Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

njacobson · Veteran Member

Company name

Diamond Roof Cleaning · Approved Exterior Cleaner

No its not. I think he has SoftWash spelled exactly like that. You can be ex. "Big Guy Soft Washing". That will not be a problem. Just make sure your website is loaded for keywords with power / pressure washing.

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

They have a trademark on "SoftWash" (capital W) but not "Soft Wash" or "Softwash" etc. You should be fine with "Soft Washing."

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

SWS has SoftWash & SoftWash System in that order.

We use the term Exterior Cleaning or Cleaners because that is what we do. We do not just softwash. We do window cleaning, graffiti removal, rust removal, pressure washing, etc....

+1 on Mike comment about keywords biggrin

Roof Cleaning Virginia · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Per the USPTO dB query:

Admin · Head Quarters

Roof Cleaning Virginia wrote:
Per the USPTO dB query:

Thanks Ted

Aqua Boy · Veteran Member

Nick,

Try not to be in a rush for a name. (Once its registered / Business cards ect.... it becomes a pain to reverse

Think about relevance to the market your targeting

Think about a catchy name

Think about a name that can be remembered

*Like John said Soft Washing is just one application exterior cleaners do.

Attempt to capture something that in-compasses all the different things you offer within your trade

General
Specific
Then Details

njacobson · Veteran Member

Thank you everyone for input.
Aqua boy. i am doing just that. trying to find something memorable and encompassing. For some reason ROOF REHAB got in my head and stuck. but im afraid that sell sme short.

Ted.. is that link showing that SOFTWASH all capital is also tm.?

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

njacobson wrote:
Thank you everyone for input.
Aqua boy. i am doing just that. trying to find something memorable and encompassing. For some reason ROOF REHAB got in my head and stuck. but im afraid that sell sme short.

Ted.. is that link showing that SOFTWASH all capital is also tm.?

I like Roof Rehab. Roof cleaning sets you apart so I think it would be a winner. You won't get roofrehab.com though since it's registered. I tried to look for names where I could get the .com.

there are some business name generators that are fun to play around with.

https://www.shopify.com/tools/business-name-generator

http://www.coolnameideas.com/business-name-generator/

njacobson · Veteran Member

i see roofrehab.com is registered. but roofrehabfl.com is open

Aselton · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I tried unsuccessfully to trademark Softwashing many years ago... I also tried to buy Softwash.com, Johnson & Johnson had that too.

Aselton · Approved Exterior Cleaner

You should ask guys around here if they have have any .coms for sale.... I know a bunch of guys I have talked to have extras.

Roof Cleaning Virginia · Approved Exterior Cleaner

njacobson wrote:
Thank you everyone for input.
Aqua boy. i am doing just that. trying to find something memorable and encompassing. For some reason ROOF REHAB got in my head and stuck. but im afraid that sell sme short.

Ted.. is that link showing that SOFTWASH all capital is also tm.?

I input the search as SoftWash, yet all results were in caps. I suspect it's simply due to an archaic gov't owned dB program, but I don't know that for sure. I have a friend that works at the USPTO in DC I can reach out to if you'd like.

Re business names, pick something you like. What's a Verizon, or a Kleenex? How about "Michael and Sons"? I could go on, but they're nothing without branding and marketing from a naming convention / perspective. You can make anything work. Just don't LIMIT your services too much with a name, that's the best that I can offer.

If you're going to use the word 'rehab' at all, I'd go full on roofing company offering repairs etc, otherwise it seems a bit misleading. I've got family near you and know the area fairly well. You'll want to offer multiple services, that's for sure. Look hard at Citrus County

njacobson · Veteran Member

thanks ted. full on roof company in florida is no easy task with licence, insurance, and so on.
i will def. be offering more then roof cleaning. but that will be the primary focus down here i believe. not much siding to speak of. and everyone owns a pressure washer for cleaning stucco. lol but there is a big market in the dirty black roofs i believe

Roof Cleaning Virginia · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Man, talk about connecting with your target audience, and having the coolest mascot for your area?

At Manatee Roof Cleaning, 5% of our proceeds go to the Save the Manatee Club!

Imagine the graphics on your rig There are thousands of great names and domains available. Think long and hard, then make one yours.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Virginia on Wednesday 10th of February 2016 08:47:41 PM

Aselton · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Boom!

njacobson · Veteran Member

Manatee has definitely already
been on the brain!!

njacobson · Veteran Member

wheres the like button on this thing??!!

Roof Cleaning Virginia · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Roof Cleaning Virginia wrote:

Man, talk about connecting with your target audience, and having the coolest mascot for your area?

At Manatee Roof Cleaning, 5% of our proceeds go to the Save the Manatee Club!

Imagine the graphics on your rig There are thousands of great names and domains available. Think long and hard, then make one yours.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Virginia on Wednesday 10th of February 2016 08:47:41 PM

Last post on this for a while, I promise. I just saw on the Manatee Club website that one can "adopt" a real Manatee, with all kinds of cools things like a certificate and so on for $25 a pop. Imagine 'adopting a manatee' in EVERY roof cleaning client's name. TONS of good press for you, good for the manatees, and it'll make the homeowners tell everyone about you. Who doesn't want to tell their friends about their adopted manatee? (You, being the wise business guy that you are, simply bake the $25 adoption fee in to all of your services Win, win, win.

