starting up driveway cleaning

« **on:** March 17, 2010, 07:05:16 am »

hi i am looking at starting up on the driveway cleaning.I have a cc company it is a little slow, i have book up with smart seal in April the question is can you make a good living out of this or i am i wasting my money and time please help me
thank you
phillip

« **Reply #1 on:** March 18, 2010, 10:25:33 am »

i have had a few leads from smartseal but they were all a waste of time and their resin is expensive.

« **Reply #2 on:** March 18, 2010, 11:34:15 am »

yeah smart seal is rubbish. the custies wont pay the amount for cleaning, sanding and sealing and the selaants dont last anyway. :

« **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2010, 05:30:28 pm »

i had few leads, 1 only god job others not.

what sealants do you guys use?

« **Reply #4 on:** March 18, 2010, 05:31:50 pm »

thank you so who is the best to get the equipement

« **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2010, 06:00:38 pm »

i used to use resiblock but custys wont pay that either.

« **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2010, 07:41:01 pm »

Last year only done one sealing job and that is because the customer insisted on it. I only use Resiblock as it seems to be the best!!! But expensive.
I had loads of enquirys for sealing but i try to down sell it as the conditions need to be perfect to put it down (it is bad enough trying to re-sand sometimes)
Also it makes a block paved driveway water proof so if you have issues with drainage and pooling it will be a lot worse when sealed.

Regards
Alan

« **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2010, 08:55:42 pm »

sealing can be a very good earner on the handful of days you can do it, get it wrong and it will cause so much grief, usally when you tell the client price of sealing they tend to just go for the clean!

« **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2010, 09:32:46 pm »

so is it best to just get into jet wishing to clean the paving and if not smart seal who should i go to

« **Reply #9 on:** March 19, 2010, 01:43:35 pm »

Were are you based mate?i`m in Liverpool and might be able to help you.Don`t go into driveway cleaning full time because it`s a summer thing,you`ll be left scratching your arse all winter,if you try sealing be ready for lots of headache because people think it comes with a 2 year gaurantee and will burn your head out when it blooms,if you do seal only do it when and if the weather is sunny for at least a week,even then your chancing it. Advanced Sealing Solutions are a brilliant company,ask for Drew.I just had a printed concrete drive bloom on me 6 months after sealing it,think it was due to ice and salt,my head was wrecked,sealing solutions sent me some xylene to spray on it and it came back spot on straight away,brilliant company and they are always willing to give advice.good luck Dan

« **Reply #10 on:** March 19, 2010, 09:10:17 pm »

dan did you have a quiet winter then? i was busy up till mid november still had a fair bit december wrote off janurary and done 2 weeks in feb, so far this month worked most days.
In the summer i tend to work long days to earn as much as possible so i can take it easier in the winter without worrying too much about cashflow

« **Reply #11 on:** March 20, 2010, 03:02:53 pm »

Yes,2 quiet winters,to be honest i don`t push too hard as i don`t really want to work in the winter,i have other businesses you see to keep me going.I am just letting him know driveway cleaning will not support you all year round,like me and probably most people it`s an addition to other things,thanks dan

« **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2010, 03:23:19 pm »

yes it is hard to make it work in the winter, if i can make it up to the end of november then i can afford to right off dec,jan and feb

« **Reply #13 on:** March 20, 2010, 06:06:12 pm »

to be honest its a april to august business at best. it goes quiet in july in the school holidays and in august near the bank holiday its dead.

you cant live off driveway cleaning.

« **Reply #14 on:** March 21, 2010, 12:19:49 am »

maybe its different down south then, i admit it quietens down in the winter and were goverend by the weather but april till august!!! get some contracts dont rely on domestics and take every oppertunity... also what are you living on working only april till august??

« **Reply #15 on:** March 21, 2010, 09:10:44 am »

great thank you it looks like i will have it as a add on to the carpet cleaning good news is that i am getting a little more work on that i am based in milton keynes and i will have a look at xylene and the sun is coming out.

« **Reply #16 on:** March 21, 2010, 04:27:51 pm »

i do commercial work

« **Reply #17 on:** March 22, 2010, 07:45:35 am »

Cleaner Exteriors-6 weeks work from November till March,this is why Driveway Cleaning is a sideline and i`ve got other businesses to fall back on.Once the frost and cold starts no one is interested in having their drives cleaned and to be honest i wouldn`t want to work in it anyway,theres easier ways to earn a living in the winter.I enjoy it in the summer though.

« **Reply #18 on:** March 22, 2010, 01:28:50 pm »

dan is right. in the snow and ice i had no work for 2 months.

« **Reply #19 on:** March 22, 2010, 02:17:43 pm »

Nice wheels DS

« **Reply #20 on:** March 22, 2010, 04:39:25 pm »

Dan i rely on commercial work during the winter, im not far from london which brings in a fair amount of work.
Ds in another post you say your making a grand a week, that should cover you for the quiet times mate

« **Reply #21 on:** March 22, 2010, 05:45:58 pm »

yeah it does to a certain extent but the mrs is a spend thift. the money goes no where. a thousand a week turnover is peanuts when you take all your outgoings out of it. i could not carry on in business without the commercial work in winter.

« **Reply #22 on:** March 22, 2010, 09:12:33 pm »

long term my aim is commercial work to be the bulk of my work and any domestic would just be a bonus

« **Reply #23 on:** March 22, 2010, 09:20:44 pm »

yeah good idea. domestic should just be cash in the wallet in your spare time. you could earn 200 quid just on a saturday morning once a month or every saturday morning for that matter. thats an extra 800 quid a month income cash!!

my mate did a school graffiti clean the other day. he was there from 9am till half 12pm and got a nice cheque for £420.

« **Reply #24 on:** March 23, 2010, 12:10:09 am »

i like the graffiti work, been told that my local council are tendering out their work, at the moment they employ there own staff

« **Reply #25 on:** March 23, 2010, 08:31:14 am »

get in there quick mate

« **Reply #26 on:** March 24, 2010, 11:48:56 am »

Quote from: drive surgeon on March 23, 2010, 08:31:14 am

get in there quick mate

DS what sort of equiptment are you using I can see from your avatar that its a trailer system,where would I be able to purchase such a system and what would be the cost? I am currently doing window cleaning but am thinking of branching out to do other things besides