Jeff/ Condo King! Words of Wisdom

[tegrey]

Jeff,
The Condo King! Any words of wisdom? I want to be the condo King of NE USA? LOL I'd like to start out slow, maybe 10 areas of 100-150 units. Hopefully grow much larger. Your info at MB was great. I am trying some ideas you gave us and always looking for more. Thank you.

[JL Pressure]

Getting ready to take the kids out trick or treating. I will get back to ya this weekend

1st you got to find what PM companies you want to target. Web search PM companies in your town/city and expand from those areas.

Find PM websites and see if they have a list or properties and or a list of PM names.Usually not real estate companies, you want PM's that are for HOA/POA/COA Properties

Got to find your customer


BOO......got to go

[JL Pressure]

Like I said you want PM companies. Now I am not saying real estate companies that do property management work won't have any MULTI UNIT properties such as condo/townhome properties but what quite often is with real estate offices is they manager individual units with in a complex, they often don't manage the entire complex. It the one that manages the entire complex that you want to get to. BUT some real estate companies do manage entire complexes. I just say this because sometime if its real estate office its not really the target you want to go after so you may waste a lot of time,energy, stamps etc going after them. You can possibly find out through your Internet searches or just call the company
NOW another thing about real estate companies that mange properties, not just sell properties. They can be a good source of work, but sometimes smaller single homes. Around here there's a lot of vacation rentals beach homes etc etc . I don't go after the smaller stuff, but if someone does want this kind of work, these companies may have it. Vacation rental properties quite often are a good source of work, most want to keep them clean and some cleaning is handled by these companies or they will recommend to the actual owner. Some just don't deal with it and its the owner responsibility. Then its just a PITA tracking that person/owner down.

Once you find some PM companies, now you have to find who do you mail your intro letter to....This can be a hard one at times. Best way is if they have a website and they list the individual PM's or the CEO etc etc. Another good way is just call the receptionist. I quite often have called the receptionist and introduced myself and said I would like to send an info package and I would like a name of the person who would be the best to send it to, who's in charge or oversees the managers. AT THIS TIME I also ask for the company fax number, so I can fax some info. GETTING PERMISSION to fax now and that avoids problems.
OK now you are calling the receptionist.. I usually never have any problem doing this BUT, I have gotten receptionist that won't help you, they don't give this info out or they will tell you they do all washing in house. Often its just they don't want to deal with you, or they just get a lot of these calls and don't want them.
I would say 95% of the time you can get GREAT INFO and HELP from the receptionist

Use your charm, be nice, I don't like asking to much, they are often busy, but being short and sweet will always get you better chances. Now I have also asked to see if they can email or fax me a list of there managers. Must may not, but I have gotten a couple to send me a list over the years.

Now remember I when I started wasn't a great talker, just not a smooth salesman at all to get people to talk. I think cold calling or asking for the names of a PM and trying to get a meeting with a PM is a great tool. I just was not good at it, getting better, but if you are good at this type of approach and are a good salesman GO FOR IT,

[JL Pressure]

Other way to find PM companies and or HOA's

Go to a condo property ask a resident if they know who the PM company is, ask if they have the name of a BOD member and a #. Around here there are a zillion HOA, condo properties many are managed by smaller companies that are hard to locate doing a search. Sometimes you can't find a PM so asking residents is your best chance

Around here and other places, they quite often have small signs at entrances " This Property Managed By XXXX Management"

3 story and up buildings with elevators quite often the Elevator Certificate in the elevator will have the name of the PM company that holds the cert

Internet search of yellow pages .com

Most states I think HOA's are corporations and you can track them through public records

Networking


Any way you can think to find these PM, try it. If anyone has had luck other ways please share them here.

Stay tuned I will be adding things all fall & winter

[JL Pressure]

Who has a ALOT of condo/townhome properties around your area?

Give me your location ( in detail, town, city, county, state) and lets do a test, I will try to find PM companies in your area that deal with HOA properties

Don't know if will work, but I would like to try. I'm pretty sure I will be able to find some PM's for you.

