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My pressure washing business thus far

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

ChrisGav

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Fastlaners,

I put my head down and been working my a$$ off for the past couple of weeks. I'm 21 years old, have a day job and have recently started a pressure washing business. I previously posted a thread about how to market it and now I'm here to share some results.

The first week: $450 in profits
I have brought in $1,050 this week in profits.

I started by jumping on the nextdoor app and posting a thread on my pressure washing services. After that, I contacted people I knew in the area and advertised my services. I got my first bite, a friend of mine's Mom is a real estate agent and had a house she's putting on the market and wanted it pressure washed. I went out there, did the job and aimed to over deliver. She was very pleased with my work and asked me to get business cards so she could recommend me for all of her houses that need pressure washing.

From there, I got recommended to another person that my friend knows who just wanted a simple house washing. I went out and did the same thing and he said he wanted to recommend me to anyone he knows looking for a pressure washing job in the future.

My second week:

Finally got a bite from my nextdoor post. And it was a big bite. A lady had a house she wanted washed as well as patio, deck, and porch. Ended up being a $600 job that she was very pleased with.

Then. I got recommended for another house washing which I did within a few hours over the same weekend as the lady from the Next door app.

I got recommended to another real estate agent who had a quick driveway wash he wanted me to do. Got out there and did it yesterday, but he is out of town and is yet to see my work.

Lessons thus far: OVERDELIVER on everything. Even the small stuff goes a hell of a long ways. By reaching out to the small network I have, I got recommended for many jobs that got the ball rolling for me.

I did all of this while working my day job, and hustling these jobs on the weekends/after work.

From here, I need to make a website, business cards, I made door hangers but need to go and put them out in the high end neighborhoods.

If any questions, feel free to ask :)
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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a friend of mine's Mom is a real estate agent

Hit this hard.

Start selling the real estate agents on your service. Get the B2B money to keep the income consistent and the business scalable. You'll probably make smaller margins but it will be easier for growth.

You can even go as far as offering no payment terms until the house sells. It's a no brainer for real estate agents/homeowners that just want their house to sell.

On your end, it lets you schedule your time and fill in the 40 hour work week without hunting for work everyday. Outsource as soon as you can and concentrate on growth.

Good luck.

P.s. If I want to pressure wash myself (warehouse space and home), then what's a set up you recommend? I'm thinking of buying something and having an employee clean up once a month (or however long you recommend).
 

Stargazer

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From here, I need to make a website, business cards, I made door hangers but need to go and put them out in the high end neighborhoods.

Do you mean to say that you managed to start without these things in place? ;)

Well done, good job!

Dan
 
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RazorCut

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Do you mean to say that you managed to start without these things in place? ;)

Haha, reminds me of a friend and his business partner who couldn’t do a single thing until they came up with the perfect domain name, business cards, letterheads and sign written van (at the recommendation of his partners wife who is a ‘marketing expert’). Took well over a month and it’s a constuction company!
 

spreng

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this is great work. Sometimes you just have to pick something and go.

How many hours a week is your day job? are you doing this on weekends?
 

ChrisGav

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Hit this hard.

Start selling the real estate agents on your service. Get the B2B money to keep the income consistent and the business scalable. You'll probably make smaller margins but it will be easier for growth.

You can even go as far as offering no payment terms until the house sells. It's a no brainer for real estate agents/homeowners that just want their house to sell.

On your end, it lets you schedule your time and fill in the 40 hour work week without hunting for work everyday. Outsource as soon as you can and concentrate on growth.

Good luck.

P.s. If I want to pressure wash myself (warehouse space and home), then what's a set up you recommend? I'm thinking of buying something and having an employee clean up once a month (or however long you recommend).
Hey thanks for your response, funny I actually had the same idea as no payment until the house sells. Then thought, the real estate agent typically isn't the one paying for the service it's the homeowner looking to sell their home?

Anyways, If you're looking to pressure wash yourself, I'd recommend a pressure washer with 2,700-3,500 psi or more if you're hitting concrete. You'll want at least 3.0 GPM as well. (Gallons per minute the pressure washer uses).

Typically with pressure washing, it can be done every 3-6 months depending on conditions of the environment.
 
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ChrisGav

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this is great work. Sometimes you just have to pick something and go.

How many hours a week is your day job? are you doing this on weekends?
I work part time, so 28 hours per week at my day job. I have Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday off. I'll typically aim to schedule jobs on those days off, but have done one or two after work.
 

ChrisGav

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Haha, reminds me of a friend and his business partner who couldn’t do a single thing until they came up with the perfect domain name, business cards, letterheads and sign written van (at the recommendation of his partners wife who is a ‘marketing expert’). Took well over a month and it’s a constuction company!
I probably should get those set up, but have focused more on revenue before going to drop a bunch of money on the bells and whistles. Need to find a winter hustle though, as the summer season is starting to come to a close. Any ideas?
 

