August Before and After Picture Contest - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

AC Lockyer · Administrator

August Before and After Picture Contest

Freshmen Member

Sounds good AC. I love the Green Wash. Here's a roof we cleaned in Greensboro NC two days ago.

I love these one story steep roofs that have been neglected for more than 15 years. They always make for the best and most dramatic before and after photographs.

BEFORE

AFTER

Roof Cleaning Greensboro NC - after.jpg

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Pro Greensboro NC 888-WASH-007 on Tuesday 23rd of August 2011 09:43:47 AM

Michael Derose · SoftWash Systems Certified Applicator

heres one we did in the beginning of august.

Texas Pressure Clean · Freshmen Member

I got the job back in July. But didn't do the work till the first part of August.

NC Roof Wash · Freshmen Member

Did this one last week

-- Edited by NC Roof Wash on Monday 29th of August 2011 07:58:16 PM

Barry Landis · Sophmore Member

Here's todays job we did.

-- Edited by Landis Roof Cleaning on Friday 19th of August 2011 05:23:21 PM

Doug Rucker · UAMCC Officer

Here is one we did this week. the owner of this house could not afford to have his house cleaned and the HOA was getting on him to get it cleaned. He has a few green spots in various places on his exterior walls. He is a Veteran and I tried to get the Cleaning for Heroes folks to let us do it through them but they were slow in repsonding. Since I had a guy in for training this week, I just went ahead and cleaned the roof and the house, dway and side walk at no charge and used it as a training house.

Felt good to take care of this Veteran who took the time to take care of us.

BTW, A.C. this is not for the contest. I would rather some one that has not used the Green Wash win so they can try it so don't enter me in the contest. I know once they try it they'll be hooked like me.

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Texas Pressure Clean wrote:
I got the job back in July. But didn't do the work till the first part of August.

Nice before and aft on a etal roof. It would be even better if you could go back and try to take the after from the exact same angle.

AC

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Doug Rucker wrote:
Here is one we did this week. the owner of this house could not afford to have his house cleaned and the HOA was getting on him to get it cleaned. He has a few green spots in various places on his exterior walls. He is a Veteran and I tried to get the Cleaning for Heroes folks to let us do it through them but they were slow in repsonding. Since I had a guy in for training this week, I just went ahead and cleaned the roof and the house, dway and side walk at no charge and used it as a training house.
Felt good to take care of this Veteran who took the time to take care of us.
BTW, A.C. this is not for the contest. I would rather some one that has not used the Green Wash win so they can try it so don't enter me in the contest. I know once they try it they'll be hooked like me.

Awesome Doug. Thanks for taking care of a vet!

AC

Texas Pressure Clean · Freshmen Member

I would except the home is in Comfort Tx. Which is about an hour drive from where I live. I actually took these photos for the homeowner. I hardly ever remember to get the before shots of the work. Only when I'm done, standing back looking at the work do I think "I should have gotten a picture of this".

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Stand on a crack in yhe sidewalk a tree root or somethimg inmoveable so ypi have an anchor point for thr pictures.

AC

Doug Rucker · UAMCC Officer

Texas Pressure Clean wrote:
I would except the home is in Comfort Tx. Which is about an hour drive from where I live. I actually took these photos for the homeowner. I hardly ever remember to get the before shots of the work. Only when I'm done, standing back looking at the work do I think "I should have gotten a picture of this".

Jason you need to figure out a way to remember to take before and afters of every job. Some type of reminder thing. This helps you if you are ever accused of causing damage that was already there, and you can build up a nice little photo album for you web site as well as one to hand to customers to look at while you are walking the property doing the estimate.

Freshmen Member

Doug Rucker wrote:
Texas Pressure Clean wrote:
I would except the home is in Comfort Tx. Which is about an hour drive from where I live. I actually took these photos for the homeowner. I hardly ever remember to get the before shots of the work. Only when I'm done, standing back looking at the work do I think "I should have gotten a picture of this".
Jason you need to figure out a way to remember to take before and afters of every job. Some type of reminder thing. This helps you if you are ever accused of causing damage that was already there, and you can build up a nice little photo album for you web site as well as one to hand to customers to look at while you are walking the property doing the estimate.

Good advice. One time I forgot to bring my camera and after I finished cleaning my customer's roof, he walks out to look at it and says, "You didn't finish the garage roof."

No matter what my ground man and I said, he was convinced that I wasn't finished and said he was going to hold off on paying me the full amount and shorted me $100! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having photographic proof to show ignorant, blind as a bat customers, would have helped out.

Ray Burke · Community Member

Fairly melancholy August...was busy, but no real challenging projects...unitl Wednesday!!!! When I saw this home, I knew I finally had something worthy of the softwashsystems.com photo contest!

Located in Greensboro, Florida, a surburb of Tallahassee, this 3,000 + square foot dryvit home was expertly cleaned by Spray Wash Exterior Cleaning. Services included a soft washing of the exterior and pool deck.

Us PM Bleach Wash on windows for the first time and was delighted with the results!!!!! No strealing, nice & clean.

Cusotmers were delighted and even gave the tech a $50 tip!!!!! Years were added to the life of the paint & pigment of the stucco by erdicating the mildew growing here.

-- Edited by spray wash on Thursday 1st of September 2011 11:36:32 PM

Doug Rucker · UAMCC Officer

Nice job...that looks GREAT

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Ray,

What strength chem were you using? There is some liquid edging going on at the base of the walls. Did you charge extra for the liquid edging??? lol

Truck looks very nice.

AC

Michael Derose · SoftWash Systems Certified Applicator

So when do we find out who won? Im feelin good.

