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This video provides a comprehensive guide for beginners on starting a pressure washing business. It covers all steps, from initial market research to long-term business planning, emphasizing strategies for success and profitability.
today we are going to talk about how to start a legitimate pressure washing business right now today this is going to be the most in-depth look at everything that it takes from step one to the final step and the final step is probably going to surprise you but stick around until the end because you're going to want to check it out if you're brand new then you need to hear this if you've been in the business for any amount of time you really need to hear this because it's going to have probably the most impact on your business of anything that you've heard today now the first thing that you want to do when you're thinking about starting a pressure washing business is do a little market research right you need to know what is happening and who is running pressure washing businesses in your area so it's pretty simple open up the laptop get out your phone go to Google and search pressure washing businesses near me right chances are there are going to be quite a few businesses but the most important ones to pay attention to are probably the first five or 10 these are your fiercest competitors the guys doing all the right things to rank where they are this is who you want to study this is who you want to evaluate this is who you want to replicate because we want to mimic success now the next thing that you need to do is determine what your service area is going to be we only travel about 60 to 70 miles from our home base because windshield time is wasted time we want to maximize the time spent on a customer's property generating Revenue not driving around and once you establish what that service area is then I want you to go to Google I want you to search for income levels in those specific zip codes Within that range right and this is going to help you significantly with your targeting of the right demographic unfortunately when I started I didn't know this or I guess I didn't really have the access to the technology to do it but this data is going to show you where the people with the most money live and that is who you want to Target we're not going to Target people with little shitty houses we're going to Target the people with the money that have disposable income that are willing and able to pay for our services and once you've done your market research and you feel confident that this is an area where your business can grow can Thrive and compete the next step is establishing yourself as a legitimate business and unfortunately this is something that a lot of people skip right but the first thing that you need to do is set up a business checking account go down to the bank open up account specific to your business then register your business with your local municipality whatever that is wherever you're at figure it out and then complete any necessary registrations that are required after that you're going to need to form an LLC you can go online relatively inexpensively and you know it's going to speed up the process if you let somebody else handle it or you can handle it yourself it's going to save you a couple bucks but it's going to take you a little bit more time before we move on if you are serious about starting a pressure washing business you need to look into how to wash too this is the most comprehensive in-depth training ever created for both residential and commercial pressure washing a full eight-hour Master Class designed to take you from beginner to expert it is a complete system covering everything you need to know to wash any surface on any property the right way you'll learn how to mix chemicals up applying properly and Tackle every surface from houses and driveways to commercial buildings parking garages and more we go deep into property protection and safety showing you exactly how to prevent costly mistakes that can ruin jobs kill plants and even injure yourself you'll get a full breakdown of softwashing and pressure washing equipment so you understand what to use when to use it and why you'll also see on-site job walkthroughs where we walk you through real jobs stepbystep explaining everything as we go you'll get Hands-On Techniques expert insights and Real World Knowledge that will save time money and frustration so if you want to sharpen your skills boost your confidence deliver professional results every single time it's half price right now there is a link in the comment and description down below now the next step is something again that a lot of people put off or they just don't think about right away and that is business insurance okay so if you're just starting and you're not planning to do a ton of commercial work then general liability insurance is probably enough but if you want to get into commercial work which I highly recommend because they are higher ticket jobs you're going to need workers compensation even if you don't have employees because most every single business requires this of businesses that they do business with and so if you want to figure out how much that is going to cost uh I put a link down below to the company that we use for both general liability and workers comp totally free get a quote no obligation check it out see what it's going to cost you and then the next thing that I highly suggest is getting some kind of business software to help you manage your business keep track of customers allowing you to send professional estimates send invoices and then allow your customers to pay you online right you have to make it easy as possible for these customers to do business with you and you want to present yourself as professionally as possible no matter how new you are to the business obviously we use quote IQ and you can use it for free until your business gets off the ground then you can upgrade to one of the other paid tiers with more features right we also offer a 