what is the going rate for waxing and stripping floor in fl
In south Florida we are charging .30 - .35 per s.f. for strip and wax. I placed a post a week ago without much response to my pricing question also, I guess no one wants to share their information.
Wow I think thats not enough, I mean the down time for wax and seal to dry etc. Our Min is $300 we charge .52 sq ft strip, seal, wax.
In my area it can be as low as .15 per sqft plus supplys or as high as .55 per . You can get an average price per sqft and charge that but you may not make a profit. We all need to make a profit right? So you need to make your own price that you can charge. They are a lot of books you can buy to show you how to figure out how to price your service, but simply you need to know a production rate or how much work you can get done in one hour, how much the labor will cost you per hour, the cost of your supplies to do the one hour of work, your overhead and do not forget the profit you need to make. Then add up all of your cost, (labor, supplies, overhead and profit). Then take that and divide it by the sqft you can do in one hour or the production rate and now you have the price you should charge pre sqft.. I hope this helps.
WOW. .55 cent a sqft. I am in the wrong part of the country. In Central AZ the best price I can get is .29 to .35. 18 mounths ago the rate was up to .45. The best way is to know what every one else is charging. OH Back up your work with a garantee on all your work.
Thanks Dwayne, that is what I am looking for is pricing in various areas of the country to see what the trend is with floor care. Our pricing has not reduced largely over the past 2 years but the competition has become more aggressive when bidding floor work, I have been underbid by as much as 50% on large jobs and seen some businesses charge as much as $1 per foot, those I don't mind I can beat that price.
Do your self a favor and look at your real costs ie:labor and the ROI you can obtain from the utilizing the correct application system to save both TIME and product.
Mark
You can always buy the Blue Book of pricing from your local suppler. It tells the price which all areas around the country charge. Hope this helps.
where can I get a copy of the BLuE BOOK of pricing I wold like to get it. Thanks JCCNSON
Your local supplier, JonDon Interlink, etc.go on line type those in your search. Look for closest supplier to you. Call ask for the bluebook of contractor pricing. Its about $70 but it is the greatest tool to have in your truck. You can bid on anything with this tool. Hope this helps.
I wrote an Excel spreadsheet that breaks down cost and provides me with a price per square foot. Since floor finish and other janitorial supplies fluctuate with the market, it is nice to know my exact cost. I use ISSA times for square footage per hour, dry times, furniture moving, prep, dumping, and manufacturer recommendations for material used per square foot. There are boxes for adding supplies such as mop heads, finish heads, pads and currrent cost. Labor box and finally at the end the profit box. You can play with your final number and be ready to bargain with the customer if necessary.
The entire program has a page that provides me with my minimum price per job which includes many costs such as taxes, insurance, gas, milage, machine wear & tear and so on. If someone calls me to strip and wax a bathroom floor and a small coffee knook, I will charge them my minimum not a square footage price.
I use one of several free payroll calculating sites to figure wage and tax liability
I used several of my customers as testers for myself to find out how much I should charge for floors. First, I got several of my customers to agree to pay for the cost (supplies) of the strip & wax. I then measured out the exact square footage. I also used several different layouts, and had to move furniture etc.
I then did the work at a medium pace, and measured exact time it took to do a 3 coat wax, then after averaging out 5 procedures, I figured exact cost based on time and square foot.
This is your lowest price you should charge, even in the event of a sale or discount. in this case .35 to .38 per sq ft is the cost of doing a good strip and wax job.
also figure out what your min price is going to be since, you have to buy gallons of wax, stripper, and show up.
Next I compare to competition rates, and the going rate in CA ranges from .50 to .70 sq ft , so I did .365 * 1.5 or .55c per sq ft , add a few c more of there is lots of furniture, or the work area is not wide open spaces.
Always get to know the motivation of your customer as well. If they always purchase on the cheap, they are looking for the lowest bidder, otherwise try to position yourself in the middle of the price range for most customers.
What wax is the best for shine, durable, and can be burnished with a electric 1600 rpm? I have been using betco 25 finish and Im not that fond of the shine I get after it has been burnished.
Betco Hybrid is very good. Canberra Husky 1022 is the best, but 50% more expensive.