Not apartment complexes although we can probably find those pretty easy too

[crfguy168]

montgomery, Al

[JL Pressure]

montgomery, Al

Cool, I will work on this in the next couple days and see what I come up with. Question, is there a lot of condo type properties, 10, 25, 100+. Is Montgomery the only area that you work in, is it the biggest/main area, is the area called anything else, like here in Myrtle Beach its also called the Grand Strand area

[Ashley Phillips]

Jeff,
If you don't mind do Birmingham, Alabama also. Also go ahead and contact the PM and you can even set up the jobs. Let me know when to start. I will send you a gift card or something. jk

I think it is great the way you are helping people.

[JL Pressure]

montgomery, Al

Did a quick search. Some are harder than others. I will look more. Look at Affinity Investment Services, do a search, they manage a couple complexes, looks like apartment complexes

Also search Treehouse Property Management. Looks like they may have some multi unit, but also a lot of just single family homes they manage. I also used to look at these types , sometime they recommend contractors to homeowners ALSO some of these communities have Clubhouse, pool areas, common areas, fences, walls etc that need cleaning. We do a ton of common area work, dozens of pool areas and clubhouses. Several miles of vinyl fencing at times, common area work is good work and a good way for a PM to check you out

I am surprised neither had their own website. I will do a little more searching when I get time. Remember even around here where this is a zillion HOA communities I can only find a small percentage of property manager at times through searching, I check back and do searches often every couple months and often something new pops up

[crfguy168]

Thanks,
I see treehouse stuff everywhere. I am going to look into these. I just got in the door with kyser pm here as well. They manage a decent amount of properties as well as shopping centers.

[A-PLUS]

Jeff, thanks, alot of great info there.

Can you just e-mail your list so, I won't have to search. :D :D :D

[NJWashingGuy]

Jeff,
Thanks for posting this info here. I also appreciate the information/ wisdom that you passed along to me earlier this season for completing my first complex. It was a great success and I wish to pursue this more.

If anyone is going to the ACR RT this November and has the info presented on this topic from the Myrtle Beach RT, let me know, I will compensate you for copies of the material and pick it up. Also if there is a copy of any material available, I would pay to have it sent to me. Thanks, again.

Regards, Mike

[JL Pressure]

Thanks,
I see treehouse stuff everywhere. I am going to look into these. I just got in the door with kyser pm here as well. They manage a decent amount of properties as well as shopping centers.

You are welcome. I saw that Kyser, ya it looked like they do a lot of commercial go for it. Looks like a good sized operation

[JL Pressure]

Jeff, thanks, alot of great info there.

Can you just e-mail your list so, I won't have to search. :D :D :D

Just because you bought me breakfast doesnt mean you can have my list LOL

[JL Pressure]

Jeff,
If you don't mind do Birmingham, Alabama also. Also go ahead and contact the PM and you can even set up the jobs. Let me know when to start. I will send you a gift card or something. jk

I think it is great the way you are helping people.


Man I found a ton of commercial & apartment property management companies. Do a google of property management companies in birmingham AL. Tons of apartment complexes listed, saw some websites with PM names and properties listed
Heres a tip - If you see properties listed on a PM website and you want to go for it call the receptionist and ask who the PM of that property is

[JL Pressure]

HERE'S A COUPLE TIPS everyone

go look at - www.allpropertymanagement.com Its a listing of pm companies they have a thing you can scroll and it shows all types of management options. The list isn't always huge for certain areas but it may be helpful.

This site might give you some PM company names, take those names then do a search and see if they have a website and research their site


Another tip - If you find a PM company you want to get the PM's names, try to call them after hours. WHY? Sometimes and I mean only sometimes they will have a recorded message and SOMETIMES on that message they will give extensions & NAMES of the property managers. NAMES are what you want, then you can direct your targeting material to a person directly. I have gotten whole list of names off the company answering machine

[crfguy168]

I did a yahoo local search for montgomery and came up with about 25-30 results. Thanks for the tips.

[John Doherty]

Jeff,

Do you have more success soliciting to HOAs or PMs?

[splashandash]

The HOAs make the final choice on what company to use, but the PMs can get you in front of multiple HOAs depending on how many properties they manage. I think marketing the PMs is usually more profitable when you get one. If you get one keep them happy and they will put money in your pocket.

