Here at CleanerToday.com we frequently receive comments, compliments, and questions from customers about our products. Unlike what seems to be the case with many of the big companies that dominate the American retail landscape these days, here at CleanerToday we take questions from our customers very seriously. We try our best to answer everyone as quickly and as completely as we can. Occasionally, a customer raises a question, or makes an observation, that could apply to many of our customers and when that happens we will feature it for everyone to read and gain knowledge from. All of us at CleanerToday acknowledge on a daily basis that without you, our customers, we have no business, and therefore we strive to provide the best service possible. We hope the information below will, therefore, be of value in helping you make your decision about purchasing and using our products.
Question Number Three
A gentleman in Texas contacted us to ask several questions related to potentially starting a part-time roof cleaning business. His third question was: “How do you calculate the roof square footage and price accordingly?”
The Estimation Calculation
To estimate the square footage of a house, simply measure the length and width of the foundation, multiply those two numbers together and you have an estimate of the square footage of at least the first floor. Often times, you can simply ask the homeowner for an estimated square footage as many home buyers are aware of the basic dimensions of their home.
However, roof square footage is not the same as the house square footage, unless your roof is flat. For roofs that are not flat, the slope of a roof will factor into how many additional square feet are on a roof.
One way to ESTIMATE the square footage of a typical roof is to consider that the roof is typically about 25% larger than the house square footage. Therefore, once you know the square footage of the first floor, multiply that number by 125%, or 1.25. That number is a rough estimate of the square footage of the roof.
If you are calculating the rough square footage of the roof of a two story home, first divide the total square footage by 2, and then multiply that number by 125%, or 1.25.
It is helpful to remember that you do not need to have a precise measurement of the roof to know what quantity of cleaner is needed. Both roof cleaners that we sell, Roof QSE and Roof OX, are sold in units that are designed to clean 1,500 square feet. Therefore, as long as you can estimate within 1,500 square feet of roof space, you will be fine.
More detailed instructions are available on the main CleanerToday website.
Pricing Roof Cleaning
For advertising purposes, we usually recommend that roof cleaning services start at $0.10 per square foot. However, a roof cleaning professional should never offer a set price to all customers. Instead, it is best to bid each job individually, taking into account factors that may complicate your efforts such as the pitch of the roof, the severity of the staining, and the age of the staining. Ten cents per square foot should never be more than the starting point for pricing discussions with the homeowner.
Ultimately, you are being paid for your time, so you should base your pricing on how long you think it will take to complete the job as opposed to just the square footage to be cleaned. This process becomes easier with practice.