14-day free trial so you can see what all of the other features are see if it works for your business and this is something that I waited way too long to do in my own business and I do regret it so do not make the same mistake that I did now if you're just starting out and your budget is tight and a lot of times we are starting with very lean budgets when we're up you know getting started there's absolutely no reason to go out and buy a brand new truck when I first started I bought the cheapest vehicles that I could find typically old work vans uh and that was because painters they buy them they beat the hell out of them and then they'd list them on Craigslist and I'd pick them up for under a grand right I bought them fixed them up a little bit and I kept them running right you can check Facebook Marketplace Craigslist or other local listings for good affordable well maybe not good but affordable vehicles to start with right I've seen guys run Ford Rangers for years I've also seen guys run entire businesses from the back of their car and if you can't afford a nice truck then that is awesome it won't break down and it's not going to cause you issues so you're a step ahead but if you go the used route be prepared because cheap vehicles they are consumables they're eventually going to need to be replaced but as long as you understand that then you're in the right mindset okay so you got to have a decent vehicle to get you to and from and it's not going to break down all the time so we cover that anyway next is equipment okay we're going to go to a couple big box stores and then we're going to go to Harbor Freight to look at the what I call homeowner grade equipment then we're going to check out professional grade equipment over at L&H industrial uh and we're going to look at some of the cheapest to the most expensive we're going to discuss what's the best for you know your business needs um and one thing that I caution new guys about is not going crazy buying absolutely everything upfront going in the debt just to get started right you do not need to buy everything immediately right sell the jobs then go and buy the equipment if you happen to stumble upon a big job and you don't have the right equipment you can rent it right I hear guys all the time that are like hey I've just got a 2.5 gallon per minute machine and I got a parking garage well you're not going to be able to do a parking garage efficiently or profitably with a little machine like that but you can find a local rental company go out and rent a trailer with a water tank a hot water unit build it into the price of your quote and then reinvest the profits later into the bigger and better equipment when the time is right for your business uh and don't get suckered into these ridiculous highin payments for equipment think smart be smart run your business smart from the very beginning okay so now let's go take a look at some of the equipment so we are here in a big box store and all they have is 2.9 gallon per minute machines and lower nothing bigger at least at this one and this is one of the things that I get ask all the time from guys that are just starting out is can I get by with a 2o whatever gallon per minute machine and the answer is yeah but you're not going to be efficient and you're going to wish that you saved up a little bit more to get something a little bit bigger because it's going to allow you to get more done so you can be more efficient which equates to being more profitable you can also tell just from looking at this thing is that it is not intended for commercial use this is a homeowner machine that's why it's at a Home Depot or a Lowe's Home Improvement store these are not built to stand up to the abuse and the use of a commercial pressure washing business I went to three different stores in order to Showcase what exactly we're dealing with and we got everything from a 2.4 gallon per minute machine at 3600 PSI to 2.8 gallon per minute they are all running pretty small motors pretty small pumps typically are coming with about 50 feet of Hose but as you can see even from uh you know the hose it's not what professionals use so let me reiterate the fact that these are designed to be used a few times a year by a homeowner and one of the biggest drawbacks and something that I hear all the time is about the chemical injector obviously they've got soap containers Each of which says don't use bleach and that's a problem because we need bleach but the chemical injectors are connected to the unloaders they are built in so should you decide at some point if you need to change it out and it's inevitable because these are consumables you are going to have to put on a new uh chemical injector you're going to have to cap off the old chemical injector and hope that the restrictions aren't going to be too Monumental and that's probably what you're going to do anyway because these things are pretty much junk and yes the price point on these is pretty low but you are getting exactly what you're paying for and I would highly encourage anybody that's thinking about starting a business with one of these types of machines to reconsider pump the brakes hold off until you can afford something a little bit bigger and a little bit better even if it is from a big box store try to get the neck size up and like I said there was nothing at the first two stores um that was bigger than a 2.8 so I had to come to a third store and while this does have a Chinese built motor it does have an AR pump and it probably will do a pretty good job but that is solely based upon the fact that it has more flow so let's talk about the pros and cons of these low GPM Big Box store pressure washers the pros is the price which allows you to get started with a minimal investment but honestly besides that I can't think of too many more Pros than that um and if you can think of anything please leave them in the comment section down below to help these new guys make a decision now the cons there is a few more of these so I'm going to break it down to Five Points okay so the five