When starting a new power washing company, should I offer all services or focus on one area like pavers and concrete surfaces. For example, I don’t think I’ll ever climb a roof…so…
You might wanna rethink that…
I agree, please forward me all roof jobs…lol
I know, there’s money up there
I think early on most people offer more services then after a while you realize what makes the most money and then focus on that. If roof washing isn’t profitable or too risky just don’t offer it. However if every other job you go on they ask if you wash roofs, you may want to reconsider. It’s all about your market. What sells and what doesn’t.
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I guess that sounds reasonable, climbing off is where I’m iffy about things
Yep. You can bank on that.
Its dangerous, more insurance, etc,etc. Most PW ppl walk. But harry home owner wants a crack at his own house to save money, and get some satisfaction and a atta boy from his wife. Not many attack there own roofs. For good reasons. that’s why every PW that does it , charges accordingly.
It’s more of in your head vs the reality of climbing off a ladder at the top. So, to deter that, Id suggest a ladder with as few pieces as possible, ie: no folding ladders. Oh, and stabilizers help.
I agree with @sgb . If you just offer concrete cleaning you’re likely not going to be very busy your first year. Only offering one service drops the number of potential customers by a ton. Plus, like he said, you need to find out what your market is like so you can see what services are most often requested. You won’t learn it very well only offering one or two services. Once you build your business you’ll then be busy enough to offer only the services you want to offer. You can pick and choose a little more when it’s easy to fill your calendar.
As for roofs if you lived in IL like I do you could get away without offering them because it’s just not very popular here. Although, people are willing to pay big time here because they can’t find anyone to do them. Anyways, with you living in Florida you’ll be losing out on a ton of work not doing roofs. Get a good heavy duty extension ladder with a standoff and you’ll feel a lot safer getting off the roof. I like aluminum because they’re light but they aren’t as stable. A good fiberglass is solid but are heavier. Practice getting on and off at home if you need to. It’s all about getting comfortable with not being comfortable. Anyone can get use to almost anything. After awhile it will become second nature.
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Still gotta be careful, safety first and foremost 
you ain’t making nothing laid up.
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What are your goals for your business? Is this a full-time venture that will be your main source of income or a side hustle to earn extra money? Two very different business modules.
For me, as my primary income source, I offered quite a bit of services in this last year -
- Commercial Pressure Washing - restaurants, offices, buildings, etc. Recurring monthly income! I do not have a ton of restaurants yet but combined they bring in $2K per month.
- Residential house washes, concrete, roofs, decks, fences
- In our area, stone cleaning and sealing can be a big thing to which I made over $35K this year on just those jobs.
- Window Cleaning - residential pays better but commercial gives you recurring income.
- Fence Installations - did a few fence installs, staining
- Landscape - this week I am doing a 3000 sq ft sod installation. Did three of these this last year.
- Lawn Service - have a handful of lawn accounts to fill in the schedule. Not the best paying, but does fill in dead spots in the week and cumulatively brings in $300-$400 per week.
- Bank drive-thru lane cleaning - these are low paying per job, but 24 branches with just one bank with monthly recurring income. They bring in an average of $700 per month (I don’t clean all 24 every month - usually just a handful - each branch gets cleaned every 2-3 months on average so 4-7 per month).
- Did a job last month of 30K sq ft sidewalk and walkway cleaning along with expansion joint replacement for a gov agency that took 3 days all in to the tune of $4K.
My recurring work brings in around $50K per year and averages about 18 hrs per week. Then I fill the schedule with regular residential, one-time commercial and whatever else comes my way that I am set-up with the right tools, equipment, supplies and knowledge to do.
Service industry businesses take time to build and grow depending on market, competition, your advertising and what services you offer. I will say, do not offer something you are not very knowledgeable about, have the tools and/or equipment for and can deliver great results. You will regret it in the end and very well hurt your business more than it will help.
Good luck to ya!
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Come on Brian, I’m trying to fill November here ;>)
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Definitely goals! I have a Monday-Friday 8-5 with every other Saturday and a day off during the week when I work Saturday (Safelite AutoGlass installer). Initial plan is to start as side hustle with the intention of making it my main source of income. If all goes well and busy, I would like add helpers and or a few employees so I can focus on generating business and running the books. My end goal is to have more time with my family and enjoy life.
Something that’ll help you reach that, and what I should’ve done sooner, is to actually sit down somewhere quiet and alone (almost never gonna happen in my house lol) and actually write/type up a 5 year plan. As in where you want be in your business, then write the steps and processes needed to get to that point. It’s great to have a vision of where you want to be in a few years, but having no structure on how to get there will absolutely put you in the ground. Think of it like bodybuilding. Tons of guys at the gym want so bad to look like the Hulk, but few will actually hit that level. Not that they can’t, but because they don’t have a structured routine with steps, goals and discipline to get there. It’s fun to dream about being the big guy, but takes a lot of boring, painful repetitive work to get there. I’m currently in that painful, lifting more than I think I can stage right now. Love it though
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Ha! I don’t wanna hear it. I’ve seen like 28 videos or pictures of jobs you’ve done in the last 3 days. Anything from roofs to metal buildings big enough to cover a football field and you call it a small shed. Most of us have only eaten like 8-10 beef filets in our lifetime. You have the money to where you’ve polished that many off in a single evening. 
November means it’s time to stop working. I’m surprised I’m still as busy as I am right now. The calls keep rolling in so I can’t complain. When my season stops I’m going to come down there and work with you Garry.
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Heck, I’ll call the uber for ya.
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I’d like to be a fly on that wall. I can only imagine the conversations and wild stories.
On this topic - I did a backyard sod install today. It was 6 pallets of sod (450 sq ft per pallet). Took 11 hours (by myself) and cleared $1100. Great, got my $100 per hour minimum. Let me tell you though, it is backbreaking work. 6 pallets of sod = 30,000 lb. You have to unload it from a pallet into a wheel barrow, push it 50-75 yards into the backyard, unload it onto the ground in rows and then get on your hands and knees and line it up. My back is sure feeling it now. In reality that is close to 90K lbs of lifting today (once from pallet, once rolling to to the backyard, once throwing it down and then the weight of moving each piece on the ground to line it up).
But I look at it this way - $1000 per day x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year = $250,000. Hard to pass on those opportunities.
BTW - I will be up at 4 am tomorrow starting another day of adventures.
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Sod is definitely a young man’s game. I did 30k sq ft of Zoysia one time to help a buddy out. I had a lawn and landscape business but had never done sod. After that day I decided I’d never do it again.
