portfolio of clients, business friends and networking friends, other agents and real estate agents.

It’s not always, it’s not going to keep you busy year round.

It’s not going, you’re not going to make, you know, the most of your money from real estate agents.

But they’re going to get you to pre-buy and post-buy clinics.

Talking to Decision Makers

And that’s part of my network is real estate agents.

Real estate agents, business owners, I mean, I go out and knock door to door.

I mean, just like with the, not door, I don’t go door knocking.

If I’m going out and I’m soliciting businesses to businesses, I just go out and talk.

I go out, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

Finding the Right Person

I love the work to speak for itself.

I send over a couple of links.

I get a phone number.

I get the contact person.

Like we went school clothes shopping at a mall that’s an hour away a couple weekends ago.

Barnes Crossing probably should not have said that.

Commercial Prospecting

If anybody commercially that travels would look in the area.

But anyway, I’m in talks with them trying to find the yes person, the decision maker.

That’s what you want to find is if you go into a restaurant and you say, hey, I do pressure wash.

I want to clean your concrete or your back dock.

Timing and Persistence

You’re talking to the manager, and that manager goes, you have to come in Monday morning in between 8 and 3 and talk to Mike, the general manager.

Okay, go back Monday morning in between 8 and 3, preferably at like 9 o’clock.

Go knock on the back door, something.

Call the store while you’re there, whatever.

Establishing Credibility

You go in there, and you talk to him and you say hey mike this is who i am let me get your phone number let me get your email address.

What I started noticing was when people started showing interest a little bit more was when I was able to say, hey, I’m backed by the chamber of commerce.

They’ve let me clean their bill.

They share our stuff on Facebook.

Trust Signals

Oh, we’re part of a BNI group, local networking group.

Or, hey, we’re backed by the BBB with an A-plus rating.

Residential customers, that’s going to scare them away because they hear BBB and they’re like, oh, you’re expensive.

Commercial clients, they want to see that.

You Are the Business

You just got to play with it.

Oh, I get it.

But you just got to talk, network, because your business is you.

I am my business.

Therefore, if I’m not putting my foot forward or thinking about the next move or the next step or where I want to be in five years and what can I do to work with it, work towards it, they’re not going to get anywhere.

Business vs Side Hustle

If you treat this as a side hustle, that’s all it will ever be is a side hustle.

If you treat this like a business and you structure it like a business, it’s a business.

Oh, no. Yeah, I agree.

That’s how you treat it now.

Estimating Process Introduction

So beyond that, real quick, could you go over your estimating process for, again, for maybe new guys, people looking for some more tricks?

And again, go with residential because that’s what we’re going to see the most of.

Sharing Knowledge

But so when you’re estimating, like, say, a house wash or, you know, a gutter cleaning, a roof wash.

Like, how do you…

You always…

I’m not even going to call them trade secrets.

I’m calling them my secrets.

But I don’t mind.

Helping New Guys

There’s new guys in the area that come up.

I’m talking to one right now in the area.

He’s 17.

He started pressure washing.

Somebody let him do his driveway, all that stuff.

I like helping the next guy.

Estimating Basics

So if somebody benefits off of this, please do.

That’s the goal here, is I want to share my success story of how to do this so other people can do it.

So…

Estimating?

Easy.

And I had to figure it out.

It wasn’t easy at first.

Measuring and Pricing

First thing you want to do is you want to find out the prices in your area.

If you have other wash companies that do specialize in soft washing, you want to reach out, talk to them, figure out what it is.

But nationwide, it’s typically universal.

Some areas might fluctuate here or there.

Tools for Estimating

But you want to be able to go out and if somebody calls, go look at it.

Go to Harbor Freight.

Go to Walmart.

Go buy your measuring wheel.

That’s the first thing you will ever need other than your equipment is a measuring equipment.

Square Foot Pricing

You go out, let’s say I want my driveway clean, long ways width.

It comes out to 2,000 square feet.

That’s a 200 by 10 foot driveway.

And then you multiply it by whatever the square footage is, the prices.

That’s the easy part.

Estimating Is About Relationships

You ask about estimating, learning how to estimate it and type it up and measure it and do all that stuff.

That comes over time, but it’s easy.

It’s just numbers.

Estimating to me is going out, making that personal relationship.

Walkthrough and Trust

When I go and estimate something, we walk the whole property.

I take the homeowner, and I don’t rush them.

