Thanks
Might seem odd, to want to go solo, but I just finished working for the government for a long time. My bosses had bosses, who had bosses, who then said the public was our boss. A lot of my coworkers and mid managers were morons, or s*ck a**es. My last ten years I made one friend at work and a couple of associations and steered clear of the rest. I just kind of walked out the door on my retirement date, no goodbyes, no cya, just roll and pick up the check. I just can’t work for anyone again, and if something is going to get messed up with all my money, I want to be the one to mess it up.
I have a harry the homeowner machine now, but I wanted the volume of a larger rig. I was going to upgrade my current homeowner machine, but when I started considering doing this I decided to hold off. Renting isn’t really an option around here, the closest place that has a decent rig for rent is 45 minutes away one way, and they want $174/day or $537/wk.
I have this weird relationship with equipment, I hmm and haw for a long time before pulling the trigger. Every time I have went with the cheaper option I have always regretted it.
Thanks for taking the time to reply
I’d say $175 is probably the average going rate if I remember that thread where they were talked about. You have to figure if you land a commercial job that needs hot water it’s going to likely be at least a $1k job so you’re still going to make decent money. It’s not like you’re going to be getting a lot of commercial jobs right out of the gate so you won’t be making that 45 minute drive every other day anything. If you don’t plan on targeting commercial very hard you might only have to rent it once a month. If you end up getting a commercial gig a few times a week then you can buy one. Then again, I live in a small town and have to drive 30 minutes to get to my work area so a 45 minute drive doesn’t sound all that bad.
Another option, which I think someone might’ve mentioned above, is just buying a cold water now and adding a hot box later.
As mentioned you just have to decide what services you are going target. If unsure I would stick to cold for now and rent until you see if the commercial work is something you want to do. If you buy a hot water unit and then decide you’re only going to do decks and fences you’re going to lose a few grand on it if you decide to sell it. I’d rather rent a couple of times first just to see if the commercial work is even there.
Thank you, and it is something to consider.
I do drive 30 minutes just to get to a grocery store. I was thinking day rental, drive 45 minutes to pick up, drive 45 minutes to get back to area to do the job, drive 45 minutes back, hope to be there before they close. Some of the rental places take their time getting you the equipment, have a check off list they have to do with you, then you can leave. Maybe it’s faster if you rent the same item multiple times. I normally only rent what I can’t borrow or quid pro quo with my tractor, never rented a PW. When I rented a concrete saw the guy went through the list, then made me go through the check off list then I could take it and go, took like an hour+ with other customers. Just leery of getting whacked for the extra day rental. Once bitten twice shy as they say.
A lot of commercial jobs where you would need hot water would be done at night so that makes things easier. Pick up from rental store at closing one day (4:30?), wash that night, and then you have all day to get it turned back in. Most rental stores around here go by a 24 hour period so you’d have until 4:30 the next day to get it back.
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Do you have the means to buy a new machine. If you do buy it. I promise you will not regret it. It will pay for it self very quickly plus it let’s you concentrate on growing your business If you buy one that will need to be replaced soon you are starting off trying to make enough money to replace it before it goes bad. Dont do that. Buy a hot water machine no matter what gpm definitely get a hot water machine
I personally love being solo. I have employees most of the time, but during the week I’ll sneak out and do some on my own. So peaceful…
thanks, and that is why I ask questions here. My mindset is start in the morning, but I never considered jobs at night when renting equipment. I should know better, I have read numerous threads on here where people are working at night with lights. That is the benefit of having done this vs. nick the new guy just trying to get the foot in the door.
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Not all have to be done at night but it’s easier doing it when you don’t have to deal with customers. For example think of a drive thru lane at a fast food joint or even a gas station. They would be almost impossible to do during the day. Some restaurants don’t open until 11:00 so can be done in the morning. It just varies job to job.
I am not rich by any means, however, I could purchase a brand new 8gpm hot water unit in cash. Then I have to consider all the other doo dads (SC, grinders, chems etc). That would leave me cash poor.
I know their are threads on here about business start ups, I know how to write a business plan (did it before), but I can’t help but think - are the higher startup costs for a hot water unit worth it in the long run? The whole cost/benefit analysis issue, perception of available work vs. reality of work, etc. For a guy who has never done this before, and is leaning towards the woodwork.
This is why I am asking for feedback, you guys are the pros and know the ins and outs. I try to make smart, informed decisions, contemplating all possible scenarios (including murphys law), before my money leaves my hands. I am lucky that you all work in this field, and take the time to help me make better decisions. The only other place I have been on the net in the last 15 years that has been this helpful is tractorbynet, and sometimes you really have to watch out for the advice people give you there.