Check out Dave's graphics here. Imagine a Manatee instead of an elephant.

Whatever you go with, simply make it yours! Best of luck with your new business.

njacobson · Veteran Member

THanks Ted. Youre alright!!

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Yeah... You can get roofrehab.com, but they want $1800. You've just got to figure out what will connect and what your competition is using to set yourself apart. I decided to go with the "what you do & where you do it" route. I also decided to go with a more casual branding (like the Manatee thing) since it connects with the people I'm wanting to sell to.

I like the adopt a Manatee idea. I know a guitar builder who offered that if any of his customers would get a tattoo of his logo, he would pay for the tattoo! He's already had three takers.

Fred W · Guru

Exterior Cleaners because it says so much more than Soft Washer......What is a soft washer?
Until people are educated the term soft wash is not a good "key word".

We are Cajun Soft Wash because I am building a brand around soft washing but I use keywords that are about pressure washing.

Now, for the term "Soft Washing", SoftWash", SoftWAshing", SwoftAshing" or whatever I hate to say it but I think ANYONE can use any term they desire and here's why.

Yes AC may have been able to Trademark the term in one form or another but that really does not mean much. The reason is simply that he has not tried to enforce it and now it's simply too late. You CAN'T enforce something at will. You must protect it against all or none. He could have offered to license the term to those using it but he didn't and even when he filed the Trademark I'm betting there were already several people who were using the term.

Lets look at just the NSWA Board alone...... How many people/companies use the term "SoftWash" in their website address? Now take that x 1000 or so others out there. The cost to enforce would be staggering and AC would lose in the end and he knows it.

I personally would not go with Roof Rehab and Roof Rehab Fl is even worse. Roof Rehab suggest roof replacement or repair and I just want my roof cleaned....Roof Rehab Fl will get Roof Rehab Dot Com more hits then you will get.

I love the whole manatee thing above....what a great way to advertise.

Liberty SoftWash · PWS Vender

ac who?

njacobson · Veteran Member

my reasoning behind roof rehab, (and i do understand what everyone is saying about repair) is that youre not just washing. you are riding the roof surface of harmful algae. and in a sense rejuvinating, healing, helping the roof substrate...
ive had many ideas, nothing is really sticking like roof rehab did for me
another idea i had
"Shoots and Ladders" Exterior Cleaning fun little twist. shooting water. i think will grab attention. this idea actually came to me after the manatee idea, by way of more brainstorming. and thinking support emergency response. Discounts to police officers and firefighters (shoots and ladders)

njacobson · Veteran Member

Eric I love your Liberty Softwash. simple. easy. short and like you said its more of a branding going on...
In regards to that, i have come up with very few
but one example
Poseidon Soft Wash

Liberty SoftWash · PWS Vender

Me if you want easy marketing i would put pressure washing in the name. Its cost a lot of time and money explaining soft washing to people. I was going to name it liberty pressure washing but wife talk me out of it.

Fred W · Guru

Our wives are just smarter than us.....:}

njacobson · Veteran Member

i feel like maybe softwash is not known enough to get the hits desired.. but at the same time, i want to be proud of the softwash process, and use it to my advantage. everyone can go to lowes and buy a pressure washer and be liberty pressure washing. but liberty softwash is another level!

and you dont want to sell yourself short by listing as soft wash only. because the people that dont know, are looking for roof cleaners, exterior cleaners and so on....I'm beating myself up over this! when will it end??

-- Edited by njacobson on Thursday 11th of February 2016 08:57:15 PM

Steve Salley · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Nicholas listen to these professionals. We call our company PAsoftwash and the fact we are the only roof cleaner in town makes it easy to brand softwashing. Most of the contractors around us tell their customers not to pressurewash but get it "pasoftwashed". They are the guys who used to do the pressure washing as an added service.

The biggest right thing we did was make Roof & Exterior Cleaning very large down the side of our trucks.

However, we get more calls for "do you pressure wash houses or roof or whatever. The answer is yes we do roof cleaning and exterior cleaning and then we explain our process.

Get the phone to ring first! Don't drink too much of the kool aid on softwashing. There will be plenty of time to discuss your processes when the phone rings. Just get found in the searches. If pressure washing or powerwashing or housewashing is the key expressions use them

As far as the name, jump all over Manatee. You will not believer the power of that image and you being the caring guy to take care of their home and the environment.

Just look up and see Doug's logo and branding with Cajun...

If you even are thinking about using it, get the domain now.

Just a couple thoughts from a guy who not too long ago was a newbie. This year we start year 6 and it is much easier to get the phone to ring.

You are not the only one in town so Florida demands you get noticed. Manatee.... Just my two cents worth

njacobson · Veteran Member

thanks steve for the advise.
i have definitely been noticing, even the softwash names, have roof and exterior cleaning on their vehicles like yourself and liberty

Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Ted Saunders

Founder, American-ProTech

Ted Saunders

Founder, American-ProTech

Ted Saunders

Founder, American-ProTech

Ted Saunders

Founder, American-ProTech