newbie questions

[SIZE=10pt]Hi All, newbie here so thanks in advance for any help.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]So my situation is I have just been made redundant and I’m going self-employed, I am trying my hand at a number of things to try to minimise low earnings. I would like to do gutter cleaning and I’m in the market for a decent cleaner. I wanted to spend about £500 but all I can find are junior 1500w set ups that I wouldn’t feel comfortable turning up to a customer’s property with. The 3000w setups I want seem very expensive, so my question is, can you get it all separate for cheaper? I have seen some 3000w vacuums quite cheap but I’m not sure if there is a specific type I’m looking for? Any help or links would be really appreciated.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Additionally, if you don’t mind, how much do you charge on average for a gutter clean, how many do you think you do on average a week and is it seasonal?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Thanks Again.[/SIZE]

If you are starting out you are better off buying something like a skyvac industrial 85 or similar it’s a proven product out of the box , side entry is a must for professional work this will stop blockages going into the drum . We have been doing this type of work as an add on to window Cleaning for around 15 years , I doubt you could earn a living just from it as it is seasonal to a greater degree our busiest months are September - March although we do stuff every month of the year you arnt going to earn enough in summer months m we have a lot of repeat work with some of our large commercial window cleaning customers , hotels, blocks of flats , nursing homes , etc , you will find it a sharp learning curve , it’s not as easy as it looks there are a lot of potential pitfalls if you don’t survey properly been there and done that !!! ???.

Price wise we have a minimum charge of £65 for a modern 3 bed semi , going up to several thousands of pounds for large commercial work , 

we generaly have a day on domestic gutter vaccing and do between 4-6 houses a day varying in size and price we work as a team of two . 

With respect you arnt going to get a professional set up for £500 Ime just about to buy a new set up and looking at the best part of 4-4:5k , you will need a vac, genie as well so that you can be self sufficient on power , poles , camera , and end tools , 

I made mine up for less than a grand but its pretty time consuming. I would much rather pay 3 grand for the Sinaclean 85 system. I will probably upgrade to the 85 next year but not sure if I will sell my old setup. I could probably sell it for at least £500 now all the hard work is done. Even if the maxblaster gices up the ghost, all I do is buy a new one (£200) and swap the head over which will take less than a minute.

This could a be a useful thread for you.



Taking into account your budget you have little choice but to get a cheaper low power vac and use customers power supply until you have enough money to upgrade. Its annoying having to reply on people to run power cables in and out of their property but make sure when you go to the job to quote you explain the process to the customer, most people are accommodating. Also be aware of the vac won't handle huge volumes of debri (say a country house with the gutters full of leaves) like an industrial one. 

I've just set one up for roughly £400 using black friday deals. The Vac is 1600watts and has the same air flow rate as an atom. I brought some alloy poles off of ebay, yes they are heavy but that's not too much of an issue for me as it's just odd jobs at the moment. I'm thinking of it as a workout! Yes there are limitations and I'm sure I will come across jobs it cannot cope with. In 2 weeks I have booked in enough work from adding it onto my services on my website and facebook page to pay for itself. Any new jobs are now profit. I think if you dont expect it to be able to compete with a professional gutter machine in terms of it will take you longer, be harder work and at some point it may not be able to do certain jobs, imo you cant go wrong. 

£550 Skyvac Atom inc inspection camera from SpinAclean.

Keep prices simple

Terrace houses £20 front and £20 back if under 10mtrs a side plus £5 per downpipe.

Detatched/semi detatched properties £2 p/mt plus £5 per downpipe

Conservatorys £2 p/mt plus £5 per downpipe.

Some jobs youll fly round as wont be hardly any crud in them, others will be overflowing with plants.

Dont think youll make a living from gutter clearing though as you wont.

Offer other services, driveway/decking/patio cleaning etc, odd jobs are a good earner

Clarkey I think Grippa do finance on their kit...personally 'I pay as I go and If I can't pay I don't go' - but if you are starting out and funds are tight - it might make it easier. You don't want kit breaking/packing up/not being powerful enough all the while your' losing time/money to sort things out. Buy a powerful enough vac and good carbon poles - you'll soon forget the price you paid and will appreciate a professional setup - where everything just works and 'living is easy...'

Pricing is very much area sensitive - personally I have minimum charge (£120) after all you've got to get there, set up, do the work, clean up, dispose of debris, get to next job. If someone is asking for their gutters to be cleared out - they don't want to get dirty themselves/haven't got a head for heights/the time/have got overflowing gutters - so the price you quote - is to them for a professional service from a trader coming to their house to carry out this necessary/essential service (who else are they going to get to do this?) so don't undersell yourself.

It's very much another string to your bow service - can't imagine you could do it full time unless you cover a large conurbation (gutters need clearing once or twice a year max - means you'd need a lot of custys...plus causal calls/walk up's tend to be seasonal/after heavy rainfall. 

You don't need a camera - it's a nice to have - you'll sound be able to 'feel' your progress thru the poles and grippa do a transparent set of gulpers etc so you can 'see' debris as it's sucked up...Make sure downpipes the 'swan necks' are cleared they often get blocked on the first bend and need clearing/undoing to get access.