cons first is lower productivity you're just not going to be as efficient a 2.8 gallon per minute machine or something around that size is going to be a lot slower cleaning larger surfaces and that's pretty much any job that you're going to try to tackle a house or a driveway meaning more time is required to complete each job meaning you aren't going to make as much money higher GPM machines clean more surface areas in a lot less time number two is it's underpowered right obviously you hear me talk about GPM and flow but there are times when you need more pressure like removing heavy stubborn stains when you're running your Surface Cleaner and this is going to require a higher PSI and GPM to get it done now a 2.8 gallon per minute machine is going to struggle right which leads to subpar results which leads to unhappy customers which leads to a lot more negative things that I talk about in a bunch of other videos so check the rest of the channel out number three is wear and tear you got to think about it these are not intended for commercial use that means they don't have the same parts that were built with purpose for commercial use but then you got to think about this as well with lower flow rates the machine has to work harder and longer to achieve the same results as a higher GPM unit which means faster wear on Parts which probably are going to be a little bit harder to get and then the maintenance cost but you might also find that a lot of real shops are not going to be working on pressure washers that you buy from big box stores which takes us to number four which is limited versatility right surface cleaners long range tips turbo nozzles these are things that you need to consider because they require a certain amount of pressure in gpn to operate efficiently and lower gpn machines don't usually have the necessary power to operate these things so you can get a Surface Cleaner for a small pressure washer of course but it's going to be really small it's going to be really inefficient and it's not going to give you great results so number five the last one is it's just not scalable right as your business grows that little machine is going to very quickly become insufficient for the volume and type of jobs that you want to do which means you're going to need to upgrade sooner than you anticipated which means you're going to have to buy an entire new machine and that's going to cost you a lot more money you probably should have just waited saved up and then you don't have to replace it as quickly right now only one of the three locations that I went to had anything bigger and again it's a Chinese engine AR pump 4,400 PSI 4.4 gallons per minute this is going to be significantly more powerful you're going to be able to you know be a lot more efficient you're going to be able to use more attachments uh to their full potential and then you can be relatively proficient and efficient with this type of machine this one here only a couple hundred bucks more than the ones that you just saw and while I suggest you save up for something bigger this could be it right but before you make any decisions let's go check out the prograde equipment okay so you have seen what is available for the homeowners right guys that are just starting out that maybe don't have the capital to invest in professional grade equipment but we're going to head over to L&H industrial right now they're my local supplier and we're going to see what commercial and professional equipment looks like and this is stuff that's going to last for a long time it's not homeowner use it's not for one two three times a year which is what most homeowner equipment was designed and built for that's not what you want for your business but I think you might be surprised at some of the prices that we're going to see over here and uh let's go check it out so we're up here at L&H and we're going to look at a couple different machines right from a rollar around unit um and then we're going to look at some cold water skids and then some hot water skids we're going to be looking at the features and the specs as well as cost to give you an understanding of what you can expect from prograde machines and I did want to make one thing very clear is I have no association with any of the brands or the companies in this video or lenh industrial none of them pay me I don't get a cut of any sales there's no affiliate links or any of that stuff I'm just providing information for you guys so you can make Intelligent Decisions when you're out there making your purchases of this pretty big invest right but one thing that you're going to see is all of these machines at least here at L&H they pretty much have the same engines they're pretty much going to have all the same pumps and the components are pretty much all the same it's just who's taking these components and assembling them and selling them okay that is the main difference so let's start with this 4 gallon per minute 4,000 PSI machine this is probably the most basic intro pump available here it is on Wheels and that means you're not going to have to need a buffer tank you're to hook this right up to your customer's water this one is priced at about $429 this is the lowest priced one so the next one we're going to check out is an 8G per minute machine 2500 PSI and it's pretty much good for anything that you're going to face on residential and probably 95% of commercial jobs and this one is about 2500 bucks the next one we're going to look at is a 8G per minute 4,000 PSI Honda powered Comet driven electric start cold water skid this one is just under 5K this next one we're looking at is a 4 gallon per minute 4,000 PSI Honda GX 390 and it's about 5200 bucks okay next we're going to have a 8 gallon per minute 3500 psi Honda powered and it's right around 10,500 bucks right this is a really good machine and like I said earlier you don't want to start upgrading you know a year in because the bottom line you want to get as much bang for your buck for the money that you spend so plan ahead save if you need to and so that's