I’ve noticed in the last year atleast 4 new companies in my rural area doing pressure washing. (Atleast 1 of them offers soft-washing.) Has anyone else noticed this in their area? Perhaps the economic downturn has made people look to “easy” start-ups to make extra money?
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I had about 5-6 in my area this year. Every year seems like 2-3 at least. Most don’t last. Once their home owner power washer breaks, they call it quits.
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I know its targeted, but I can’t go on YouTube without being bombarded by 18 videos about why pressure washing is a great business to be in.
Lots of channels trying to sell the dream, and their course.
Definitely taking off. Window cleaners such as myself are realizing PW makes triple the money per man-hour with less bodily risk.
My biggest competitor is still the average homeowner that claims they washed the house with Wet-n-Forget and did the driveway with a Karcher and a “spinner thing”. Here in KY they pride themselves by doing projects themselves no matter how junky the outcome.
My window cleaning calls have actually gone up as I’m one of only a few WC that does everything by hand.
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People are catching on to how much can be made with relatively small investment. Youtube and tic toc videos just escalade that by saying how easy it is to make $100+ / hr. Apps like Nextdoor around me have caused a big uptick in handyman and pressure washing start-ups as well. Most are just guys doing it as a side business like myself. Hard to find any other part time business that can make as much and 100% at on your own schedule.
I’ve had tons of new people in the last 2 years. Tiny bandit signs all over. This is why I am trying to do wood only, most of them can’t do it right or don’t know how to paint.
My buddy is actually one of my competitors. He sends his pool employees out with a homeowner unit to PW whatever the pool owner wants. They use pure pressure and don’t care, even after I told them what damage they can do. He called me to fix his house siding when it was oxidized. I did it for free. He is a good friend.
A good friend doesn’t let you work for free, in my opinion.
Seems like it goes beyond washing but there are constantly new guys jumping in & right back out. A house down the street had a stump grinding company taking care of a stump a few months back. Now they have an enclosed trailer in the driveway that says “stump grinding” with a phone number on it. Haven’t seen it move yet.
IDK about new ones…I’m always running into guys around us that have been in business multiples of the time we have, and are barely keeping themself busy with no helper. They have like 8 reviews which we get in less than 2 weeks with only 1 truck washing right now…I’m not even sure how they’re still afloat. No overhead, no insurance is my guess…
They didn’t think to start the business to cut down the trees for people first…would have made their own stump grinding market…
They cut down the tree themselves & got rid of everything. Massive, massive tree! Like 3 foot diameter. Just didn’t know what to do about the stump apparently. Then they hired a guy & smelled cash once he made light work of it haha. Seems to be a lot of competition around here for stumps, probably because there are lots of trees.
For my next endeavor, I think I’ll start a YouTube channel; “How to start your own pressure washing YouTube channel”. It’ll be fun! Just convince as many people as possible that we should all quit our jobs & make big bucks washing each other’s houses every day. Episode 2: how to get average Joe’s with no money to buy your pressure washing course.
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BOOM. This right here, folks. I’ll do work for friends but I charge them the same as everyone else. Just left a job for a really close friend about 30 minutes ago. Few hours of my time and $900 later we’re both happy.
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I’m not sure what bandit signs are, but one new guy around here must’ve left 100 small yard signs around. Small. Probably like 6" or 8" × 12" or so. I assume those are similar.
Yeah that’s always irked me too. Seems disrespectful to have a friend work for free…
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The oversaturation makes me a little anxious, but I’m trying to get out of residential anyway. Well, not “get out of,” more like “focus my energy on other things.” Gimme those apartment complexes and bulk commercial contracts.
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Now, I’ll help a friend in my free time and not expect anything in return but if I’m using my equipment, blocking off a spot on my schedule, and providing a service that they don’t have the skills or equipment to handle then they’re a customer just like everyone else. If I show up to help hang curtains and use their tools and they work alongside me that’s another thing entirely.
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Don’t sweat it. I just passed the four year mark of running this business. I bet there’s been close to 100 “companies” spring up in my area in those four years. Unsurprisingly, the same established companies that were around before me are still rocking right along and all the others have failed or they’re just operating as silent as a field mouse.
I think one guy started up a couple years ago and he started washing trucks. He’s the only one I know of that has really done well and doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere. Seems like a nice enough guy so glad he’s doing well.
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It seems they all fail eventually. You need to know what you’re doing
They’ve probably been sold the YouTube special, the “how would you like to make 3k a day” package - hit the link below to find out more, like and subscribe.
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