[Mike Halliday]

Paul I'm busy all the time with carpet cleaning, the pressure washing is a summer business from April to September last year I was doing 3 full days of it mostly I was dropping off a guy that worked for me and then going carpet cleaning or if it was big job we worked together, but we work a 7 day week

this year I'm going to heavily market the P/W and hopefully have my guy working full time with it,

[boshravie]

I've power washed for the last 4yrs, best decision I ever made.

The average job value is much higher than carpet cleaning and the hourly rate rarely drops lower than £100/hr

 the first year I did it I seriously considered working 7 months a year PW and holidaying the winter months,  the money looked so good.

This year i'm  offering a weed control service onto the power washing side based on a direct debit system were we return every 2 weeks throughout the summer and treat any weeds that regrow, i did it last year for free . And the amount of carpet cleaning I picked when I returned made it worth it.

Hi mike can you tell me where we can get some training for the power washing patios ?
Reply would be appreciate it.

[Mike Halliday]

 i never had any training and used common sense it really is a  semi skilled ( I would call it unskilled but some might think that insulting)job

within 3=4 jobs you will learn 95% of what you need to know, i know a few carpet cleaners and hated it (derek & shaun to name 2) so it is a personal thing some don't like the dirtiness of it. but i love it and get an enormous amount of job satisfaction from it

[derek west]

i never had any training and used common sense it really is a  semi skilled ( I would call it unskilled but some might think that insulting)job

within 3=4 jobs you will learn 95% of what you need to know, i know a few carpet cleaners and hated it (derek & shaun to name 2) so it is a personal thing some don't like the dirtiness of it. but i love it and get an enormous amount of job satisfaction from it

only 1 thing that stopped me enjoying it and that was powerwashing in to corners where it all blasts up in your face and having to put skins on which don't half make you sweat, sorry 2 things yes 2 things, the corner thing, the sweaty thing and when its windy, arrr yes 3, yes 3 things, the corners, the skins, windyness and the weight from the towbar. four, four things yes four things i hate about power washing. i'll stop my monty python routine now.

[Steve Rothwell]

Apart from:
the corners, the skins, windyness and the weight from the towbar,

Is it fair to say that you enjoy pressure washing then??

 

[boshravie]

i never had any training and used common sense it really is a  semi skilled ( I would call it unskilled but some might think that insulting)job

within 3=4 jobs you will learn 95% of what you need to know, i know a few carpet cleaners and hated it (derek & shaun to name 2) so it is a personal thing some don't like the dirtiness of it. but i love it and get an enormous amount of job satisfaction from it

Thanks for feed back Mike, much appreciate it.  you see I have seen some videos as it shows that the runway sanded and sealed after wash and just wondering if there is method to do this and where to buy these special seals.

Regard
Bosh

[Paul H]

Mike - good luck with the full time P/W to give the lad full time employment

Now like carpet cleaning there is a vast amount of machines etc.. to choose from.. depending on budget.. now if just targetting domestic customers / driveways etc.. what would the recommended spec be say entry level that will do a good job.. would have to be some kind of portable and what size tank / water supply etc... attachments..  

 

[Mike Halliday]

bosh if you want to go down the sealing route or need training it might be worth looking at this company

http://www.smartseal.co.uk/

[TomCrowther]

I do quite a few driveways in the Spring/Summer and I also get a lot of job satisfaction from it. Apparently, there is a secret to cleaning the corners without half blinding yourself and eating loads of dirt but I haven't figured it out yet.

[boshravie]

bosh if you want to go down the sealing route or need training it might be worth looking at this company

http://www.smartseal.co.uk/

That’s Great Mike, many thanks for the link   

[boshravie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owr-m2L_Sj0

here is good video 

[boshravie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV5mHlhZdYw&feature=endscreen&NR=1

This one is even better 

[boshravie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUv_L48LZbg&feature=related

This one is amazing 

[clive ware]

Mick,
What happens when you blast away all the grouting in between patio slabs?
Do you redo that yourself afterwards?

[derek west]

bosh if you want to go down the sealing route or need training it might be worth looking at this company

http://www.smartseal.co.uk/

That’s Great Mike, many thanks for the link   

i did the smart seal course. if your gonna do sealing then its worth doing. enjoyed it and i think it was about 70 quid!!!

[mike roberts]

I've power washed for the last 4yrs, best decision I ever made.

The average job value is much higher than carpet cleaning and the hourly rate rarely drops lower than £100/hr

 the first year I did it I seriously considered working 7 months a year PW and holidaying the winter months,  the money looked so good.

This year i'm  offering a weed control service onto the power washing side based on a direct debit system were we return every 2 weeks throughout the summer and treat any weeds that regrow, i did it last year for free . And the amount of carpet cleaning I picked when I returned made it worth it.

Mike hope you dont mind me asking.... but am I reading this correctly you weed kill same area every 2 weeks ??

[Mike Halliday]

Mick,
What happens when you blast away all the grouting in between patio slabs?
Do you redo that yourself afterwards?

if the pointing is in good condition then it tend to survive the cleaning process, with block paving you can remove some of the sand so need to return on a second day to replace it, which is charged at a additional cost

[Mike Halliday]

Mark this is worded slightly wrong, what I did was go out on a Sunday morning every 2 weeks and put down weedkiller on jobs that needed it but not every job got the treatment.

but I did find that if i missed one week then the next visit there were some weeds coming through

[mike roberts]

Mark this is worded slightly wrong, what I did was go out on a Sunday morning every 2 weeks and put down weedkiller on jobs that needed it but not every job got the treatment.

but I did find that if i missed one week then the next visit there were some weeds coming through

Its a great add on to the pressure washing side of the business but you need the training / licence. For us it provides one of the highest returns, especially when including residual treatments.

[clive ware]

Mick,
I jet washed my patio last year and lost about 15% of the pointing. It was pretty crap and cracked in the first place. What would you do then?