Contractor’s Outlook – Spring Always Follows Winter

by Diane M. Calabrese | Published January 2025

 

 

There’s winter and economic winter.

Economic winter is the metaphorical one. But contractors accustomed to dealing with meteorological winter may be among those most prepared for economic fluctuation.

Whether it’s the economy or the air that’s cold, the chill brings some power washing to a halt. Contractors cope with winter by adding services. The strategy of adding services is a good one for a time of economic malaise.

Having a house, deck, roof, driveway, or patio cleaned by a professional cannot be labeled a luxury. Yet when people are trimming household budgets, such cleaning gets shunted to the non-necessity column.

Absolute necessity? It’s the evaluation individuals make when cutting their expenditures.

Contractors aiming to retain a positive outlook—thanks to a steady flow of customers—use a parallel analysis. Which services will customers be willing to pay for when times are difficult?

We will get back to the “which services” question in the next section. There’s another question a contractor should be able to answer first: Am I doing enough to find jobs?

For instance, a contractor should not simply look at the economy and assume that fewer requests for service means that no one wants service. Take the initiative.

“One of the ways to navigate tough times is to have constant contact with our customers through email, text, and calls to see if they want to get on schedule for a cleaning,” says John Tornabene, owner, Clean County Powerwashing in Kings Park, NY. “This works at any time, even if the year will have rough patches or be unpredictable.”

No matter what the economic climate, be certain that readiness defines the company. “Be ready to roll out to get the job done that may fall on your lap out of nowhere,” says Tornabene.

Many contractors may discount the likelihood of getting jobs for residential cleaning during the deepest part of winter. They may even winterize and store most of their equipment, but not every residential cleaning job can wait until spring.

For instance, people put their homes on the market in all seasons. Some may need to sell as fast as possible.

Add the urgency to a dirty house, and the result is usually a realtor looking for a contractor who can get out on a day when the ambient temperature rises above freezing to clean the house’s exterior. Clean exteriors may not matter to prospective buyers as much as to realtors who do not want their names attached to a less-than-attractive property.

Tornabene says that contractors must always have a positive outlook irrespective of ups and downs in the economy. “And never waver in your determination to get the job at hand completed.”

Determination and positive outlook are two sides of the same coin. They reinforce each other. More businesspeople determined to do what it takes to keep things moving—and reject succumbing to sluggishness—create movement in the economy. The movement elevates outlook.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the current business climate, says Tornabene. “It starts with the leaders who are at the top of government, whether it is at the national or local level, who work tirelessly for the people they represent to bring opportunity back to them.”

A contractor’s responsibility to his or her business is to continue to plan and pursue. That includes the introduction of new approaches and strategies.

Tornabene has committed to a strategic change that will continue in the new year. “We started to get more parking garages to be power washed and swept on multi-year contracts this year and plan on adding much more of them for 2026.”

Ardent doing at the regional level a contractor serves stands as one component of maintaining a positive outlook. The other is involvement with other contractors—yes, competitors in some cases.

Tornabene says that contractors should ask themselves a question: “Would attending industry conventions and events in 2026 be helpful for your company in a potentially unpredictable year?”

And Tornabene answers his own question in the affirmative. “Yes, absolutely, not only because the knowledge you can gain from attending such events could keep you ahead of the curve by giving you a leg up on your competition, but also because of some of the networking and friendships you can make there,” he says.

Priceless is the descriptor Tornabene uses to describe the networking and friendships. A positive takeaway to be sure.

 

Answers to “Which”

It might seem that prospective customers who have paused having their decks washed are also going to skip having holiday lights installed, but that’s an assumption that requires more thought.

The uplift that homeowners receive from the holidays mean that many will continue with traditions. They may not see holiday lights as a necessity, but they will not cut them from their budget.

Holiday light installation (and removal and storage) is just one of the add-on services that keep power washing contactors busy across 12 months a year. Another is gutter cleaning.

When tapping relationships with their clients, power washing contractors who clean gutters can remind customers why gutters should be cleaned. Talk about safety for the homeowner who avoids a DIY fall and care of the integrity of a home that’s less likely to suffer structural damage from ice dams.

In short, customers will find the money to pay for something that’s important. The “something” includes celebration, safety, and preservation.

Add-ons in winter may include snow removal. Many contractors do attach plow blades to pickups and contract to clean commercial parking lots.

Think through any add-on service before offering it. Snow removal illustrates the point. Will insurance in place cover liability for running into a car? Will work be on retainer for the commercial property owner, or will the contractor only be paid if it snows? How difficult will it be to meet the hours required to ensure the lots are passable when the property owner expects them to be?

Hospitals and grocery stores typically want contractors to be out removing snow as it falls. Taking multiple jobs will make that impossible. A contractor might best add snow removal work by subcontracting with an established snow removal company.

Snow removal may not be the best addition to services offered. There may be too little or too much to make it profitable.

Still, snow removal takes us into the realm of commercial work. In slow economic times, contractors that take on a mix of residential and commercial jobs have more resilience.

It takes a great deal of preparation to be ready to bid on or respond to a request for proposals (RFP) from a commercial entity. Insurance and certification requirements will be outlined by the property owner.

Contractors determined to grow their companies to long-lived and prosperous enterprises must consider which kinds of services will make that possible. To be profitable long-term residential cleaning often must be expanded to gated communities, apartment complexes, or other commercial home sites.

Any commercial or government entity will expect documentation of a contractor’s certifications, insurance, and relevant credentials (e.g., portfolio). As difficult as any slow time during a complex economic period may be, it can be made better by using it to complete certification requirements needed to take on new kinds of work.

It’s simple to get a sense of what responding to a government RFP entails by reading a few RFPs. Federal, state and local governments must make their solicitations available (at least if they exceed a threshold dollar amount).

The state of Florida makes it very easy to find open RFPs through a dedicated website. Other states do the same, although some of their website query systems are not as streamlined.

The easiest way to get to RFPs issued by a state is to use a search engine and query with something like “Georgia [or another state], government contracts, RFPs, power washing, pressure washing.”

There are consolidators that offer access to government RFPs for a price. Going through them isn’t necessary. And especially for educational purposes, just use the free access path.

Weathering the storm, surviving winter…we know the euphemisms for slow economic times. A slow period imperils the bottom line. It can, however, be an excellent time to learn and to ensure all equipment and ancillaries are in excellent condition.

With more credentials, good equipment, and acute knowledge of the sorts of customers (private and government) looking for power washing services, a contractor will be prepared to respond to opportunities that come with an economic upturn. Preparation is always better than procrastination (or lament).

Ideas for additions are everywhere. For example, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which the federal government uses in census and other statistical data analyses, assigns power washing exterior services to NAICS code 561790 (other services to buildings and dwellings). Go to Census.gov to review all that’s lumped into the code.

The review will generate plenty of ideas on additional services. Gutter cleaning is there. So, too, are chimney cleaning, sweeping driveways and parking lots, cleaning swimming pools, and many more.

Spring always follows winter.