[JCinNJ]

I have been advertising in the community news papers. These papers sometimes list the different developments along with the different PM's for each development. So if you go to the rec center or some other gathering place where they give away the papers, you may get lucky.

I have talked to the people running the rec center and got tons of good info. I just walked in and ask who was in charge, tell them what I do and why I would like to talk to them and they end up telling me everything.

[JL Pressure]

I did a yahoo local search for montgomery and came up with about 25-30 results. Thanks for the tips.

Cool, when doing searches change up the wording of your search and sometimes more will pop up

Some of the searches I do - Just add City or town, state, county etc to the below searches

Property management in
Association management in
Community management
Homeowners associations in

Anyway you can think of to do a search usually comes up with something, got to love Google and the others, Yellow book searches come up check them out too

[JL Pressure]

The HOAs make the final choice on what company to use, but the PMs can get you in front of multiple HOAs depending on how many properties they manage. I think marketing the PMs is usually more profitable when you get one. If you get one keep them happy and they will put money in your pocket.

I agree!!!!! But going after HOA's also can get your foot in the door and maybe lead to a PM you didnt know about. At 1st I would stay with going after the PM's they are the best way

[JL Pressure]

I have been advertising in the community news papers. These papers sometimes list the different developments along with the different PM's for each development. So if you go to the rec center or some other gathering place where they give away the papers, you may get lucky.

I have talked to the people running the rec center and got tons of good info. I just walked in and ask who was in charge, tell them what I do and why I would like to talk to them and they end up telling me everything.

This is also a good way to get a lot of single family homes. Newsletters can be real cheap to advertise in some are more expensive, there were a few I was in for years others after a year I gave up just didnt pan out any jobs

[EasyPro]

Dang i guess when the site got hacked it erased my question . . . any ways . . .Jeff . . .I got a list of about 55 places how offten should i hit them up . .monthly??

[splashandash]

DJ I would say every two months would be a good time frame. Its not so much as to annoy them but enough to keep your name in front of them.

[JL Pressure]

Dang i guess when the site got hacked it erased my question . . . any ways . . .Jeff . . .I got a list of about 55 places how offten should i hit them up . .monthly??

Pretty much what Greg just posted every two months.

When I do the intro letter I sometimes follow up with something within 2-4 weeks. I will send a brochure or go in with coffee mugs but after that every 2-3 months and don't stop

DJ if you are a talker/salesman you can also try to get a face to face with the PM.

[EasyPro]

Awesome great info as always Jeff Thanks

[Johnson]

Pretty much what Greg just posted every two months.

When I do the intro letter I sometimes follow up with something within 2-4 weeks. I will send a brochure or go in with coffee mugs but after that every 2-3 months and don't stop

DJ if you are a talker/salesman you can also try to get a face to face with the PM.


Jeff, could you give a qiuck run down on what an intruductory letter would entail? How would it differ from an introductory letter to anyone else?

Also, you mentioned earlier about getting permission to fax information, is it like a flyer, or coupon or just a similar draft of the introductory letter?

Thanks for any input.

[JL Pressure]

Couldnt get it to load so here is the text I use in a letter. I change it up some and you may do a better letter but this will give you some ideas. Dont forget to send at least a biz card in the mailing. they might throw the letter out but at least keep your biz card on file

Good luck

Dear

Please let me introduce myself, I am Jeff LeCours, President of JL Pressure Washing. We would like to work for you and the communities you help oversee. We specialize in working with HOA communities, its what we do every day and we want to offer our services to you. Do you want to keep the properties you oversee CLEAN, BEAUTIFUL & PROTECTED, do you want the BEST for your communities, do you want the MOST FOR YOUR MONEY and do you want a HASSLE FREE vendor/contractor to do the work? Then you want to hire JL Pressure Washing. We have a proven track record, the references of many of your peers, the experience, knowledge, equipment and trained uniformed staff to handle all projects. We take pride in the communities we work in and we want to help all communities stay clean, beautiful & protected.
We are based out of Myrtle Beach SC but work in all counties of South & North Carolina along with other southeastern states. We do the larger pressure washing projects when we travel outside of the Myrtle Beach area, and because our expertise and efficient methods, we can have competitive pricing on all projects, CONDOMINUIM & TOWNHOME COMPLEXES, large concrete cleaning projects (community sidewalks, parking garages) roof cleaning & gutter cleaning projects. We are the best pressure washing contractor in the Carolinas. Please give us the opportunity to bid on all your upcoming projects. Whether its one property or several properties we would like to take a look at the project and give your property a detailed proposal. We pride ourselves on 3 things QUALITY WORKMANSHIP, GREAT RATES and our ON TIME SERVICE.
Our workmanship is unsurpassed by any in the industry, our rates are great and our on time service has helped us become the pressure washing contractor of choice for hundreds of communities in South & North Carolina. We offer a very valuable service and we want to offer our services to you. To find out more about us, please visit our website at www.JLpressurewashing.com. If you have any questions or would like us to look at a property please give us a call at any time.

