A Pressure Washing Business can be a very rewarding business for a person to operate. You will not need any special skills to do this work, but you will need to spend the time to learn to properly use your equipment and supplies on the various surfaces you will clean. You should also consider the amount of physical work involved as well. Dragging equipment and supplies to jobsites, as well as doing the work once you get there is labor intensive.
Pressure Washing Business
Almost every homeowner in your area is a potential customer. They will need you to clean the exterior siding of their house, their concrete and brick surfaces, their roofs, wooden decks, and anything else that can be cleaned with a pressure washer.
The other half of the business is the work you can do for commercial and industrial enterprises including exterior walls, roofs, concrete, brick, and wood surfaces. You will also clean parking lots and do clean up work for the construction trade. This list barely touches on the number of things you can clean and the many ways you can make money in this business.
The biggest challenge you will have when first starting out is finding clients, so consequently, you will spend much of your time marketing your services to line up more business. See the marketing section below for some inexpensive marketing ideas.
Licensing and Insurance Like all businesses, you will need to go to your local licensing office, often City Hall, and apply for a business license to operate. You should also apply for a tax-id number from the I.R.S. Use these to obtain a business checking account. You will also need to decide on what form your business will be organized under, be it a sole-proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc. Spend a little time talking to an experienced attorney and have he or she draw up any forms or waivers you may need. Also, talk to an accountant before you start out for financial and tax suggestions. The advice they give can save you much time, trouble, and money in the future.
You will also need the help of an insurance agent. Make sure you have the proper amount of liability coverage and if you plan to hire any employees, workers’ compensation coverage. Also make sure that you are bonded. Your prospective clients will want to know you are properly licensed, bonded, and insured and most will not hire you without proper coverage.
Pricing, Earnings, and Equipment Costs Pricing your services will be a balance between all of your costs and charging enough to make a profit. You should be aware of what your competition is charging as well. If you have to price your services far above your competition to make a profit, you are going to have trouble finding enough work to stay in business. You also will not want to undercut your competition just to get business. This is never a good way to build a long-term business.
The first thing you will want to do, at minimum, is take the time to prepare a business plan. This does not have to be anything formal but it should cover the following: all costs including equipment and supplies, your marketing and operating budgets, your marketing plan, and your work load projections. You will then use all of this information to formulate your pricing strategy.
This may seem like a lot of unnecessary work when you could just set your prices from what your competition charges. This is surely tempting, but try to avoid doing this. Ask yourself, “How do you really know how much the other guys are making?” Their expenses will certainly be different than yours. You may be able to charge less and still keep a healthy profit, thus giving you an advantage. At the very least, you will be able to determine what you will need to charge to make enough of a profit that you stay in business for the long-term. Please see the resources at the end of this article for more help with this important area of the business.
Marketing Much of your marketing effort will be in convincing people and businesses they need your services. One way to go about this will be to point out the benefits of hiring you. It is said that all marketing needs to appeal to some need of the intended recipient to be effective and you will need to do the same.
For example, you can appeal to the need that a person selling their house has. They will want to sell for the highest price possible, and they will not be able to do that unless the house is clean. Let your marketing efforts show them how much more they will be able to sell for, or sell faster, if you clean the exterior, the walkways, and the driveways. This should be much more than the cost of your services.
Have a good supply of business cards professionally made up and pass them out to everyone you meet. Give them a couple and ask them to pass them on to people they know. Remember, you are not only in the pressure washing business; you are in sales as well.
If you intend to concentrate on residential work, you will want to get to know as many real estate agents as possible since they can steer a lot of business your way. Prepare a package of flyers or brochures and a stack of business cards and personally distribute these to as many agents as you can. Do not forget to ask for some of their business cards so you can refer them in return.
You will also want to use a combination of direct mail and hand delivery of flyers and sales letters. You will save money on postage by paying a student, or maybe your own children, to hand deliver your marketing materials to houses in your target neighborhoods. Remember that, by law, mailboxes can only be used for U.S. Mail so put them in the door, or better yet in a small, plastic door hanger bag and hang them on the door handle.
Some Final Thoughts Running your own Pressure Washing business can be a profitable and rewarding experience. But, keep in mind, for best results you will need to start and run it with a long-term strategy in place right from the start. Even if the business is just you operating out of your pickup on the weekends, thinking about it and operating it as a real business will allow you to become that as time goes on. As you take on more work and make more money, you will be glad you did.
Finally, there is a lot of great information out there to help you get started. I have included a number of resources below. Please note, I have no connection with any of these sites whatsoever and am not receiving anything for mentioning them here.
PressureNet.net This is a great site with a lot of information if you are considering a Pressure Washing business.
LifeTips Pressure Washing Tips Another great site with a lot of information for all levels of experience.
The PWNA is the contractors association for the power washing industry. You can find information here about equipment suppliers, training classes, etc.
Delco Cleaning Systems of Fort Worth This site has a lot of great information about writing a pressure washing business plan and a complete sample plan.
This is another area of the Delco Cleaning Systems of Fort Worth website that provides a thorough discussion on pricing your work. It will also give you many great ideas on the different jobs you can do. This document is identified as shareware and asks for a donation of $5.00. Look it over; you will probably decide it is well worth it.
Ultimate Washer A resource for pressure washing equipment.
The-Power-Washer-Advisor. Com This site has an amazing amount of pressure washing equipment information and advice. Highly recommended.