If they say, hey, I can’t meet you until next week.

Cool, you can’t meet me until next week, but guess what?

Follow-Up Discipline

The night before next week, if it’s a Wednesday and Tuesday, I’m calling, hey, Mike, we still set for that appointment tomorrow at 2 o’clock?

Yeah, man, come on by.

They love that because you stuck with them until they were ready.

Quoting Everything

So when we go out and take a look at it, go to the door, shake their hand, meet them.

I say, all right, let’s walk your property.

You look at the front door, you see what could be done.

You look at concrete.

You look at everything, top to bottom.

If you can clean it, you quote it.

Transparency in Quoting

That’s why I tell them throughout this, I say, look, you called me for your driveway.

I’m going to quote everything I see.

I’m going to quote your house, your roof, your gutters, your brightening, whatever.

And talk to them about things along the way.

Avoiding Liability

If you see a piece of vinyl siding hanging off, hey, Mike, you notice that siding?

That’s a dual purpose.

You might be able to replace that siding, but they also might not know it’s blown off.

So now they know it’s blown off.

No Bait and Switch

So if they do go with you and you do clean it, they already know it’s damaged.

So it doesn’t come back on you because you’ve said something to them.

But you walk through you in.

You don’t bait and switch these people.

Line Item Pricing

And that’s why I tell them this is when I send you a quote, if you go with one, if it’s a $2,000 estimate and, for the dual purpose of this, I would just say they’re all $500, four line items, a $500 piece.

If the roof wash is five, you’ve got your driveway, your house, and your gutter clean out with a brightening service, whatever.

No Discount Pressure

And they say, oh, I don’t want the gutter brightening.

I don’t want the driveway.

But I still want the roof and the house.

It’s still $1,000.

There’s no bait and switch at all.

Because if you bait and switch them, they’re going to think you’re full of it.

Bundling Lessons Learned

So you’re not like bundling?

What?

Like a discount for multiple services?

Yes, and that took me about a year to figure out how to accurately do because I had to get on job sites and I’d be like, oh, I shot myself in the foot.

Bundling and Pricing Strategy

My trick, when I bundle, if the house is not bad, I discount the house one. So if the roof isn’t bad, because that’s the thing where it costs. Doing your roofs, that’s where it costs. You will get paid doing it. It just costs a lot.

So if you’ve got a 3,000 square foot roof, you can expect to use 30 gallons of SH, one gallon per every 100 square foot. If you’re washing a house, that doesn’t really apply that well. Like, it doesn’t really apply. But washing a roof, you only use 30 gallons. I mean, that is $190 plus your labor, plus your soap and everything else.

I always, I do bundle, I discount it. So what I do is, is I go, like I just sent one out the other day. The total cost was like 20, everything at full price. It was house, roof, and driveway. Everything at full price before any discounts was like $2,600.

So I came in, I messed with the estimate, I bundled it because I told her it’d be cheaper if you bundle it. Her roof alone was $1,500. So I was like, okay, I can do this for $2,250.

That’s where I come in and I say, all right, I can bundle all this together. Yes, I know I’m leaving money on the table. I’m leaving a few hundred dollars on the table. But I make sure that all of my expenses are still factored in, that my labor, everything else, the profit for the business and my take home.

As long as all of that is where it needs to be, you can bundle it. Bundling is doing it for what you are happy with because it’s a happy medium.

If the customer is happy, because that’s what you’re investing into, taking that $300, $400 price cut, that’s what you’re investing into. You’re paying for your next lead. You’re paying for it, for your next referral. You’re paying for that call in a year when they say, hey, I want my house washed again.

Because if you can help them out on the front end, and it’s a valued customer, then you’ve created that personal. There’s many factors that go into all this.

I know who my blowing goes are. I know the ones that I’m never going to hear anything back from ever again. Not because I didn’t do a good job.

How do you know? What tells you that?

Well, when they say I haven’t had my house washed since it was built 20 years ago, they’ve got it done once in 20 years.

But I’ve taken even some of those and turned them into personal clients. Personal clients that I know they’re going to call me back. And it just takes time to know that stuff.

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

So it’s those ones that are cosmetically looking for it. And the ones that are like, just throw me a price. This is all I want done. You know, it’s just a gun incident. And that’s bundling.

Like this job I’m on now, I bundled everything together. House wash, roof wash, driveway clean, and paint job.