Sincerely,

[Johnson]

Thanks Jeff. :wink:

[A-PLUS]

Couldnt get it to load so here is the text I use in a letter. I change it up some and you may do a better letter but this will give you some ideas. Dont forget to send at least a biz card in the mailing. they might throw the letter out but at least keep your biz card on file

Good luck

Dear

Please let me introduce myself, I am Jeff LeCours, President of JL Pressure Washing. We would like to work for you and the communities you help oversee. We specialize in working with HOA communities, its what we do every day and we want to offer our services to you. Do you want to keep the properties you oversee CLEAN, BEAUTIFUL & PROTECTED, do you want the BEST for your communities, do you want the MOST FOR YOUR MONEY and do you want a HASSLE FREE vendor/contractor to do the work? Then you want to hire JL Pressure Washing. We have a proven track record, the references of many of your peers, the experience, knowledge, equipment and trained uniformed staff to handle all projects. We take pride in the communities we work in and we want to help all communities stay clean, beautiful & protected.
We are based out of Myrtle Beach SC but work in all counties of South & North Carolina along with other southeastern states. We do the larger pressure washing projects when we travel outside of the Myrtle Beach area, and because our expertise and efficient methods, we can have competitive pricing on all projects, CONDOMINUIM & TOWNHOME COMPLEXES, large concrete cleaning projects (community sidewalks, parking garages) roof cleaning & gutter cleaning projects. We are the best pressure washing contractor in the Carolinas. Please give us the opportunity to bid on all your upcoming projects. Whether its one property or several properties we would like to take a look at the project and give your property a detailed proposal. We pride ourselves on 3 things QUALITY WORKMANSHIP, GREAT RATES and our ON TIME SERVICE.
Our workmanship is unsurpassed by any in the industry, our rates are great and our on time service has helped us become the pressure washing contractor of choice for hundreds of communities in South & North Carolina. We offer a very valuable service and we want to offer our services to you. To find out more about us, please visit our website at www.JLpressurewashing.com. If you have any questions or would like us to look at a property please give us a call at any time.

Sincerely,

This must be an old letter, prior to me moving South. :biggrin::cool:

Kidding Bro.
Your always helping everyone out.:clap:

[Johnson]

O.K. Jeff, I did a search for P.M. companies and found a link on citysearch.com that gave me a list of tons of companies that say there real estate and property management companies. The only info on them is the address and phone #.
So should I just call and get the name and fax # of whos in charge (PM) and start sending information from there or are these not the listings I want?
Thanks.

[EasyPro]

Chad I get me a nice list together . . . i write down this info

Company -
PM Name -
Phone -
Fax -
Adress -

after i get a nice 3 to four page list together i run through them making phone calls and ask for the PM . . .shoot her your lines and if you don't get thru then ask if she / he minds if you fax some info over for them to hold on to and to take a look at . . .

they wil most likly say yes then you have your in and can fax away . . . then just do follow ups and keep chiseling away at em

[JL Pressure]

O.K. Jeff, I did a search for P.M. companies and found a link on citysearch.com that gave me a list of tons of companies that say there real estate and property management companies. The only info on them is the address and phone #.
So should I just call and get the name and fax # of whos in charge (PM) and start sending information from there or are these not the listings I want?
Thanks.


