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Biting the bullet...

Brandon

Active member
Messages
366
Location
Devon
Okay so as I asked on another topic before what pressure washer to get, been doing a lot of thinking recently, had a chat to my business partner. We're gonna get a loan, buy a van and two Honda gx200 pressure washers and fsc.

Do you guys always use customers water?

If they don't have an outside tap will kitchen tap do?

How would you go about having two pressure washers on the go?

We need a van, and we're doing general property maintenance things like window cleaning, pressure washing and gardening so what size van do you think we'll need?

Finally where does most of your work come from? We're going to advertise in paper, Facebook and local noticeboards and shop windows.

Thanks in advance!

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You'll always use the customers water although you may come across the odd occasion when you can't, and then you ha e to think about bowsers/large tanks etc. Cross that bridge when you get to it, no point in investing and then waiting for the work. Some jobs are easier to turn down.

Ditch the gardening imo. Been there done that. It's a lot of hard work for not a lot of gain- that why most gardeners are retired, and the younger ones move into landscaping, which is where the moneys at. For gardening you need to invest in a lot of expensive petrol tools- they all need fueling and servicing. I used to charge top whack, got loads of work, but was knackering. And to top it off you are competing with all the numpties charging £9 ph.

Kitchen taps fine so long as the pressure is good enough, but may carry it's own problems as another recent thread shows. I've only ever done this once, and I made sure the hose was looped in the sink so any tap leaks go in the sink and not run down the hose. And I also chucked a tea towel over the tap, that way is the connections split it won't spray everywhere- buys you a bit of time to shut it off.

For advertising, just get your name wherever you can. No one method is perfect. A lot of people are getting a lot of success off facebook, but it's not for me. I don't want people reviewing me on social media- it gives them way too much power ND you end up having to bend backwards to appease them. I have one such customer that I picked up off a similar site and regretted it ever since. I was just a few weeks late, and she was on there asking for another window cleaner. When I spoke to her it was clear that she had forgotten I cleaned her house while she was on holiday, so she thought it was a lot longer. Either way, I don't want to see the process, I would have been happier to just loose the pain in the ****.

Good luck whatever you do.

 
Easy one ... Why two pressure washers and why a loan ? If it doesn't go quick enough What about the loan ? I suggest Get one No Fsc cleaner. Do a couple jobs to get the money for the Fsc Getting work is hard part

Website

Facebook

Gumtree

Google

Word of mouth

Canvassing

 
You'll always use the customers water although you may come across the odd occasion when you can't, and then you ha e to think about bowsers/large tanks etc. Cross that bridge when you get to it, no point in investing and then waiting for the work. Some jobs are easier to turn down.
Ditch the gardening imo. Been there done that. It's a lot of hard work for not a lot of gain- that why most gardeners are retired, and the younger ones move into landscaping, which is where the moneys at. For gardening you need to invest in a lot of expensive petrol tools- they all need fueling and servicing. I used to charge top whack, got loads of work, but was knackering. And to top it off you are competing with all the numpties charging £9 ph.

Kitchen taps fine so long as the pressure is good enough, but may carry it's own problems as another recent thread shows. I've only ever done this once, and I made sure the hose was looped in the sink so any tap leaks go in the sink and not run down the hose. And I also chucked a tea towel over the tap, that way is the connections split it won't spray everywhere- buys you a bit of time to shut it off.

For advertising, just get your name wherever you can. No one method is perfect. A lot of people are getting a lot of success off facebook, but it's not for me. I don't want people reviewing me on social media- it gives them way too much power ND you end up having to bend backwards to appease them. I have one such customer that I picked up off a similar site and regretted it ever since. I was just a few weeks late, and she was on there asking for another window cleaner. When I spoke to her it was clear that she had forgotten I cleaned her house while she was on holiday, so she thought it was a lot longer. Either way, I don't want to see the process, I would have been happier to just loose the pain in the ****.

Good luck whatever you do.
Thanks for your reply mate, lots of good points [emoji108] when I say gardening I mean more like garden maintenance so mowing, strimming things like that!!