And to be honest, this paint job looks really good. You know, she’s happy with it. And we’re at, we’re almost done, right? We got some small, probably a day or two of small stuff to wrap up, you know, but we’re essentially almost done.

And that’s, that’s, it was a lead that, I mean, that, that is, and that’s what you have to do is you have to take every opportunity. And that’s why I go out and I quote everything.

Where did the lead come from for this one?

All right. I’ll take it. Yeah. Right.

But that’s the thing is, when you’re quoting these, you talk about bundling and stuff like that is, I mean, the way I explain it is a little finicky. Sure. There’ll be positive and negative feedback on that, but it’s my business.

No, it’s the way I run it. And the way that it’s, I’m going, I’ll say this, it works.

So it’s a factor that when you go to do all this, it is, you learn how to do it yourself. Learn. It’s a new venture for everybody. There’s, there’s not.

You’re going to shoot yourself in the foot. You’re going to regret decisions. You’re going to make mistakes, but you got to be careful.

As long as you know your numbers and you can get your numbers dialed in where you can do them in your sleep, then that’s when it becomes easier on you.

Because then you’re like, okay, that might be a thousand square foot driveway, but it’s not that dirty, but they want it clean. Okay, let me take $100 or $200 off it because it’s not that bad, you know?

And it’s not a barter system. It’s just one of those that taking care of your clients.

I watched my dad in real estate for 30 years. He took care of his clients.

I say he took care of his clients. There were clients that he bought with first-time homebuyers. He went and bought them a kitchen table, you know, out of his commission or didn’t take his commission and gave them his commission, you know, so to go buy furniture with or for the, you know, first month’s note, you know.

So taking care of your clients is what really builds your business and builds your brand and gives you a reputation.

You feel good at the end of the day because you truly help somebody out and, you know, help them with something that was a headache to them.

Like, I had a guy last year. He called me and said, can you wash my roof? And I said, yeah.

He goes, dude, I have three estimates on my table for a brand new roof, like to replace my roof.

Well, how old is it?

He goes, it’s not even 10 years old. It’s five, six, seven years old.

Why do you need a new roof?

He goes, because it looks messed up.

So I’ll take a look at it. Dude just had mildew on the roof, man. They said they’re going to replace all this stuff.

And I was like, you just need your roof.

I heard roofing companies are pretty known for that.

Yeah, they are. They are. I’m sure there’s some reputable ones out there, but like I’ve heard.

Yeah, no, no. They, yeah, they.

But here’s the thing, if they go through insurance to get these roof, because I do that too, I have a roof cover.

So when they go through insurance to get these replaced, I’ve seen State Farm not even get out of the truck, like adjust or get out of the truck because the roof was not clean.

And they’re like, I can’t replace it. It’s not in compliance with the warranty because it’s not clean. Therefore, I’m not going to be able to get this approved.

So they’ll tell the roofing company, hey, get somebody to clean the roof, and then we’ll come back out.

So it’s – yeah.

But they also hit on that as well, especially older people.

Had an 80-something-year-old woman that roof might – that roof is going to need to be replaced within the next five years, but it doesn’t need to be replaced right now.

But we saved her those five years of coming out of cost \$25,000 for her roof by cleaning it.

And that’s the benefit is that’s where we truly get to help people is when situations like that, when their insurance is canceling them.

And they’ve got estimates to go, you know, this is messed up. This is bad.

You know, we just did the church this last month, beginning of the month. I bought a brand new church. It wasn’t brand new. The church is old. But it had never been cleaned.

Well, his insurance wasn’t going to insure it until he cleaned it.

So he couldn’t. And he hadn’t even closed on this yet. They hadn’t even gone to closing. So he didn’t even own it yet.

But before they went to the closing table, he had to have insurance on it.

Yep, that makes sense.

So went out and cleaned it.

Now we were a part of a new church being planted in our community. And if somebody, I mean, anybody could have cleaned it.

You know, there’s, well, there’s three of us here. One of us could have cleaned it, but we’re glad that we were able to be a part of that to be able to get that church up off the ground.

And now I know that when he needs his church cleaned again, or when he goes to a conference with all his other buddies that are pastors, he’s going to say, man, this guy cleaned my church.

And he’s going to say, Exeter 365 cleaned my church. They did it in two days. They trimmed up some of my bushes. They got me back in compliance with my insurance so I could operate.

