Gas station canopies - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

Ray Burke · Community Member

Gas station canopies

Ray Burke · Community Member

Here are some photos...

They really do clean up pretty darn easy!!!!

David Rhodes · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

Looks awesome!!! You used only 20 gal of SH, how many total gallons of mix??? David

Ray Burke · Community Member

David:

used a 1% mixture, so about 200 Gallons total.

The trick on these store is find the DISTRIBUTOR/Servicing company !!!!!!! Its pretty futile to try an negotiate with the middle eastern owners of the stores, howsoever many times the Distributor keeps ownership/servicing rights to the canopy. Thats where we get out business!

AC Lockyer · Administrator

spray wash wrote:
David:

used a 1% mixture, so about 200 Gallons total.

The trick on these store is find the DISTRIBUTOR/Servicing company !!!!!!! Its pretty futile to try an negotiate with the middle eastern owners of the stores, howsoever many times the Distributor keeps ownership/servicing rights to the canopy. Thats where we get out business!

Awesome tip there! Also many think it is soot from the cars....silly its just mildew! Cleans up easy and you look like a miracle worker.

AC

David Rhodes · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

Great!! Thanks for the tip. Ever station around my area needs to be cleaned.

Ray Burke · Community Member

AC Lockyer wrote:
spray wash wrote:
David:

used a 1% mixture, so about 200 Gallons total.

The trick on these store is find the DISTRIBUTOR/Servicing company !!!!!!! Its pretty futile to try an negotiate with the middle eastern owners of the stores, howsoever many times the Distributor keeps ownership/servicing rights to the canopy. Thats where we get out business!
Awesome tip there! Also many think it is soot from the cars....silly its just mildew! Cleans up easy and you look like a miracle worker.
AC

Out of about 20 Canopies I've cleaned, I've only had one that was "sooty" and needed degreaser. It was a highly intensive "truck" station thst sold a lot of diesel.

Dan Dykstra · Senior Member

Looks great, The commercial market is one that I am going to specialize in. It seems to be under serviced in our area.
On another note, I have met with a Lawncare business that also does pressure washing, it looks like I will be taking over all exterior cleaning for them. They are getting out of the pressure washing business. We just need to work out the numbers so we both win.

Doug Ford · Junior Member

Nice!

Hank Timmermann · Junior Member

spray wash wrote:
Howdy SWS! Wanted to take a minute to talk about cleaning gas station canopies. I've cleaned three tonight, they were one person jobs so I didn't carry any crewmembers with me. Cleaning only the canopy and support piers not cleaning any concrete. I left the house at 9 PM and will pull in before 2 AM. These canopies range from anywhere between $375-$250. I've only used 20 gallons of SH, So it's been a fairly profitable evening. This is just another market segment that you can attack with your soft wash equipment. I'll post before and after photos sometime tomorrow.
Ray,
I can always draw value from your posts. Many thanks.
Hank

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

Ray Burke wrote:
AC Lockyer wrote:
spray wash wrote:
David:

used a 1% mixture, so about 200 Gallons total.

The trick on these store is find the DISTRIBUTOR/Servicing company !!!!!!! Its pretty futile to try an negotiate with the middle eastern owners of the stores, howsoever many times the Distributor keeps ownership/servicing rights to the canopy. Thats where we get out business!

Out of about 20 Canopies I've cleaned, I've only had one that was "sooty" and needed degreaser. It was a highly intensive "truck" station thst sold a lot of diesel.
This looks very good but Gopaul's luck aint Seepaul's luck......What degreaser did you use and how was it applied?

Garon Buczynski · Freshmen Member

Thanks for all this info folks

John Finch · Freshmen Member

Man that is cool. Did you cover anything besides the pumps?

Zach Maynard · SoftWash Systems Certified Applicator

We did one yesterday and just like Ray said we were in and out in about 1 hour.
Cleaned up extremely easy!

