New to the Busniess advice

James Pop

James Pop

New member
Hello all,

I'm starting to gen up my post military retirement business. I'm going to start with residential/light commercial. I'm thinking lots of driveways and sidewalks along with siding. I've got a 4K PSI/4 GPM pressure washer w/18" Hammerhead surface cleaner. Reading thru the forums, I see talk about "removing the cream" from concrete.

I anticipate doing most residential concrete work with "water/pressure" only, except with tough grease/rust jobs.

Can I damage the concrete?

Also, there is ton of rust spots on property here in NW FL due to sprinkler systems. What's the best "bio friendly" method for great results?
 
Lots of answers and techniques.... Best option.. Find someone on this forum that is an hour or two away from you. ( they may help you of they know you aren't in their backyard ) See if you can work with them for a few days or a weeks to learn. Use the search function on this forum. There are also some schools that are offered.

Remember water is free and great for rinsing, chems cost money but make you money and save u copious amounts of time.
 
Hey James, welcome to the forum.

In the truck so this will be a short to the point answer.

Matt is 100% correct on what he said, nothing better then hands on learning.

Some of the more experienced washers recommended that I should lay down a coat of my house wash mix on residential driveways and walkways/patios before and after surface cleaning, and I have to say I am happy I listened.

Can you damage the concrete? Absolutely. With 4k psi some concrete will not hold up to that type of pressure. You will see a lot on this forum "test spots" are used quite a bit. However you will find with some research there are quite a few ways to lower your pressure to the required psi

As far as rust goes, I have not personally seen anything out preform " f9 BARC", on top of it being a great chemical, the creator actually is a active member on this forum who you can speak with directly and get mix ratios for certain jobs etc.

When I get in front of a computer I will link you to a couple of threads on this forum that helped me greatly.
 
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Thanks for the inputs. Today, I did a little practice run on my neighbor's house. Brick with white vinyl trim as well as their concrete. Started out using some Simple Green siding cleaner and got mediocre results. Switched over to a bleach solution and it work wonderfully. Just applied with a sprayer and rinsed off. Is the cheap solution the best for vinyl siding? It doesn't seem that would appeal to potential clients.

The concrete went well except for the oil shadows that could not be completely removed with my cold water system.

I'll attempt to contact one of the other 2 guys that I've found to be working the Navarre area. Hopefully they'll be willing to show me the ropes considering I would be competing with them.
 
James Pop said:
Thanks for the inputs. Today, I did a little practice run on my neighbor's house. Brick with white vinyl trim as well as their concrete. Started out using some Simple Green siding cleaner and got mediocre results. Switched over to a bleach solution and it work wonderfully. Just applied with a sprayer and rinsed off. Is the cheap solution the best for vinyl siding? It doesn't seem that would appeal to potential clients.

The concrete went well except for the oil shadows that could not be completely removed with my cold water system.

I'll attempt to contact one of the other 2 guys that I've found to be working the Navarre area. Hopefully they'll be willing to show me the ropes considering I would be competing with them.
Click to expand...

Sodium Hypochlorite is the standard for cleaning vinyl
 
James Pop said:
Hello all,

I'm starting to gen up my post military retirement business. I'm going to start with residential/light commercial. I'm thinking lots of driveways and sidewalks along with siding. I've got a 4K PSI/4 GPM pressure washer w/18" Hammerhead surface cleaner. Reading thru the forums, I see talk about "removing the cream" from concrete.

I anticipate doing most residential concrete work with "water/pressure" only, except with tough grease/rust jobs.

Can I damage the concrete?

Also, there is ton of rust spots on property here in NW FL due to sprinkler systems. What's the best "bio friendly" method for great results?
Click to expand...
Hi James. You did some research, good. I can steer you in the right direction with your hammerhead. Get a set of 25025's and a set of #2503 nozzles. That will get you in the right pressure for Florida concrete. Do not use the #2 nozzles that came with the hammerhead on residential concrete, You will thank me later. I believe you need a 14 mm wrench to take the nozzles off. Also raise the swivel a little higher than what it is set at, I learned that the hard way . The round collar on the top of the housing has an allen wrench slot. That's how you raise it. You might have to loosen one of the bolts on top to raise or lower the swivel. I had a rough learning curve with my hammerhead and I did strip the cream off a few driveways before I figured out what was happening.

Now for using only water to clean a driveway. NO. You will be going over the driveway 2 or three times and the job you do won't last a week, before all the algae mold and mildew you just spread all over the place grows back. Not good for repeat business. SH(kills the black algae on driveways) with contractor surfactant is the way to go. Ask about the striping later , after you get a few driveways under your belt(you'll know what I am talking about soon). Check out Elemonator from pressure tek or roof snot from Southside equipment.

About the oil stains. If you got it down to a shadow, that's about as good as it gets, unless you hit the stain within a couple of hours or a day or two, with a good degreaser and hot water. I've used almost every degreaser, and I came to realize oil stains don't come out completely, and you must convey that to the customer.

Regarding mineral stains from sprinklers, oxalic acid takes care of that, save the F9 for the real rust. You can also use iron out. That is less dangerous.
 
We do a fair amount of work in Navarre and the rust there is the worst I've seen anywhere.
 
James,

Please be patient. As a new owner of a business especially a power washing business in Florida, ( I hear there is a lot of competition ) it will take a little time to learn the tricks of the trade. It will take time to learn how to price jobs.and it will take time to make money. But if your seriously wanting to make it in the business , then read, read, read and then read some more. It will save you thousands of dollars and hours upon hours of aggravation. Trust me I know this first hand. Good luck and just keep moving.
 
Matt,

Setting up my supplies list as I type. Got a few questions concerning this.
1-How much Ox will I need to keep on hand if there are tons of this type work here?
2-What is the mixing ratio?
3-Is a garden spray pump sufficient to apply?
4-What are the cautionary tales associated with using Ox?
 
Ralph,
When using the Hammerhead this weekend, there was a ton of "wobble/vibrations". Threads suggest to clean the fittings. How does one go about that? Ordering the 25025s and 2503s today. What is the best way to take care of the SC after use? I don't want it to start rusting up. Thanks.

James
 
James Pop said:
Ralph,
When using the Hammerhead this weekend, there was a ton of "wobble/vibrations". Threads suggest to clean the fittings. How does one go about that? Ordering the 25025s and 2503s today. What is the best way to take care of the SC after use? I don't want it to start rusting up. Thanks.

James
Click to expand...

Take the tips out and check for debris. Had one tip get clogged by a piece of the Teflon tape used when it was originally installed. Cleaned it and re-wrapped with Teflon, no problem since.

Just rinse off the SC well after each use.
 
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