Scale requires A LOT of volume (among other things). Everyone needs their lawn cut (pretty frequently) and leaves removed in the fall. Not everyone wants or needs pressure washing done. As such, the actual volume and frequency of pressure washing business is lower.
Landscaping requires less skill in the field to operate. Most scaled landscape companies have nothing but Mexicans driving and working for them. That’s not meant to be a slight against any race, just stating what I see. They are probably lower cost employees the pressure washing employees.
Pressure washing equipment and chemicals are a bit more specialized so you need employees with a higher level of intelligence and working knowledge versus mowers and blowers. And once you train them adequately, they quickly realize that the barriers to entry of the business are low and viola you have just hatched another competitor.
If you can train people like Mexicans or other who cannot or will not compete with you, then maybe you are onto something. You could force a non-compete to be signed by everyone, but good luck enforcing it.
Anything’s possible of course, but sometimes not as probable as you might hope.
Lot of stupid comments in your post. A Zturn mower and a decent machine host roughly the same. Heck, there are a ton of guys going around washing with 4 gpm machines so their equipment costs are lower than many landscapers. Surely you aren’t suggesting that you need to be smarter than a landscaper to spray water. This is pretty much a no skill level required job.
I chose to start washing instead of lawn care strictly due to initial costs. And my background is all lawn care - just look at my washing setup and you’ll understand I didn’t know as much about purchasing the “right kind” of washing equipment to start up this biz but I make it work because it all fits easily into the back of my pickup. When it came to starting a lawn care biz I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than a $8k z-turn to start off with and at least $300 a piece on each of my string trimmers, edgers, hedgers, blowers etc. And then theres a trailer to haul it all. As far as skill, I don’t think either profession requires much, BUT you can always tell who really cares about the quality of work they present to others. But the ability to replace a torn up piece of sod or a busted sprinkler head is much easier and less of a headache compared to replacing a busted window pane or a shorted HVAC breaker I feel.
What Rick said. This is just common sense. I can teach anyone with a strong back and common sense how to do this job in a week. One of the first things I tell new guys is, don’t think. Do exactly what I tell you and you can excel at this.
Isn’t everyone just trying to earn a living. Who cares what’s harder, takes more effort.
If you can make more money doing something, do that. If it’s easier, awesome! If not the extra money should compensate a bit
Lol it’s a dead art brock and the skill sets have diminished in window cleaning, traditional window cleaning could almost be an up sell, if a trained monkey could do pressure washing il have to go one further and say and amputee monkey could lean on something while using a water fed pole and do a really decent job.
The end of my hose can cost more than a gas powered pressure washer at a box store. $65 stainless ball valve, $125 good gun, $35 lance and a $175 turbo nozzle. $400 right there. It’s not cheap if you want pro equipment. That’s just one set up after the hose think about all the variations with all the various tips, lance sizes etc. plus the other issue is, as mentioned above, it’s a niche service, just like electrical sign contractors (my original career, and still am). Plumbers, electricians, landscapers etc are everywhere. There’s trade schools for them and every city has many. You don’t just find someone who knows how to do what we do. That’s why there is so many one man shows. Or at least depending on what level your trying to run your business. I specialize in home details and have spent the last 1.5 years studying 2-3 hours a day and getting long days of “practice”. I would not send some guy out after a week of training and expect to not mess something up.
My view is if we can teach an 18 year to read a map, use a compass, train him on 2-3 weapon systems and then send him to a foreign country we can certainly teach an adult how to select the right chemical, use the right nozzle and clean with pressurized water appropriately.
After 20 years of Naval service I’m here to tell you the military like in civilian life there are always the over achievers or “Superstars” and they carry the team.
I disagree, there’s thousands of hands on businesses that have scaled. I think scaling is the hardest part, sourcing and keeping good help is very hard.
