Starting new PW biz - please help

Management & Operations
1

Hello all. First post on here.

My name is Matt and I’m starting a pressure washing business with a partner here in Florida. I wanted to get your input, suggestions, and any constructive criticism you may have.

The basic idea is to have local college students do the pressure washing as contractors. The types of jobs we will offer, atleast at the beginning, will be more of your straight forward residential or commercial jobs with little risk.

My partner and I, more or less, live on opposite ends of the area we will be servicing. We will each store equipment (starting off with 1 pressure washer each, Pressure Pro E3027HC with hammerhead surface cleaner) in a shed (weatherproof) in our yards. When there’s an appointment, the student will come to pick up the pressure washer (in their own vehicle), and go to the site and perform the work, then refill a gas can on the way back to dropping the equipment back off to the shed.

From reading this and other pressure washing forums, i haven’t really seen a process similar to this being discussed, so that leaves me with a few questions. What would you guys recommend contractor payment be as a percentage of the payment we receive from the customer?

In addition to the labor the students performed, we would have to take into account the gas the students used driving their own cars to and from the job site, as well as reimbursement for them topping off a gas
can. Because of this, we will obviously have to pay a higher percentage than those that use company trucks, gas, etc.

Keep in mind, the idea for this is not to replace the income of my partner or I’s day jobs (not yet at least). Right now, we are looking at it more like a fun thing to do to supplement our income, while giving back to the community and helping college students find flexible, good paying work.

If I’ve left out any key details, please ask. Thanks for reading and I welcome all of your thoughts.

2

Will the college kids (who will probably not be uniformed, working out of the trunk of their car, and have very little (if any) experience pressure washing) be required to have a license, liability insurance & workmans comp. insurance? In my part of Florida those things are necessary to operate a legitimate business, even as a sub-contractor.

The HOAs around here tend to run the unlicensed guys off if they are working in gated communities without proper licensing and insurance. Most of the commercial work I have done will not pay you if you cannot provide that information.

Also - At what point do you tell your prospective client that their work is going to be subbed out to another contractor? And whom do they complain to if the work is less than satisfactory?

Another point - It wont take long for a college kid to figure out they can get some business cards printed up, make a cheap website and rent comparable equipment from Home Depot - essentially cutting you out of the loop.

Harry

3

What area will you be servicing?

4

Harry, thanks for the reply. All great points.

Uniform will be khakis with a polo with company logo. We do plan on purchasing liability/WC insurance. We will be licensed as well.

We already have inroads with students in the area who are familiar with this sort of work. If we hire someone with little to no pw experience, they will be trained well.

As far as the contractor verbiage in my initial post, that was a little misleading. They will work for us, and we plan on issuing them 1099s. The people we have in mind for the job are very personable and customer service focused, they will ensure satisfaction before leaving the site. If escalation is necessary, of course the student would refer them to my partner or I.

To your last point, that is certainly possible, but a lot of students won’t and don’t have the time or money to devote to the business cards and website. We will be getting the leads and providing them with the washers, they just show up and wash, and they will be paid well, so it will no doubt be a good gig for them. In addition, the pool of students we will draw from pay to be a member of my partner’s business, and they are all friendly with us, so the chances of cutting out of the loop aren’t super high.

Thanks again for the response, I probably would have asked all of those questions as well. If you or anyone else has any ideas as to a compensation plan ( i prefer a percentage of each job), I would love to hear your ideas.

5

1099’s are for sub-contractors. They would need to have their own licenses, insurance, equipment, etc. and set their own schedules.

Maybe you’re thinking of w2?

6

You didn’t want to say where you are from and where you will be opening this business Matt? If it’s a strong plan and business model then you should not be scared to tell us. I’m just curious if your college kids will be my new competition.

7

Alex, thanks for the reply. Need to gather some additional information on this.

8

Really Matt? You can come on here and ask for help but you can’t share where you are from? It is common courtesy to introduce yourself and let everyone know where you are from. Most people will still help but everyone also wants to know who they are talking to.