PressureWashingBossPro Blog — Commercial Accounts

Measuring Commercial Flatwork From Satellite Before You Bid

Most commercial pressure washing is flatwork: sidewalks, drive-thru lanes, dumpster pads, pool decks, parking areas. Flatwork is priced by area, and area is where bids go wrong. A strip center's front walk looks short from the parking lot and turns out to be long. A drive-thru lane wraps around the back of the building and doubles in length. Measure it wrong and you are either too high to win or too low to make money.

Why Measure From Satellite

Building the bid itself is covered in Quoting Commercial Pressure Washing Bids With Online Approval. This article is about the number that goes into it.

The property map in PressureWashingBossPro can measure square feet and linear feet from the satellite view. Pull up the address, trace the area to be washed, and the map gives you the square feet. That number can go on the address and on the estimate, and estimates can price off a property's measurements.

Measuring from satellite means you can bid a lot of locations without driving to each one first. A manager asks about three drive-thrus across town at 2pm, and you can have a measured bid out before the end of the day.

What to Measure on Common Commercial Jobs

Each kind of commercial job has its own areas to trace:

• Storefronts: the sidewalk from the building face to the curb, the full length of the frontage, plus the entry area.
• Drive-thrus: the lane from the entrance to the exit, following the curve around the building.
• Dumpster pads: the pad itself and the approach apron where trucks back in.
• Gas stations: the apron under the canopy, easy to see as a rectangle from above.
• Pool decks: the deck around the pool, not the water.
• Parking garages: the roof deck from above, then multiply by the number of levels.

Linear feet help for curb lines and fence lines. Some companies price curb cleaning in a center's parking lot per linear foot rather than per square foot.

When Satellite Is Not Enough

Satellite imagery is a strong starting point, but it has limits:

• Covered areas: canopies, breezeway roofs and garage upper decks hide what is underneath. Measure what you can see and confirm the rest on site.
• Trees and shadows: heavy tree cover can hide part of a sidewalk or pool deck.
• Old imagery: a new addition or a new pad may not show up yet.
• Things you cannot see from above: spigot locations, drains, grease, gum density and access.

For larger bids, measure from satellite to get a solid number, then walk the site to confirm it and collect the access notes. The measurement saves time on the walk, and the walk catches what the satellite missed.

Measurements That Stay With the Address

Once measured, the square feet stay on the address as part of its job details. That matters beyond the first bid:

• The crew sees the square feet on the job card and knows the size of the job before they pull in.
• When the contract comes up for renewal, the scope is already on record, so there is no argument about how big the area is.
• If the client asks to add an area, measure just that piece and add it.

For a shopping center or HOA with many areas, each address carries its own measurement, so the bid and the monthly statement line up section by section. Shopping centers are covered in Shopping Centers With Many Suites: One Commercial Pressure Washing Account, Many Storefronts.

A Simple Measuring Routine

When a commercial request comes in, a short routine keeps it moving. Add the client and the address, or a new address under an existing client. Open the property map, trace each area to be washed, and save the square feet to the address. Write down anything the satellite view suggests, like a covered walkway or a dumpster pad hidden by trees, so you remember to check it in person. Then decide whether the bid can go out from the measurement alone or needs a site walk first. Small storefronts and drive-thrus usually can. Garages and large centers usually cannot.

Turning Square Feet Into a Price

Square feet alone do not set the price. Two sidewalks of the same size can be very different jobs: one lightly dusty, the other covered in gum and grease. Use the square feet as the base, then think about:

• Condition: heavy gum, oil or grease means more time and possibly hot water.
• Frequency: a surface washed monthly stays easier to clean than one washed once a year.
• Access: no water on site, tight hours or a long walk from the rig all add time.
• Drive time: an account far from your other work costs more to reach.

Your own rates go on your service list, and the estimate uses them. Pricing recurring commercial work is covered further in this series. For the full picture of commercial accounts, from measuring and bidding through routing and billing, visit the commercial pressure washing software page.