Should I Go Pressure Washing Solopreneur?
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- I'm considering going it alone this year. It's so hard finding people that want to work with their hands I'm considering changing my business model. I'd like to hear from other pressure washing solopreneurs.
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I totally understand where you are coming from, We did great in 20, 21 was horrible due to the fact that I could not keep any of my equipment running longer then a week, so this year I will be going back to solo, ran solo for almost 10 years, then decided to take it a little easier and get a helper, but this year, I am going back solo, I have the equipment in a great spot to just let me do my thing and concentrate on sticking to a good 3-5 day week, NO hassle of always needing to book in as many jobs as i could due to helper,I'll slow it down and relax a little bit more this year. No Rush Rush Rush all the time.
Since the time I posted this I found a great young kid (26) who's eager to go to work so I found my helper. I'm going to roll with this model for a month and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.
Solo is king. No help needed at all. The job gets done right if you do it yourself. Get after it.
I'm on it like a hobo on a ham sandwich.
I run solo also... Stay small and keep it all.🙂
I run solo Monday thru Thursday. I have help on Friday's and Saturdays. You can do it brother, but on the big wash days, I would follow up with a really light day or take the day off. Im 46 and I feel it after a long day.
I'm pickin up what you're puttin down here brother. I can't grind like I used to. I was actually thinking Monday and Wednesdays by myself and Friday and Saturday with a helper. Those two days will be my big wash scheduling days. It's easier to get a part-time mug who wants to earn a little extra to work those days. Thanks for the input. I think I can still do $20-25k a month with this schedule.
Great video man and love your videos bro
I am solo a lot of the time and ton get used to knocking it out and streamlining the process!
GOOD LUCK MY BROTHER | WASHON
Thanks for the support! You as well brother.
I restructured my lawn service 4 years ago to go solo. It is nice to have help,but the hassle isn’t worth it on most days.
I finally found a couple of great guys. Time will tell how everything works out. Wish me luck.
@@neptuneclean Yeah good luck. There is always going to be duds,but also people out there that really wanna work. An extra hand around a wash rig is HUGE. 👍
Help is hard to find now and days man, especially good hard working help, I do it solo everyday, sometimes I have a buddy come and help on his days off when he wants but yea is what it is, being solo is nice sometimes, put your head phones in relax and get to work, cheers bud.
I'm feelin ya brother. I'm not sweating it anymore. I've revised my projections, reduced some costs and will pick up help when I can. So far I'm totally stress free and believe it or not. It hasn't hurt my profit margin that's what being in business is all about.
Run solo! I like that idea of couple loaded days a week. There’s only so many pumps on the truck and so many hoses.
Good point Van. And I've run out of water on my 300 gal buffer tank with two machines going at once. Had to wait 30 min for the tank to fill back up half way. Probably poor flow on the water supply but that does happen. Thanks brother!
Solo is the way to go for me. I've decided that a while back when I just couldn't find the help. Bill you've got the experience and the equipment to do it. Don't kill yourself and if you are getting a grand per day, then why not.
You know when you start a venture as an entrepreneur you dream about building the best, largest company but the reality is bigger may not be better. In the end, would I really make more money? Maybe not. Stay tuned as I let you all know how it works out.
It’s hard to tell if you should go solo. Everyone’s market is different. If you do a good bit of work, keeping a helper as a solo guy is a must. Running a company with multiple trucks forces you to do work you might not otherwise just to keep the guys busy.
For example, I will bid on a roof cleaning for an apartment complex $xxxx and my competitor that has to pay his franchise fee and payroll and rolls around town with multiple 100k trucks will do the job for half the price. My assumption is to just keep the guys busy
Hey Brian, I agree with you on the helper part. I consider having a helper as going solo and having an independent crew that frees me up to scale the business as my other option. I'm also contemplating selling my brand new F450 and going to a dual axle trailer. The only reason is that my brand new F450 that has about 4000 miles on it is actually worth about $20K more now because I purchased it this time last year. That would give me enough funds to purchase the trailer with cash. I love the flexibility of the flatbed but man... I could do without the payment. What do you think?
