Pressure washing buissness

[deereboy72]

I want your opinions

About a pressure washing buissness so i have been looking at used heavy equipment and had a idea why not start a small home buissness to wash heavy equipment AG tractors residential tractors any equipment including trailers using a Agricultural/Commercial Heavy Duty Belt Drive (3500 PSI, 13.0 HP, 389cc Honda)
John Deere Pressure washer im 15 and thought hey good way to start working with heavy equipment and keeping the equipment clean for the next job the owner uses it for please Give me your opinions

 

[Bird]

I wouldn't want to discourage you, and especially since I'm not familiar with your part of the country, but around here, I doubt that you could find enough work to ever pay for the pressure washer, much less make any profit. It's been several years ago, but a cousin had a street sweeping and striping business (his kids still have the street sweeping business to clean parking lots at night), and at one time he acquired a really nice trailer mounted pressure washer with heater, detergent dispenser, etc. Even though he bought it cheap and used, in like new condition, he lost money getting rid of it when he couldn't find enough business to pay for it.

 

[cowboy357]

I Agree with Bird . Depends on Your Area , Due to the Economy & Lay offs Around here Everyone & There Brother are Offering Mobile Power washing on Craislist & Its all Ready Turning into a cut throat business .

That , With the Fact Most Folks Who have Heavy Equipment Or Even a Lawn Tractor have at Least a Small Power washer for there needs. We have 3 Ourselves One Being a Deisel fired Steam cleaner . Best of Luck on Your Decision. . Bob

 

[Stimw]

It seems like a good idea BUT, most who have equipment like to keep up with it themselves. A good pressure washer can be had for under $1000. and everyone has other stuff they need to clean.
Then there is the environmental side of it. Any commercial operation has to jump through major hoops to meet pollution standards for waste water containment and disposal.
But don't give up, keep thinking and looking. There are still opportunities you just have to stumble accross them.
Here is a very long thread about self employment that has a lot of practical inspiration in it-http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php/self-employment-different-way-170955.html

 

[EddieWalker]

A good salesman can sell ice to an Eskimo, so there's always a way to make a living doing what you want. The real question isn't so much about starting a business to do pressure washing, but can "YOU" make the business profitable.

Right now, business is slow. In good times, anybody can start a business and make a profit, but when times are slow, those who were marginal, or not at the top of their game, will fail. There are plenty who will start a new business today who will make a good living at it. Don't let the news and so called economy effect your decision to do this or not. If you have the skill to sell it and keep your clients happy, then you will succeed.

The questions you need to ask yourself and find the answers to before doing anything is whether it's a business that is worth the effort to start and if the return is there. Is anybody else doing this? Are they successful? Why are they successful?

Who is your market? How will they find out about you and how will you get them to hire you?

How much is your break even rate? How much do you need to make to pay your bills and make enough of a profit to make it worth your time?

I own my own business. I started out making just barely enough money to pay my bills. Over time, I've been able to build it up to where I have steady work, clients who recommend me to their friends and family and I can charge near the upper end of the scale. I haven't advertised in a few years, yet I'm currently booked up with work for the next two months, with bids out there for work after that. It's a never ending cycle of getting new jobs, doing those jobs and taking care of the paperwork. I work on it to some degree seven days a week.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[J_J]

Maybe you could hook up with a semi fueling compound and pressure wash semi trailers You know, pressure washing, cleaning out cabs, making the tires look pretty, and shining up hub caps., etc. You could also do regular gas stations, the overheads over the gas pumps, etc. You need to do a market survey, in your area and adjoining areas for potential task that you can accomplish.

You might also try and get into irrigation, not much equipment involved, and PVC is easy to work with. Some states require license.

 

[/pine]

It may not apply to your geographical area but a major factor in many areas is drought conditions and water use restrictions...

 

[deereboy72]

Thanks for the answers any other ideas to start a small buissness

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have a side business in the steam cleaning and pressure washing things and I found out where all the work is to make my business make money. I do off road washing Some outfits have an off road washer but here most dont and now mechanics wont work on some things without it being washed. And I also specialize in washing undercarriages of trucks and skidder belly pans. I look for anyday Mike Rowe to tap me on the shoulder with some of the jobs Ive done. Basically I do the jobs noone else wants. I got a good contracto with work to wash our equipment there and that paid for my machine.
But there s alot to learn at it at the first go around. When I started I was buying my soap for 5 to 7 dollars a gallon for Purple power. It just wasnt working. I found a guy near where I work that makes special blends for commercial uses. I now give 250 for a drum of soap I can dilute and it still kicks butt. Theres alot ot learn at this and its terribly nasty work. its hard to get into I do a few driveways along and along to.

 

[MikeD74T]

My brother had a pressure washing business a few years ago. He found washing trucks to be a loosing proposition. Truckers are fussy & find excuses to beat down your price after the wash & lot owners want a bigger cut if you're successful.
His best repetition was washing fry-o-lator vent hoods & ducts at restaurants. Most insurance companies require the ducts to be cleaned twice a year. It's disgustingly dirty as your equipment gets coated with the grease as do your clothes but it can pay good money & build a steady customer base. Beware of faulty grease traps that take your runoff. One downside is the hours, some want midnight+ service. If you go that route also look at soda blasting which is popular with food processing plants.
My brother's downfall was failure to keep appointments. My wife was his book keeper and scheduler. She'd send out fliers & follow up a week later with a phone call. She got more work than he wanted to do. Unfortunately he didn't communicate his unwillingness to do the work. She got sick of the "where were you?" calls and severed the relationship. He couldn't search for work & do the work so eventually sold the equipment. Moral of that is keep your appointments & you'll have happy repeat customers. Good luck. MikeD74T

 

[foggy1111]

I concurr with most of what was said above....sounds like it could be a ruff area to enter into.

