Soft wash on algae

Tinwhistle*

I've recently had the front if the house 'soft washed' to remove algae. I was away at the time but my daughter was at home. She tells me the man took a maximum of 15 minutes to do the job yet he's charging me €150.

Am I bring ripped off?

pablo128

How much did his van, power washer, generator, fuel, servicing, advertising all cost?

To put it another way, price a set of brake pads in your car in your local motor factors, and then go to a garage and ask how much to supply and fit the same brake pads. It only takes 15 minutes to change a set of brake pads.

Cerco

Was the wash successful ?
Did he remove all the algae and staining?
What type of house is it?

Tinwhistle*

Cerco wrote: »

Was the wash successful ?
Did he remove all the algae and staining?
What type of house is it?

It's only faded.

_Brian

Was the price agreed up front ??

Tinwhistle*

_Brian wrote: »

Was the price agreed up front ??

It was Brian, but I wasn't expecting to pay that for 15 minutes work. I'm going to hold off payment and see how the work looks in a couple of weeks. Maybe after some rain, it will improve.

JustLen

You agreed to the price, he done it and now you dont fwel like paying?
He went out in good faith expecting to be paid. Maybe he could of spent his time elswhere instead of washing down your house for free.

If you have an issue speak to him about it, holding off payment is bad form.

Bear in mind he could of faffed around for an hour or two pretending to do the work, would you have been happy to pay then?

_Brian

I think this is bad form. Would OP have offered to pay extra if this lad scrubbed all day and produced the same results ??

If you agree a price and the job is delivered as requested then pay up.

Tinwhistle*

I didn't say I wouldn't pay, I said I'd hold it off until I'm happy with the work he's done. You'd understand if you could see it...

pablo128

Tinwhistle* wrote: »

I didn't say I wouldn't pay, I said I'd hold it off until I'm happy with the work he's done. You'd understand if you could see it...

If he didn't do the job right that's another story. In that case I'd be back on to him.

fred funk }{

Tinwhistle* wrote: »

I didn't say I wouldn't pay, I said I'd hold it off until I'm happy with the work he's done. You'd understand if you could see it...

Would you have rathered he spent a couple of hours flaffing about with the end result being the same?

Cerco

I think OP is right to be cautious in this case. Waiting a few days to see the results makes sense to me especially if the job was completed quickly. I am interested to hear how it looks in the end.
Many houses show algae coming through after painting. Perhaps not properly prepped beforehand.
It seems powerwash is not enough so maybe softwash is the answer.

JustLen

The softwash generally takes a few weeks to work fully depending on the chemical used.

If it turns out the job wasnt done properly than fair enough.

My point is, speak to him about it. Dont just hold off on payment for an undedined amount of weeks without talking to him on it.