Yes and what DJ says too

Now with that list do some research and look to see if they have a website. If they have a good website you might be able to get some good info

Many might just be PM's who handle just a unit or two in a complex, or a home or two here and there. I personally dont go after the little stuff. But these are all contacts you may use. Get some of there homes and it may lead to many more

I look for PM's that are into Association management it takes time sometimes to figure out who's who. many websites will give you the answers if you look. some give PM's names, some give the properties. I get property names and then do a real estate search and find out if they are condo complexes or single family homes, of course I want the complexes

What ever search you do, try it again and again and search using different key words. I always find new company names

Good luck, this is something I do when I am kicking back on the computer, you really can find a lot of stuff in certain areas

[JL Pressure]

Chad I get me a nice list together . . . i write down this info

Company -
PM Name -
Phone -
Fax -
Adress -

after i get a nice 3 to four page list together i run through them making phone calls and ask for the PM . . .shoot her your lines and if you don't get thru then ask if she / he minds if you fax some info over for them to hold on to and to take a look at . . .

they wil most likly say yes then you have your in and can fax away . . . then just do follow ups and keep chiseling away at em


Just remember DJ, faxing is just a part of the total campaign. Fax not all see them, find the PM's names and mail stuff to each one too and you are right just keep chiseling away

This is the time guys. I am getting at least a couple to several calls a week to look at stuff

[Johnson]

Thanks for your help D.J. and Jeff. I'll get right on that as soon as I can. Wish me luck, we'll see how it goes. I know it wont happen overnight though.

[JL Pressure]

Lets talk about unsolicited bids.

I just read over at PWI, Nick the Cleaner just landed 10 shopping centers from an uncolicited bid. Nick is a great guy and is a veteran of the industry. I know others that do unsolicited bids. Ron Musgraves comes to mind he does unsolicited bids all the time. Both of those guys do it and it works.

I dont target flatwork like them but I do unsolicited bids, not as often as I should but it has worked for me several times. For example my 2nd condo complex I ever did was an unsolicited bid I turned in. That job was the job I started fulltime PWing I have been working on that property now for 5 years. Just finished it last week again


I know Ron sends in unsolicited and he does it a different way than I have iin the past. I usually put the bid together and send a cover letter, list of references and a biz card usually. But I like the way Ron does it and Nick might also do it the same way

Ron measures the project or projects out, put the bid/contract together and he just faxes it. no intro letter, no references, nothing to introduce his company at all

I wondered why at 1st and when he told me it really made sence. He sends it to the right person/company and quite often that person see's the bid and himself may have been thinking of doing the work or changing companies that are doing the work and BANG its there right in front of him. Also and this is the part I like, well her comes this contract th person who gets it doesnt know if someone in his office asked for, maybe the owner of the property asked for it, the store etc etc . So this contract is there nothing else is in place or other contract expired. This guy can do a couple things, file it or sign it. Ron has gotten many signed contracts this way over the years. I love it. You never know the guy just might think the owner requested it and sign it and you are in the money

Now me I am thinking about doing the same exact thing and see how it flys. I am just going to send some to PM's and they might need it sooner or later or they might think someone in the HOA requested it and I might just get the job

I am also going to do it the way I have done it in the past

Now if you want work you have to go get it and this is a great way of doing it unsolicited

oops got to go I will be back stay tuned

[Henry Bockman]

I've done the un-solicited bid thing occasionaly when we have time and it does work!

If you have the time and people to go out and measure out the work, put it together and send it in I'd do it. Expecially if you have guys on salary or commission and theres nothing else for them to do!

We usually don't have time to do them but we do send out mailers every quarter, were in the process of doing that right now actually to 2,900 property managers. It's not cheap when you consider postage, printing, envelopes and labor, somewhere around $1-1.50 per piece but it's worth it. It can be done cheaper but it costs me more because we use a high quality color printer and add photos to entice them to read it. So far my minimum response from this has been well worth doing this but it is a lot of work for my office people and they don't look forward to it.

[JL Pressure]

Look up NAA National Apartment Assoc. See if they have a local chapter in your areas. Some chapters are strong and some are wek as I understand. I Joined my local chapter this year, it was weak a couple years ago I heard but much stronger now. This is for Apartment complexes , you will find many apartment complexes are run by companies that run many complexes quite often throughout several states Check it out guys The membership in my area wasnt to high priced and it automatically puts you in as a member of the National Assoc. My area its MBAA Chapter

Got to look for new ways to get in front of the customer. I start my 1st Apartment complex Jan 5th Coollll and working on getting more

Now remember guys you cant just join and think they all are going to call you , you have to work the contacts

I will give some ideas soon on how to make an assoc/org work for you

[JL Pressure]

Who's on your list?

