First real job with Panther Vac

[ched999uk]

After reading lots I bought a GVS Panther gutter vac last month as it appears to have biggest poles and big side entry port. I have done a couple of little jobs that happen to be on bungalows but today was my first 'normal' house!
It's a fairly modern 3 bed semi and it's an existing customer who had someone clear the gutters last year as she asked me but I didn't have a vac and I avoid ladders.
Anyway there is a valley and at the bottom there was a little garden growing:
So I had my first 1st story gutters and a plant growing in the downpipe! Managed to get it out after a while, I gave it a good soak as it didn't seem to be budging. Then it came out!
I'm not sure how well last years 'empty' was carried out!
I'm impressed at the Panther gutter vac - so far so good.
Thanks to @GVS Julia Martin for her great customer service.
Thanks to everyone who has posted about Gutter Vac as it helped (@Part Timer - work from edges, and I think @Pjj - wetting weeds).

 

[Pjj]

After reading lots I bought a GVS Panther gutter vac last month as it appears to have biggest poles and big side entry port. I have done a couple of little jobs that happen to be on bungalows but today was my first 'normal' house!
It's a fairly modern 3 bed semi and it's an existing customer who had someone clear the gutters last year as she asked me but I didn't have a vac and I avoid ladders.
Anyway there is a valley and at the bottom there was a little garden growing:
So I had my first 1st story gutters and a plant growing in the downpipe! Managed to get it out after a while, I gave it a good soak as it didn't seem to be budging. Then it came out!
I'm not sure how well last years 'empty' was carried out!
I'm impressed at the Panther gutter vac - so far so good.
Thanks to @GVS Julia Martin for her great customer service.
Thanks to everyone who has posted about Gutter Vac as it helped (@Part Timer - work from edges, and I think @Pjj - wetting weeds).

You will be surprised once you have got the hang of it it’s surprising what you can get out of a gutter with a vac and different techniques for different things like cutting big turfs into smaller sections pulling turfs away from joints and end caps to looses them up etc

 

[PC]

Thanks for writing about your experience. Thinking of getting a vac myself and have researched for literally hours and hours and still none the wiser.
So your post was double helpful!
I’m 56 now and feel that my ladder days for gutter cleaning are coming to an end.
I wfp full time but just can’t seem to make the break from ladders for gutters. I’ve been fighting it for at least a couple of years

 

[ched999uk]

Thanks for writing about your experience. Thinking of getting a vac myself and have researched for literally hours and hours and still none the wiser.
So your post was double helpful!
I’m 56 now and feel that my ladder days for gutter cleaning are coming to an end.
I wfp full time but just can’t seem to make the break from ladders for gutters. I’ve been fighting it for at least a couple of years

I'm only a couple of years behind you age wise!
I found, when doing my research, that blockages can be an issue. So the bigger the airpath the better. I found that Gutter Sucker used 44mm poles and had a huge reduction at the cyclonic inlet down to about 35mm! The SkyVac uses 44mm ali poles or 50mm carbon with 50mm hose and cyclonic inlet but I couldn't find any images of the actual inlet to see if it reduced in diameter - I did like the idea of the release pole but trying to keep the budget down would mean 44mm poles and even then it's about £200 more expensive than GVS.
When I started I decided that I wasn't going to do ladders so a gutter vac was the only way. So far it's worked well, I did think that this one was going to beat me as the weed was well down the downpipe but after reading to be persistent and keep at it then try soaking it it worked. After seeing what it pulled out I was impressed, if I had seen the size of the weed I don't think I would have expected it to be able to cope but it did.
The 3 bed semi and conservatory gutter took me about 90 mins but it's early days and I am learning so that's fine.
I didn't want a bigger vac as it wouldn't fit in my van plus I was keeping my options open in case I need a geny and didn't want a 50kg one that again wouldn't fit in the van!
If you have a good few wfp customers and have ladders in case of difficulty then I would say a vac is a good investment plus it means you can work safer. I dare say you could also work faster with a vac on certain jobs.

 

[PC]

I'm only a couple of years behind you age wise!
I found, when doing my research, that blockages can be an issue. So the bigger the airpath the better. I found that Gutter Sucker used 44mm poles and had a huge reduction at the cyclonic inlet down to about 35mm! The SkyVac uses 44mm ali poles or 50mm carbon with 50mm hose and cyclonic inlet but I couldn't find any images of the actual inlet to see if it reduced in diameter - I did like the idea of the release pole but trying to keep the budget down would mean 44mm poles and even then it's about £200 more expensive than GVS.
When I started I decided that I wasn't going to do ladders so a gutter vac was the only way. So far it's worked well, I did think that this one was going to beat me as the weed was well down the downpipe but after reading to be persistent and keep at it then try soaking it it worked. After seeing what it pulled out I was impressed, if I had seen the size of the weed I don't think I would have expected it to be able to cope but it did.
The 3 bed semi and conservatory gutter took me about 90 mins but it's early days and I am learning so that's fine.
I didn't want a bigger vac as it wouldn't fit in my van plus I was keeping my options open in case I need a geny and didn't want a 50kg one that again wouldn't fit in the van!
If you have a good few wfp customers and have ladders in case of difficulty then I would say a vac is a good investment plus it means you can work safer. I dare say you could also work faster with a vac on certain jobs.

Morning mate
So you use customers electricity at the moment but with the option of a genny at a later date?
How much did you pay for the set up you have and where from if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[ched999uk]

Morning mate
So you use customers electricity at the moment but with the option of a genny at a later date?
How much did you pay for the set up you have and where from if you don’t mind me asking?