And that’s what it’s about is taking care of your clients, knowing what you’re doing, being fair with your pricing, being competitive with your pricing.

Because that’s the thing. Even though I might bundle something, I’m still going to be within the three guys in my area.

I know for a fact we have all the same equipment. You’re going to get the same level of customer service. The same chemicals and the same services are going to be done to your property.

And the end result is going to be the same.

But our pricing is going to be in between $100 to $300 of each other, you know, up or down.

So, but I have found the happy medium where like I’m in the middle, you know?

So, and it, it’s, it does. I love it.

Favorite Jobs and Big Transformations

So next topic, just tell me about, as long as it’s not this one you’re working on, what has been like your favorite job you can remember you’ve done as a pressure washer, soft washer since you started?

That’s a lot.

I just looked at my job for the other day and I got like 270 clients in there. I was like, holy crap. From the last two years.

I just got a job for the last year. Holy crap. You know, so.

Not favorite client, but just like the, maybe the biggest turnaround, the biggest dirty to clean.

We did an apartment complex last year. It was a headache. I had a bit under vetted. Now I’m going to say I’ve went in the hole.

But it took a minute to pay off the line of credit. It took a while to get paid. They were picky, but we got paid.

That apartment complex had never been cleaned.

They have brick ledges, the two-story. They have brick ledges on the windows.

Now granted, the SH that I get is around 15-17%. It comes straight from a water treatment facility.

I’ve seen the test of when they drop it, because they have to test it when they drop it. It’s in between 15 to 17% consistent.

The soap I have will eat through your skin on top of the SH.

I was full bore, like, the portioner open on six, all the way open on SH. And just dousing them, didn’t even touch them.

I had to get the pressure washer out.

That’s… 20 years, never been clean.

So that was a big transformation.

And there’s a lot of jobs I’ve had big transformations at.

Driveway cleaning.

We did a parking storage unit complex last year. It was a post-construction cleaning.

It wasn’t available. It’s one of those inside facilities that they did.

They had 30,000 square feet of flat work.

And that’s one of my first post-construction jobs.

That was pretty good.

It was just a lot.

Favorite Transformations

The transformations are huge.

One of my favorite transformations is the water restoration. Doing a water restoration, that’s one of my favorite transformations ever, just because you take something that literally had no life in it at all, and the fence might still just be almost falling over. But it looks branded.

So, I mean, rust removals, degreasing, like one of my favorite, like the degreaser treatment we just did at a, this barbecue restaurant’s been in Memphis since Marlowe’s for 50 years. One of the most notorious barbecue restaurants in Memphis.

We were cleaning the crystals next door and they, he came over. He declined my price. I was back later that afternoon at the same location. Wife came out as I was on the phone with him, telling him, hey, we can be in the middle here on this price to do your barbecue racks.

Well, his wife comes out and goes, I need to do my barbecue racks and I need you to do my back dock.

Got the price I wanted, plus two whole slabs of ribs. Can’t beat that. Can’t beat it.

And all I did was lay down with my degreaser. Did not use hot water. Nothing.

I’ll send you a picture of it. If you pop up, however you do it, throw it in there, but I’ll send you a picture here in a little bit.

So you can see it literally look like brand new concrete and all I did, no hot water, no, nothing. It was just my degreaser.

Uh, Brandon. Hey, when it’s full of grease, man, that’s what you call it.

Yeah.

Um, the degreaser I get is phenomenal. I can’t wait to use it on these restaurant locations that we’ve got. It’s a game changer.

Cool.

Operational Efficiency and Systems

As far as your operations there, what do you feel like, in your opinion, what do you do operationally that makes your business as efficient as it is?

This goes back to my time in the military. I explain this to my guys. We have hit times. I have punch lists. I have hit times.

I have… I haven’t been fully hands-on with this paint project because I have other running the business. I do the same thing. I’ve got people next door and I’m doing this with you right now.

That’s what I’m saying. I’m here. I’m painting. I have been painting. I’ve got some paint on some walls.

My crew has shown up and showed out because this is having with the efficiency.

We talked about operational. What do I do operationally to be as efficient as we are. That’s the question, right?

Yep. Yep. You got it.

It goes back to my time in the military. In the military, you have to be somewhere all the time. And you have to be 15 minutes early.

But that 15 minutes early is not even close to the time that you have to be there.

That 15 minutes is 15 minutes before the guy, you know, the rank above you has to be there and on down the line.