Anybody been making up lists of PM's in your area?

Have you sent any intro letters or info to any PM's yet?

Have you gotten any calls at all

This is the year guys, this is the way you can add to your customer list. I have gotten several calls and you can to, you have to work it to get it

Good luck 2009 is coming soon

[Ron Musgraves]

Its great to see this is working for everyone. Please remember if you send and intro letter keep it very simple.

If you send a flyer or ad attached? Its likely to end up in the trash.

[AlwaysAqua]

Jeff,

My name is Jimmy. I am reading all of your posts as well as others on here and appreciate you sharing the knowledge you have. I do have a couple of questions.

With me being new to the industry what can I use in a intro letter when it comes to experience? I do plan on getting experience from the residential before I tackle these types of projects, but I already know they will say what kind of experience do I have with their type of properties versus residential. To me dirt, grease, grime, mold and mildew as well as oil on concrete will be the same no matter what you clean it off from, but the setup and working of dealing with people may change, so how would I tackle this question or what would I say in a intro letter about this?

Also, what type of equipment would I need when I get to this stage of cleaning to make it the best use of time while cleaning? Is there any special type of insurance or amount to be in this end of the cleaning buisness?

Thanks in advance,

Jimmy

[JL Pressure]

Jimmy,

Everyone has to start some where. Definitly get a good amount experience from residential, .you will need it. I try to tell people that condo and town home buildings are just big houses and thats how they can be tackled

Now the intro letter you don't want to or need to lie but you may have embellish a little. You can introduce yourself and company you can use lines like the trusted contractor of customers, that you do quality work etc etc etc etc . Then you got to hope they dont ask for references. if they do and dont ask for other PM references give them some of your customers names.(call and ask customers first). Keep your letter short and you can use the services you offer to fill the letter

Building Washing
Concrete Cleaning
Wood Restoration
Gutter Cleaning
Roof Cleaning

If you have done all this in residential and mastered it you are not lieing

Please get your expereince first a couple years I would suggest unless you are working 5 days a week 10 hours a day and master it in less than the 2 years.

Im not going into a lot of detail how to do the work, but it is best to have at least 2 machines running, they should really be at least 5.5GPM makes work go faster making you more money. You have to be reliable and on time. you dont want to mess up

[Carlos]

This is a good thread to BUMP as there is great information in it from Mr. Jeff L. the CONDO KING :clap:

[JL Pressure]

Whos doing condo, apartment, multi unit properties these day???

[Don M.]

Whos doing condo, apartment, multi unit properties these day???

We are Jeff. Its been a little bit of an issue with the PM we are dealing with on our project. Apparently her or the board did not read the contract, just looked at price. But it looks like we hammered out or differences and we are back on track.

We also just got another multi unit wash. Looks like Marler's might be creating a new division. LOL. Its hard to keep up with the resi stuff too. We are working 14-15 hour days, but my guys are getting it done. I help some, but its mostly buying supplies, lunch, gallons of gatorade (its a hot mother here) so forth and so on.

Life is good, like you say. Looking forward to vacation in July.

[Rsuds]

We have for a long time, going to Baltimore this summer. Already did a lot.

[Tony Shelton]

Jeff, when you do condos do you only do common areas? When we are doing HVAC bids it's tough to get condenser cleaning for the entire complex because each owner is responsible for their own unit. I have worked with a few (retirement ones) that were able to get the entire complex done. Any suggestions?

[JL Pressure]

Jeff, when you do condos do you only do common areas? When we are doing HVAC bids it's tough to get condenser cleaning for the entire complex because each owner is responsible for their own unit. I have worked with a few (retirement ones) that were able to get the entire complex done. Any suggestions?

