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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:02 pm
by jmartin.1985
Hi guys,
I am looking to go self employed doing domestic cleaning of patio's, paving and drive ways. I am just looking for your advice on the best pressure washers and rotary surface cleaners available. I have been looking at petrol powered washers that draw water from tanks so I am able to carry out work on customers property during the day if they are not at home. I would like to keep my budget to £1000 if possible, but I can afford to spend a little more if I have to. What can I get for this kind of money? Would I be wasting my time?
Also, is there anything else I would need other than a pressure washer and a rotary surface cleaner?
Thanks for your advice guys.
I look forward to reading your replies 
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:44 pm
by absolutejim
welcome to the forum, if you are looking for new you will be hard pushed on your budget of £1000 if you look around the internet you will see some washers for about £500 to £600 & rotary's for £400 to £500 but bear in mind you have to add vat & delivery on top, try ebay for 2nd hand you can sometime pick up good stuff at a decent price, make sure the pressure washer is at least 3000psi at 15 litres per min, you also need stuff like a water butt, weedkiller, dry kiln sand, brushers, shovel, buckets for removing rubbish after cleaning etc, you will also need public liabilaty insurance, hope this helps, the best of luck & hope it works out for you.
absolutejim
absolute driveway cleaning
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:49 pm
by msh paving
try this company i have a petrol engine one from them had it 5 years no bother at all
pressure washers and more
MSH
Edited By msh paving on 1266522698
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:17 pm
by jmartin.1985
Thanks for the advice guys
What do you think of this one:
[url=http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/13-HP-PETROL-PRES ... QQptZUK_Ho
me_Garden_PowerTools_SM?hash=item3efc484965]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/13-HP-P....c484965[/url]
Would you trust it? Someone advised me that I should ideally stick to anything with a Honda engine.
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:24 pm
by jmartin.1985
absolutejim wrote:you also need stuff like a water butt, weedkiller, dry kiln sand, brushers, shovel, buckets for removing rubbish after cleaning etc, you will also need public liabilaty insurance, hope this helps, the best of luck & hope it works out for you.
absolutejim
absolute driveway cleaning
For a water butt I was thinking of installing a 200 litre (or more) tank inside the van and fitting a ballcock system so it constantly remains topped up. Thanks for the handy tips, I did'nt think about buckets and all! Of course the dirt and sand that gets washed off has to go somewhere.
Would you apply the weedkiller before or after the pressure washing? I have seen some websites saying they kill off the weeds the best they can first to make pressure washing easier. Then others pressure wash and apply weedkiller afterwards in an attempt to prevent weeds so I am confused.
I would also be interested in your opinons on sealing. Im not sure weather for domestic work it is really necessary. Sealer is expensive and it looks like a right pain to deal with having to plan the weather and make sure no one walks or drives on it. There are also too many to choose from! It looks a little daunting.
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:54 am
by RAPressureWashing
I think I have seen this question on other forums,
Couple of things to think about first, would you be able to generate enough work to cover your out-goings, how many other companies are in your area and it ain't that easy.First couple of years can be tough.
Everyone and their dog seems to be offering p/w these days, window cleaners, carpet cleaners, gardeners etc and under-cutting pro set-up's like ourselves.
Spraying of weedkillers, you need a PA1 & PA6 license as you would not be classed as a home-owner if you are charging for this service, BIG fines if you get caught without one.
Machine on eBay, I would leave it alone, for a petrol set-up then Honda is about the best with a decent pump, (interpump, Cat) pushing 15lts per min. You are looking at around £1500 as an entry level machine if you are going to do this properly.
Flat surface cleaners are good but a turbo lance is a cheaper option and can work just a quick but care is needed so as not to damage any surface's with one.
Don't mean to be down-beat on this, if you think you can do it then go for it, but please do some research first and make sure it is the right choice for you.
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:09 pm
by jmartin.1985
R&A Pressure Washing wrote:I think I have seen this question on other forums,
Couple of things to think about first, would you be able to generate enough work to cover your out-goings, how many other companies are in your area and it ain't that easy.First couple of years can be tough.
Everyone and their dog seems to be offering p/w these days, window cleaners, carpet cleaners, gardeners etc and under-cutting pro set-up's like ourselves.
Spraying of weedkillers, you need a PA1 & PA6 license as you would not be classed as a home-owner if you are charging for this service, BIG fines if you get caught without one.
Machine on eBay, I would leave it alone, for a petrol set-up then Honda is about the best with a decent pump, (interpump, Cat) pushing 15lts per min. You are looking at around £1500 as an entry level machine if you are going to do this properly.
Flat surface cleaners are good but a turbo lance is a cheaper option and can work just a quick but care is needed so as not to damage any surface's with one.
Don't mean to be down-beat on this, if you think you can do it then go for it, but please do some research first and make sure it is the right choice for you.
At the moment I still live with my parents so I guess I am fortunate to not have many outgoings. Though I do have a loan to pay, which with my small outgoings like mobile phone, broadband and keep I would need to be earning £500 a month or more so I can have a social life. As for business expenses I think this business idea has small overheads with fairly good profit margins providing you are doing atleast 2 good jobs a week. As long as I am taking home £200 a week after taxes I could live doing this for a while.
As far as I am aware there is no one around my local area doing this kind of work. I have driven through some housing areas looking at driveways to see the potential market and it looks fairly good. I would start small here and advertise in outside areas dropping flyers and local adds in newsagents during my quiet days. I will start looking through the local directories and yellow pages to try and see if I can find out the competition.
Is it possible to carry out this work without using weedkillers? Surely the pressure washer will completely destroy any weeds and like the paving expert website says - so long as you brush your drive regularly you can prevent weeding before it starts. I could always offer this advice to my customers after carrying out the job. This would avoid me having to have a license at this stage, which presumably is rather expensive.
For the sake of ease I would probably stick to a flat surface cleaner. And if I understand correctly a petrol pressure washer with a honda engine that pushes 15 litres per minute at a PSI of 3000 is recommended?
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:04 pm
by absolutejim
like roger says you need to do a lot of research, it will take a couple of years to get astablished in your area, advertising! i pay £108 per month for a weekly credit card size advert in my local paper, have you got a web site? a decent site will cost in the region of £200+, bear in mind if we have many winters like this one you may not work from november throught to march, like setting up in any business do all your homework first & get as much advice as you can, good luck.
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:50 pm
by jmartin.1985
I can design my own website and it should only cost me to host it, which would roughly be £2.50 a month for a simple website.
The more I research this idea, the less appealing it seems to be. The idea of being out of work from november to march is pretty scary. I did wonder weather this was more of a seasonal job. Initially I was going to do uPVC window door and conservatory cleaning but again, who wants their windows thoroughly cleaned in the winter? It seems to be that most outdoor jobs do better in the summer. I guess even gardeners struggle this time of year.
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:28 pm
by Tony McC
It's even more seasonal than that! The peak demand period for power cleaning is mid-March to mid-May, when folk want the drive/patio cleaning up for the season.
Outside those few weeks, demand falls to 20-40% as most enquiries are for 'tarting-up' prior to putting a property on the market.
Specialist cleaners, such as Roger, make a living by working beyond the patio/driveway market. Those contractors that do focus on that market usually have to switch to summat else once the busy period is over.