So operationally, when we do this, I have a process.

So if we’re out washing all day, when I have my guys with me, which I always have at least one guy with me, is…

They know what to do.

I’ll give you a live example right now. He’s over there.

They get out the water hose. First thing I always do, hook up the water hose. Get the water flowing to the tanks. Get out the soft washers. Get out the cones. Get out the pressure washer if we’re using it. Get out the service cleaner if we have any extra chemicals.

Get the whole trailer prepped. It takes them like 15 minutes.

During that time, I’m taking my pictures, doing an on-site walkthrough if the client is home, and seeing what obstacles are in our way and getting it game-planned.

I break everything down.

So if I’m doing a roof, I do the roof first. Then we come through, and I do it in sections.

I mean, I don’t go through and hit the hole. I’ll hit two sides at one time, let it dwell, and then go back.

Like, just breaking it down.

I mean, having everything, even mapping out your…

So if I’ve got…

Well, there’s four cities in our county. I live in Olive Branch. Well, I live on the outskirts of Olive Branch.

So if I have a job in Hernando, which is closer to me than Horn Lake, South Haven, and the inner city of Olive Branch is all together, then…

I map out my route. I find out which route is the best, and then I go, okay, which one’s the biggest job? Let’s go knock that out first.

So if I say I got a bigger job, I’m on site by 8, done by noon. Then I’ve got a few other smaller jobs, 12 to 8.

I can pull off at noon and be out. I can be out 12 hours a day with sunlight at the moment.

So if each job is only taking me an hour or two, you do the math on that.

I mean, you can go knock off C-state jobs if they.

So I have a very systematical process of when we’re washing. We move as a unit.

So if my guy’s washing concrete, I could be washing the house. 100% could be washing the house. Could be washing the roof.

I don’t.

Because I want to make sure that we’re moving as a unit.

If he needs something and I’m on the complete opposite side of the house or something happens to the machine or something, that he has a helping hand that can go, hey, let’s do this. Let’s get this back going, or let’s do this.

So when I’m washing the house and doing the roof, because I don’t let anybody else spray chemicals. I don’t let anybody else spray SH.

I don’t do any of that because I don’t want to have to yell at them if something goes wrong.

If anything gets screwed up, I’d like to be the one to screw it up. That sounds weird.

My guys are trained on how to use it, what it does, and everything else. I’m just very particular about it because it’s very expensive.

So I don’t want it to go to waste because I’ve wasted before, even though they were trained on it.

So I have a very systematic process with that.

And they’re on hose control the entire time.

Or, hey, I don’t have a remote system. I could probably invest into a remote system that I could just from the trailer.

I don’t like that.

I’m still going to have somebody with me anyways.

So if I’m going to be paying them to be there, then I don’t need to go spend $1,500 on a remote system.

So, I mean, there’s just a process.

And it’s kind of hard to put into words just because it’s…

It just sounds like you have processes for everything.

I do.

It’s very systematical to the point that sometimes people even ask me, they go, why do you do that that way?

I’m like, because it makes sense.

They’re like, how does it make sense?

And then I explain to them and I go, because there’s always a deeper meaning behind it.

There’s not a…

And I’ve gotten to the point I don’t explain it to people because it’s just standard operating procedure.

But sometimes I’ll explain it to them so they grasp the whole concept like I do.

Well, we have them here too, man. We bring on a client. You mean you experience it. We have our onboarding. We have our bills. We have quality control after the fact, our check-ins.

Same thing, man. We process it just like that for everything.

Right.

Cool, man.

Advice for New Business Owners

All right. So last one here, man. Parting advice for prospective or new home exterior cleaning business owners. What would you hit them with?

Your first year, do not invest in the market.

Get a website. Do that.

Your Google business profile, do that. Upload everything to it.

Create a Facebook page. Upload everything to it.

Brand that and market that because it’s going to cost you, like a website can cost you $100 a month.

If you’re not making $100 a month that you could spend on a website, a cheap website, I’m not saying go out and get some very extravagant website.

Just get an online presence.

Because if you, like me, if you go type in, it don’t matter if you’re in California. It don’t matter if you’re in New York. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Canada, okay?

Because I’ve known people in those places. I’ve gotten to try it.

If you type in Execure 3 in just that, that entire first page is my Instagram, my Facebook. It’s yellow. It’s yellow pages, white pages. It’s a website.

