(Add to Favorites | View All Articles | Resource Directory)
|
|
|
Starting A Concrete Cleaning Pressure Washer Business
Concrete cleaning can be a lucrative business to start. Here are some tips which will help you do it right. First and foremost there is one thing you need to understand when you are cleaning concrete and that is that concrete cannot always be restored to its virgin state after it has been stained. You can always get stains lighter or bleached but completely removing it is very difficult. So when talking to a customer explain this to them otherwise they will be asking for a job that just can't be done unless the entire concrete slab is ripped up and re-poured. Now with that in mind let's talk about equipment that is needed for this type of work. Remember safety is always important when working with a pressure washer. Some times there are chemicals involved in cleaning some stains. Thus, you should always use some type of eye protection. Also, when you are using chemicals you need to wear jeans to protect your legs. Chemicals made for concrete are very strong and should not be toyed with. Would a person rather work with dry feet or wet? It is recommended that you get rubber waders or some type of rubber boot. They will keep your feet from getting wet and keep them from getting burned by the 250 degree water. Orange cones are also important to have for this job. These help make people visually aware that you are there if you are in a high traffic area or where there are a lot of contract workers at say a newly constructed house that needs the concrete cleaned. This makes everyone around you safe and you are helping prevent accidents. Of course you are going to need a Hydro-Twister for this job. You can technically do the job with a wand but it will take a lot more time and water, not to mention you can cause streaking if you are not using even strokes across the slab of concrete. Most of the new car wash trucks come with them now but if you don't have one and or you need a second unit and go to buy one be sure to get the larger of the two. There my be only a 5 inch difference in surface coverage but it is well worth it when you are trying to save time without cutting corners. Remember this business is all about time relevant to money. You want to be making at least a $1 a minute when doing concrete work at a minimum and aim for $100 to $200 per hour. If you are not achieving this income level then you work too slowly or you did not bid correctly on the accounts you are taking. You need to have a work order form. This form should have an area for time it took to do the job, how many people were on the job, gas to get to the site and mileage to get to the site. If you need a sheet like this the trainers (Jason & Rand) in Scottsdale will be more then happy to fax you one. Call them at 1-602-432-1308. For your wand you need to use a green tip for steam and a yellow or 15-degree tip for breaking up dirt from an area or pushing the dirty water from an area. You need to have an extra one hundred feet of pressure hose with you on the truck. This extra hose needs to be available when you are at a job site where there are many contract workers and space is limited. More then two hundred feet of hose will be required to get to places like the back yards of houses. You will also need two hundred feet of garden hose. More often than not you will have a job that requires more than 200 gallons of water or multiple jobs on a single day that will use more than 200 gallons of water. You have to remember that hard water is not really all that important when doing concrete. Soft water is good for doing vehicles to help prevent hard water spots but is not necessary for concrete. Plus, it is not worth the time to refill your water tank just do concrete. If you have a regular concrete cleaning customer you may just want to tell them you will use their water and you will decrease their bill by about fifty dollars a month to help cover their water bill. You need a push broom or hand brooms to help move lose dirt before starting the job. On larger jobs you may want to consider a blower, the type that are used for lawns. This will help move more dirt faster. You need a floor squeegee for helping push water out if you are in a garage or other area where water should not stand very long. The half-moon shaped floor squeegee works best. Plus it helps identify an area that you may need to go over again or chemically treat to get the stain out. A flat-ended shovel is important to have if you have concrete that has spilled on the flat slab already or small rocks that have accumulated on the concrete. If you spray the concrete when these little rocks are still on there and you hit them just right; they may catch a nearby window and cause damage. You could break up the excess concrete with the pressure wand but once again this is wasting time and money that you could be making at your next job. A very important item to have is some type of cover plate. This plate will be placed in front of doorways or floorboards when you are using the wands to get around the edges of the concrete. A lot of the competition does not make this additional effort when doing a job. This is what makes us the best because we care about the work that we do. The truck should be set up so that you can use a garden hose and external water supply should we need one for concrete or other types of jobs. The trucks should come with quick releases between the tank and the intake tube to the pressure washer. There should also be a valve that is turned so the water is running from the black tank that now holds the external water that comes in. There needs to be a connection for a water hose that is on top of the black small tank. The inside of the tank can be fitted with a floater in it so water will not run over when you are not depressing the trigger and letting out water. When cleaning concrete always use 3000+ PSI and 250+ degree water. These two elements are key to cleaning concrete effectively and correctly. Now let's talk about chemicals for a minute. To clean rust there is a product made by Simonize (that can be ordered from Howard at AAA Pressure Washers) http://www.aaapws.com that is called Concrete Cleaner and Etch. This chemical is an acid and can be very dangerous. To apply this chemical you can spray it with a metal hand held spray canister. If you use a sprayer that has plastic parts to it, the sprayer won't last more then a one or two times before the parts melt and it is useless. The chemical should be mixed 50-50 with water. If you are using it on colored concrete try a test patch first because this stuff bleaches and lightens so it might make it lighter than the original concrete. For removing oil or grease stains Simonize SC-260 can be used. It is a granule type chemical that looks like kitty litter. To apply it you need to wet down the area to be treated first then spread a thin layer of it over the spot. Take a brush and agitate it to work it in. Let it set about fifteen to twenty minutes before removing it. Make sure you are very through in removing the granules. This next chemical should be used for emergencies if at all possible. This stuff is very thick and should be applied with a roller brush that is an adhesive type roller. Let it set for fifteen to twenty minutes and then remove it being very careful not to get it on you or any of the other chemicals for that matter. To develop the most efficient use of time at a concrete