Just common areas, which the exterior of the buildings are included. Ya ac is the owners responsibility, dont really know how you could get them all. But if you were to go after apartment complexes that is different, but they are tight with money and sometimes let things go to far

[JL Pressure]

We are Jeff. Its been a little bit of an issue with the PM we are dealing with on our project. Apparently her or the board did not read the contract, just looked at price. But it looks like we hammered out or differences and we are back on track.

We also just got another multi unit wash. Looks like Marler's might be creating a new division. LOL. Its hard to keep up with the resi stuff too. We are working 14-15 hour days, but my guys are getting it done. I help some, but its mostly buying supplies, lunch, gallons of gatorade (its a hot mother here) so forth and so on.

Life is good, like you say. Looking forward to vacation in July.

Cool Don, I had to give up residential homes completely a couple few years ago, just didnt have time to break crew away to go do a few houses, always screwed with scheduling. Plus takes up way to much time doing estimates. Don all the time you spend doing house wash estimates, for $300, $400+, you could spend that time going after $3000. $4000 $10,000, $20,000 dollar jobs. Just something to think about if the PM work keeps growing for you. Don't get me wrong houses can be great and can also fill in slow times, just for us it really doesnt work anymore. We did about 10 houses this year so far, half for managers and the other half friends, didnt make one cent all freebies LOL

Great to see you are expanding and taking in the $$$$$

[Tony Shelton]

Just common areas, which the exterior of the buildings are included. Ya ac is the owners responsibility, dont really know how you could get them all. But if you were to go after apartment complexes that is different, but they are tight with money and sometimes let things go to far

Apartment complexes respond to CHEAP. You have to offer two or three levels of service and they will almost always choose the cheapest. Then you blast through as fast as you can, collect the check and go.

[Chris Apple]

Weve got a toe in the door. Trying to get the rest of the foot in.

[Rsuds]

Jeff not to sound bad but I think you should look at it as you should do both. I'm big on focus and do what you do best but why not do both? It is very hard to do it all but a King should be able to. We do it all and yes it is hard but hire more people and make the money if you can. It is the same set up and if done right you can make a lot of money in Res. also. I got a new flatbed with 3 machines and 2 roof pumps and it kicks but. We pull up to a house and 20 minutes later ask for a check. I always say ANYTHING FOR MONEY.

[EastTnPw]

Whos doing condo, apartment, multi unit properties these day???

Jeff Ive been trying to get more and more condo/complex work.
I landed a condo community about 2 mos. ago from an unsolicited bid I sent to the pm for it a year ago. I kept contacting him about every 3mos. then FINALLY landed the work.
I was put on the vendor list and now have another bid out from a pm in his office! (keeping my fingers crossed)

Im going out on Monday to place a bid for a pm I was contacted by from an email blast I sent out.
Just gonna keep hamering away!

Thanks for your advice Jeff

East Tenneessee Power Washing
Chad Johnson
865-368-0847
www.easttnpowerwashing.com (http://www.easttnpowerwashing.com/)

[Ron Musgraves]

Un-solicited Proposals....I have gotten many of my regular paying accounts that Way.


Jeff Ive been trying to get more and more condo/complex work.
I landed a condo community about 2 mos. ago from an unsolicited bid I sent to the pm for it a year ago. I kept contacting him about every 3mos. then FINALLY landed the work.
I was put on the vendor list and now have another bid out from a pm in his office! (keeping my fingers crossed)

Im going out on Monday to place a bid for a pm I was contacted by from an email blast I sent out.
Just gonna keep hamering away!

Thanks for your advice Jeff

East Tenneessee Power Washing
Chad Johnson
865-368-0847
www.easttnpowerwashing.com (http://www.easttnpowerwashing.com/)

[Ron Musgraves]

I love Un-solicited Bids, we are doing 40 to 60 a day right now till Sept 1


In my Data Base every OCT all unsoliciteds go out from years past. All 9000 or so


Lets talk about unsolicited bids.

I just read over at PWI, Nick the Cleaner just landed 10 shopping centers from an uncolicited bid. Nick is a great guy and is a veteran of the industry. I know others that do unsolicited bids. Ron Musgraves comes to mind he does unsolicited bids all the time. Both of those guys do it and it works.