a little glimpse of some good prograde equipment okay so you've seen the equipment you see what's out there see some of the pricing associated with some of those pieces of equipment now let's talk about something that I think is almost more important than the equipment itself and probably what I should have talked about first and that is customer acquisition marketing advertising getting leads okay so when you're first starting out you need to leverage every marketing opportunity that is free that is available to you right first thing is go set up a Google business profile uh and follow all the steps right there's tons of videos out there including on my Channel showing you how to rank higher faster okay open up your phone go into your contacts and text every single person that you know right let them know that you started a business ask them if they need anything or if they could recommend you to friends right referrals are great then follow up in a couple weeks don't be afraid to follow up to ask for help from the people that you know and then you want to go to the Facebook groups you want to go to next door you want to post every single day about your business the services that you offer have a compelling and undeniable offer that makes people want to do business with you right um those are the things that you can do every single day for free uh and then beyond that type of digital marketing you need to have boots on the ground right bandit signs Flyers postcards business cards door knocking all of these things play a crucial role in getting your name out there right and the really important thing is marketing has to be consistent throughout the year don't just do it when you're slow do it all year round right and customers they need to recognize and they need to remember your brand so be memorable spend some time on that and it's okay too invest a little bit into your branding right don't just go to chat PT and have some generic looking you know AI looking logo right be original spend some time spend a couple bucks and get something that is actually going to be memorable Okay and like I said lots of ways to do it right posting in the Facebook groups using next door even Craigslist I know some guys have still have success over there and those obviously not probably not your ideal customers but when you're starting out any paying customer is a good customer right but all said and done the key is consistency right just because you started a business doesn't mean people know or care that you started a business you have to be out there yourself uh promoting telling every single person that you know that you're in business and you want their business right you have to be the biggest cheerleader for your business so there's that so lots of free ways to go about it the next is to consider paid advertising right boosting Facebook post running Facebook ads and then looking into Google ads can also be something that you know is going to help get your name out there but don't just throw money at ads do research Target the right audiences and learn the best practices for running ads because these ads they can be either highly successful or a colossal waste of money depending on how you execute them so do your research figure that out it's not easy but you can do it another thing that it took me a while to kind of figure out and it was a realization that came to me that I was like you know what I need to diversify my services right I couldn't lock myself into just a single Niche right offer compliment mentary services within pressure washing right roof washing Specialty Chemicals like rust removal graffiti removal uh Specialty Chemicals are there there's all kinds that can make you a ton of money right these are high ticket add-on Services great stuff right also work on and this is the big one building a commercial client base these are the clients that bring in the most money and these are the jobs that we really want to go after right and look successful business owners they don't just work hard and it just doesn't come to them it's not luck um it's that they're working hard and they're working smart right you can spend months watching YouTube videos going on Facebook and going in the groups and you can get a lot of great information but you can also get a lot of bad information and honestly all of that time that you spent going through trying to figure out what was good what was bad who knows what they're talking about who doesn't know what they're talking about that is wasted time that is money lost right and the other thing is if you don't know what you're doing and you overpromise and you underd deliver your business is really going to struggle right the key isn't biting off more than you can chew it's learning fast and delivering exceptional results right if you do subpar work expect subpar results if you do great work customers are going to keep coming back and repeat customers are the foundation of every strong business the more repeat customers that we have the less we have to spend acquiring new ones every single time which means more profit that stays in our pocket now the last step is one that a lot of guys just never understand right and that is the future successful business owners they don't stay in the field forever right they build they scale they delegate Elon Musk isn't bolting Parts on the Teslas Steve Job wasn't assembling iPhones in China factories could they do it yeah absolutely but when you build a business you put systems in place and you build a team then your role shifts right entrepreneurs with real Vision aren't satisfied staying on the truck forever they build something bigger they create an exit Str stry that doesn't involve working until they die set goals hold yourself accountable surround yourself with people who are going to help you achieve these goals and that's how you build a successful pressure washing business today I hope you enjoyed it if you got any questions leave me a comment down below and uh that's about it
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