job site one person should be sweeping up loose debris from the work area while the other is setting up the equipment. Be sure all the corners are swept well because this is the area where most lose dirt seems to end up. Remember that when you hydro twist an area that you are simply lifting the dirt and stains. You need to go back over the areas afterwards to move the dirt away from the concrete. After you have used the hydro twister on the area you then need to cover all siding up with your cover plate or what ever guard you find works best and proceed to hand wand any trouble spots and the outer edges of the concrete. Finally, when working where a lot of contractors are working be sure to be polite and try to work around them. You never know who they have contacts with. They may refer you to some one else. Concrete is a great "filler" account if it happens to be raining. You can always do concrete in any type of weather and it pays very well for what you to do for the job. So remember, concrete work is always good to have. For ideas on marketing it might be a good idea to go to; http://www.concretewashguys.com "Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
MORE RESOURCES: News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News 'BusinessWeek' Axes 25 Staffers - Media Buyer Planner Tories pat small biz heads in open source IT procurement pledge - Register US Admin Offls: Export Initiative to Help Small Biz Efforts - Market News International Kagen Holds Roundtable To Hear From Small Biz Owners - Sheboygan News (blog) Small biz ready to hire with increased risk appetite: study - Toronto Sun Small Biz Spotlight: Slide to Play (Pt. 3) - Technorati (blog) State gives online lift to small biz - Albany Business Review Small biz loans down in Crawford County - Bucyrus Telegraph Forum Go big-time with small biz - The Newark Advocate |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Does Your Company Have a Business Image Manual Every business regardless of size needs a "Business Image Manual" to protect their band. Even the smallest companies with only a few employees is well served when there is a business image manual in place. Real World Accounting for Small Business Owners If you're like me, you love accounting. It's so fascinating and such an ingenious system. Pressure Washing Heavy Equipment One of the best ways to make money in the pressure washer business is to power wash heavy equipment. It is not necessarily easy work and you will get quite greasy but it is steady work and there is lots of it. How to become a Career Coach for Profit A career coach could be simply defined your job seeking partner. A career coach could be a career management coach, who helps you in managing your career or a career marketing coach, who helps you build contacts, posts your resumes, tries to find the best jobs for you and helps you secure the best jobs. Financial Strategies for a Mobile Car Wash Business Plan Writing a business plan for a mobile car wash is fairly easy, yet often operators fall down in understanding the financial strategies and costs. Bankers and Investors alike will want to see that you have a well thought out business plan to insure your start-up goes successfully. Leveraging Business Relationships for more Profits When should you leverage the relationship?Leveraging sometimes brings a negative connotation to the mix. It does not have to be that way. Recognizing Employees' Contributions Can Go a Long Way Every employee would like to earn as high a salary as they can at their job but surprisingly it's not the number one motivating factor for them in the workplace. Human resource surveys indicate that wages are not even among the top five motivating factors for an employee. A Look at Small Business Incorporating in Florida The choice to incorporate a small business in Florida has several advantages. Corporations are separate legal entities and, as such, the corporation rather than individual owners pay both the taxes and the liabilities. When and Why YOU Are the Best Writer for Your Business Plan WHEN you are operating or planning a small business that is seeking funding for less than five million dollars, it's wise to consider writing your own plan.WHY you are the best qualified. How to make your property management business really take off Discover How Specialized Cost Containment Creates A New Win-Win Position For Property Owner's And YouProperty Management: A simple strategy to increase client loyaltyProperty managers who pro-actively employ advanced techniques to help property owners and anchor tenants reduce operating costs, will most certainly be considered a more valuable business asset. When you can achieve this with lower administrative functions and no out-of-pocket cost to you or your client's, you've created additional benefits. Balancing your priorities- Not everything can be perfect As small business managers, we juggle limited resources in a quest for success. To an extent, when we focus on success in one area we forego attention elsewhere. Outsourcing Payroll and check printing should only be a last resort Business checks are available in many styles and varieties. They offer many benefits to your small business, some you may not have thought of. Offering free information may stimulate your business You've heard it before; we're living in an information age. The business world is no longer driven by tangible products but on information and ideas. Deciding Which State To Incorporate Your Small Business In Once you've decided to incorporate your small business the next step is deciding which state to incorporate in. A common misconception is that businesses must incorporate in their state of operation. How To Create A Business Note That Is More Attractive To A Note Investor You are selling your small business (business value under $1 million for this article). You would like the buyer of your business to come in with an all-cash offer, or be able to qualify for an SBA guaranteed loan. You Dont Yet Know What You Dont Know Someone new to business ownership recently told me, "Before I opened my business, I thought I was pretty well prepared. I knew how to produce and deliver our product. Drivng Home the Point - An Outsourcing Story in China A few years ago, I visited Beijing for the first time. At Beijing airport, I got into a taxi and paid 450 yuan (about US$54) to get to the city. FTC Report on Franchise Rule Making; What Purpose? The Federal Trade Commission out of the blue decide in November of 2004 that they wanted to revamp the franchise and business opportunity rule; specifically addressing franchising. Now then, why now? To prove to the masses that the Federal Trade Commission is in control? After all it is nearly 10 years after the Federal Trade Commission considered revising the rule, before this report has surfaced again. Presentations and Sales Automotive Detailers Many auto detailers fall short in their sales presentations. I have often shopped the competition to see what their knowledge base was to gage their worthiness as a formidable competitor in the market place. A Business Tail: Veterinarian Foams at Mouth, Chases Tail, Learns New Tricks--Case Study Many self employed professionals find themselves overwhelmed, frustrated, and confused when it comes to running their businesses. The deep skills they have in their professional field do little to prepare them for the dog-eat-dog world of running a business.
|
| home | site map | articles |
| © 2006 |