[stuartb]

Thinking of buying a pressure washer and rotary cleaner. If I buy it now will I get some work as the year goes on. My other half thinks it's a waste of time! Please help.
Stu

[Matt Gibson]

Yes its seasonal.

I work in Tescos over winter.

[Neil Jones]

Yes its seasonal.

I work in Tescos over winter.

 

[BDCS]

I volunteer at the samaritans and age concern to while away those long winter months  Yes its seasonal but you just do gutters during the winter 

[Neil Jones]

I don't get gutters in winter just spring and autumn. Am I doing something wrong?

I usually have November to March off because there is that much money pressure washing in summer it's possible.

[Rob_Mac]

Is it down to how good you are Neil?

Rob

[drive surgeon]

Usually it's dramatically less yes! When we first started we were only busy from march/ April to July when the kids are off. Then it died a death till the following march/ April.  It takes years and years to build up enough cuties and to do other jobs associated too. A lot of people buy all the gear thinking its a great idea and then all their gear is on ebay a few months down the line. If you can manage starting off with no work in the winter for a few years then u can build it up. When we first started we were living at home with no outgoings for 5 years.if we had a mortgage and bills to pay as well as business costs there is no way we would be still trading after 15 years. It's a lot harder to start a pressure washing company then most business's because the majority when you start off is domestic work which is very seasonal. But good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[Rob_Mac]

Neil

Come on you haven't bitten yet.

Good people have plenty of work !!

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

 

[Mike Halliday]

Domestic work will slow down, I'm planing to totally alter my domestic marketing from the end of October from cleaning for appearance to cleaning to prevent slips & falls

I would estamate 85% of my customers are retired who often mention how slippery the paths are when they are wet, I'm going to put a headline on my leaflet...

 'Warning! Are your paths a slip hazard? Don't risk a fall this winter'

Might work, so worth a try

[Kenny83]

Domestic work will slow down, I'm planing to totally alter my domestic marketing from the end of October from cleaning for appearance to cleaning to prevent slips & falls

I would estamate 85% of my customers are retired who often mention how slippery the paths are when they are wet, I'm going to put a headline on my leaflet...

 'Warning! Are your paths a slip hazard? Don't risk a fall this winter'

Might work, so worth a try

The old Scare tactics slaes pitch 

[drive surgeon]

Good idea mike

[Neil Jones]

Only just seen this Rob, you need a bigger hook for a bite off me!
Need to speak to you so I'll call you Monday if that's ok?

Seriously though, I think if you do a lot of commercial work like Rob and Lee you can maintain how busy you are all year but if you do only domestics I think it will always slow during winter.

I don't rely solely on PW and do other things like carpets and hard floors although this year so far I seem to just be constantly pressure washing, which I enjoy

[Rob_Mac]

Ok mate. Stuck in a very rainy Andover, on a roof clean.

I wish mine was all year round. Might change this year with the amount of Tesco coming in. I'll have to see on this one.

I should be back oop north and on the paperwork, on Monday but give me a bell

Rob

[Roger Oakley]

There is absolutely no money in pressure washing even down south, I'd stick to what you are doing at the moment, Look at Mike Halliday doing this for years, 85% of customers over retirement age, packs his kit away at the end of October the latest, what chance do we have down here in London with all these city types , Rich Russians, Arabs,  CEO's living in private estates, buying up houses and not spending any money? Might have to re-think my career!!!!

[stuartb]

Thanks guys for the info. I currently run a window cleaning business and have around 200 customers. I've picked up around 7 pressure washer jobs from them over the last few weeks. Do you think with my existing customers I would pick up regular work? Say, one drive per week or more on average. Or will I need a bigger customer base?
Cheers stu

[Mike Halliday]

So you want 1 in 4 of your customers to use you yearly , considering  maybe  only 1 in 4 have a need for pressure washing then you want 100% of your existing customers to use you...... Not likely, have a database of 10,000 customers and it might be possible

[Blast Away]

If you have the right equipment you'll clean everyday of the year. From the right equipment comes exceptional results, comes faster work, comes more work.

Started with a £400 chinese snide petrol machine in 2008
A job we did the other day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GXZlwvsHSU&list=UU6uGqco6i7spfOi1cUHCV1w

[Neil Jones]

You must be getting close to cleaning every square inch of Manchester now Lee?!

[drive surgeon]

Lee do you need hot water on that stuff? Wouldn't it come up just as good with cold water at half the cost of heat?

[Blast Away]

You must be getting close to cleaning every square inch of Manchester now Lee?!

We need to leave a few places dirty so we can do the clean ads!  

Lee do you need hot water on that stuff? Wouldn't it come up just as good with cold water at half the cost of heat?

Faster with heat. We still used some hypo on the spots later too. Cold would have been tedious on this particular area.

[KLEENAWAY]

You must be getting close to cleaning every square inch of Manchester now Lee?!

We need to leave a few places dirty so we can do the clean ads! 

Lee do you need hot water on that stuff? Wouldn't it come up just as good with cold water at half the cost of heat?

Faster with heat. We still used some hypo on the spot later too. Cold would have be tedious on this particular area.

Lee how do you hook up your water to the falch? Im guessing  you have a tank in the van and suck from that? I'm just trying to think of the best way to do it because iv got a trailer mount now but I dunno how to supply it properly.

Danny

[Matt Gibson]

Can't you put a tank on the trailer with the machine? What kind of trailer mount is it? Self built or Purpose?

[KLEENAWAY]

Can't you put a tank on the trailer with the machine? What kind of trailer mount is it? Self built or Purpose?

Purpose built mate, its only a small trailer. Its got a twin cylinder lombardini, alternator, hotbox and belt driven pump. Nowhere to fit a tank mate

[Matt Gibson]

The guy i bought my machine off originally, had it on a trailer. He had a big 1000L baffled tank in his van with a hose coiled up. The hose had quick release connectors on it and so did the water inlet to the machine. You would have to source 3/4" QR connectors though, as you wouldnt want the hose to be any smaller than 3/4" on the water inlet. 

[KLEENAWAY]

The guy i bought my machine off originally, had it on a trailer. He had a big 1000L baffled tank in his van with a hose coiled up. The hose had quick release connectors on it and so did the water inlet to the machine. You would have to source 3/4" QR connectors though, as you wouldnt want the hose to be any smaller than 3/4" on the water inlet. 

How long was the hose mate? I was worried that the pump would struggle to suck the water through a longer length of hose, its only got a ws 201 on at the moment but im planning on putting on a ws 252.

[Matt Gibson]

The hose was JUST long enough to reach. If you have the outlet on the bottom of the tank, the gravity will help it feed the machine.

[KLEENAWAY]

The hose was JUST long enough to reach. If you have the outlet on the bottom of the tank, the gravity will help it feed the machine.

I was thinking it might be ok that way but then a few ppl say to give it twin water feeds to supply it properly 

[Blast Away]

We run straight from hydrants. If there's a tap we'll use that. If the tap isn't fast enough flow or the hydrant is too far away then we fill up the 1000L tank on the van and connect the hoses to the pump and bypass and draw from that.

The Falch trailer systems have tanks in the base. 200L on the T3's and draw from there.