AIBU about the cost of patio cleaning?

[SingleHouseholder]

Widowed disabled pensioner here.

I have a flat roof terrace 3m x 3m and a ground floor patio about twice that size. They were both filthy and covered in horrible green algae and mould.

A roofing company advertised that they clean these things using high pressure water and biocides to kill the algae and mould so I contacted them. They have good reviews online.

When they came to quote they told me £450 for two men, one-and-a-half days. I calculated that if they worked, say, 7 hours a day and 3.5 hours on the half day, that's 10.5 hours x two men = 21 hours. So, just over £20 per hour per man. As that covered the cost of their equipment and the chemicals it seemed fair.

I should point out at this point that I live in a small, poor town where house-cleaners charge about £12.50 to £15 ph and handymen about £20 ph.

However, on the day they were finished after just six hours. I heard the hose going for only about 4 hours of that time. Each time I happened to go into my kitchen I saw them sitting on my patio furniture scrolling on their mobile phones.

Also I thought they were going to use some kind of expensive specialist industry biocide chemicals but they just used Patio Magic, that you can buy anywhere.

When they left, because I had agreed their price of £450, I had no choice but to pay it, but ever since they left I feel cheated. I mean, I only agreed to that price because I thought it was going to be 20 man-hours of work. Now I think they knew darned well it was only going to take them 4 or 5 hours but TOLD ME it would be one-and-a-half days to justify the £450.

Today they contacted me saying that they have put photos of the job online and they want me to join the thread and praise them. I am a bit scared of them, and I don't want to upset them but then again I feel cheated.

Am I being unreasonable? Or have I been "had"?

It does seem a bit steep but you really should have gotten more than one quote to be able to compare.

They quoted you a job price, not an hourly rate price and you agreed to it and you are happy with the quality of their work. It is very unfair to penalise them with a bad review on that basis.

Patio Magic is not a really cheap product compared to other moss and algae removers (maybe a couple of pounds less) and it will likely do exactly the same job.

They didn't quote you for 21 hours and only deliver 8.You assumed that they meant a full 8 hour day - but they didn't state that, you worked that out off your own back.

£20 per hour is not a lot when you factor in that they have to pay for their van, equipment and maintenance of it, insurance, NI, tax, travel between jobs etc.

If you are happy with the quality of their work, leave an appropriate review (or don't leave one at all) and next time you need a job like that doing, just make sure you get at least three quotes.

You did not read my post correctly.

"£20 per hour is not a lot" - I paid them £100 an hour.

"You assumed that they meant a full 8 hour day - but they didn't state that"

They said one and a half days. I assumed a 7 hour day and a 3.5 hour half day.

Which probably does a £2 piece at a go. Drawing all over the paving like a snail 🤣

A decent commercial jet wash is about £700 these days and labourer day rates are £200 a day. So YABU sorry OP. It’s not like they could do another job that day.

Patio magic about £20 a bottle or so.

It’s a reasonable price.

Reasonable? They spent about 5 hours doing it. So if we assume the cleaning products cost £50, they were paid £200 each for 5 hours work. £40 per hour. For unskilled work that sounds extortionate to me.

£200 each for a days work, perfectly normal. As pp said, they have overheads, and did a good job.
The price was agreed beforehand.

I paid £200 a day for a skilled carpenter doing work in my house,which seemed fair to me.

But £200 a day for pressure washing, an unskilled job, using basic equipment, that any idiot can do? Sounds far too much to me.

Sorry but you've been ripped off. Labour costs are about £200 per day maximum. We had ours done a while back and a teenager did it. Came back next day to sweep some sand in gaps. Caused lots of mess with water leaking in garage and doors and windows splashed. Never again!

The professionals did a better job than the teen then.

op it prob should have been 350 so maybe think that even if you got other quotes it might not have saved you much more than that ( or been the same )

I don’t need a commercial jet wash. My little one has excellent power and does a great job on my 3x4 red brick patio.

It isn't unskilled work. The pressure washers professionals use are a nich higher pressure (psi) than the standard Karcher you can buy from b&q.

