I've never done a job below $0.065 a square foot, (that was a 165,000 sq ft plaza, no gum, all flatwork) and with reclamation nothing less than $0.14 a square foot.
I'm doing a job tonight @ $0.18 square foot (lots of gum, 8,000 square foot)
How can anyone make money at $0.05 a square foot ? Sure, there are "competitors" that are doing work here in Phoenix for $0.02 - $0.05 a square foot, but they're basically only blowing the dust off the ground.
I understand these are troubling economic times, and many property owners/managers are looking for "cheap". My 1 major PM company is scaling back their budget since they are loosing tenets, and have asked me to scale down my scope of work, not quality. 1 example is instead of doing one of their 50,000 sq ft project 4 times a year, I have submitted my bids for next year to just do the entrance-ways every other service. This fits their budget.
We have a chain of convenience stores here, Circle K. They are paying $25.00 per cleaning for a 2300 sq ft location, $125.00 for a 4 fuel island, 10,000 sq ft location. I watched a 2 man crew blow through a 10,000 sq ft location near my home about a month ago. They were in and out within an hour. No chemicals, no spinner, just 2 guys racing around with wands blowing off the dust.
To make matters worse, they were spraying customers cars while they were entering or leaving. Watched the hose get run over twice. I sure wish I had my video camera with me.
Quality work retains customers, and is the most valuable source of advertising.