Kinda figuring that out right now -- Im maxxed out about 1200$ a day,, trying to train a good helper. I like running and gunning solo but I am trying to scale
Isn't it just a shame when you have to actually do the work that pays the bills? I grew up in a family business and that's the ONLY rule you need to remember. Your staff doesn't care if you're eating plate scrapings out of a dumpster by next week as long as their check clears. "Oh WHY OH WHY won't someone come save something they have no stake in?" You can pay 60% of your profit on taxes and payroll to support a checked out labor market, or you can pay 30% and invest in the equipment that eliminates the need for staff. It only works if you genuinely don't mind doing the work though. ;)
David, coming from a man who's been there! Thanks so much for sharing and as a fellow entrepreneur I empathize with you. This will be the first year (my 3rd in business) where I actually pay myself. Every dollar I've made so far has been reinvested in my business. I started with a little 5x8 trailer and some basic equipment. I sold what assets I had to raise the money I needed for a $1000 pressure washer. I will admit that the college kids that worked for me last summer got paid though. And they were happy to get such a high wage.
That is the way I do it...I schedule jobs based on my ability to get them done working alone. Been doing this for 5yrs and it works pretty well. However, I am retired and I don't have to make a living at this...but I can still do pretty well.
Thanks Jimmy.
I can help on weekends sat sun..im in norfolk
William send me from my site.
I'm going solo this year and it's my first year!
Skyler good luck brother. Let me know if you need any advice.
yeah id rather solo work. you can make a good living solo. people just need to wait or get someone else
Solo is the way to go. Less headaches.
I'm beginning to think you're right.
The only main downside I see besides a few safety challenges would be if you got injured somehow. If you can’t do it all cause you hurt your back or something then your out of business and income. Whereas if you run as a team at least much of the time you could lean on a teammate and become the helper or if unable they could at least cover your best clients alone until you recovered.
Oh man, great point. Perhaps the best way to mitigate any mishaps would be to schedule any jobs involving ladder work to the weekends when I plan to have help. Having spent 21 years in the Navy, I'm already safety conscience. Thanks for continuing the conversation.
@@neptuneclean well your service explains the logo ;). ET here.
I’d suggest avoiding ladders without help but also train your weekend help fully and book any critical accounts like recurring commercial work on the weekends where possible.
The injury can come from anywhere like slip in bathtub or I dono a bee swarm at the VFW station LOL. Life is life. At least this way your XO could keep the critical accounts going.
Personally I don’t allow ladders on the trucks. Roofs aren’t such a big deal here and we don’t do gutters, windows or any of that stuff so it kills the need to even have them or insure for them. They also are not allowed on structures and can only go into places if it’s an inside commercial job.
I’d also suggest 2 things. Maybe an SOS button in case you can call or move. Heck you could slip iff a curb and break an ankle etc. And I’d also add a GPS tracker to your equipment or vehicle so regardless your family can locate you for emergency services if they get the bat signal. And if your equipment gets stolen it will come in handy.
With a safety net and your training you should do just fine solo. Way less hassle. All our trucks are solo units, so it’s good so you know what to train assistants should you send them out solo.
How old are you? How long have you been washing?
I’m solo 5-6 days a week. I have zero desire to have a helper. I’m 51. Been washing 8 years.
Hey Mike, I just turned 59 and this is my third year. My dilemma is more of a business model change in terms of projected outcomes. Getting the business is not the problem. Covering down on double the amount of jobs in the same timeframe in order to generate more profit requires help. I just don't have the desire to grind it out, by myself 5-6 days a week. Although it does have it's benefits. I can easily do 3 days a week by myself and 1 day a week with a helper and still generate between $16k-$20K month with a lot less headaches. Where are you located?
@@neptuneclean Your numbers are spot on.
I ask your age because of the grind. If you don’t plan on selling the business to someone you train up, the need to have a helper is minimal. I get it. I have no desire to upscale. I’ve never had a helper and can’t see myself getting one.