If they're running properly they have insurance and DBS checks, vans to run and expensive machinery, as well as the knowledge on what chemicals to use (or not) on which surface, the best way to get rid of algae, or lichen, or whatever...

My ex does this for a living and would never state it would be a day and a half job, however if pushed for a timescale he might say something like (maybe a day or so...?). That's a guess, not a guarantee

Plus as someone else stayed, you're paying for the service and not a per-hour rate.

If you didnt agree with the price you should have said before you agreed to the work, not got them to clean your patio for you and then complain about it afterwards!

Edited to add - the £20 an hour not being a lot was in response to your calculation of £20pph seeming reasonable.

You didn't pay them £100 an hour instead of £40 (or £50 per man hour instead of £20) - you paid them £450 to clean your patios. They didn't quote you an hourly rate they quoted you a job price.

You calculated the hourly rate using assumptions that you completely made up.

If they had quoted you £20 an hour per man for 21 man hours, as per your calculation, only taken 8 man hours and then charged you £450 you would have a point - but they didn't, they quoted you a job price which you accepted!

It may very well be extortionate - which is why you get multiple quotes.

No-one is arguing that it is not expensive - I don't know whether it is or not because I've never hired anyone to clean my patio, but I would probably expect to pay somewhere between £200 and £300 - and I did say in my original reply that what the OP paid seemed pricey.

I do think assuming that £20 an hour is reasonable is incorrect - because it isn't a reasonable price for a small business with all of the overheads that come with that

The argument is that the OP was quoted a price for a job, not an hourly rate.

She was happy to accept said quote based on the feedback about the company on local community pages and her own incorrect assumption of 21 man hours.

They did not charge her more than the quoted price - that she is feeling burned because her acceptance of the price based on her own flawed assumptions and failure to get multiple quotes is not the fault of the company.

Buy a jet washer next year. They are great fun to use!

I don’t think the price of their service was unfair. The hourly rate is not necessarily a good measure for these types of services.
I paid £450 just for my flat roof to be cleaned. No patio involved. It was a 4 hour job but saved me from a massive hassle and not having the roof cleaned could potentially lead to a much worse situation and thus spending even more to fix.
Think more as a house maintenance service rather than cleaning service.

Poll on here - 77% say I am not being unreasonable.

Earlier my neightbour told me she had similar cleaning done by another local firm for £250.

I own a jetwasher. I am a disabled pensioner in a wheelchair. I can't even get onto the terrace let alone carry a pressure washer.

Don’t beat yourself up. Many of us have had the same feeling after hiring people or buying services.

It seems like a lot to me, too.

"her acceptance of the price based on her own flawed assumptions"

Stop lying right now! Are you just here to make trouble?

THEY. TOLD. ME. IT. WOULD. TAKE. TWO. MEN. ONE-AND-A-HALF DAYS.

I have just found out that they have missed a big triangle shaped piece of patio, right in the middle, just where it is most noticeable from the windows. So a lovely clean patio apart from the one filthy triangle shaped piece.

Can you share that back with the company and request they come back and finish?

Also re the Facebook post, I’d reply on there saying “yes, lovely and clean, hoping they’ll come back to finish the last bit they missed soon. And very quick, just took two of them half a day.”

The most basic Karcher pressure washers start from under £60, so why not buy one and do it yourself? We've got a large patio and bought one of the bigger pressure washers for about £150. We've had it for several years now and it's a really satisfying job to do.

Sorry, OP, I just read a couple of your updates and realise this wouldn't be appropriate for you

Send them a pic of that and ask them to pop back.

I feel like I should get a side hustle cleaning patios for that money!

My goodness. I'm sorry OP.

They sound the sort that if they'd quoted you an hourly price they'd have strung it out for the two days.

They should be experienced enough to know how long a job takes. And it was obviously overpriced. I jet washed my patio twice the size in a few hours. They know what they've done.

£200 a day is the unskilled labour rate atm.

We charge £240+ vat regardless if that takes 2 hours or 7.