Mike Williamson

Can I ask why? Wouldn't just using a lower pressure tip to rinse with be easier?

I haven't tested it, but espec's bleach injector works great for me. It runs about $50.00 (stainless) for the adjustable model.

You also lose your chance at upsells if you quote over the phone. Sure, you can upsell when you get there to do the job you haven't seen yet, but what if the homeowner isn't home, and/or is unavailable by phone? What if you didn't leave enough time to complete the job plus all the extras that may need to be done, if you can even get customer approval? I can't count how many roof jobs I've upsold when the customer called for a housewash...I always leave a proposal for what they requested, plus anything additional I see that needs cleaning. My before/after postcard left along with the proposal has helped sell quite a few roof cleanings. Even that isn't free. You spend energy to breathe in and exhale... :)

Check with your accountant about how equipment purchases are written off. I know with many asset items, you have to depreciate the value over time, and can only deduct for the depreciation amount. I know with my first trailer, I am taking depreciation over 5 years, I believe.

I didn't say $50k was great, it said it was more than many of us made working for someone else. I don't know anyone who spent in excess of $100k starting a PW business...So MOST serious PW companies aren't going to have to pay back $100k in start up money. Those numbers don't apply to ANY industry that I'm aware of in the blanket fashion you've used them. Many factors will vary from company to company and region to region. Start up costs, whether there's franchise fees/buy-ins, cost and quality of equipment and vehicles, cost of labor, number of working days/year, advertising, etc. One company may bill $100,000.00/year and have $50k in expenses. Another company in the same field may bill $100k and have $25k in expenses. One guy's wife may work, another guy's wife may not...One guy may have to pay for health insurance, another guy may not. You can't just throw out a number and say "if you're not billing $X, you're not a serious PW company, and you can't live decently." That insulting to those guys who bill well under your $150k limit for what makes a serious and decent-living business owner. I'd say most single-man operations here in the south don't bill anywhere close to that, and we do just fine. When you used to frequent this board, you'd make very similar statements. They didn't fly then, they don't fly now.

What exactly IS your experience, Rob? How many years have you been in business? So a guy billing 100k, or even 75k per year isn't running a SERIOUS pressurewashing business, and/or isn't living in a decent manner? I know several who'd disagree with you. $75k with a 40% overhead leaves you with $45k in profit. Not great, but certainly more than many of us made working for someone else. $100k with a 40% overhead leaves you with $60k, nothing to sneeze at.

Good move. If you hold your pointer over the link that looks like it goes to paypal, it will be a different URL. Sometimes they're clever. Here's the real URL your link went to: www.paypal.com.registermatters.com Notice the registermatters stuck in there? That's the real URL. It's already gone, so they've moved on. No financial institution will send you a like to log in (or they shouldn't). They will ask you to go to their site and log in from there. The funny thing about these emails is that if you read them, you can tell they're written by a foreigner trying to use English properly, and failing. Yours is actually very well written.

How about some pics! I'd love to see how you have it set up with the tank and all.

I'll let you know how I like the citrus cleaner. Just got it yesterday (had to go pick it up an hour south of here where it was erroneously shipped!) I believe Tony uses emulsifier...maybe he can jump in here with how to mix the stuff. I assume that's a drum kit of some sort.

You getting out, Doug, or just upgrading?

I think that's a pretty common theme...Necessary in order to join the Holy Church of the Tatooed Saints! LOL. A permanent reminder of what scumbags they are. Sad thing is, for every scam baiter, there are dozens of fools who actually send these guys money.

Now those are just FUNNY! You could spend hours reading the back and forth between the scam baiters and the idiots. I particularly like the one where they actually got a scammer to send them about $700 in good faith money.