I dont target flatwork like them but I do unsolicited bids, not as often as I should but it has worked for me several times. For example my 2nd condo complex I ever did was an unsolicited bid I turned in. That job was the job I started fulltime PWing I have been working on that property now for 5 years. Just finished it last week again


I know Ron sends in unsolicited and he does it a different way than I have iin the past. I usually put the bid together and send a cover letter, list of references and a biz card usually. But I like the way Ron does it and Nick might also do it the same way

Ron measures the project or projects out, put the bid/contract together and he just faxes it. no intro letter, no references, nothing to introduce his company at all

I wondered why at 1st and when he told me it really made sence. He sends it to the right person/company and quite often that person see's the bid and himself may have been thinking of doing the work or changing companies that are doing the work and BANG its there right in front of him. Also and this is the part I like, well her comes this contract th person who gets it doesnt know if someone in his office asked for, maybe the owner of the property asked for it, the store etc etc . So this contract is there nothing else is in place or other contract expired. This guy can do a couple things, file it or sign it. Ron has gotten many signed contracts this way over the years. I love it. You never know the guy just might think the owner requested it and sign it and you are in the money

Now me I am thinking about doing the same exact thing and see how it flys. I am just going to send some to PM's and they might need it sooner or later or they might think someone in the HOA requested it and I might just get the job

I am also going to do it the way I have done it in the past

Now if you want work you have to go get it and this is a great way of doing it unsolicited

oops got to go I will be back stay tuned

[Scott D.]

As the season is slowing down for us, and Ive been getting more and more commercial cleanings, Ive just started sending out unsolicited bids. Im not sure how to go about it, but I just send them the bid like they asked for it and tell them to call me if they have any questions. Any advice on unsolicited bids?

[JL Pressure]

I love Un-solicited Bids, we are doing 40 to 60 a day right now till Sept 1


In my Data Base every OCT all unsoliciteds go out from years past. All 9000 or so


9000 unreal, its a numbers thing like you say. 9000 you got to get some of them sooner or later

[JL Pressure]

Jeff not to sound bad but I think you should look at it as you should do both. I'm big on focus and do what you do best but why not do both? It is very hard to do it all but a King should be able to. We do it all and yes it is hard but hire more people and make the money if you can. It is the same set up and if done right you can make a lot of money in Res. also. I got a new flatbed with 3 machines and 2 roof pumps and it kicks but. We pull up to a house and 20 minutes later ask for a check. I always say ANYTHING FOR MONEY.

King is just a word. Heck if I was a real king, I'd have my servants doing the estimates I guess LOL

its hard around here to get any decent money for house washing, so I concerntrate where my time is best served, going after the bigger dollar stuff. I cant go out to 20 houses in a day and get three jobs and all the rest balk at $150 house wash. 90% of the homes around here are 1200-2200 sq ft and guys all over town are doing them for $75-$150. Way to much time in doing resi estimates for what, I much rather spend my time going after the 4 & 5 digit jobs then the small stuff



I am thinking of next year trying houses again, but I just cant believe in this area its worth it

[JL Pressure]

Jeff Ive been trying to get more and more condo/complex work.
I landed a condo community about 2 mos. ago from an unsolicited bid I sent to the pm for it a year ago. I kept contacting him about every 3mos. then FINALLY landed the work.
I was put on the vendor list and now have another bid out from a pm in his office! (keeping my fingers crossed)

Im going out on Monday to place a bid for a pm I was contacted by from an email blast I sent out.
Just gonna keep hamering away!

Thanks for your advice Jeff

East Tenneessee Power Washing
Chad Johnson
865-368-0847
www.easttnpowerwashing.com (http://www.easttnpowerwashing.com/)

Great Chad

My very 1st condo job when I went full time was from an unsolicited bid and that was before I even heard the words unsolicited bid LOL

I don't do many now, just never enough time I guess. I do plan on doing more

Keep going Chad, if you want to grwo you got to work it and work it hard for a long time. Heck I am working hard all the time, when's it get easier LOL

[JL Pressure]

I just reread this whole thread, some good info. When you all going to send me my commission checks, this thread started Halloween 2008, I have heard about 30, 60, 90 day, but almost two years to wait for my checks LOL LOL

Anyone looking into going after this kind of work or even other kinds of work other than condos, check this thread out


Who's been getting more and more into condo work in the past couple years