You might need to do some head hunting and ask that person if they’d like to move from their current position into a great outdoors career.
It's not really that nobody wants to work, it's that people are sick and tired of building someone else's dream, giving their life away, and still really not stable financially because that 18/hr-20/hr wage isn't cutting it with the way inflation is headed. I mean 20/hr is the equivalent to 15/hr and you're lucky to score 20/hr wages. I had a career and provided so much value, on top of that super stressful and i was paid 18/hr for years at a certain position and for a single parent that is NOT a lot of money at all. You're basically working just to survive. People are sick of just "surviving". The world is not what it used to be and it's getting worse fast. I don't blame the employer, i blame our government which in 1971 they took the USD off the gold standard and ever since then they just print money like there is no tomorrow. Our currency is worth nothing and our economy is only still "alive" because of "quantitive easing" which means they're just injecting a shit ton of money into the economy each day. It's lunacy.
Ryan I feel you brother. That's why I started this channel. My goal is to share how I succeed so others can learn from my example and do the same. I'd be happy to TEACH some young go-getter the PW business and support them going it alone after working for me for a season. A rising tide lifts all boats. Here's the catch... it's hard work and sacrifice but if you have a goal and a plan the sacrifice is temporary. Again, the goal of this channel is to promote entrepreneurialism and those striving to reach that dream. I'd be honored to teach some young kid how to go into business for themselves working with their hands. You have to start somewhere and you don't start at the top if you don't have skills, knowledge or something of value to offer.
Right on bro!
It’s been hard to find someone for me for two years now
Hey Kevin I just hired a couple of mugs that are working out great. It happened through word or mouth too. I didn't spend a dime on recruitment advertising. I would not have found these guys on any of those platforms. Keep looking my friend. They are out there. See this video: ruclips.net/video/c-v6aMn-nRs/видео.html
Oh wow didnt realise you were in norfolk-- Im just south of you
Oh snap are you in Chesapeake or NC?
@@neptuneclean NC but serve Chesapeake
thats all i want to do is enough for myself
You know Charles the more I hear from other solopreneur pressure washers, the fast majority of them are solo and they're happy with the business model. Cheers brother!
I’m gonna be starting up solo in the Hampton roads area and would love to chat with you
Austin hit me up through my site or email bill@neptuneclean.com
I sent you a email
@@austinkronberg4402 Im close to you
@@RigWars would you like to extend some knowledge to a newbie
I think you need to think again about your costs. Then think about it from the employee frame of mind. Yep you think you are offering a good wage. Will the hours and wage pay for a apartment, transportation that is reliable, and the things people need in life like insurance? Are you offering insurance or pension, any upward mobility? Will they have to live with mom or like a commune with a bunch of adults squeezed in an apartment? In my area it is at least 20.00 full time a bit more to have a legal cheap car. A decent not great one bed room apartment would be 70 hours of gross labor at 20 an hour in my city. Almost 9 days. That is gross not take home. So net would be more than half the month labor. No lights or food and it is half gone heck you only have 21 work days a month.
In my area it is a sold no I can't afford to pay a wage that will net all of those things for an employee with my current tool burden and other bills. I refuse for employees of mine to be the working poor. I am not gonna follow the Walmart model or fast food code to make it work. Until I can I will work solo. I do have a few family members I can call for part time stuff and they get paid exceptionally well when weather gets my schedule messed up.
When you say you got some kids on summer break it screams you are not offering a living wage for an adult in this world man. Might I suggest you take that wage offered and go apartment shopping and see how much is left out of the gross. If it is almost half gone keep adding more money to what you are offering. Then if you expect them to get to work and you not picking them up add more. You will soon realize you are not offering much at all. To top it all off you are offering just seasonal work and a skill that won't help them land a better job. Four of five months they are looking for work again.
People are not afraid of work man but they won't be killing themselves to be the working poor for you to have the good life. Those days are over.
Employers need to be realistic. Are you truly being realistic with your offered wage?
