Need hot gas powered pressure washer and help with trailer setup

[gsr46r]

I sold a project car and some of my gym equipment, so I am looking for my next business idea. I want to do pressure washing for semi trucks and residential. I would do commercial, if I can get accounts, but I still have to learn how to market myself.

My mentor (he's had pressure washing company) told me def get a hot one. The Northern Tool model is almost $6,000, so I looked online to find cheaper ones. Do you guys know anything about the cheaper models? Here are the ones I found. Also, if you know of any other models, let me know.




Besides a tank, what other stuff will I need on my trailer? I am debating buying a cheap Tractor Supply 5x 8' Utility for $1,300, but there is a guy selling a new 6 x 16' for $2600. I also have commercial lawn equipment, so I can do lawns as well. The large trailer would allow me to have all of the power washing stuff and a decent size mower.

 

[no704]

Need water softener equipment too!

 

[uscarry45]

Have you looked at hotsy or landa? Water is heavy 8-9lbs a gallon so make sure who get a heavy enough trailer for the size of tank you get.

I would recommend a black plastic tank as opposed to the opaque one as they tend to grow algae if water sits in them for extended periods of time

I would get a screen filter to keep from damaging the pump

The Cadillac option would be enclosed trailer but might be out of the budget Easier to keep things locked up

Some pressure washers have ability to inject soap into the water which would be nice for semi trucks so you will want to have room for chemicals

 

[Spencer Was Here]

I have too much advice to give than I care to type out on my tablet keyboard, so I'll start out with a couple of things and then try to come back later from my computer.

First, look into commercial insurance. I'm in the construction industry and my insurance company said they would drop me if I added pressure washing services. They said I could form a completely separate LLC and they would write a policy for pressure washing for that separate company, but I couldn't have any overlap in assets, expenses, or employees.

There are just too many people out there without proper knowledge or training that have caused too much damage and the insurance industry is fed up. Most of these fly-by-night losers don't have insurance, leaving their victims to file claims on their homeowners and business insurance policies.

Second, you can surf all over the Internet comparing brands and features all you want, but I would recommend you first find out what dealers you have fairly local to you. You'll want good dealer support, asyou will need parts, accessories, and consumables to support your business.

You'll quickly find today's supply chain issues have hit this industry just as hard as most others. No sense in narrowing down your search only to find the unit you want is not available until 2024.

...more to come later...

 

[Spencer Was Here]

Here is page 2 of the 3-page insurance quote I received for general liability insurance for a pressure washing business. This quote was based on the lowest possible income level of $19,600 annually.

At the time this was quoted, back in January of 2021, the multiplier to calculate the insurance premium was 177.554, so when you multiply that by the annual salary amount of $19,600, you'll see how they came up with the $3,480 annual premium (plus the extra $200 endorsement makes it $3,680).

Obviously, no one wants to go into business for themselves to make $19K a year. So, lets say you hope to pay yourself $40,000 your first year. That means that back in 2021, the insurance premium would have been about $7,100 per year.

Now you know why so many fly-by-night guys out there just run with no insurance, which is also partly why the insurance for this type of work is so high.

Based on other insurance premium increases I've seen in the last year, I would guess that now in May of 2022 the premium for this type of work is at least 20% to 30% higher than it was in January of 2021.

Things could be altogether different down in Texas, but I doubt it would be drastically different.

 

[Spencer Was Here]

If you truly are serious about pursuing this line of work, I would urge you to get some proper training. There are various locations around the Country that offer training and one of the ones I was considering utilizing happens to be down there in Texas.

This place out of Fort Worth is one that I had bookmarked in with all of my pressure washing research stuff:
https://powerwashacademy.com/

 

[Spencer Was Here]

In case you do not already know, one of the more recent innovations in the pressure washing industry hardly uses any pressure at all. It is called 'Soft Wash' or 'Soft Washing'.

You could be very successful doing residential work without much investment at all if you want to go the soft wash route. Equipment costs can be much lower, but you'll use a lot more chemicals.

While the chemicals are expensive, if you get some training ahead of time and use the proper proportions, you'll easily make money if your market is not already saturated with competition.

Valley Industries offers equipment specifically for soft washing.

Here is one of their higher end soft wash systems: https://www.valleyind.com/product/batchpro-softwash-disinfecting-sprayer-system/

Here is one of their entry level soft wash systems: https://www.valleyind.com/product/12-gallon-soft-wash-bleach-sprayer/

 

[Spencer Was Here]

I actually bought that entry level soft wash system from Amazon back in January of this year, but I've been too busy to test it out yet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092JSSH7W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I live out in the woods and the North and East sides of my house get a lot of green mildew and algae every few years that I used to pressure wash. Pressure washing a house is really not good for it though and based on the numerous YouTube videos I've watched on the subject, I'm extremely confident that this little 12-volt bleach spraying system will do the job very well.

A lot of houses around here also get that mysterious black mold type stuff growing on the shingles. I'm also very confident that this system I bought will make cleaning that up a breeze too. I just need to order some Roof Snot or similar surfactant to mix into the bleach batch.

It is not really bleach that is used in these systems, it is 'SH' known as sodium hypochlorite (aka pool shock). Household bleach is usually about 6% concentration when new, where SH is 12%-13%. Both bleach and SH lose strength over time, even in sealed and unopened containers.

...more to come later...

 

[Chopper007]

My setup would be a pickup truck, for the tanks and a cargo carrier you can mount on your hitch for the washer. Usually they come with a fold down ramp you can wheel that off then go to the tanks on your pickup for the use of chemicals. Later on with the profits you make go back into your business, if your looking just for extra cash this is cheaper and no trailer needed. Just a thought