To full time or not to full time

Just a quick one Iv been reading all the past posts and there’s some really sound advice on here but do you guys see pressure washing as a side job or am I dreaming thinking I can make it a full time job? 

Its really only seasonal so i cant see it being a full-time job. I PW roofs and driveways and only do a few a month. Priced one 4 weeks ago for £240 which was 80sq metres. The old guy was trying to get me to drop my price so i said i would sand it for him for free. He told me he had another few quotes to get and i never heard from him again. Its Ok for me because i have plenty of work but for someone full-time it could be upsetting knowing there are time wasters out there. 

If you door knock from February to September to drum up business and your competitive on price, that backed up with a high ranking website, google ads, facebook ads you can make a good living out of it. You need to make enough to cover you from October till March because not many people want it done.. I don't get a single call during this time for it.

Thanks for that yer I can see the downsides to it I was thinking starting part time and taking it from there and looking at other ventures to pick up the slack. 

There is a guy near us who does only pressure washing. He does re-seals and repairs too but its all based arounds pressure washing. Very good too. He takes every job that comes his way, some i would walk away from in an instant (tarmac, resin drives, front gardens with no tap access) etc, he takes the lot. Hes got 1000l tank fitted so doesn't necessarily need a tap supply. I put a lot of job requests on to him as he is better equipped to deal with them and prepared to take them on. He said its all about summer, between april & september he has to make his money because the winters long and quiet and the work drops to very little. He will work 12/13 hours a day in summer. 

Honestly its a seasonal job. You might as well forget about winter you wont get a decent chance to re-sand block paving, re-seal if you do that etc. its not warm enough, things never dry out its too darn wet, do you wanna be that guy whos pressure washed a drive and the following night a deep freeze sets in. 

The customer wakes up to an ice rink. Alarm bells

Thanks for the reply he sounds like he’s got a sound set up.pressure washing definitely appeals to me but your right in what you say I would have to find some steady jobs in the winter months to keep ticking over.my set up wouldn’t be to that scale with the tank but still enough to get most pressure washing jobs done.

Neil harrison said:

Thanks for the reply he sounds like he’s got a sound set up.pressure washing definitely appeals to me but your right in what you say I would have to find some steady jobs in the winter months to keep ticking over.my set up wouldn’t be to that scale with the tank but still enough to get most pressure washing jobs done.

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A lucrative winter job, if you can get the work, would be clearing gutters. If you're ok up ladders a repair service on top would be very profitable.

Commercial power washing is a all year business but domestic power washing is very irregular. The competition for this service is very high because low cost setting. With 500 dollars & a cheap truck you are in business. Most companies keep power washing as a service. Window cleaning, power washing & guttering cleaning. 

Buy a gutter sucker?  that will keep u going throughout the winter

On a slight side note I have been asked to pressure wash a customer of mine next week ready for Xmas. Its a two day job, I was just wondering if there is anything I should be worried about with the cold? Other than the obvious freezing over night? 

It all depends how cold it gets in your area

DJT if you use chems they will be less effective as the temp drops - if it's cold enough to freeze overnight (and thaw) it will be damp and you'll struggle to resand effectively (it may look like the sand's all in - but when it dry's out your sand will flow more easily into the gaps and you're custy will get a gappy finish and will look awful).