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Gutter vac "Panther"

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Rigo

Rigo

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Location
Corby
Just looking for some advice.

Looking at buying the Panther from gutter vac (Norwich)

I am a (sole trader) window cleaner of 10 yrs, approx 450 clients. I have looked at bigger vacs but cant justify the price of thousands as when would i get the time to recoupe my investment.  In addition to the cost of the vacume you have the cost of the generator.

Any folk out there came across this delema and what steps and advice you have.

Look forward to your replies.

 
Rigo said:
Just looking for some advice.

Looking at buying the Panther from gutter vac (Norwich)

I am a (sole trader) window cleaner of 10 yrs, approx 450 clients. I have looked at bigger vacs but cant justify the price of thousands as when would i get the time to recoupe my investment.  In addition to the cost of the vacume you have the cost of the generator.

Any folk out there came across this delema and what steps and advice you have.

Look forward to your replies.
Click to expand...
You have that dilemma in any investment, including the rather contentious hot water one currently raging. As long as you maintain the vac it should last you years but if I were you I'd be asking my 450 customers would they pay you £x, if you offered that service. If 20% of them would take you up on the offer you've more than recouped your investment.

 
Money wise a gutter vac should pay for it self at least 5 or 10x over if you price fairly and look after it. A lot More if you do a lot of gutter vacuuming on high end properties or commercial.
Time wise though we can’t help you. Unless do you take wet days off the glass? If so, could you save gutter clearances for wet days?
But money back wise totally. I only use mine on average 5 times a month (I only really do domestic and I have full windows round) average gutter clearance price for me is probably £50/£60? (£30 minimum charge, and on my bigger houses might be £90?) I’m not the most expensive. I will charge a little more for one offs. But it’s a great way to earn good easy money back. I can never earn over £50 An hour consistently on just normal windows. 
 

How much is the pantha kit in total? And what are you getting for that? 

 
RWCleaning said:
How much is the pantha kit in total? And what are you getting for that? 
Click to expand...
Starts at £530 for 20ft ali kit to £950 for 35ft carbon pole kit (both inc vat)

Squeeky Clean Dave did a video the other day. OK so only 1 person and he probably didn't pay for it so might be a little biased but it did look quite good for a budget machine - better than Atom as has 51mm pipes and cyclone inlet and metal frame.

 
I bought the previous version off them (didnt they go bust and reopen?)  It was about 1/2 cost of the skyvac industrial and fell apart over 18 months.  I'm hoping to get 5 years out of the skyvac, or maybe 2 1/2 then sell it with some life left in it.  At the time their customer service was abysmal,  so unless they've had a personality transplant , I'd expect to pay them and then not have a clue if and when your kit will arrive.  If anything goes wrong, you'll be on your own....

This is a different machine so can't comment on that.  I did get the impression squeaky clean dave video was a sales pitch though....

 
Adman said:
I bought the previous version off them (didnt they go bust and reopen?)  It was about 1/2 cost of the skyvac industrial and fell apart over 18 months.  I'm hoping to get 5 years out of the skyvac, or maybe 2 1/2 then sell it with some life left in it.  At the time their customer service was abysmal,  so unless they've had a personality transplant , I'd expect to pay them and then not have a clue if and when your kit will arrive.  If anything goes wrong, you'll be on your own....

This is a different machine so can't comment on that.  I did get the impression squeaky clean dave video was a sales pitch though....
Click to expand...
There was a gutter vac company that went under a while ago. Someone was asking for replacement poles on here the other day, can't remember company.

Just checked and in 2019 "Gutter cleaning systems Limited" went bust. Close name but on basis Gutter Vac Systems web site was live in 2012 I would be surprised if same company. Both companies are in Norwich or close and have different directors. Quite a coincidence?

I have no affiliation with them but Gutter Vacuum Systems web site has been active since 2012. So I don't think it was them you had issues with. They quite regularly post on here, so customer service seems good.

Maybe @GVS Julia Martin will comment?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
ched999uk said:
Starts at £530 for 20ft ali kit to £950 for 35ft carbon pole kit (both inc vat)

Squeeky Clean Dave did a video the other day. OK so only 1 person and he probably didn't pay for it so might be a little biased but it did look quite good for a budget machine - better than Atom as has 51mm pipes and cyclone inlet and metal frame.
Click to expand...
That’s hundreds, not thousands.

Even if it’s just half decent & onlY 3 years before anything brakes that still has to be a no brainier. With the op I thought he was on about spend 2&half grand on one or something. 

 
ched999uk said:
There was a gutter vac company that went under a while ago. Someone was asking for replacement poles on here the other day, can't remember company.