Ray Burke · Community Member

Laurie: As far as the greaser I used I believe it was grease lightning or purple power. I'm pretty indiscriminate whenever it comes to degreasers. I just buy what is available at Home Depot. You may need to apply with a pump up sprayer then lightly scrub with a brush, Then rinse with light pressure. Sometimes the canopy have thinning paint which can look like mildew but it's actually the metal showing through. If that is the case then washing will not help, They need a paint job.

Vic Irish · SoftWash Systems Certified Applicator

Ray Burke wrote:
Howdy SWS! Wanted to take a minute to talk about cleaning gas station canopies. I've cleaned three tonight, they were one person jobs so I didn't carry any crewmembers with me. Cleaning only the canopy and support piers not cleaning any concrete. I left the house at 9 PM and will pull in before 2 AM. These canopies range from anywhere between $375-$250. I've only used 20 gallons of SH, So it's been a fairly profitable evening. This is just another market segment that you can attack with your soft wash equipment. I'll post before and after photos sometime tomorrow.

Ray, I'm curious how you rope/cone it off and keep customers from driving under the canopy.

Do they want you to do that at the slowest times of day? What wind strength (MPH) would you post pone until later?

Were those metal or vinyl?

Sorry for all the questions, but I sure appreciate the answers ;)

Bill Booz · Junior Member

Did you sign them to a contract? Repeat repeat repeat.....

Ray Burke · Community Member

Vic,
I do them in the middle of the night when they are closed. A couple of times I've closes down half the lanes and worked while they are open, but i really don't care for that at all. Over 10MPH its a good idea just to postpone. I've only cleaned metal canopies.

Bill, YES!YES!YES!

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Ray Burke wrote:
David:

used a 1% mixture, so about 200 Gallons total.

The trick on these store is find the DISTRIBUTOR/Servicing company !!!!!!! Its pretty futile to try an negotiate with the middle eastern owners of the stores, howsoever many times the Distributor keeps ownership/servicing rights to the canopy. Thats where we get out business!

Hi Ray,

What is the "trick" in finding the contact information for the "distributor/service company"???

I'd LOVE to start doing some of these canopies around Richmond, but never could get in contact with the appropriate party.

Thanks!
Mark

-- Edited by Mark Fermoyle on Wednesday 18th of December 2013 10:59:59 AM

Ray Burke · Community Member

Mark, Ask the station owner who is their distributor and if that distributor maintain servicing rights on the canopy. Also the good old-fashioned Yellow Pages is a real good place to look under "petroleum distributors"

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Perfect!! I will do this.

As always, thanks.

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Ray, I've seen in some research that other folks also offer services to replace light bulbs and wash the pumps. Do you do that as well?

Is there a basic formula to use to price these canopies. For instance a station with 4 pumps would cost $x.xx, one with 6 pumps would cost X, one with 10 pumps would cost X. Just wondering how to go about pricing these. You could PM me if you'd rather.

It's going to be too cold to work here next week so I'm planning to visit a bunch of gas stations to find out who their distributors are. I've sent numerous emails to some of their websites already. Hoping to hear something back soon from them.

Thanks, Ray
Mark

-- Edited by Mark Fermoyle on Saturday 28th of December 2013 11:01:01 AM

Ray Burke · Community Member

A basic station with two pumps is usually around 250 to 300, four pumps range from 325 to 425, and so forth.

Thomas Pendleton · Lead Technician

Purple Power is great! I used it on a local pizza place that had a lot of grease running down his vinyl siding. I was still able to say I Softwashed it. 30 mins and a hundred bucks. We have a BP just down from us. Very nice guy. Guess I need to talk to him.

-- Edited by Thomas Pendleton on Monday 30th of December 2013 01:17:01 PM

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Thomas, WOW!! That really looks great (after). I'm sure the pizza man was certainly pleased. Keep up the great work.

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Is it the gasoline fumes that propagate the mildew on the canopy surfaces? confuse I've even noticed it around the gas cap of our car. evileye

Thomas Pendleton · Lead Technician

I am wondering if Terra wash would clean the same grease spot? Looking forward to getting some soon anyway. It will make me feel more confident when I a start to approach the gas stations. Well... along with completing the Lead Tech certification.

Orlando here I come. :)