So that whole first page is everything my business.

So if somebody types this in, and that’s the other thing, this right here, nowhere else in the country. Nowhere else in the world at all.

I did heavy research on that. So it was copyrighted.

So because of that, there’s a couple here and there, but it’s not this.

It’s not in the same industry. It’s not even the same name.

Some of them are tech companies and it’s just, it’s yeah, it’s not spelled the same way. It’s close but it’s not.

But prospective guys like right now, I had the guy message me this morning, how do I get rid of stripes on the driveway.

Soft wash post treatment for a soft wash.

And make sure you’re using the right equipment. What are you supposed to treat it?

That’ll give you all the answers because I’ve given you the answer in my response already.

But educate yourself.

I had a pressure washer. I had a 12-volt system. I downstreamed. All while I was working up to buy my soft wash system.

Because I knew what soft washing was.

You got pressure wash all day long. Soft washing, that’s where the money’s at.

We’ve got like 15 different services.

You got to educate yourself.

Get your name out there. Network yourself and market yourself.

Like, all the way down to your haircut. Don’t go, like, look presentable. Look professional.

If you treat yourself as a professional and you engage and interact as a professional, other people will treat you as a professional.

If you don’t know something, say, I don’t know it. Don’t be scared of it.

But always rebuttal what that is.

If I don’t know it right now, call me back tomorrow. I’ll know it.

You know, we got Google, we have YouTube. There’s other people out there.

Yeah, I mean, it’s YouTube University.

I mean, it’s not, I mean, you can learn how to rebuild an entire transmission or build a rocket off of YouTube.

So soft washing is most definitely on YouTube.

You have gurus and you have guys and professionals and all these people telling you all sorts of different things.

You can’t listen to them.

Go on there. Figure out what the equipment is.

I mean, find somebody that will truly help you. They’ll answer your questions.

Don’t go into it blind.

And get insurance.

First thing you do, website and insurance.

Even if it’s… Go to Hiscox. You can get it for $50 a month. Okay?

So…

You’ve got to treat it as a business.

You have to hustle everybody you talk to.

You’ve got to market, network, everything else.

You have to get your name out there organically as much as you can before you can go dump thousands of dollars into a trailer, into a rig, into a setup.

When you do it, you just got to do it right.

It took me less, I mean, to get the setup that I want that has made us as efficient as we want, it took me two years.

I mean, it’s a 7×14 enclosed trailer with a 4,000 PSI unit, a soft wash system, 300 gallons of water, 100-gallon weight tank, and 7-gallon sub tank with a triple stack hose rim with a workbench in the front of it.

Here’s the thing.

Go buy all that $10,000 in equipment and keep it outside once you buy an enclosed trailer after that because when you have to start working on it or replacing that $10,000, all that equipment because it’s not rusted out, you won’t ever do it again.

So that’s why you got the enclosed.

Yeah, I didn’t. My stuff didn’t rust out, though.

Yeah. It will, though. It can because I don’t have a garage.

And nine times out of ten, most of the guys getting into this don’t have a garage because they’re 18, 19, 20 years old or older, or they don’t have the space in the garage to keep a 7×14, 16 trailer.

Wife won’t let them.

You know, the garage ain’t big enough.

There’s a whole plethora of things that you could, I could tell, but research, education, because this is my college degree.

I don’t have a college degree.

You don’t need a college degree to make six figures, but it takes eight to 10 years to become a master at something.

That’s why when you go to college and you get your master’s degree, or a PhD, it takes 8 to 10 years to become a master or a doctorate in that profession.

So I’m nowhere near that.

But the hours you put into the field, the hours you put into your self-training for yourself, there’s all sorts of things you can do.

But the number one thing is invest.

Find something you like doing.

If it’s pressure washing, if it’s painting, if it’s flower beds, if it’s lawn care, find a hobby, something you enjoy doing.

Monetize it.

I can sell it better than yourself if you enjoy doing it because if you enjoy doing it, you know everything about it.

So it’s just second nature to me, I guess.

No, you got it, man.

Well, hey, man, this is actually really good. You got a lot here on systems, how you build things up, how you get in front of commercial people.

I think this is really helpful within the community.

But thanks so much for coming on here again, Tyler. And we’ll talk again soon.

All right. Appreciate it.

Closing

So that wraps up this episode of Home Exterior Clinic Success Formulas.

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Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you on the next episode.