What makes a good pressure washer good?

I am very new to the pressure washing business, but I realized that with little marketing I could make a good living here in Cancun Mexico offering this service.

At the moment I have a Truper 3300 PSI with 9 liters per minute (2.37 GPM) that I got new for about $500 USD. The other option they offer is a 4000 psi with 3.6 GPM for about $1000 USD.

Truper is a Mexican brand that I’ve learned to trust. Most of the tools I’ve purchased have worked as good as the better known brands. About 2 years ago they opened a service center for their tools here in Cancun, and they have fixed two items for free even though they were out of warranty. By looking at the paperwork they have put fake purchase dates. They fixed a submersible water pump and a router.

Since I have a service center in town, and the PW comes with a 1 year warranty, figured it would be my best option. If it breaks I can take it in, leave it for a few days and have them fix it.

I really do see the potential on becoming well known in the area for my service, as I do have very little competition. Hoping that within the next 6 months to a year I will be upgrading my equipment.

Browsing through this forum I noticed some people refer to Simpson being a good reputable brand. Seems I can get a Simpson PS60843 PowerShot including shipping for about $1500 USD or Simpson PS3228-SPowerShot 3200 PSI 2.8 GPM Honda GX200 for about $900 USD

Without having access to a Simpson, how could I tell if they are actually better than the Truper brands? If I have an issue with the Truper machine I can take it in to their local service center, if I was to have an issue with the Simpson I have no idea where I could take it in for repair, or if they even have an authorized service center in Cancun.

So it seems what I am really trying to find out is how can I tell if Truper makes a good pressure washer or not? What would be the signs that it is not a good machine? If I use it 20 to 30 hours per week and holds up for over a year could I say it is a good machine?

Most pressure washing brands, like Simpson and probably Truper (though I haven’t looked into them), are just combining other companies parts and rebranding them under their brand name as a complete machine. For example if you look around you will see various brands selling machines with Honda engines and either AAA, Cat, or AR pumps. So really it’s not so much a question about what brand you are buying, but the components that the brand choose to use. For starter equipment most around here will say as long as it has a Honda (gx390) and NOT a AAA pump you should be alright. Once you get above 4 GPM (depending on the water flow in your area) you are going to want to have a buffer tank set up so you can be off trigger longer and also have adequate water available to the pump at all times. You will also need to move to a gear or belt drive machine at that point as well since a direct drive (can maybe be gravity feed) doesn’t typically work well with pulling water from a tank. It sounds like that maybe later down the road once you get a dedicated truck setup though.