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How to find 2,000,000+ sqft in post construction cleanups in 1 week

A detailed how-to on finding construction cleanup opportunities

By Jerome Gaston - 12.27.2022 - 5 min read

Back in 2012, I made a lot of money off of one big construction clean up.

It was a whole high-end apartment complex right down the street from one of our larger cleaning contracts.

Since then I put most of my focus on finding large annual cleaning contracts, but recently I came across an old notebook with a ton of construction cleanup jobs I passed on in 2012 because of this one huge one.

I tallied the square footage and was pretty surprised.

Over 1,000,000 square feet of missed opportunity!

That’s when I thought it would be interesting to see if my old methods still worked.

And if I would be able to find more then I did then.

 

Method 1 - Driving for Dollars

Just like it says.

Drive for dollars.

Drive around your city and look for construction sites.

Once you come across a construction site look for the general contractor’s trailer and stop in.

Make sure you have a business card or flyer on hand to give to the site supervisor.

If you get to meet him/her make sure you get the answers to these few questions:

  1. Will they be subbing out the cleaning?

  2. How large is the project?

  3. When will it be complete?

After that keep in touch throughout the course of the project until they are in need of your services.

 

Method 2 - GRRRR Method with a twist

I’ve mentioned this method many times in the Facebook groups as an answer to the frequently asked question.

“How do I find buildings to bid on?”

Here’s how to do it for construction companies:

 

💻(G) google construction companies in your state.

Not your area.

Your state.

Construction companies travel all over to deliver their service. So it’s highly likely a construction company whose headquarters is 5 hours away is building something within your vicinity.

 

🤓(R) research each company’s website

What you’re looking to see is if they have an upcoming project section or blog on their website. If they do document the projects of interests.

 

📞(R) reach out to each one.

When cold calling a construction company, ask to get on the list of bidders for all their upcoming projects. Even if you have a specific project in mind, get on the list of bidders for all upcoming projects then ask for the estimator or superintendent for a specific project.

Not all construction companies sub out their post-construction cleaning. This is something you won’t know until you call and ask.

Once on the list of bidders, you will probably receive emails for every project they are bidding on.

This gives you an advantage over most cleaning companies.

Just because the construction company is bidding on a project doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed that they will win it. So if its a project your interested in, keep an eye on it.

 

🧠(R) remember to keep the results to each cold call so they can either be kept on your list of potential clients or removed.

 

🔄(R) repeat this for each potential construction company until you go through your whole list!

If your interested here is the post on ‘How to build solid leads + cold call script’. It contains the original GRRRR method.

 

Method 3 - Keep up on local literature

This method always has the best results.

Search the websites of the newspapers and business journals in your area. You want to search through the business, construction, or real estate sections.

If you don’t see anything within the past couple weeks keep looking further back.

The good thing about construction is it takes a long time to complete.

So your window for opportunity is open for a long time.

 

How did I find 2,000,000+ sq feet in post-construction cleanups?

A mix of methods 2 and 3.

Below are all the potential cleanups👇

  1. Marriott hotel - four-story 90-rooms - 50,000 sq ft

  2. Burkentine Builders  - 454 townhome complex @ 1600 sqft each - 726,400 sq ft

  3. Members 1st Federal Credit Union HQ - 172,000 sq ft

  4. Larken Assoc. - 107 garage-style apartments - TBD

  5. Allegro Harrington Park - 220,758 sq ft

  6. Harrisburg Federal Courthouse - Kinsley - 243,000 sq ft

  7. Carlisle YMCA - Mowery - 50,000 sq ft

  8. Embers Warehouse - Mowery - 380,069 sq ft

  9. Kellinger Greene - 56 townhomes - 56,000 sq ft

  10. Fairfield Inn & Suites - 90 rooms - 50,000 sq ft

  11. Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology - 86,000 sq ft

 

Total Square Footage:

2,034,227

 

 

Will I chase all of these?

Probably not.

The ones I am interested in would be :

  1. Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology - 86,000 sq ft

  2. Carlisle YMCA - Mowery - 50,000 sq ft

  3. Harrisburg Federal Courthouse - Kinsley - 243,000 sq ft

  4. Members 1st Federal Credit Union HQ - Mowery - 172,000 sq ft

  5. Embers Warehouse - Mowery - 380,069 sq ft

Total Square Footage:

931,069

 

I usually start my pricing at 40 cents then move up or down based on the SOW. 

If I charge about 40 cents a square foot that comes to $372,427.60.

Not bad for a few hours of research.

I want to act on the five listed above because they have a more open space footprint and there is more likely an opportunity to roll these into annual contracts.

There’s little to no opportunity after the clean-up for the townhomes.

And as for the hotels, there may be an opportunity to do the windows and carpets on a bi-annual basis. I might still reach out when they are complete.

Hope this helps you find a couple more construction cleanups.

Best,

Jerome