Just checked and in 2019 "Gutter cleaning systems Limited" went bust. Close name but on basis Gutter Vac Systems web site was live in 2012 I would be surprised if same company. Both companies are in Norwich or close and have different directors. Quite a coincidence?

I have no affiliation with them but Gutter Vacuum Systems web site has been active since 2012. So I don't think it was them you had issues with. They quite regularly post on here, so customer service seems good.

Maybe @GVS Julia Martin will comment?
Click to expand...
No not the same company. Although Alex who owned it funnily enough is/was only about 8 miles from us. 

We have been asked if their carbon poles would fit ours and no they don’t. 

Happy to answer any questions 

Julia 
 

 
Adman said:
I bought the previous version off them (didnt they go bust and reopen?)  It was about 1/2 cost of the skyvac industrial and fell apart over 18 months.  I'm hoping to get 5 years out of the skyvac, or maybe 2 1/2 then sell it with some life left in it.  At the time their customer service was abysmal,  so unless they've had a personality transplant , I'd expect to pay them and then not have a clue if and when your kit will arrive.  If anything goes wrong, you'll be on your own....

This is a different machine so can't comment on that.  I did get the impression squeaky clean dave video was a sales pitch though....
Click to expand...
We are a completely separate company to the one you previously purchased off. We pride ourselves on our customer service. 

 
Rigo said:
Just looking for some advice.

Looking at buying the Panther from gutter vac (Norwich)

I am a (sole trader) window cleaner of 10 yrs, approx 450 clients. I have looked at bigger vacs but cant justify the price of thousands as when would i get the time to recoupe my investment.  In addition to the cost of the vacume you have the cost of the generator.

Any folk out there came across this delema and what steps and advice you have.

Look forward to your replies.
Click to expand...
In my opinion you'd make your money back pretty quickly if you work hard at selling an additional service. 

The GVS Panther is a lovely lean green sucking machine. It's only 1400w so you'd not require a massive generator.

Having a Panther is great for your residential domestic customers but getting the Predator would mean you'd have the ability to do commercial jobs such as factory's and larger buildings but you'd require a minimum 5.5kva generator to run it.

GVS know their products and have pride in the machines they build. 

 
Just saw teh video on the Panther where they say how much l/min it is doing with the cyclone!!





Think they said something like 6800l/min. Standard that machine does 3540l/min with 31mm inlet!

So that's decent suction, their Predator 3600w machine is only doing 10750l/min. So the little Panther is about 65% of the big Predator's suction. That's not bad at all for difference in price, space and weight. OK so not up to Big jobs but sounds great for most domestic work, they say up to 35ft.

 
1 minute ago, ched999uk said:

Just saw teh video on the Panther where they say how much l/min it is doing with the cyclone!!

Click to expand...

The CFM was just over 6000cfm on the cyclonic and just over 2900cfm on the front entry.
We have been working with an external company to have the LPM verified which will be happening next week.

 
h.a.s window cleaning said:
i no a lad who bought a normal wet and dry vac off ebay for less then £200 new. then bought the poles and hose from sky vac  for it 2 years in still works fine. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WET-AND-DRY-VAC-VACUUM-CLEANER-INDUSTRIAL-80L-LITRE-3000W-CARWASH-HOOVER-Wido-/331992974424?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

thats the vac he bought.
Click to expand...
Front entry vac will take 3 times longer to do the same job as a side entry. I have a 5yr old Kiam that I converted from front to side entry and even running on 2 motors will handle most things 30' in the air. 

 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Part Timer said:
Front entry vac will take 3 times longer to do the same job as a side entry. I have a 5yr old Kiam that I converted from front to side entry and even running on 2 motors will handle most things 30' in the air. 
Click to expand...
yeah thats what he done. 200 for the vac and 30 for the new entry is still a hell of a deal. even if its just to get u up and running see if its something that takes off for u then upgrade later down the road

 
h.a.s window cleaning said:
i no a lad who bought a normal wet and dry vac off ebay for less then £200 new. then bought the poles and hose from sky vac  for it 2 years in still works fine. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WET-AND-DRY-VAC-VACUUM-CLEANER-INDUSTRIAL-80L-LITRE-3000W-CARWASH-HOOVER-Wido-/331992974424?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

thats the vac he bought.
Click to expand...
You did this yourself?

Part Timer said:
Front entry vac will take 3 times longer to do the same job as a side entry. I have a 5yr old Kiam that I converted from front to side entry and even running on 2 motors will handle most things 30' in the air. 
Click to expand...
Our wee vac is a front entry but we have a side entry conversion kit from @GVS Julia Martin coming. Looking forward to seeing the difference! 

 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Sorry to hijack your post. Has anybody got an opinion on the x line systems vac and pole set up?

 

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