Brian Fleig

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I probably should get those set up, but have focused more on revenue before going to drop a bunch of money on the bells and whistles. Need to find a winter hustle though, as the summer season is starting to come to a close. Any ideas?

I did a hundred + hours of research on this biz model a couple years ago. Looked good but opted out because it's seasonal and I'm in the northeast and it's not scale-able. That being said I still like the possibilities. BTW, the new terms are "Powerwashing" and "Softwashing". It's more about the chems, tools and GPM than about the pressure.
 
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minivanman

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It doesn't take all of those things to make money. lol For my current business I didn't have a website for a year after I was in business, which meant it took another year for it to start bringing me customers. Most of the people that I am involved with in the house cleaning business do not have a website and none of them do flyers anymore. For the house cleaning business, I never had business cards and neither do any of the people I'm involved with presently. Now for my appliance business..... people ASK for them like crazy! I don't even have to offer them. Those 'professional' marketers have never had a business except telling others how to market so how do they know?
 

Chicken_Dude

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Nice job taking action! That is a crucial step that many people have yet to take since they get so distracted in starting up properly.

Do you always have jobs that you can work at? Or is it a pretty irregular source of income?

Also, please disregard this question if it's too personal, but how much do you make per hour with your pressure washing business?
 

HustleHard

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I probably should get those set up, but have focused more on revenue before going to drop a bunch of money on the bells and whistles. Need to find a winter hustle though, as the summer season is starting to come to a close. Any ideas?

Gutter cleaning and Christmas light hanging



Just curious, did you have any prior working experience pressure washing before starting your business?
 
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ChrisGav

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Nice job taking action! That is a crucial step that many people have yet to take since they get so distracted in starting up properly.

Do you always have jobs that you can work at? Or is it a pretty irregular source of income?

Also, please disregard this question if it's too personal, but how much do you make per hour with your pressure washing business?
So far I've been averaging about $50/hour. I've had jobs pretty regularly thus far. one today, got one tomorrow, etc. Been leveraging my network a lot recently to get more customers through word of mouth.
 

ChrisGav

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Gutter cleaning and Christmas light hanging



Just curious, did you have any prior working experience pressure washing before starting your business?
I appreciate the suggestions. All I did before really diving in, was rent a pressure washer from home depot. Watched a youtube video, pressure washed my parent's driveway and brick walkways to get a feel for it and then dived right in.
 

ChrisGav

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BIG UPDATE:
Berkshire hathaway wants me to do a 10 minute presentation to 30 of their real estate agents here pitching my services to get the firm on board to use me on their houses and commercial buildings.

Today, did a pressure washing job for my Co-worker at my day job who is trying to sell his house. Turns out his realtor works for Berkshire Hathaway and I got him to give her my door hanger (since I didn't have business cards). She said she actually needed a pressure washer because the guy she used to use does not ever answer his phone or call her back. She has several houses in mind already she wanted me to do and said she will be definitely contacting me.

The realtor will help me get in the door with the firm as well I believe. As long as I over deliver every time and make sure she is more than impressed with service.
 
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flipex

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I'm quite happy to hear it's going so well for you!
Just a question: by what you mentioned, you're not very experienced in pressure washing. Aren't you afraid to do something wrong on one of the houses and damage it? I don't even know if it's possible, as I myself don't know a lot about it. Thanks and keep going man!!
 

minivanman

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Add on dryer vent cleaning for a winter hustle. $99 and clean the vent from the inside only. If, for example, their cap is damaged or anything needs to be done on the roof, they will need to call a roofer as it will probably need more work than just a cap being replaced (shingles etc). I've never cleaned a dryer vent myself but I think after the trial run (like you did with power washing) you would have the hang of it. 1 job and it pays for itself. Oh, and, while you are there, why not ask to clean the coils on their refrigerator for only $49 since you are already there (Regular $99 without the vent cleaning). If they have pets, even the self cleaning coils still need cleaned from pet hair. I know it's hard to try and push something like this so you could have a flyer printed up about it and give it to them as soon as you walk in the door.
 

njord

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Hit this hard.

Start selling the real estate agents on your service. Get the B2B money to keep the income consistent and the business scalable. You'll probably make smaller margins but it will be easier for growth.

You can even go as far as offering no payment terms until the house sells. It's a no brainer for real estate agents/homeowners that just want their house to sell.

On your end, it lets you schedule your time and fill in the 40 hour work week without hunting for work everyday. Outsource as soon as you can and concentrate on growth.

Good luck.

P.s. If I want to pressure wash myself (warehouse space and home), then what's a set up you recommend? I'm thinking of buying something and having an employee clean up once a month (or however long you recommend).