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Easy one ... Why two pressure washers and why a loan ? If it doesn't go quick enough What about the loan ? I suggest Get one No Fsc cleaner. Do a couple jobs to get the money for the Fsc Getting work is hard part

Website

Facebook

Gumtree

Google

Word of mouth

Canvassing
Well we need a pressure washer each or one of us will be standing around twiddling ones thumbs! We need the loan to buy the equipment, the money is coming from a friend.

We're buying one of the start up packages on Jetmac which comes with a fsc.

We're gonna get the work first before buying the gear, no point doing it the other way around

Cheers

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Machine wise what does a gx200 give you ?

Will it be powerful enough to run a fsc ?

I bought my set up last year from Rutland pumps, gx390 20lpm 250bar, I think I paid around £1400, but that was with over 100m hp hose, and lances, oh ye I had mine built on a plate to be bolted down in the van. I later took a fsc off him but have only used it a few times, ok great that av got it there but it's not essential.

I bought mine as I had a job waiting to be done that paid for it, but the work has came along due to existing customers wanting jobs done.

Good point about the leaking hose and water running down the hose if using inside sink, I had been doing this on a job am currently on.

If u guna run a pressure washer u really need to have a buffer tank in the van, ibc tanks can be picked up for around £30, and will give u based on my machine less than 2 hrs jetting if u don't have a hose feeding it to fill as u work

 
Thanks for your reply mate, lots of good points [emoji108] when I say gardening I mean more like garden maintenance so mowing, strimming things like that!!

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I'll echo what Tolish said and suggest ditching the idea of any sort of garden maintenance including grass cutting/strimming.

There's no money in it and you'll need to invest in a decent petrol mower/strimmer etc.

I pay my gardener £12 an hour and the most expensive I've seen round my way is £15 an hour. My gardener does a good job but she definitely earns her money.

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My mate down here charges a fortune down here and I did clean the windows of one in Bangor who seemed to do rightly , lived in a mansion, although he does have boys working for him also

 
The gx200 washers are too small - they're basically toys.

Get just one Gx390 (the 13hp one), and don't waste your money on a FSC - even save a bit more & get a Loncin machine instead of honda. The one 13hp machine with a turbo nozzle will do more work than two of the smaller machines could keep up with, and you'll save a big chunk of cash which you can invest in marketing instead.

 
Agree with a lot of above you will be surprised how much help it is one person pressure washing one feeding through trailing hose, also if you have may need one sweeping and you will it have enough water to run 2 washers at same time you need to forget about the gx200 and go straight for the gx390 with at least 15lpm

 
Agree with a lot of above you will be surprised how much help it is one person pressure washing one feeding through trailing hose, also if you have may need one sweeping and you will it have enough water to run 2 washers at same time you need to forget about the gx200 and go straight for the gx390 with at least 15lpm
I mean you will NOT have enough water to feed 2 washers

 
your jumping in the deep end mate. ive had no jetwashing work for the past week. depends what area your in sappose. you need 3000 psi 21 lpm minimum. if your wanting to do softwashing you need the lpm. definately just have one of you sweeping up. good luck mate. the work is out there, we all just need to ram it down peoples necks so it gets big like america!

 
Good luck. Whoever isnt on the pressure washer will be too busy on the stiff broom sweeping away the debris.
Correct me if I'm wrong but will a quick spray from the lance be enough to blast away any debris? I practiced on a family members patio with a cheap Karcher and any debris was quickly blown out of the way with the pressure washer.

The idea is a washer each, one of us round the front of property, one round back, work towards eachother.....theoretically half the time than it would be with one pressure washer. That's the way I see it anyway, again correct me if I'm wrong!!

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you need to take into account drainage and how much water their tap is kicking out. ive had loads where i had to keep stopping to let the water build up in my buffer tank. when you do a monoblock drive, the sand takes forever to clean away

also, all the walls and windows will need cleaned down

 
The gx200 washers are too small - they're basically toys.
Get just one Gx390 (the 13hp one), and don't waste your money on a FSC - even save a bit more & get a Loncin machine instead of honda. The one 13hp machine with a turbo nozzle will do more work than two of the smaller machines could keep up with, and you'll save a big chunk of cash which you can invest in marketing instead.
This specific gx200 package does have 15lpm with a turbo nozzle, no good?

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