Little Buddy 14 Report post Posted September 12, 2009 I thought this would be neat to see. How much did it cost to start your company, and how much did you make (gross) your first year? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 apple 14 Report post Posted April 9, 2010 Awesome thread. I paid 1k for a 14 foot utility trailer, 4gpm hot whitco, and a 525 leg tank. Also spent close to another grand on my silver noodle, overpriced soap from local distributer, newspaper ads and other small stuff. Made my own site for 200 bucks and Brought in 40k in 5 months of last year. The hot water on the whitco stayed broken most of last year and I realized I didnt even need hot for what Im doing so I bought an 8gpm cold unit and reworked the trailer. Maybe another 5 grand in it. Also had a new site done by everyones favorite designer. I really want to find that niche that people talk of. Right now Im doing 90% residential and I know thats not the longterm answer. Ive really been pursuing apartment complexes and have landed the first large on that ive targeted. My problem now is im so busy that i hardly have the time left to go sell. I would really like to make my niche large soft washing projects with a touch of roof or concrete cleaning. The good thing right now is that im booked for a month. I cant find words for how awesome that is. I wouldnt have dreamt it last year. I know ive got to keep after it though or it wont stay that way long. Postcard mailings are working great along with brochures and a few other things. I really feel like i put a very professional look foward when I meet a customer and it makes one heck of a difference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Little Buddy 14 Report post Posted April 9, 2010 Who knew it would be so popular... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Jeff 232 Report post Posted April 20, 2010 I started with a Genco Home Depot 3gpm machine about $1300, 10 years ago, 100 ft of pressure line, 150 ft of water hose, extension pole, scrub brush, couple years later went full time with 1 3gpm and 2 4 gpm and a rented 4 gpm did a couple big jobs and started buying what I needed. Before that I did tons of houses and Xjetted roofs like crazy. The BB's helped me a lot, before them I wasted some money and a lot of time and elbow grease I started with real cheap marketing, but never stopped, cheap fliers, cheap post cards, writing down addresses. I grow every year, except last year, I was down several K,, back to devoting much all my time growing my business and already reaping the benefits. Got to work it hard, if you want growth every year Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Dieseldad97 14 Report post Posted November 24, 2010 Started this fall. Took a loan out for 12K for my enclosed trailer, 8gpm skid, reels, surface cleaner and all the other extra's. Things went very well the first few months. Made my first years payment in my first 2 months. The rig is parked for winter now waiting for April to start up again. I feel it was a great investment financially and it gives me something worthwhile to do on my days off my regular job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 pressure washing LA 14 Report post Posted November 28, 2010 About $10.000 our first year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 go green pressure washing 14 Report post Posted March 5, 2011 15k was the beginning of my company started with all brand-new equiptment recovery system and then purchased 2 surface. Cleaners chemicals and lots of filters can't complain so far it's been a blast loving every minute of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 diamondbar 14 Report post Posted June 22, 2011 So far I have around 20K invested but I am always adding new tools and equipment.                SO CLEAN    Carpet Cleaning Diamond Bar          - Home Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 TreyWinslow 14 Report post Posted June 6, 2012 When I first started I had less than 1k invested. I actually got hooked up with a lot of decent equipment CHEAP. It was my accidental foot in the door into the biz. Been loving it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 TreyWinslow 14 Report post Posted June 6, 2012 Do you guys think age, I'm 20, will hurt me or doesn't it matter? I'm 20 as well. I launched 5 days after my 20th birthday. The whole age thing is a hit or miss...One of the gains was joining a networking group of 90% women, they were super enthusiastic about my young entrepreneurship and wanted to help me out. That put out a TON of work for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 shefferz 14 Report post Posted June 6, 2012 I'm 20 as well. I launched 5 days after my 20th birthday. The whole age thing is a hit or miss...One of the gains was joining a networking group of 90% women, they were super enthusiastic about my young entrepreneurship and wanted to help me out. That put out a TON of work for me. I'm 25 but look 20, and from my experience over the past 4 years is that commercial property managers do look at the young bucks much differently. Mind you I have done work for a handful of PM companies, but ultimately I think it helps to be older where as even if your not "experienced" you look experienced. With that being said, in the residential market its irrelevant. