Month: April 2020

3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Routine Maintenance

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When you want to grow your business, it’s time to delegate your routine maintenance. Here are three reasons why that should include pressure washing the properties in your block of business:

3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Routine Maintenance

1. Scale your business without hiring more people.

Employees are expensive, and that can get in the way of any growing business. Whether your property management company focuses on commercial properties or residential ones, collecting more properties is always good for business. But if you handle all of the maintenance and routine tasks in-house, every new deal brings a lot of new work for your staff. Instead of hiring more and more people, find third-party services that do the job. Then you can grow your business by focusing on new clients, not new hires.

2. You don’t have to have experts on staff.

If you perform all of your properties’ maintenance, that means you need to pay the salaries for a lot of seasoned professionals. You need a certified plumber, a certified electrician, trained pressure washers and all of their equipment… The list doesn’t end. Not only is that incredibly expensive, but that’s also a lot of potential liability. It also diffuses your focus. If you’re good at organizing and managing blocks of properties, focusing on that is more profitable.

3. Advertise with more guarantees and bullet points.

Routine pressure washing and a standing relationship with a local business lets you offer more services. It also means you can make those services better than other property management companies can. For example, you can:

  • offer faster property clean-up between tenants. You can have services simultaneously preparing the inside and outside of the property.
  • ensure good property care for remote clients. A lot of property investors don’t actually live in the same region as their properties. But if you add routine pressure washing to your seasonal or annual services, they feel more like their properties are being taken care of.
  • have good before and after pictures. Pictures are an essential element of marketing. Showing potential clients what properties looked like before and after you started managing them can win you new business, especially when the exterior walls and sidewalks are bright and clean.

Contact our team at 214 Pressure Washing here to learn more about our routine and scheduled services.

Four Areas of Your House That Need Pressure Washing

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You may be worried about keeping the inside of your house clean, but the exterior needs care too. However, you can’t just whip out the vacuum cleaner to take care of the exterior, instead the most efficient option is to have it power washed. By using a pressure washing service to wash these four areas of you house’s exterior, it’ll leave the place sparkling.

Four Areas of Your House That Need Power Washing

The Siding

Unfortunately, all those warm summer breezes and blustery winter days blow up dirt and that dirt in the air lands firmly on the side of your house. Combine that with mold and algae that builds up after rain storms, and the siding of your house can look extra grimy after awhile. However, put that scrub brush away, power washing is the way to go. Most siding has natural grooves in it that can be difficult to clean, but using the right water pressure and it can make cleaning the siding of your home go from a multi-day affair to just a task that is done in a few hours.

The Roof

We have all seen those sort of roofs that look dubiously streaked with black. This appearance is from mold and algae that will gradually grow on the shingles over time. However, while power washing can help, usually a power washing service will choose to use a technique called soft washing to best clean roofs. This doesn’t damage the roof, but rather uses a softer spray mixed lightly with bleach or other cleaners to remove the stains on your roof. The results are so effective that many realtors actually recommend a soft wash for your roof before you place the house on the market. It can really do wonders for that curb appeal.

The Driveway

Over time and consistent use, your driveway will manifest small cracks. Unfortunately, when dirt gets into those cracks, it can cause them to become worse. Then, of course, if weeds start to grow because of the dirt in those cracks, the cracks continue to grow too. Furthermore, concrete is a porous material, which means no matter how dirt-free you try to keep it, it will get darker and less pleasant. However, power washing is excellent at removing the dirt from those pores without damaging the concrete and without hours of scrubbing.

The Patio

If you have a concrete patio, then this is very much the same as your driveway. Concrete pores will get full of dirt over time and need to be flushed out. However, even if you have a wooden deck, it still needs regular cleaning and care. If you want to restain, power washing can strip away dirt and old stain so you can get to painting. However, by using a lighter pressure, the stain can stay on and the dirt can go.

If any of these areas of your house need cleaned and pressure washing is the right choice, contact us today to see what we can do for you.

COVID-19: Sanitizing & Disinfection Services

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The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that a commitment to cleaning your commercial space can be lifesaving. Researchers are urgently studying the ways in which this novel Coronavirus spreads. What is known is that droplets from the sneezes and coughs of an infected person can land on surfaces and survive for some period of time. An uninfected person can touch a contaminated surface and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth and become sick with the virus. Of real concern, research is showing that asymptomatic persons carrying COVID-19 can spread the virus. This can happen via a simple cough, the touching of one’s mouth or eyes or through benign spittle released when one is talking. In each case, germs can be transferred from the asymptomatic individual to a common surface. As business owners, we must ensure that the surfaces at our places of business are regularly cleaned, sanitized and, when necessary, disinfected, in order to protect our clients and our employees. Surface cleaning must include the commonly touched outside areas and exterior features of our facilities. When done properly, exterior surface power washing is an effective way to mitigate the spread of dangerous viruses like COVID-19.

CDC Provides Guidance for Cleaning Commercial Facilities

COVID-19: Sanitizing & Disinfection ServicesDid you know there are distinctions among cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting? This is spelled out on the CDC website. Cleaning removes dirt, germs and other impurities from a surface. Disinfecting kills germs on surfaces. Sanitizing lowers the number of germs on a surface to a safe level, as judged by public health standards or requirements. Sanitation takes place through the cleaning or disinfecting of surfaces or objects to lower the risk of spreading infection.

Per the CDC, surfaces should be regularly cleared of dirt and debris using soap and water, or another detergent. Power washing with effective detergent can sanitize exterior surfaces. When disinfection is warranted, once the surface is clean, it should be disinfected using an EPA-registered disinfectant. Bleach is one approved efficacious disinfectant that may be used on surfaces that can withstand the substance, but there are other viable disinfectants that can be used if bleach will be too damaging.

If someone sick with COVID-19 has been in your facility, the CDC recommends closing off all areas used by the sick individual, and opening up exterior doors and windows to increase airflow. Wait 24 hours if possible, then clean and disinfect all areas used by the sick person This must include exterior surfaces. If more than seven days have passed since the sick person was present, additional cleaning and disinfection is not required; you should simply proceed with routine cleaning and disinfection.

What and Where You Should be Cleaning

As discussed, germs can be spread when someone coughs or otherwise disseminates bodily fluids from their eyes, nose or mouth. Certainly, this indicates the regular cleaning of common touch areas inside your establishment – point-of-sale counters, tables, chairs, bathroom fixtures, store shelves, windows and door handles.. But, many retail establishments also have a lot of exterior fixtures and structures that are high-touch surfaces. These include:

  • Doors & entranceways
  • Handrails
  • Walls
  • Shopping carts
  • Drive-throughs
  • Playscapes
  • Benches
  • Monuments and statues
  • Flat surfaces
  • Hard surfaces

Power Washing to Combat COVID-19

Power washing with soap is effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19, lowering the risk of infection by sanitizing surfaces. At 214 Pressure Washing, we practice what we preach, engaging in routine power washing on all of our exterior surfaces. We have a team of trained professionals skilled at analyzing exterior surface risk. They are able to provide business owners with an effective plan for exterior surface cleaning and sanitizing. Our power washing is conducted in line with the recommendations of the CDC. We utilize high-flow pressure washers, heated water, chemicals and surface cleaners to achieve the desired results for our customers. We offer customized pressure washing packages to meet any demand and budget.

We’re all in this together. Today more than ever, the regular cleaning and sanitizing of exterior surfaces is a prudent business practice, and pressure washing is an effective means to sanitizing exterior surfaces. We’re here to help you prepare your business for the return of employees and clients. Let’s each do our part to mitigate so that we can get back to the business of our business.