Suggestions on set up for beginner

Newbie Questions
1

So I’ve been in the pressure washing game for almost a year while in school. Makes pretty good money on the side while I’m working a part-time. But I’m wanting to upgrade and go bigger, and now I’m open for suggestions.

P Washer:
My set up includes a Northstar washer with a honda GX340 (11hp) that originally came w/ I think 3000psi and 4gpm. It was given to me in exchange for a free house wash (a super small house) and had broken pistons in the pump. The entire thing is older than me, So I just upgraded to 4000psi & 4gpm. and still works amazingly well. Maybe less than 200 hours, just old.

I use an adjustable downstream from Northern Tool w/ a 10 ft pickup tube. Usually keeping 15 gallons of 6% (I buy 12.5% in bulk and just dilute) Sh. My surfactant is really just dish soap bc I haven’t heard of anything cheaper to use that does an okay job. At the moment I’ve got straight 12.5% Sh in my tank bc I used a pump to pump it into a bug sprayer to do a concrete sidewalk post-treatment.

I run 200ft of 3/8 pressure hose in 50ft increments, with an old metal hose reel I found and repurposed for it. I really hate running 50ft increments bc their constnatly rusted. My supply hose is a 75ft high viz tradesmen.

I use this 18" surface cleaner i ordered from home depot, mainly bc i was too broke to afford anything nicer, but i wanted it for the grease fitting so it wouldn’t break as fast. Had it for a year and has definitely paid me back.

I keep two small electric pumps, one on my chem tank, usually to pump into the tank so i dont have to pour bleach everywhere. And another to pump it out of the tank, or pump other chems into a bug sprayer. Theyre both at max 1.5 gpm so nothing big enough to do a soft wash, i wish I had something to softwash concrete with.

I have 2 5 gal. buckets, ones a rinse for my downstream, the other is just incase.

Tools include basic screwdrivers, crescent and pipe wrenches. Channel locks, Silcock keys, and a small socket set.

Heres the kicker

I do maybe 2 house washes a week out of the bed of my truck, so I’ve hacked the old frame to the washer to just the metal plate like a Skid, and this way, everything fits under my roll-up bed cover. Never have to take it out other than to do maintance and clean. And I can go to work/school and no ones looking in the bed.

I want to possibly do a trailer build, but don’t do near enough houses to do that, or have near enough money (broke college student). but I’m tired of climbing in and out of the bed of the truck, to fix small issues and look unprofessional.

Would it be smart to add a starter to my washer so all I need to do is turn a key from the bedside? Or should I just upgrade to a 5gpm and not be able to cover it. If I can’t cover it, I might just start building a trailer rig. My only concern is of my 1500 loving pulling a trailer every week.

I might also consider fixing a small motor to the hose reel to turn it to reel the hose up, for me. That way i won’t need to climb in the bed to turn the crank.

Does anyone have suggestions ?

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2

I would suggest that: after you being here for a year, having 2 hours of research time, refusing to use professional chems, never acknowledging comments from your last question, we would be fools to answer any of the myriad questions in your rambling post.

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3

My suggestions.

  1. Drop the dawn soap. Pick up one of these, might look pricy at first but you use about $0.01 - $0.15 worth of soap per job, it lasts a long time and pays back like that surface cleaner.

  1. Live off your part time job and save every penny you make from washing. Part time job can’t support you? Live cheaper. Stop going out and wastIng money. You want to do this that badly then make it a priority. Don’t spend a dime if that money and put aside 25% of your earnings for taxes… yes that’s right, do it legally or don’t do it at all. That also means licensing, insurance, business structure, logos, CRM, ads, ect… If it’s too much for you then stop doing washing till you saved enough to do it right.

  2. Get cam locks for that electric pump with hoses and only use 1 pump for both pumping in the tank and pumping out. It’s a waste to have 2 when you can just can lock and switch between the two processes and save the 2nd pump as a backup. Heck you could use poly 3 way ball valves instead of cam locks and achieve the same thing.

  3. If your tired of looking unprofessional, then turn those 2 hours of read time into days and do your diligent research. You will see just how messed up your build is, but I understand people start somewhere and often wrong, as that was me at first.

Bottom line, if your broke, washing houses with dawn, and trying to make yourself more professional. Just stop washing, take a year off to save money for a professional setup, read this forum and study for that year before you waste money and time, piss off customers, and get yourself into some legal trouble.

5 Likes
4

IBS is right. You’ve dedicated 2 hours of education towards bettering yourself in a year. Don’t clutter up the forum, you have a hobby.

5

ouch. just wanting input on what I can change. I would definitely say i have more than 2 hours read and research time, i just dont always come here.

6

Gotcha. Ive got that Eliminator on the way. Same for the cam locks. Thanks

7

lol. Hahaaha

8

What is a CRM? I have the licensing, insurance, logo, ad support, etc. Isn’t that a data management thing?

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Crm would be customer relations management.

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10

CRM is important if you want to track customers, invoices to refer back to, and have repeat business. It’s one of the many ways for your business to professionally grow

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11

You know it would be a lot easier if you put a picture of your setup and asked for our opinions.

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Will do. I took everything out to do some maintenance and cleaning but itll be back in later today. I’ll post it then

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14

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

15

Shut up he’s not not rambling your just to lazy to answer a question because you think you know everything

16

:-1:t2::-1:t2::-1:t2:

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We don’t tolerate racist speech to anyone here. Why must you make up things to belittle someone else. That’s beyond the pale. Please use respectful words. “Shut up” is not a respectful comment.

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Ide be broke as a joke and working for someone else if I didn’t do it my way. What you should do is just not talk and read plenty of threads.

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  1. Were not discouraging him. He asked for suggestions on his current situation and we chimed in. The suggestions are not “someone else’s way” it’s the right and most efficient way. It will ensure he doesn’t waste time and money and starts off right.

Are you saying him using dawns soap is an excellent setup? You must be using dawn, confused, and maybe a $99 wash guy as well… welcome and please read and learn so you can stop being ignorant.

This is a place people come to for advice and to grow professionally. That speech isn’t tolerated here. I haven’t been here long but I’ve seen a trend where fellas like you find this forum, crash it and talk a big talk because you think your more knowledgeable after 1 month of washing then the guys who have been doing it for 10-40 years, then fade away because you get schooled on something.

I guarantee once you actually read this forum in depth, you will see just how wrong you were and wish you’d just “shut up” and read. Building a bad rep on here won’t get you any help.

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Here’s how I keep it. I usually keep the supply hose in front of the hose reel. And the surface cleaner and 5 gal sprayer are both at my apartment, so that’s why their not in it.

Nothings in the way of the exhaust, so nothing gets melted or too hot.

I keep a tool bag in the cab. Along with an extra wand and lance (came with the washer). And now I’m keeping an extra pump in the bag. I usually keep extra chems in bottles in the bucket, but ive started taking them out when i know i wont use them.

I like keeping it covered ,other than when I leave a house, to let it cool down, because I’ve had 3 pressure hoses and wands get stolen out of the back. Imagine the headache of pulling in and having to leave to buy more hose.

I had 3 magnetic stickers to advertise, but I guess one flew off while I was going down the road. I took them off to wash the truck.

I know its not perfect, but any suggestions to make my life easier help. It can definetly do a decent amount of work. Most busy weekends i do around 5 houses with this, and the only issue is being low on gas after 2 or 3.

21

Well said. I definitely know I can grow, and know there are some things I could do differently and get a better result. One thing is changing surfactant. Ive been looking for cam locks , and without that other pump, it looks a bit more organized.