I take issue with your 2nd to last paragraph. It suggests that in the past people were willing to kill themselves working, so that the boss could have a good life at the expenses of his employees. But now employees have woken up and are no longer willing to do that. That is not what has happened. What has happen is that the dollar has become so devalued, that the good life is all but gone for the majority of people. The employer can not start charging $800 for a $400 pressure washing job. The customer just will not pay that much because the cost of everything else that customer needs to buy has gone up so much. Pressure washing is not as important as food, clothing and their dirty house. The only way for the pressure-washer owner to get that job, is to charge $400 and do it solo. And that $400 doesn’t buy what it used to either, including the extra helper. The dollar used to have good buying power, but those days are what are over. The government is printing money to pay for handouts, and a load of other bad spending decisions, but it is not helping, it is hurting, because it is deflating the dollar and making life harder for everyone.
I hear you Dylan but this job isn't for someone who has a family with kids. These types of jobs are stepping stones for a kid out of high school trying to pay their own way through community college. You're not going to find a company that offers a pension. Not even the US military offers full retirement anymore. They offer a government 401K style of investment and you're responsible to invest or not have a retirement. All local economies are different so I'm not sure where you live but I might look to move to a cheaper area.
@@neptuneclean dude that is a complete and total cop out. The pension was a joke as was the bit about insurance. I know you are not offering it. Yep you are looking for a guy with transportation a driver's license and responsibility yet not offer a wage that would support that in this day and age.
I live in a tourist city just like you do. if you don't get above the entertainment dining wage you will never get the better employees. Washing dishes in my town will net you 12 an hour. That is the dregs of dining employees.
Is the dishwasher potentially gonna fall from thirty feet? Nope. Does the dish washer have to be responsible enough to send out in your expensive rig? Nope then the wage is much higher than that.
Yet you are looking for somebody with diapers and mommy still pays bills so you can under pay them. They will drive what mommy paid for to your job go home to momma's house for a roof. So you see that what you are offering is the working poor? The only difference is you expect mommy to do the government part of that for the Walmart model to work.
Just complete and total honesty here. Most of the people that offer services here drive in from out of town. The cost of living is much better forty miles out less jobs to be had the employees have less options. All the big landscape companies and the like are out of town. They even have apartments in the shop yard. Can't be late to work if you never leave the grounds pack them in like sardines.The h2b labor is how they make it work and then they earn off of the housing.
Heck look at all the other wash guys on RUclips they live rural. Drive all over to get jobs.
I know what I am doing is an uphill battle by living in a town where the median home sells for well over 200k and one bed apartments are over a grand. It means I have no available workforce without paying a bunch yet I live around hundreds of thousands of potential customers real close to home. Infact I have not done a job more than thirty miles away for ages so I guess that is the silver lining.
You can't be on both sides of the fence with this. One video shows the how other companies don't know the costs when bidding yet you ignore the costs of what an employee will have trying to have a roof?
Heck this video is I fucking banked 1350 in a few hours but can't find help. So did you bank enough to pay help a living wage?
If not stop bragging about what you make please because the mommy of your help pays the real bills of life so you can have that website truck and tools.
Well it stopped raining gotta get out the truck and work again.
I’ve been mainly solo for years now. The pros outweigh the cons for me, mainly in freedom of scheduling. I will say physically it’s getting harder each year. Probably going to get some help soon
The wear and tear on the body is hard at my age so I do Yoga... lol. In all seriousness, if I were in my 20's (I'm 59) I could grind this business all day every day. Even though I hold a college degree (3 actually) I'm a blue collar guy and supporter of all trades people out there. This country would crumble without people willing to do the hard work. My philosophy is such that I would support anyone that worked for me to eventually go into business for themselves. Learn the trade, master it, and go into business for yourself. That's the message that needs to be meemed. The only way to learn a trade is to work in one... for someone who can teach you. Cheers Mate, thanks for letting me vent.
@@neptuneclean I could t agree with you more. You can’t expect the absolute rock stars to be with you forever. Why not be their first stop on the way to freedom? A rising tide raises all ships!