It is the Gutter Vacuum Systems Panther vac with the 36ft ali poles and bag at £779 inc vat and delivery :GVS Panther vac & Ali poles
I did also buy the GVS camera and phone holder brackets for £54 Camera mount and phone holder. I was intending to use my SJ4000 camera but in the end bought a Akaso V50 Elite action camera which works great.
As you might know most vacs can be powered off generators, the big 3000watt vacs need a big geny (5kva+) that takes up lots of space and weigh about 50kg. As the Panther uses 1700watts when running it can be powered by something like a Champion Mighty Atom 2200watt inverter geny that is about £480 and weighs 17kg.
I'm just weighing up if I should buy one as it might be more convenient. Although all quotes I have given state I need to use customers elec it does mean I have to fit in with them being in! If I have a geny I only need an unlocked gate and I can crack on.
Any more questions just ask but remember I am not very experienced in gutter vaccing

 

[PC]

It is the Gutter Vacuum Systems Panther vac with the 36ft ali poles and bag at £779 inc vat and delivery :GVS Panther vac & Ali poles
I did also buy the GVS camera and phone holder brackets for £54 Camera mount and phone holder. I was intending to use my SJ4000 camera but in the end bought a Akaso V50 Elite action camera which works great.
As you might know most vacs can be powered off generators, the big 3000watt vacs need a big geny (5kva+) that takes up lots of space and weigh about 50kg. As the Panther uses 1700watts when running it can be powered by something like a Champion Mighty Atom 2200watt inverter geny that is about £480 and weighs 17kg.
I'm just weighing up if I should buy one as it might be more convenient. Although all quotes I have given state I need to use customers elec it does mean I have to fit in with them being in! If I have a geny I only need an unlocked gate and I can crack on.
Any more questions just ask but remember I am not very experienced in gutter vaccing

Appreciate everything you’ve said so far mate
Thank you big help

 

[GVS Julia Martin]

You are very welcome and I am thrilled you have already achieved great results with your Panther. Gutter Vacuums are a great tool to have as a part of your business keeping your feet on the ground safely and clear gutters that are inaccessible when using ladders. There is no gutter vacuum on earth that will clear 100% of all gutter types so a ladder is still essential for repairs and some clears but for 90% of domestic gutters and up to 30/35ft the Panther is perfect.
As mentioned above different vegetation types in the gutters will require different techniques and you will speed up with more experience, if you ever need help I'm always happy to suggest your 'how to' if you have a photo of the gutter so I can see and then advise you on the best method for that particular job as part of your continued support with us, Julia

 

[Crystalalan]

Had my panther now for 18 months and got to say it has been money well spent but I do recommend getting the longer 10 metre hose as it does save time having to move the vac so often. Love the ali poles. Did contemplate getting a geny but have managed well without one so far.

 

[ched999uk]

Lesson for today.....
When there is a hosepipe laying in the gutter and 2ft high plants even though it's only a kitchen extension so 'ground floor' charge lots more!!!! The plants had knitted themselves round the hose along a 15ft section. It wouldn't have been bad if I could access it but there was a canopy in the way of 10ft of it plus I was on the edge of a bowling green that was being used for a competition - I had permission to be there.
It was only 25m of guttering but took me almost 2hrs!

 

[Part Timer]

Lesson for today.....
When there is a hosepipe laying in the gutter and 2ft high plants even though it's only a kitchen extension so 'ground floor' charge lots more!!!! The plants had knitted themselves round the hose along a 15ft section. It wouldn't have been bad if I could access it but there was a canopy in the way of 10ft of it plus I was on the edge of a bowling green that was being used for a competition - I had permission to be there.
It was only 25m of guttering but took me almost 2hrs!

Always try and see if there are telephone, tv aerial wires etc in the gutters as they are usually fuller and the grass grows around them making it harder to clear.

 

[Fraggle]

Sorry to hijack, I tried the search function but no luck. I'm curious what happens when asked yo clean gutters in a semi detached where its a shared gutter front and back? Can't just clean half the gutter surely? If neighbour isn't interested then is it a case of bite the bullet and clean whole thing?

Thanks

 

[Part Timer]

Sorry to hijack, I tried the search function but no luck. I'm curious what happens when asked yo clean gutters in a semi detached where its a shared gutter front and back? Can't just clean half the gutter surely? If neighbour isn't interested then is it a case of bite the bullet and clean whole thing?

Thanks

You should only warn your customer if the downpipe is on the neighbours side. If it is in the middle, or your custy's side, then it won't matter how bad the neighbours side is.

 

[Pjj]

Sorry to hijack, I tried the search function but no luck. I'm curious what happens when asked yo clean gutters in a semi detached where its a shared gutter front and back? Can't just clean half the gutter surely? If neighbour isn't interested then is it a case of bite the bullet and clean whole thing?

Thanks

We only clear the one that’s paying if the downpipes is on the neighbours house we explain that it will need emptying as well we would only take on the job if they have there’s done as well or the one we are doing is prepared to pay for both , as if it’s not done there will still be problems with it overflowing, if they won’t or don’t want it done we don take the job on .

 

[ched999uk]

Sorry to hijack, I tried the search function but no luck. I'm curious what happens when asked yo clean gutters in a semi detached where its a shared gutter front and back? Can't just clean half the gutter surely? If neighbour isn't interested then is it a case of bite the bullet and clean whole thing?

Thanks

Good hijack
I'm not expert on gutter vaccing but I wouldn't be emptying a neighbours gutters unless you have their permission as if you damaged anything I'm not sure your insurance company would be very happy. Plus you could be trespassing emptying next doors gutters.

I would advise the customer if the downpipe was on neighbour's side and ask what their neighbour is like. If they are approachable I would knock and have a chat explaining the issue and see if they are interested in a gutter empty quote.

 

[Fraggle]

Thanks for all replies, any doubts then pass on the job I suppose!

 

[Clean zero]

Just clear what you are being paid for!!