New Business - Power Washing or Power Washing and Window Washing?

I fully understand what you wrote and what osha says but a 36 " round tree is more stable than roof anchor. Also we are not roofers and I’m not installing a roof anchor on a residential house for a gutter cleaning.

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There’s osha and there’s real life. OSHA and the epa are two of the biggest waste of government money.

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I agree wholeheartedly…but if we are running businesses with employees we need to be compliant.

When we ask people to get on roofs without proper safety equipment not only are we putting our business at risk with fines and penalties…we are also putting their life at risk.

It’s our job as business owners to ensure the safety of employees. Myself, I was a paratrooper…heights don’t bother me and there’s not many roofs I won’t walk, climb, scoot the valleys. But I would never tell an employee to get on any roof without a harness properly anchored.

On another note has anyone checked out that tool the guy in the U K made for roof cleaning… it looks like one of the pressure washer broom attachments on wheels. Made to go on a water fed pole. I can’t imagine there’s to many roofs that couldn’t be cleaned with a 60 ft carbon fiber WFP.

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Steve from NC and a few others used to sell those back in the 90’s

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So, update time. RHG and Gutterprovac never returned emails. I called the only contractor around that has one. He said it was a waste if $4k and I could try it out. It has been in his shop fr 2 years. Took it to Charlotte today. 3 hours away. Simple 3 story buildings with 80% leaves and the rest pine straw. Wasn’t familiar with it but took 20 minutes to get generator running, cords and hoses and tubing stretched out. Could only clean about 15 ft of gutter at a time and thought my neck and back were going to break. Did one side of building and went up to check. Clumps all in the gutters. About an hour to do one side start to finish. 25 minutes to do remaining 3 sides with blower. Guys were 5 buildings in before I finished my experiment and started making money. If they work for you, great. They aren’t meant for South Eastern states with straw and frozen slop in gutters obviously.

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Hey, I give you major props for trying something new! I always got the feeling you’ve been at this so long that you were kind of stuck in your own ways of doing things (don’t mean that as an insult and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and wouldn’t really be open to trying some new things. So kudos man! Good stuff.

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There is being compliant and then there is real life practices. I never tell anyone to get on the roof. I give them the option to use a ladder or go walk the roof. Whatever they choose when they arrive is on them.

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its called an upkeeper. i use a 55 gallon drum cut in 2/3 so its like a 35 gallon drum. . No generator because its got a small honda engine.Yeah using a pole it takes some time to develop those muscles and technique. 2 story is obviously always a bit harder, one story is a breeze and might even be faster than blowing once you factor in clean up on the ground. The only part of the gutter it doesn’t reliably get thoroughly every time is under the gutter spike and inside corners. If anyone goes this route they really need to invest in a 16-24’ pole from home depot, a camera system to attach to the top and an acme threaded splitter that has a gutter spoon on it to move any missed debris to a spot the vac can reach. I average about 75-100’ an hour with 6 months experience. slower if they are really high and have mass amount of sand. Heres a video of a guy using it: Upkeeper Gutter Vac - YouTube

Considering the whole system is like a 5k investment, but considering you can do 500-1000’ per day that’s easily 100,000’+ per year per man potential. I would recommend not on basis of speed but the safety factor. I rarely need to get on a roof to do any gutters minus a few exceptions. Highly recommend!

That’s not how it works…

The cost definitely outweighs the cost of workmen’s comp for employees classified as being on a roof, and the cost and time of installing roof anchors, harnesses, and training.

Nice… that’s a lot of sticks and debris in there.

Lol. Let’s agree to disagree. I have been at this a long time and I know how to run my business. Everyone has a process for their own business.

I recently purchased a used gutter vac and it has its place. It’s no magic wand but rather another tool in the tool box. We use a combination of blowing, ladder/hand scoop, and gutter vac, whatever makes the most sense for the job/section of gutters we’re working on.

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If it takes more than 2 or 3 minutes to clean a hundred feet of gutters someone is getting fired. The day I tried the Vac we cleaned 16 3 story apartment buildings and the club house in 6 hours. I don’t charge by the foot, but I’d guess it was around 8k linier ft. Three in the roof, two blowing gutters, one keeping ropes from getting tangled. I was supposed to be doing ground clean up and moving ladder but I monkeyed around with the vacuum for an hour. They can’t carry the 40’ upright between buildings and it kills me to see it lowered, carried to the next building and raised. It’s easier and faster for me to just move it.

That’s a few seconds of work with a BG 55 blower. But, every one does what works for them. I tried it but it isn’t for me. It would cost me to much money in lost time.

I’ve always been curious how much those 3 story buildings go for

$150 to $175 for me. I’ve seen bids as low as $100 and less than two weeks ago, as high as $1k a building. Figure 3 or 4 guys should do it in 10 to 15 minutes. Gotta do 3 or 4 an hour to stay on schedule. They make payroll in the winter when they are wet and full. For the spring or summer clean out I just run up and check them. Usually just debris around the down spouts. 5 minutes. If I’m not on site then the guys have to rope up and do it themselves. Takes longer but employees have to follow OSHA. I don’t

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There is a bit more of a grey area here than what you may think In our state for sure and many others. I don’t know how to explain this short handed but fall Protectioon systems on residential are the greyest of the grey so be careful.

I agree with the advice on here to get your powerwashing business going first. I will say that window cleaning has been a great upsell for me. If you have the money then I would suggest buying a water fed pole. Practice with and make sure you are capable then start upselling window cleaning. It will benefit your business in the long run.

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The one thing you fail to take into account is your sensory perception. I have employed a water fed pole since the inception of Mr. Sparkle, Elite Window Cleaner and Pressure Pro. Even before I became a pressure pro I was sliding a WFP. Now I CAN tell you this: You will know by the sensation that travels through the brush and down your telescopic pole EXACTLY how dirty the window is. Second story windows never have more than dirt and bird poop that your brush and pole will easily eradicate. If I brush from corner to corner, all the way around the glass, taking measured strokes across the glass from top to bottom, bottom to top until I’ve covered all real estate inside the frame. Finally, I rinse thoroughly, slowly from top to bottom, as you go side to side. Now employing yet another of my senses, sight, I make certain that I’m not leaving anything on the glass. I repeat this at $6 per window post house wash, $7 stand-alone. I charge $3 per screen to remove, clean and replace.

Now after 2.5 years, I can tell you that the best thing about window jobs is the potential for upselling. I never clean the outside windows of a home that needs cleaning without first alerting the customer that they’ll need to clean them again when they have their house washed, so why not get both jobs done right now and forgo that extra expense. I get quite a lot more PW business from WC jobs than I do WC jobs from PRESSURE WASHER. All in all, while I hate to get window cleaning calls this time of year (lower income per hour), those jobs bring me PRESSURE WASHER jobs that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

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