No problem. There was some intended sarcasm, but not to be insulting, just to make a point. Please accept my apologies also...I have a tendency sometimes to speak a bit too bluntly sometimes, or to over-use sarcasm. I'm working on it, trust me!! Hey, I haven't had a real blow out fight on any board in quite a while!! I think we're all stressing a bit. Things are slow here right now, with just enough work trickling in to keep my head above water! 700 mailers in the past two weeks and 4 jobs...Hey, at least I'm making enough to pay for postage! :lgbugeyes With the cold :lgcold: weather this week, I don't expect the phone to be too busy, but things should pick up in the next few weeks. Come on Spring!!! :lgmoneyey

Oh yeah. I've lived all over the West Coast, and even in Seattle we didn't have a harsh winter. Here in FL it's even better! I love cold weather, but in smaller doses. I can't imagine living somewhere where you KNOW it's going to be cold and freezing for weeks or months at a time!!

Don't tell the Landa guys!! :)

No need for name calling. I was making a point. Yes, you WILL go faster with a higher gpm pump, but to say you'll cut the time in half by doubling your gpm assumes that EVERYTHING is moving a double speed. You're moving twice as fast, it it twice as fast to set up, break down, etc etc. If it was a simple case of "Soap on, soap off, twice the volume, half the time", then you really could cut your time to 1/10 by increasing your flow by a factor of 10. Sorry if you took offense at that.

I'm not sure with a pressure unloader, but with a flow unloader, it's either in bypass or it isn't in bypass. Depending on how much smaller a tip you're trying to use, if the unloader isn't set correctly, you run the risk of overloading your pump, fittings, and hoses! Something is going to give way.

So I could get me a 50gpm pump and wash a house in 1/10th the time!!! I and out in 6 minutes!!! Woohoo!

How is the volume going to change simply by lowering the psi (with a tip)? The pump puts out what it puts out, assuming rpms stay the same. My understanding is that lowering the throttle speed on the motor isn't good for the motor. They're air cooled, and designed to run full throttle. Better to turn down the unloader, if you're so equipped.

Ummm....no, it won't. The flow stays the same, unless you throttle down the motor. Throttling down the motor isn't a good idea. In fact, many newer pressure washers don't even have a throttle control. Mine doesn't. At full rpms, the pump puts out whatever volume of water it is designed to put out. Making the nozzle smaller won't change that. You COULD turn down the unloader, if you have a pressure type unloader.

That would mean that you not only do the same volume during the 6 months you folks in the more northern climates can't work, and that you're going to almost do an additional $400k by being in a year round work environment ($300kx2=$600k). The problem comes in that in areas where work is year round, there is a greater number of people willing to work cheap...making it that much harder to get prices up.

Meant to put this in my original post... The only reasons I wouldn't go with an 8gpm machine is if you can't run off a tank for some reason, or if your water supply at a good portion of your jobs is extremely low. Nothing more aggrivating than having to stop and wait for the tank to fill up a bit so you can continue washing. The last reason I can think of is if you have serious drainage problems at a lot of your jobs... Other than those three reasons, I can't think of any reason not to go with a higher gpm machine...Yes, it costs more, but not a huge amount more, and the increased efficiency will more than make up the difference in the cost of the machine.

Dang!!! Great info, great motivation. I know for myself, and I'm sure many others, it is hard to get past the "selling on price" mindset, especially when the phone isn't ringing much and you need the cash flow. When you have 2 bid requests this week, and no work scheduled, it is hard not to price it at a level where you're fairly certain the homeowner will say yes. Speaking of $99.00 housewashes, I saw my first sign yesterday, in a small town about 15 miles north of here. Big huge banner on the corner of a main intersection on the property of a church that read "Pressure Washing - Any House - $99.00" Called the number and got voice mail, all day, some redneck sounding kid saying "Hey, this is Lyle, leave me a message". I was going to ask him if that was REALLY "any" house, and if so, I have a 7000 square foot three story home I need washed. Looking forward to part 2!!

Pressure-Pro also makes a heck of a nice 8gpm machine for not a lot more than the price of the 5.6gpm machine. You want the entire machine to be stainless? If so, that's gonna be expensive! Don Phelps sells the PressurePro line. See what kind of price he can work up for you.

In HALF??? I need you to come down here and show me how to use this 8gpm machine I just bought, because though it IS a good bit faster, I just don't see how in the world I am going to cut my cleaning time in 1/2. A size 20 on an 8gpm machine isn't really light rinsing! I am now using a size 35 tip for light rinsing (where I used a 25 on the 5.5gpm for light rinsing)