One thought I have if you want to try your hand at a startup sevice type biz.....get a job doing "whatever" you can find needs doing.....and rent the piece of equipment for your first few jobs. You will soon learn if it's going to work out for you....and how much you need to charge to get paid a fair rate.

As an example: I had allot of stumps to grind out of my trails this year. About 400 ten to fourteen inch diameter pine stumps. The cheapest anyone will do this for is $10. apiece. That would have cost me $4000.00 had I paid for the work done. Instead I rented a stump grinder for three days at at total cost of $500.00. I saved about $3500. by doing three days work. IF I NEEDED A JOB.....I would advertise for stump cutting at a slightly lower rate than the prevailing ($10) price here.....and still make as much as $1000. per day!!!! Not too shabby......and the work isn't that hard. If I get a job....I rent the equipment....if I dont find any jobs.....I dont have any money invested or debts to pay.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I have a friend that has a pressure washing business, and he has been running it for 18 years.

He has a large pressure washer & tank that is mounted on a 24ft trailer......There is a lot of coal trucks in this area and the owners have around 100 trucks each, and Mike has a contract with them to wash the trucks on the weekends....On the weekend he works all day & night to get them all done by Monday morning.

During the week he has a contract with Norfolk & Southern railroad washing trains....and there is also other people that has a pressure washer business that has a contract with the railroad...because of how large the railroad is.

He does houses sometimes, and he goes on a strip mine & does that equipment....He works 7 days a week and he told me that it took several years to get his business built up with the high paying contracts.

 

[have_blue]

Deereboy,

It's not so much the business you're in as how good of a salesman and worker you are. If you hustle and your clients like you, you'll make a go of it. Have your washer ready and offer to demo it. If you can't find enough equipment to wash, consider picking up the slack on houses. Show the owner what your machine can do. Once the house has a big clean spot on it, it's hard to refuse.

Don't over spend on the power washer. Deere and other respected brands are very often another brand with expensive paint. Stick to Honda and Subaru engines and a good pump and you can't go wrong.

 

[EddieWalker]

I make a living fixing houses. Lots of wood rot and other issues that come from neglect and time. One of the worst things that you can do to a house is put a pressure washer to it. Except for a little cosmetic improvement (sometimes), there is nothing good that can come from a pressure washer on a house.

Concrete walkways and driveways are fine, but never use it on a building.

Which brings up another concern. What about liability? If you wash a dozer and after you are done, the owner of that dozer says that you damaged a seal, which is very likely to happen, what will you do? What if it's a really big excavator and the seal is over a grand? What if that machine makes a grand a day and it takes two days to fix it?

The more that I think of what you can damage on all the different types of equipment, and how much money it can cost to fix them, plus down time for that machine, I wouldn't do this. Too easy to get into allot of trouble.

Eddie

 

[franklinute]

Eddie brings up some good points about the liabilities associated with high pressure cleaning. Older heavy equipment generally has a few oil leaks and high pressure water can get past the seals and into unwanted areas. Also if too much pressure is used on a radiator or oil cooler then the fins can be damaged. Look at most repair shops that have an equipment washing area. They use a dedicated pad that is sloped to a catch basin. The water is recycled and the oil, dirt and debri is not allowed to go into the sewer system or groundwater.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good point about the debris. I didn't think about what happens to the oily and greasy material that comes off of the tractor. The damage that you can do to a piece of equipment is nothing compared to the fines you can get if you are intentionally contaminating the soil with oil and grease!!!!

I've heard stories, and they are just stories, of guys having to remove all the contaminated dirt, then haul it to a facility to clean it, then return the clean dirt. Everything is tested multiple times to make sure it's all removed and that the new dirt is no longer contaminated. Depending on how far away you have to bring that dirt, how much dirt you have to remove and the cost to clean that dirt, plus inspections, it can easily get into six figures to clean up a contaminated area.

Eddie

 

[mikefromnh]

If you have a pressure washer and want to use it to make money, how about auto detailing?

I would imagine the real money would be in cleaning the interiors though. But if you can make cars look like new inside and out( a little armor-all and elbow grease) you should have plenty of business through word of mouth. People might be willing to splurge on cleaning their cars since most people are putting off buying new.

Just be careful with the pressure washer -- don't get too close to the paint

 

[harpoonalt]

Ambition is a good thing. I would read up on starting your own business. Lots of good info on the internet. I had a lawn business part-time because I like the work. 2 of my customers were lawyers and one is a friend. Best advice he gave me was to make sure you carry liability insurance. You hurt someone or do damage and you need to be protected. Without it, every day is a gamble, but the stakes are the rest of your life if someone sues you for a big amount. I learned a lot having a business. Taxes, insurance, scheduling, customer relations. It's a lot of work but can be very rewarding.You'll learn to appreciate and understand why contractors make $50 or more an hour. Educate yourself and you'll do fine. People here give pretty good advice so it was smart of you to ask. Good luck!