Monday, August 24, 2009

Make the Most Money From Your Gutter Cleaning Business

Why not make the most from your gutter cleaning business? Below are 7 tips to help you grow and expand your gutter cleaning business and make it as successful as possible. These are all great upgrades you can add to your gutter cleaning service. Adding a few or all of the item listed below will help you double the average sale per customer.
1. Always offer guarantee- This is especially important to new customers, Plus is ensures you work latter on. We offer a 3 month clog free guarantee on most jobs. If the gutters get clogged with in 3 months, we will come out and unclog the gutter downspouts, (If they are full of leaves, we can always get paid again for cleaning them out.
2. Offer to install down spout filters. At a cost of $3 to $5 per filter. This usually adds 30 to 60 dollars to any job. If you buy the plastic mesh in bulk, this will cost you about 10 cents per filter for materials.
3.Offer to trim or cut back trees and pines over hanging roof. Not only will this make you job easier in the future, but it will help the roof to last longer and prevent costly roof repair later on.
4. Install gutter guards and gutter helmets - This can add 300 to 500 dollars to any jop.
5. Repair and replace old, worn out gutters.
6. Offer free estimates for window and skylight treatment. Often skylight cleaning is $20 external and window cleaning $80 to $170 dollar extra.
7. Offer preventative roof moss treatment or roof cleaning. Roof cleaning can be done by blowing the leaves off or else pressure washing away dirt and/ or moss.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

What are the Most Useful Gutter Cleaning Tools?

There are several tools you need to clean gutters. Let look at each of them listed in order of importance and explain why each type of tools is needed.
The first tool you need is a good ladder. If you have a smaller build, I would suggest an aluminum ladder. If you have a bigger build, you may need a fiberglass ladder. Aluminum ladders typically hold 200 to 250 pounds. Fiberglas ladders hold 250 to over 300 pounds. Fiber glass is a little heavier than aluminum. In most cases a 24 to 28 ft ladder will work fine for 2 to 2 1/2 stories. It is also a good idea to have a ten foot a frame for getting on the roof on the first level.
Other useful gutter cleaning equipment you might need include gloves, a square bucket with a handle, a gutter cleaning rake, and safety line and a safety harness for extremely high or steep roofs. A gutter rake is my favorite gutter cleaning toll. You can buy these for less then $25 dollars. b They can greatly speed up the time it takes you to get a job finished, allow you to reach around windows, and stay further away from the edge. They makes the job faster and less dangerous. You want to use a flat bucket, because it balance better then a round one.
Your line and harness should be high quality. If you don't know how to install it properly ask a contractor or work with someone that does. You may also need some spiked roofing shoes for ceder roofs. One brand that I like is called Korker roofing shoes. When buying safety equipment I usually upgrade to the most expensive equipment out there as soon as I can.
Other gutter cleaning tools you might need:
A down spout unclogging tool. (Usually a elongated coat hanger works great.)
A hose,- for flushing the down spouts when you are finished clearing them
A hammer and nails for fixing gutters as needed
A flat and a Phillips screw driver.
A sealer for patching gutters or filling nail holes in the roof.
In some cases, a wet dry vac can also be used to clean out the gutter.
These is every gutter cleaning tool I use to clean gutters on a regular basis. If you have anything else you would recommend, or think would be useful, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks, Spencer

Monday, August 3, 2009

The Truth about Gutter Cleaning

Well the truth is that some jobs that are more disgusting then cleaning gutters, like being a podiatrist, a dentist, or a trash collect, but a professional gutter cleaner job combines both the disgusting and the dangerous to give you a job that can be both dirty and exhilarating at the same time. And if you like living on the edge, you can't get much closer. This is a job that is always in demand, especially in areas with lots of trees. Although demand varies by season and location, peak demand is usually in the Fall and Spring, and anytime it is raining.

What I love best about it is that I can easily sell upgrade client to other related thing like roof cleaning, trimming trees, moss application and removal, gutter guard installation, gutter filter installation, window cleaning and more. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or much of a salesman to turn a $100 job into a $300 job. An the truth about it is you are doing something for them they need to get done and you are saving them the hassle of finding someone else to do it. Plus the longer you clean gutters, the faster you get. As you get faster, you can see your hourly rate or margin increase from $20 an hour to $75 an hour.

You do need to be careful though. It is very important to have the right safety equipment and a good idea of what you are doing. As a general rule, ladders are safer then roof tops, (but roof tops are faster.) Two story or steeper and slippery roofs should always have a safety line when you have to be on the roof.

There are really a lot of important things having to do with gutter cleaning that I could talk about. I love cleaning gutters. I am so happy I started this blog. Maybe I can give someone a safety tip that will save their life. (By the way, never get on a wet roof when it is near freezing.) You will never know unless you stay tuned to this blog and subscribe to my feeds. Also, I have been having a difficult time find a place online that sells the right tools I needed to start my gutter cleaning business. I would like to include the tool you need on this site, just in case you are knew or looking to trade in those football cleats or buy a nice gutter cleaning rake.

Also just because I blog doesn't mean I know every thing please comment and allow me to learn from you as well. Thanks