Cleaning parking garages - Cleaning Talk - Professional Cleaning and Restoration Forum

perfection plus · 05-03-2009, 08:25 PM

I just bid on a 194 unit new construction apartment complex for final clean. The project manager also ask me to bid on cleaning a 2 level parking garage. I've never done any garages before. Each level is 70608 sq ft. I'm assuming I'll just pressure wash them. Any ideas on how much to bid and how long it should take? Thanks for your help

Scott Stone · 05-04-2009, 12:50 PM

I have done a few garages, this month...

This Sounds like a new construction cleanup. Realistically, you should be able to do it fairly quickly. There are some things to consider, and remember that I am presenting a worst case, legal scenario.
Regulators, if the exist in you area, and they very well could will be watching this parking garage for cleaning. You will probably need to recapture the water, unless their is an interceptor in the bottom of the garage. They are easy to find. If there are manhole covers, and most likely multiple manhole covers close to each other there is an interceptor. If there are not, you will need to block any drains, filter the wash water and pump it to a sanitary sewer. (it really is not that big a deal, I promise) As for pricing, since there is so much concrete, about 140,000 sq. ft. +/-, you are going to be able to do a lot of concrete fast, probably faster than you have ever done concrete before. I have been doing this for 20 years, and I can clean about 5000 to 6000 sq. ft an hour. I have had employees that could only clean about 2000 sq. ft. an hour. You will probably fall somewhere in the middle. You will also need to know if they intend for you to clean the ceiling and walls of the garage. That will be an additional cost. I don't like to talk about pricing, because Virginia is very different from Arizona. So, you will need to figure out how fast you can clean, and go with your standard hourly rate.
As for actual methods, on a new garage they are pretty straight forward and just mean you need to wash for hours on end.
This is not my usual forum, so you can probably send me a PM if you have questions and I will come back here and post the answer.

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 05-09-2009, 12:57 PM

Give me a call. I will help you.

I was asked to help you by Ron over at PWI. I am not usually over at this site... infact I am new to this site. I have been cleaning parking garages since 1989. I only clean parking structures and nothing else. I work closely with the EPA and discharge permits that are needed in most states.

I suggest you go to our website for some general info.

WWW.GarageCleaning.Net

You may also call me at 510-612-0437

Jim Gamble
Crystal Cleaning Company LLC

Ron Musgraves · 05-09-2009, 11:55 PM

Jim Big Bad Rig......

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 02-10-2010, 03:13 PM

We are building a new filtration design. This will be one of the most advanced 40+ GPM filtrations on the planet. It will have two aluminum tanks. One will be under 200 gallons... the other will be around 1,000 gallons.

Trailer is powder coated from 10 to 16 mil thick. Axles are replaced with rubber ride at 9k each axle. This will be bigger then our yellow beast above. It will have (4 to 6) 2 hp pumps. It will take up to 15kw to run the thing. We have a power plant ( Generator diesel ) made by Kubota.

www.GarageCleaning.Net

Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio

Ron Musgraves · 02-10-2010, 09:48 PM

Lets see photos Jimmy

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 04-11-2011, 10:15 PM

OK, Since Ron asked.....

Since Ron already posted one of our Yellow Beast on this site, I thought we would post some of us actually cleaning a live Parking Garage for once. To date, I have not seen any video's in length of a Parking Garage Cleaning service that offers FULL reclamation on a scale designed for Multi Level Garage Cleaning. We invite those who do parking Garages, to go ahead and post actual cleanings in length to help others learn from us.

Here is the latest video that we have. We are still not finished with the format, but this gives you a general Idea for Garage Cleaning.

Our custom filtration unit can filter 40+ GPM's per minute.

www.GarageCleaning.Net

Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio

ALL equipment is either bought from the manufacture or we designed, then built it ourselves. We show videos similar to this one for our clients. Video's are a great way to sell a job. We are celebrating our 22 year in cleaning Multi Level Parking Structures to EPA requirements.

Enjoy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hanP-NDHDzU

This video will be up only for a short while. Hurry and see it before it is gone....

www.GarageCleaning.Net

Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio

Peerless · 04-13-2011, 09:52 AM

That video is unreal!!! I like the hydro feet that come down.

I have never seen such a rig before.

You must clean more concrete in a day than most do in a year.

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 04-15-2011, 03:50 AM

Thanks !!!

We designed our units from the ground up. We are able to hit 350 degrees to break the bond of an oil stain.

Our filtration unit is designed to meet all EPA requirements for discharge in all 50 states and their respected counties and cities.

We are please to share what we have learned in our 22 years of cleaning Parking Structures.

Again,

Thanks !

www.GarageCleaning.Net

Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 04-21-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peerless

That video is unreal!!! I like the hydro feet that come down.

I have never seen such a rig before.

You must clean more concrete in a day than most do in a year.

Thanks again. We can clean up to 300,000 sq ft in a day. That is with full rinse down of walls ceilings, stairs, etc, Full reclamation and Hand scrubbing.

The reason why we can do this is the filtration unit. It can keep up with us without " Bottle necking" our performance. You see, you can only go as fast as your filtration unit. If it is slow... lets say 15 GPM'S, then thats as fast as you can go...15 GPM's. In fact, in a short while, your filtration unit will get clogged and your performance will suffer greatly. Going from 15 to 12 to 8 to 3 GPM's. However your washers will not lose their GPM's.

When buying a filtration unit, Always consider what you are filtering.

If it is a drive thru, then get the size of your washer or a little bigger GPM's.

If you are getting a filter to do large projects, then get a filtration unit that is rated double or more from your output of your washers.

You need to size your filtration accordingly. So many times I see a company cleaning a parking garage facility with a filtration unit that has a capacity to hold maybe 50 gallons. These filtration units get clogged real fast in a Parking Garage scenario and then they create many problems, including the issue of stopping your production to clean your filtration unit. Guys on the washers cleaning above, needing to stand around while this takes place, thus costing you money.

The filtration manufactures do not tell you this, however they are fully aware of it.

www.GarageCleaning.Net

Serving California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 07-21-2011, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Musgraves

Jim Big Bad Rig......

I thought I would break the news on this BBS....

Because of such a demand, we are building another one of these. Making 3 trailers having 6 boilers of 1.1 to 1.6 million BTU's FOR EACH boiler.

This new trailer will have over 3.2 million BTU's at over 7-14 GPM's. We will build the unit to run at a basic tech level. It will be smaller then the photo above and is engineered and designed to fit inside a custom 40 ft Race car hauler type trailer. I say Race hauler only because it will appear as such from the on looker, when actuality it will be just a hauler with a FULL mechanic work station complete with hydraulic lifts.

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 10-02-2011, 01:21 PM

02a1bd019a9f[1].jpg

Our filtration Unit.

Specs

45+ GPM
15KW Diesel Kubota Generator
17.5 inch tires... re goove able 16 ply
Rubber Ride... No Springs
over 1,000 Gallons Sludge tank
Powder Coated to over 10 mil thick

Cost... $140k

Jim@GarageCleaning.Net · 10-02-2011, 01:23 PM

We are building 4 more washer units and two more Filtration units and 1 vacuum unit to handle the work load to clean Mulit Level Parking Strucutres to EPA spec's.