What about hiring someone to do the cleaning for you so you can focus on scaling faster instead?
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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What about hiring someone to do the cleaning for you so you can focus on scaling faster instead?

Yeah, that's why I said this:

Outsource as soon as you can and concentrate on growth.

And if your question is which do you do first? If he has at least 8-16 hours a week free to do sales, then it's not time yet to hire out.
 

njord

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Right now im brainstorming ideas and i want to work out what steps to take when i start my new startup. tnx for the advise!
 

Mhinto

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My girlfriend is a real estate agent and they always need things done before closing on a deal. I’m sure you could offer the agents several different services.

One thing I do for agents is locate and map out a sellers septic system. I use a probe and shovel to find lateral lines, tanks, boxes etc. and map it all out on the back of a septic location checklist that I created. The location checklist basically lets the buyers know that the system is working and where all the components are in the yard.

I also do excavation and install septic systems so that may not be something you’d be comfortable doing but it’s another example.

I would think you could almost get enough odd jobs from real estate agents alone to hire a few guys and keep them busy most of the year!
 
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ChrisGav

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Hey guys. It's been a while since I've updated since I've been busy as F*ck. Had a few good things happen recently.
This past weekend I did over $1,700 worth in pressure washing jobs. Spent my whole weekend doing them, but it was well worth it. I did a local YMCA and left them very happy. They put me on their vendor list to recommend me out to the other local YMCAs. I've also gotten in with a few realtors and have been doing jobs here and there for them.
Tomorrow I'm going to be quoting another job which will probably be around $500 and I will be going out to local shopping centers and retail stores to pitch window washing for them as well.

My next steps are running google ads to try and land more business as well as EDDM flyers targeting the wealthy areas near me.
Any other ideas? Thanks guys!
 

MHP368

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How long does it take to power wash a driveway in a suburb and how hard would that be to teach someone?

You could hookup with a realtor and do a commission thing (have a part time employee doing it) , you do all the houses they have to show and they only pay if the house sells?

I'm sure after a trial run you could tinker this so statistically over time you always profit.

Or maybe you give them a discount for bulk and charge a retainer? (Subscription model) "5 washes a month for x , 10 for y and 30 for z"

Another idea for the realtor angle would be , if you're already out on a job , just stop and do a driveway for a house with a for sale sign then tell the realtor after the fact (text them a pic) and just give them your contact info.
 
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BizyDad

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Hey guys. It's been a while since I've updated since I've been busy as F*ck. Had a few good things happen recently.
This past weekend I did over $1,700 worth in pressure washing jobs. Spent my whole weekend doing them, but it was well worth it. I did a local YMCA and left them very happy. They put me on their vendor list to recommend me out to the other local YMCAs. I've also gotten in with a few realtors and have been doing jobs here and there for them.
Tomorrow I'm going to be quoting another job which will probably be around $500 and I will be going out to local shopping centers and retail stores to pitch window washing for them as well.

My next steps are running google ads to try and land more business as well as EDDM flyers targeting the wealthy areas near me.
Any other ideas? Thanks guys!

Call your area janitor companies who don't offer this service. Offer to give their clients a discount, or to cut them a referral fee.

Join trade associations, like the restaurant association or the building owners association to meet more prospects.

You can leverage Google display ads to try and target some of these people as well.
 

Tommo

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Hey guys. It's been a while since I've updated since I've been busy as F*ck. Had a few good things happen recently.
This past weekend I did over $1,700 worth in pressure washing jobs. Spent my whole weekend doing them, but it was well worth it. I did a local YMCA and left them very happy. They put me on their vendor list to recommend me out to the other local YMCAs. I've also gotten in with a few realtors and have been doing jobs here and there for them.
Tomorrow I'm going to be quoting another job which will probably be around $500 and I will be going out to local shopping centers and retail stores to pitch window washing for them as well.

My next steps are running google ads to try and land more business as well as EDDM flyers targeting the wealthy areas near me.
Any other ideas? Thanks guys!
Do you supply your own water or use the clients outdoor tap?
Or do you have a large water container on a ute?
 

ChrisGav

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While I'm here, might as well post an update. Been slammed. I have a property manager who wants me to do 40 mobile homes, and potentially a whole apartment complex. I have 2 different YMCA Locations that want me to do pressure wash, a local college that wants me to pressure wash, and 3 additional customers. Might be time for an employee or 2.....
 

ivan i

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While I'm here, might as well post an update. Been slammed. I have a property manager who wants me to do 40 mobile homes, and potentially a whole apartment complex. I have 2 different YMCA Locations that want me to do pressure wash, a local college that wants me to pressure wash, and 3 additional customers. Might be time for an employee or 2.....
Really inspirational stuff, thanks for sharing man
 

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