If you started all over again...

[Tronman 14]

What equipment would you buy for your first year if you started your business al over again? Budget - $6,000.

[JFife 14]

Tron,

....assuming you have transportation, i.e. truck, van, trailer. Since you posted this on the PW section, I'll also assume that is where you'll direct your biz.....housewash, driveways, gutters and decks. Fair enough?? I'd spend $1000 on a 3500psi, 4gpm machine at HD and get the four year extended warranty. I buy about four different wands, and some extra hose. Xjet. $100 in spare parts/tools. Spend $300 for a decent airless sprayer. Another $200 for a couple airless wands, tips, and some drops, etc.

If you were doing a lot of concrete, you could drop another $800 on a surface machine, but I'd wait till you had the work lined up for sure, my opinion. And say you spend $500 for ladders of some fashion.

So i've got you up to 2K, 3K max, and you have everything you'll need to do your work. Will a cold water wash concrete as good (and fast) as a hot water?? Nope. But the only difference one would notice is if you cleaned an area side-by-side to a hot water area, then you could tell a difference. Otherwise, nobody but a pro would notice a difference. That would be all of the necessary equipment to strip, brighten and stain a deck/fence, and everything you'd need to wash houses.

Then, I'd spend the other 4K on an ad campaign (not all at once), get some work, see if you like the biz, see if your area will support the biz, and see if you can make money. Also, if you look back at what I bought you, it is all stuff you would be thrilled to keep around the house should your biz not turn out the way you want it to (gotta be a realist), and stuff that would sell easily (and locally) if you had to get rid of it (minus xjet, wands, surf. cleaner), so you've made failure far less costly and painful. You don't want to be a guy that spends his every penny (not implying you have no money, just an argument) on a cadillac setup, and is broke going into winter and has to sell out at a big loss.

Don't worry, there'll be plenty who will advise you after this to dump in some big bucks.....I am just more cautious. Other factors will come into play: obviously your current financials, your current name in your community, biz experience, etc. I am assuming all of those are on the low end, you don't have a lot of $, don't have lots of experience, etc. The great thing about the internet is nobody knows you/about you, and you get unbiased responses.

Good luck,

Jon

[FullBlast 14]

Hot water sure is cool!! I guess you can get by without it. I don't use my hot as much as I did when I started, When I started I did crap work for nothin just to get in biz, probley did some shitier jobs than most people would have done but it payed off and I used hot just about all the time, but then again I didn't do alot of houses when I started, I did equip. But that is pretty good there Jon Fife.

[Henry B. 4]

I'd also join PWNA and take one of their certification courses, take about a week and spend it with someone that's been in the biz for 10 years or so and see how they do things.

[Claude Hawkins 14]

Jon (or anyone):

Could you expand on the airless sprayer?

Claude

[JFife 14]

....used for spraying paint/stains, electric, cost from $250-5K......let me know more specifically what you'd like to know and I'll be able to help you more,

[Tronman 14]

Well...

I have two 4GPM 3400 PW machines.

Three ladders

An airless paint sprayer

Heater on a rig with the PW

195 gal potable water tank on the rig

Ford F150 truck - 2001 used 35,000 miles on it - Carmax

15 years of first level to top business Mgmt. (usually in the largest accounts in Texas) - Restarants, Janitorial, Storage, & Commercial oil system installation in restaurants.

So far I have done residential concrete, roof cleaning, siding -homes with and without wheels, airplane hangers, car engines and commercial building exterior glass and siding.

Advertising - Bandit signs, SuperCoups, fliers, car magnet signs & referrals. Have not tried Yellow pages, HOA's, Chambers or Home shows - YET.

I recently PW'd a NAPA auto parking lot for free (praying for chain) to test products on grease & oil. I tested with a cold water system 4GPM (Purple Power, Gunk powder, Drive-up, Krud Kutter, Castrol Super Clean, Big Boss degreaser - Janitorial supply.) All were sprayed on and let dwell for 5-10 min then PW - Only the Gunk powder was deck brushed. I was really looking for a commercial application for drive through restaurants. Nothing removed all of the grease - Drive-up was aout the best. The next test was to try Sodium Hydroxide, TSP, and a new product - Algarid (works great on roofs with no pressure - just rinse - no acids) - not combined.

I will post pics of the test later. If anyone sees anything wrong with the test proceedure as told, let me know.

[JFife 14]

Tron,

That will give others a better place to start with their help. It sounds like you obviously have the know-how and background to run a successful biz, and sounds like you are in a position to throw some money into your biz. That being the case, and since you'll be doing mainly cleaning work, I'll deferr my advice to someone more knowledgable to this arena--someone more involved with hot water work. My advice was more tailored to the typical, 25yr. old guy that was to be an owner-operator and doesn't have much depth to his pockets. Good luck,

[Tronman 14]

To get the last 15 years back - that would be nice... I spent so much time traveling away from my family working 24/7 with laptops, cell phones, faxes, E-Mails, and playing games like trying to see if I could remember what my hotel room number was that night without looking at the key. If I would have started this business 15 years ago ... Oh well all that counts is that I get to ride bikes to school with my daughter each day and if I'm not at a job I can meet her when she gets out of school. I know I will never get this time again, so I'm making the most of it now.

This is a great business.

Thanks for your advice. All advice and information is always welcome. My focus now seems to be heading toward no pressure roof cleaning and commercial applications.