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 shefferz 14 Report post Posted June 6, 2012 Back to the original topic, last year was my firs full time year with my prior 2 being part time in college. Ken Fenner is right, advertising is the largest expense if you are looking to tap into the resi market. It very easy to spend 10k a year even with a 1 man show when you are first starting out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 AZ PowerWash Pros 14 Report post Posted June 9, 2012 I don't post on this forum but a lot of guys know me from *** and I came across this thread and just had to jump in! Its a great thread btw... I started with $7500 in 2008 and made 65K gross my first year, mostly residential but landed 2 or 3 accounts to float me by. Bought everything online since the local distributors in Phoenix wouldn't even throw me a bone for that price and Craigslist did not have the companies going out of business every week like they do now. I think you can definitely start a legitimate business up between 5-10K and do the work yourself for awhile. Besides you would not want guys spraying for you if you didn't even know how to train them properly. I think every great business owner has to start as an operator. I agree with the younger guys, property managers seem to look at younger people like they can't handle the work. My advice to the younger guys, I hired a sales guy and gave him leads for a couple years and he was 50 years old. I landed plenty of accounts with him doing the selling and he just got a small % of the jobs. I think it might be worth it to give up a small percentage at first until you grow some hair on your face! haha I turned 28 this month and I am starting to get wrinkles from all the power washing stress of having employees now so now I can sell on my own... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 apple 14 Report post Posted August 29, 2012 $1,000 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 starbrite 14 Report post Posted September 22, 2012 Started with 13k grossed 127 the first 8 months. Started in May of that year Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Mathew Johnson 123 Report post Posted September 23, 2012 (edited) Started with a 289 dollar 2.5 gpm pressure washer, a hundred feet of garden hose and kicked in 200 bucks for the deposit on insurance policy ..... $600.00 total. I have to laugh, we had that in for the day by 11 am today. We continue to grow. This year we have opened "PWS Commercial Property Services". We now offer parking lot line striping and sealcoating in addition to power washing. It has exploded our schedule with new business. Businesses like being able to call just one place to provide all of thier maintenance services. We also have a painting crew to take care of thier painting needs. It is a blast painting parking lots.... big money, quick to do. We have teamed up with another line striping company for the very large projects like malls and parking garages. The customers are pleased that we can tackle the large jobs quickly and get thier lots open. We have already bid in excess of 40k in line striping for the spring. The expert line striper that trained and educated me and the staff is excellent. We are currently completing the curriculum for both the basic line striping school and the advanced line striping school. If you really want to add on a service this is a great one, much like pressure washing and wood restoration, this is a repeatable service that you will be providing and even in a lousy economy, everone still gets thier parking lots striped! Edited September 23, 2012 by Mathew Johnson Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 starbrite 14 Report post Posted September 23, 2012 Matthew thats awesome. When my plate empties a bit and its time to add a service can i give you a call for advice on the striping? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 higherpower 14 Report post Posted February 18, 2013 just bought my first pressure washing set up off a guy on craigslist and i paid $1200 - sorry this is my first post i been on the board for a couple of months just reading and learning sorry about the signature i dont have any info to fill in yet but give me a couple of months... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Mathew Johnson 123 Report post Posted February 18, 2013 (edited) just bought my first pressure washing set up off a guy on craigslist and i paid $1200 - sorry this is my first post i been on the board for a couple of months just reading and learningsorry about the signature i dont have any info to fill in yet but give me a couple of months... Where are u from. Give me a call anytime if you need help or have questions. Always willing to help. My cell is in my signature Mathew Johnson Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited February 18, 2013 by Mathew Johnson Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 higherpower 14 Report post Posted February 18, 2013 thanks mathew im gonna need it - i was in the garage for an hour just looking at the pressure washer and my wife was like are you gonna fire it up or what and i said soon real soon.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Kristopher Pettitt 23 Report post Posted May 29, 2013 (edited) LOL Edited May 29, 2013 by SoCalKpow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
I thought this would be neat to see. How much did it cost to start your company, and how much did you make (gross) your first year?
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