large warehouse cleaning--walls/floors

Hi Everybody,
I’m a newbie here. I’m a stone restoration specialist, tile/grout cleaner and long time carpet cleaner. My friend from my church works with this company which owns a few warehouses, one of which has a lease expiring in April. I’ve done some minimal work for them before and my friend is going to do what he can to help me get the job. The tenant has been there 15 yrs, does a lot of metal cutting with lasers, etc. Apparently no in dept cleaning has been done there in the last 15 yrs. Apparently the tenant needs to have the place “cleaned up some” when they leave so they need to do some cleaning to a certain extent.

The bottom line is that the owners need the cement warehouse walls and the partially painted concrete floors cleaned for a new future tenant. The walls need to be cleaned so they are ready for painting. There is no tenant in mind yet so, for now, regarding the concrete floors, they want them cleaned for a new tenant move in.

For me, I’ve never done a job like this on this large of a scope. The concrete floors total approximately 22,000 square feet. The cement walls are 25’ high, in which there is approximately 375 linear feet of 25’ walls. There is another 125’ approximately of 15’ walls that are over the office section of the building. The office ceilings are covered by plywood.

My initial questions are:
1. What type of equipment would be best utilized for doing this job? I’ve done considerable pressure washing with my truck mount unit before, but it is limited to 1500 psi. I’m thinking of renting a 3000psi heated unit for pressure washing the walls and floors. Might I rent something bigger? What special type of wand attachments might I consider for this project? I’m also thinking of a 21” circular pressure washer on wheels for the floors. I’m going to check these out right away! For example, perhaps renting a walk behind sweeper for $175 a day(1day) might be advisable for the initial "sweeping/cleaning" before I start putting water on the floor, which without would be creating a mud, etc.
2. How long might a project like this take? How many workers might I best utilize?
3. Very importantly, what might the competition be pricing this project at? The tenant is responsible for a certain amount, the owners for the balance for the results I’ve mentioned above. Apparently, if the tenant doesn’t have it cleaned, the owners will deduct their share from their deposit.

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice. I appreciate it very much and look forward to interaction with the many professional on this site.

Kent

Doing some research re rental yards. I'm liking this Nilfisk-Advance Captor 4800 Ride on machine which has water supply, vacuum, waste tank, brushes. 48" path. I could consider using a high pressure surface cleaner(21") before it(or better yet after it) for any extra cleaning, then come back by with the Captor 4800 again. It says it can easily clean 85k sf per hour. I only have 26k sf of flooring. Sounds like I would have plenty of time in 1 rental day to go over the floor several times if needed. $710 per day. The sweeper mentioned in my initial question(Nilfisk-Advance Terra 132B) "appears" only capable of dry vacuuming.

A key cleaning question I have is how many sf (on the average) of a 25’ wall can be pressure cleaned per hour? Would a specific type of wand or jet be more suitable than another for this type of job?

The collected grime on the walls is mainly comprised of garnet dust and metal dust. (Apparently, Garnet is a natural mineral, a hard silicate compound which is treated as a gemstone when it has fine colour and clarity. It is used in preference to Silica sand to overcome the shortcomings of raw silica.)
Thanks, Kent

Hey Kent, glad to see you made it. Gotta eat dinner and then do some night cleaning. I'll weigh in the morning.

Thanks doug for helping me get on here. I appreciate it.

Hey Kent, it sounds to me like you are thinking the right direction. I am not really into commercial work like that as I do more residential than anything. Hopefully some of the other guy's here will chime on and offer some assistance.

Thanks doug, I'm especially trying to figure out how many sf per hour for doing 25' walls. 750sf per hr???

That's all gonna depend on the equipment, chemicals, etc. One question I would have is how are you containing and or evacuating the water in the warehouse. Are there floor drains, are you squeeging it out bay doors???? Water control will play in to your time.

I had a great talk with Doug Tripp. He helped me out a lot. Yes Doug, water removal will be a big factor. There is no drainage. I talked with Doug T. regarding a strategy of water flow, using oil absorbing filters, then vacuuming with my truck mount and dumping into the sewer/toilet. We talked about using down streaming system or x jet for applying chemical, depending on the strength of chemical I need. We figured I could do all my cleaning with a 3500psi(5gpm) pressure washer, wand and a 21” Surface Cleaner, which I don’t know where to rent at the moment.

Regarding pricing:

Walls: ---500 linear feet x 25’=500 x $4=$2000
---125 linear feet x 15”=125 x $4=$500 (This area is over the offices, which are covered by plywood. I will need to tape down plastic, etc in order to avoid possible water damage issues. Therefore, $4 a linear foot.)

Floors: These should clear pretty easy with a Surface Cleaner.
---21000 x .15=$3150

Walls= $2500
Floors=$3150
Total =$5650
-exp. -$650 Misc. supplies(oil absorbers, etc) and 3 days rental of pressure washer
Profit $5,000

I’m figuring me and a helper should be able to do this in 3 days. Is $5650 too much? What type of bids might I be going up against? Thinking out loud here.

Kent

I had a great talk with Doug Tripp. He helped me out a lot. Yes Doug, water removal will be a big factor. There is no drainage. I talked with Doug T. regarding a strategy of water flow, using oil absorbing filters, then vacuuming with my truck mount and dumping into the sewer/toilet. We talked about using down streaming system or x jet for applying chemical, depending on the strength of chemical I need. We figured I could do all my cleaning with a 3500psi(5gpm) pressure washer, wand and a 21” Surface Cleaner, which I don’t know where to rent at the moment.

Regarding pricing:

Walls: ---500 linear feet x 25’=500 x $4=$2000
---125 linear feet x 15”=125 x $4=$500 (This area is over the offices, which are covered by plywood. I will need to tape down plastic, etc in order to avoid possible water damage issues. Therefore, $4 a linear foot.)

Floors: These should clear pretty easy with a Surface Cleaner.
---21000 x .15=$3150

Walls= $2500
Floors=$3150
Total =$5650
-exp. -$650 Misc. supplies(oil absorbers, etc) and 3 days rental of pressure washer
Profit $5,000

I’m figuring me and a helper should be able to do this in 3 days. Is $5650 too much? What type of bids might I be going up against? Thinking out loud here.

Kent

This kid was polluting , for two hundred he would soak a women carrying a baby. No water control at all. No permit either.


Ron Musgraves text me for questions 480-522-5227 Pressure Washing Institute

Don't know what your talking about Ron. I guess my post was misleading. Doug helped me with many of the aspects of doing a job like this, including how to take some of the oil, etc. out of the water. He said to check with the municipalities re what to do with the water after "some of the filtering". It was MY idea (as I typed out this post) regarding putting the water through the toilet, NOT DOUG'S. This is a new issue for me which I need to research more.

I'd appreciate very much any suggestions you might have as to how I should treat and dispose of the water regarding this type of cleaning situation.

Kent