Why Should Canadian Exterior Cleaners add Sealing To Their Business?

Should they bother going down the road of getting Trident  Master Certified?

The biggest reason to add sealing is for one reason, better margins and becoming a niche contractor in your area which as something the other's don't. The Second biggest, and arguably equally large reason, is to get the Trident Advanced Courses that are the last step to becoming a Master Certified Contractor. There's more down the page about each of these topics.

How much more would my business make by sealing?

Well, first, for the jobs you already have on stone, concrete, tiles, or pavers it's an easy upsell by explaining to the homeowner. Sealing will keep their surfaces cleaner longer, prevent them from breaking down and getting freeze damage, and depending on the sealer you choose to install, prevent staining and pitting.

For the jobs you didn't already have, when you set yourself apart as a quality sealing contractor you can appear much higher in your local google searches as those key words are not nearly as saturated as the constant barrage of new "property maintenance" companies. Ranking for sealing, as well as having the word of mouth that you offer a service that others locally do not, is much easier than trying to do the same as a roof cleaner, or house washer, or window cleaner.

You didn't answer my question, how much more will my business make?

Right, I didn't, I explained how it will be easier for you to acquire and maintain clients by operating in a niche which other locals do not. The reason there's no hard numbers there, is because pricing across a country like Canada varies wildly, so for example I'll share some of our local Vancouver numbers.

AVG Flat Work Cleaning Price in Vancouver:

$0.15 - $0.50 / SQFT is what the average "home services company" charges.

AVG Stone or Concrete Cleaning and Sealing Price in Vancouver:

$2.5 - $4.5 / SQFT (Depends on sealer type, need to strip old sealer or not, and if there's paving stone joints to stabilize)

Now, so as to protect the back end business info of local contractors I'm not going to divulge their cost per SQFT on a public blog, but I  will urge you to contact the pro department at StoneSealer Canada and set up a free contractor pricing account so you can see what your business's pricing would be directly online.

Why is the Master Certfication Advanced Courses from Trident Important?

The advanced courses, the last step to becoming a Master Certified Contractor from Trident USA is purely about the business side of things. In those courses you'll learn from business professionals about how to scale on your road to making $1M a year, how to operate a flooding business that your biggest struggle is having enough staff, how to project your profits and costs as well as setting an earnings goal, how to market paver restoration locally to you at little to no cost, and more. Best of all, did we mention the entire pathway from never sealed before to being a Trident Master Certified Contractor is free? There is 0 reason to not at least head to T3 University and get some free knowledge about how to do it, and see if adding an easy add on service would work for your business, even if you don't end up sealing full time the business knowledge is unbeatable.

I'll give you an example, using the spreadsheet that Trident gives away for free during the advanced courses we set some goals that seemed very far fetched for earnings in the year. We sat down and said, we want to earn $650,000 CAD with one rig and 2 employee's, theres absolutely 0 chance this can happen right? Wrong, check out these numbers below.

To earn $650k in Vancouver from paver sealing with the average restoration price of $4.5 per SQFT, and only being able to work 6 months of the year due to the climate, you would need to seal 1 average size driveway per day 5 days a week for 3 months, then 1 average driveway a week for another 3 months. And this doesn't include the roof and houses washes you'll sell as add on's on the spot.

Now say we pay ourself $60k as a salary, deduct all the Trident sand and sealer costs, a van, a wrap, maintenance, SSC cleaning chemicals, 1500 a month in marketing for 6 months of the year, gas, 2 employees at $27/hr, you STILL manage to have a slush fund of $129,000 at the end of the year.

This is the power of being able to forecast and set earning goals, because I know that even if I needed to knock those doors myself I could sell 1 driveway a day for 3 months of the year, and what happens is you end up getting every other paver driveway on the block when neighbours see how incredible the Trident system looks.

Are There Downsides to Adding Sealer to a Cleaning or Landscaping Business?

Yes, there is one glaring complaint we get from almost every contractor that finishes the training and gets out on the road sealing pavers and concrete "SSC, help me I don't know what to do, I have a months worth of work booked and can't find staff fast enough" We had a local Vancouver contractor call BS on our price list may 1st, then call to complain that he needed to add a third dedicated sealing truck that he cant find staff for just to keep up just 2 months later. So if you like self reliance, booking and retaining more clients, and providing more quality work for better money at a more sustainable pace, then sealing definitely isn't for you.