Sorry for the long winded reply, I had to edit it before it became a novella.
I feel you.
I think what alot of us on here think is , You gotta decide what you wanna wash Full time. I wash trucks, I cannot do my job without hot water machines, @anon37135677 can do a damn fine job on a drive thru with a cold water, but ask him what machine he’d use if he did commercial full time. On the flip side, ask @Innocentbystander about a hot water machine ,he’ll tell ya to walk away and there not necessary. If you go after washing houses, might as well stay with cold, If you’re popping gum and doing miles of commercial flat work and restaurants and dumpster pads or washing heavy equipment and trucks, definitely go hot .
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It’s not a question of if you buy a hot water machine it’s when you buy a hot water machine and you will. If you can afford it buy one and get it over with.
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I feel you on that one but there are guys on here who run multiple crews who don’t have one because all they wash is residential and maybe vinyl apartments. It’s kind of like what @Hotshot said and he just has to decide what he wants to wash. If he’s not going to target stuff with grease or gum hot water just isn’t needed. I guess you might be meaning that if he’s wondering if he’ll need one he might as well get it now because he’ll probably be going after commercial.
I still say start with cold especially because you think you’re mainly going to wash wood. If you stay in this business you’re going to want a backup or 2nd machine anyways so you can then buy a hot down the road if you feel like it’s needed. Even if you do end up buying a hot you’ll still get plenty of use out of that cold water machine.
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You can run a hot water machine cold. You cant run a cold water machine hot. If you need it and dont have it you will wish you had one. But that’s my two cents. I know plenty of guys who lost out on a fair amount of money because they didn’t have the equipment they needed. I use warm water to clean vinyl houses and windows
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Thanks @Hotshot! I appreciate it. All opinions above have great points. It’s all about what type of work you’re targeting. If there’s any chance you’ll be going for commercial work go with a hot water 8gpm machine. If you’re planning on focusing on residential I’d personally go for a 8gpm cold. Either way get a good size buffer tank. With that being said, @Firefighter4hire also has a great point. It’s all in your hands… choose wisely 
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@Dirtyboy here is my complete opinion on your situation. Might be worth something, maybe not.
You never quite know what your niche will be when you first start out. When I started I had the sole purpose of cleaning hard water staining off the sides of homes. From there it quickly morphed into being more jack of all trades (in the pressure washing arena). Housewashing, concrete, fence & deck, etc.
This year I have done a fair amount of brick restoration, very little house washing, I have biweekly and monthly maintenance accounts for commercial concrete, and a lot of deck restorations.
The night time commercial cleaning accounts I am dropping all of them by the end of this year. Messes the complete schedule up when you are out all day stripping a deck, staining, etc then have to work all night. I am worthless for two days afterwards. Something to consider. I have thought about getting somebody else to do the night work, but my profit margins are a lot better with wood staining and brick restoration. I am sticking mainly with that starting next year.
My 4gpm cold machine gets used mainly for brick restorations and housewashes. 5.5gpm hot machine gets used on almost all the wood cleaning/stripping jobs as well as all the concrete cleanings.
Are you wanting to mainly stain new decks and clean grayed out decks? Or do complete restorations where you are removing oil based and water based stains? Hot water helps tremendously when removing water based solids, oil based doesn’t really matter. My market seems to be a lot more strip and stain. I wouldn’t tackle the majority of the water based jobs with just cold.
5.5 gpm is the sweet spot in my opinion. 5.5 is efficient enough for concrete and rinses wood much better than the 4. Doesn’t drain a buffer tank near as fast if you have a slow water source. I really don’t have to worry about that though as mine is 325 gallons. If I had to start over I would have got the hot machine first and not even messed with the cold. Oh well, I have a backup in case one or the other goes down.
See you in Nashville in a couple weeks?
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Can’t really say. Most the stuff I saw being built looked pretty stout.
Thank you very much for your lengthy and informative reply. I’m thinking the whole kit and kaboodle with wood, new construction staining/sealing, restoration, cleaning. My buddy has a pool business, and his brother has a construction business, then the rest would be advertising/word of mouth. In the spring I will take on my first pro bono deck/pool job at the pool shop, they used that deck over crap on it, so I will be testing everything out with his customers nosing around. I will likely be using grinders/sanders to get it off where it sticks after stripper. Deck is older and some reconstruction will be needed. IT will be a great advertising piece if I get it done right. It will also be a great place to experiment. My buddy doesn’t care, so long as it looks better in the end. I helped him and his brother build it, I did the grading and post holes, then we built it. His brother is a real good carpenter, but a crappy painter.
Yeah, I’ll see you in Nashville in about 1.5 weeks. Not looking forward to that 11 hour drive though.
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