So, I am very new to all this. Both pressure washing and these forums.
I buy and sell stuff on the side for a bit of fun money. I had gone to a local auction back in November and picked this machine up for what I considered to be a good price. There is no cell reception in the warehouse… couldn’t do any research on this thing beforehand haha. I paid 1800 canadian for it after the 30% auction fees and taxes. Brand new, never used… was still on the pallet when I bought it. As far as I can tell easykleen makes the magnum line too. They sell the easykleen equivalent at princess auto(the canadian harbor freight) for $4300+tax. In the end I think I did ok. Winter is not the time to sell a PW (partly why I was able to score it at the auction) so I was just gonna sit on it till spring.
Fast forward to a few days ago and I found myself without a job. I’ve been with that company for 5 yrs. I went from making almost 60k canadian a yr as an unticketed employee in the constrution field to $0 overnight. To say I was slightly overpaid for the local industry is an understatement. There are journeyman carpenters who made less. Anyway… I ain’t gonna start with a new company for anything close to what I was making.
That got my wheels turning a bit and I’m now very seriously considering starting up a softwash/pressure wash biz.
It’s a 4000psi 3.5gpm hot water machine. 15hp electric start. Knock off honda engine though. Pump is just marked easykleen. Does have a DS injector. And a built in unloader
Would you A) keep this machine and attempt to make it work and have the option to shoot hot water if needed or B) Sell the machine, and buy a 4-4.5+gpm cold water machine and have some cash leftover to put towards a 12v systems, water tanks, chem tanks etc or C) Keep this machine, buy a 2000 psi 8gpm pump and put it on this motor and run it in cold water mode. 2000x8÷1100 says my 15hp could run it. If I really need hot water switch the pump back over so I only push 3.5gpm through the burner. (I’m assuming you could push 8gpm through the burner to but youd end up with warm water instead of hot water?)
Would I ever wish I had hotwater and kick myself for selling it? I
I live in what is considered a rainforest on the west coast of Canada. Mold/mildew/algea on damn near every single house and roof in my city.
I plan on offering roof/house/flatwork services. Sounds like maybe I should be/almost need to be offering window cleaning too.
Has anyone done this out of the back of a crew cab dodge with the ridiculously short 5’7 box or am I looking at purchasing a trailer in the near future. If you could get either trailer would you go for a flat deck or an enclosed trailer? 10-12’
I’m at the very infancy of this endeavour, I know I have a long way to go here. Glad I found this resource though!
Keep it and use it for a while. Wash some friends and or families homes for free or enough to cover the cost and see if you like the work. If you do plan on starting a real business with it expect to invest all income for a year to get everything you need to offer rounded services. Good job reading up so much in only 2 days, lots to learn here.
@Cwalker sell it and buy a cold water machine that’s around 5gpm. A hot water unit at 3.5gpm really has no place in commercial or residential too small.
I’ve actually done a fair bit of commercial PWing before. A buddy of mine HAD a contract for a bunch of gas station chains in the next town over. Pads/canopys/signs/pumps. Pwing and painting curbs etc. I’d go give him a hand when my schedual allowed. I enjoyed it.
I plan on doing some PW and some carpentry the first year. I’ve got a few friends in the construction industry who between them could keep me employed full time, working part time for each of them if that makes sense. I do pick up quite a few side jobs for myself already, it was going into the fun money account. Now those side jobs are gonna be paying bills.
I’m in a position right now I could invest up to 7-8k into this new venture without loosing to much sleep over it. A trailer is gonna run me 3-4k in my area so that half my working capital. Priced out building one, materials would run about a grand.
Do a truck build instead of the trailer. Don’t have that much stuff yet anyway to put on it. Add a couple hose reels, mount the unit in there could probably take those wheels off. I went from a trailer to a truck and it’s the best thing I ever did.
Can you really fit a PWer, chem tanks, buffer tanks etc all into a 5’7" box? Seems awfully small for that. I’ve also sort of have it set up for carpentry right now and if I wanna keep doing it I either keep the truck for carpentry or PW the truck but then buy a cargo trailer for the carpentry. Either way I’m buying a trailer if I wanna start pwing
Dont mind the mess… I had to take my Christmas tree to the tree chipping place. Things got thrown back in when I got home becasue…rain.
I was leaning towards getting a CW machine. Seems the higher flow is nice for house washing and the smaller footprint in the machine almost means I could truck mount all this to start.
Starting out before you decide to make it your full time business you can take the camper shell off for now and make it work for cheap. Shouldn’t need a buffer tank for 3.5 unless water pressure is an issue. But even a vertical 55gal would work with plenty of room left. I ripped out the back sets in my extended cab and use it for storage for most tools and chems (aside from sh that’s in one of 2 55gal tanks). I’ve seen some pics here of guys that laid down the tailgate and extended the bed that way but they mostly running 3/4 or 1 ton trucks. Could get you by until you got a trailer.
Probably, but with only 3.5 gpm you’ll really appreciate a hot water rinse. SO, I started with 4gpm 4k and a lot of help from my friends here. I bought a surface cleaner first, and a roof system next. That’s the moment you will outgrow your truck.
Good luck, and if you’d like to follow my foibles as I learned, search my history. You should get a good laugh.
I have the crew cab dodge as well with the 5’7” box. It is a tight fit currently and I only have a direct drive 4/4 so no buffer tank. Couldn’t use it if I had one. With a surface cleaner, extra hoses, wands, triggers, buckets, ladder, Chem’s . not much room.
Currently looking at building a skid with built in ladder rack and shelves that go over the box sides to mount the PW, and reels.
If your truck works for your carpentry and that’s what you do the most if I would leave it and build your PW rig on a trailer.