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Ill be awarding the 5 gallon Green Wash next week.

AC

Stropf · Freshmen Member

I cleaned this roof in the rain first week in August. The clean spot by the ladder is from the demo I did for the customer 2 weeks before.

Steve

Ray Burke · Community Member

Ac chemical edging is free with every purchase! Picture are a little deceptive, customer had invisible fence installed three days prior and there was a lot of dead grass at base of house which quickly bleached out when chem hit it. Used a 10 gall of SH to 90 gall of water. Used 20 percent on a few problem areas.
Verified colorfastness of stucco before washing.

-- Edited by spray wash on Saturday 3rd of September 2011 02:10:47 PM

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Stropf wrote:
I cleaned this roof in the rain first week in August. The clean spot by the ladder is from the demo I did for the customer 2 weeks before.
Steve

Demos sell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AC Lockyer · Administrator

spray wash wrote:

Verified colorfastness of stucco before washing.

-- Edited by spray wash on Saturday 3rd of September 2011 02:10:47 PM

Good move. The paint tint issues are starting to show up again.

AC

Stropf · Freshmen Member

AC Lockyer wrote:
Stropf wrote:
I cleaned this roof in the rain first week in August. The clean spot by the ladder is from the demo I did for the customer 2 weeks before.
Steve
Demos sell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes... the demo sold this job.

Roof Cleaning Burlington NJ 609 864 0988 · Freshmen Member

Here is a job I did in Medford Lakes NJ

I love to clean mossy roofs

AC Lockyer · Administrator

NC Roof Wash wrote:
Did this one last week

-- Edited by NC Roof Wash on Monday 29th of August 2011 07:58:16 PM
Though Mike Sullivan had another bute someone else from North Carolina turned in a great effort. Greg Ellington with NC Roof Wash is August's before and after pic winner.
Again this was another dramatic example of a light gray roof that had been completely covered with gloeocapsa magma and the before pic was framed up inline with the after pic.
Framing up the pix as closely one to another is a big part of the formula when taking before and after pix!
Ray Burke from Spray and Wash in Florida had some great pix of a Mediterranean home that the exterior needed soft washed. These pix deserve mention and would have won except for alignment issues.
Ok Greg get m Though Mike Sullivan had another bute someone else from North Carolina turned in a great effort. Greg Ellington with NC Roof Wash is August's before and after pic winner.
Again this was another dramatic example of a light gray roof that had been completely covered with gloeocapsa magma and the before pic was framed up inline with the after pic.
Framing up the pix as closely one to another is a big part of the formula when taking before and after pix!
Ray Burke from Spray and Wash in Florida had some great pix of a Mediterranean home that the exterior needed soft washed. These pix deserve mention and would have won except for alignment issues.
Ok Greg get me your contact info, and please complete your signature, so we can ship your 5 gallon Green Wash out to you.
Thanks,
AC

NC Roof Wash · Freshmen Member

Thanks AC! I look foward to trying out some Green Wash.

Doug Rucker · UAMCC Officer

Congratulations Greg, have fun with the Green Wash and all the "GREEN" your gonna save.

Freshmen Member

Congratulations Greg. I've tried the Green Wash before and like it. I know you will too.

Since I won the last photo contest and gave my best August before and afters this time, here are a few tips that will help someone else win any future contests or add to your company image and portfolio.

Being a former photographer with a degree in photography earned back in 1994, I have a sharper eye than most and feel like my photos stand out more than others.

1) Camera angle

Use a tripod or mark the spot where you are going to take before and afters so you will have the exact same camera angle and cropping. Zoom in close enough so the left and right edge of the roof is tight in the frame, minimizing the amount empty foreground and background space, to make the roof stand out more. Use a step ladder to get up higher to give you a better angle or get on the roof and shoot a few shots up top also. Stay back far enough if there is no obstructions in front of your lens to avoid using too wide of a focal length on your lens. To reduce the appearance of a distorted image, you need to back up and zoom in so you are using a normal focal length or more of a telephoto zoomed in lens.

2) Lighting

Roofs with a lot of shade or tree cover with funky shadows casting on the roof don't look as good. Ideally the most dramatic before and after images are taken when it's overcast for the before pictures (dark and hideous) and bright and sunny (high noon) for the after pictures. Let it rain a few times to rinse off all the mold good to give you the cleanest possible shots prior to taking the after pictures. The time of year is also crucial. Spring or summer make for the best after pictures because the sun is higher in the sky to shine more light on the roof, especially the north side.
Usually the north side of the roof is going to give you the most dramatic photographs which means if the sun is out (not cloudy) it will be in front of the camera, so shading your lens to keep the sun off the lens will prevent camera flare, and give you a better shot.

3) Exposure

When shooting the before picture if it is sunny and well lit, reduce the brightness and increase the contrast a little on the before pictures on photo shop, so you can see the streaks better. Sharpening also helps enable you to see the streaks better. If your before pictures are taken on a cloudy day, crank up the contrast more to enhance the streaks better. Enhancing your images is a fine art. You want to avoid making too much adjustments to avoid the images looking fake or digital altered. Tweaking them just a little so they look better and more professional is the key.

When printing photographs for your portfolio, bigger is better.

When showing customers your work, you want to use at least 8x10's

11x14's are even better to show lots of detail.
I get calls all over the country from guys asking me if they can use my photographs for their websites and advertising. I have to turn them down because I am a former photographer and my photographs are copyrighted. There is a great deal more to taking pictures than just buying a camera, pointing it at something and pressing a button.
Using these tips will help you take your own photographs better and you will also be able to speak about them with the same confidence as I do with mine, because you are the one who actually cleaned the roof and recorded the results.