Home owner that wants to do some friends and families house/roof/driveway

I am a home owner and have a full time job as a computer programmer. I dont want to quit that but want to maybe do an occasional house wash, driveway, and roof for friends, neighbors, family, etc… And at a minimum do my own home.

I have always been a firm believer in WAY over building/buying and want to buy top level equipment within reason the first time. Worst case I have an awesome setup to do my own house and maybe some families going forward. Best case I can actually make some extra pocket cash on the weekends.

I am looking at pressure washers now. I have a local dealer selling a BE B4013HJS which has the Honda GX390 and CAT pump. Direct drive. Even though I kind of want belt. Their site says the pump part number is PUMP ASSY 66DX40GG1 4000PS. 4gpm

Now I am reading here that the 4000psi is a little high for most of what I would do (residential concrete) and the 4gpm is a little low for some of the good surface cleaners. And it is confusing but I thought I read that maybe that HP motor wasnt enough to put out those numbers.

Keeping in mind that I am technically just doing it for myself and maybe friends/family and dont want truck mount etc, what pressure washer, surface cleaner, and other equipment would you recommend to do the basics I mentioned? I would love a 12volt system to do roof cleaning but imagine I will have to downstream or maybe buy an xjet. I cant justify a dedicated system at this point.

Thank you. If I left something you need to know out, let me know. And I am reading tons of threads so eventually I will find a thread that probably answers some of this. But havent found it yet.

Correct. You can’t get both specs from that unit but it will be ok to wash your house. If you are only doing a few neighbors it may not be profitable to pay for insurance just to do their houses. You can’t clean a roof downstreaming and probably only about 5 percent of roofs can be cleaned with an xjet. My suggestion, how a contractor and drink coffee while they do it

1 Like

Beyond the roof cleaning equipment, which you are saying I cannot do with the basic equipment I am talking about getting, what equipment recommendations do you have for pressure washer and surface cleaner???

Get the machine you’re looking at and some cheap home Depot surface cleaner. No need to spend a lot if it’s just a neighborhood hobby

2 Likes

Hi, welcome to the PWRA. Just keep reading and bookmarking good posts

4gpm is fine for residential, don’t use it on a roof. 12v are cheap.
You shouldn’t need a buffer tank for the 4gpm

Check out https://shopwindowcleaningresource.com/pressure-washing.html they own this forum and sell pressure washing stuff, they also have a window cleaning forum, you may like that work better

Either way, good luck on your endeavors

P.s. DO NOT buy anything before reading this forum every day for a few weeks

3 Likes

4 gpm, 4k psi will be more than enough to do you and your friends houses. It will be good for concrete too. Just don’t do new concrete and don’t clean it every year. It will take a little cream off every time. You don’t need a belt drive.

1 Like

Thanks for the input.

I do have an old Craftsman pressure washer. I think it is rated at 2500psi and dont know gpm. But probably 2. I also have a cheap home improvement store surface cleaner. The pump is starting to leak. I assume the pistons in the pump are leaking. I am going to buy a pw’er anyway and may buy a new pump just to make this old one work well and give it away or sell. It is about 15 years old with a 6hp briggs OHV motor. But I am a motorhead and it is very well maintained so I hate to let it go to the dump. It is just VERY slow cleaning the driveway with that setup. Partly because the water bypassing lowers the flow/pressure and the surface cleaner I have just isn’t working up to par.

PS I also have a Kranzle K1122TST electric pw that I use to wash cars with a foam gun along with a deionizing unit from CR Spotless and a mosmatic gun with swivel.

If it’s just a side gig for friends and family, I highly recommend checking FB marketplace, by/sell groups, Craigslist and the like for a used pressure washer. You can get some great deals this time of year. Like @Innocentbystander said, the Home Depot surface cleaners work great for a small machine! The Briggs and Stratton ones from Lowe’s do not. If you do go that route, get a 4’ lance to connect to it so you don’t have to bend over the whole time on a driveway. I don’t recommend those sc’s though if you decide to jump in any deeper than just the occasional friend’s driveway. 100’ or more of supply hose and 200’ of pressure hose, and the pressure will never have to leave the back of a truck or trailer.

1 Like

I have that 4gpm/4k machine, works well…for now. You may want to get one with a General pump, I’ve been informed the Cat pump is very difficult to rebuild…wish I knew that when buying mine.

I’m just doing aggregate concrete and house washing at this point but when I start doing ‘smooth’ concrete I’ll need to get a professional surface cleaner like an Ultra Clean 16".

There have been a few instances where the house spigot didn’t put out enough water so I added a 65 gallon buffer tank.

The Xjet M5 has worked well so far, gets up to the 2nd floor level and rinses decently enough. Sure a 5.5gpm/2500 would be ideal but $1,500 is a little tough to buy at this point.

1 Like

Thanks again for the input. I dont use facebook but will get a friend who does let me use his phone to look. Good idea. I have been looking at craigslist but havent found anything.

Cool to see you have that same model. I was looking at it with the general pump as well. The shop did tell me it was about half the cost to rebuild one. I figured with as little as I will use it I might not have to rebuild ever. So the cat wouldnt be an issue. But you have me thinking now. They are supposed to have them all in early next week. Will check them out then.