Powerwashing Co's/Individuals selling out

Clean County PW

Clean County PW

Active member
Is it me or does it seem like alot of Powerwashing Co's are selling there businesses. I also see alot of Individuals selling there Equipment and getting out of the trade all together.

Could this be happening because times are getting tuff and people just aren't spending the Money??OR is it because more people then usual bought Powerwashing equipment and now they are selling it because they never had much of a business in the first place??

If that second question is true then that means Distributerships had banner years. I would like to see one of them answer that question but I would not be surprise if they don't.

Of course in the mix there is always a guy like Jon Fife who is going back to college to continue his education which is causing him to sell alot of his equipment and possibly his business. Can't knock him for that. Great jobs can be had if one has the proper Education.

Sometimes I wonder if the Powerwashing business is not as big as I really thought it was in the first place. Believe me though I'm not complaining. My business should have its best year to date even though my growth rate could be better.

So what do you people see??
 
Florida Pressure Washers

Here in Florida see alot dropping out too. Get calls offering to sell me their business and customers. Seems like the retired are getting into the business in their developments. They put an add Resident looking for work. Make the add seem unbelieveable. All post,( Biogradeable Products make house sparkling clean). Don't know why anyone retired would want to wash houses in this heat? Most of the time older people appreciate seeing someone younger trying to get ahead and pass the word. Anna
 
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Hi John,

There is a lot of coming and going in this business. The way I think it happens is: some guy/gal sees somebody powerwashing. Man, that looks easy! so they go to Lowes, Home Depot or they sink a bundle with a dealer and buy the biggest and the baddest. Time goes by, nobody is calling wanting them to powerwash nothing! The wife starts in about how much money they wasted and the rest is history!
It's just not a get rich quick scheme. People hear $400-900-3000 to do decks - they're on that like white on rice! They are out of it just as quick.
I still feel if they want to go into business, save their money and go into the garage, get the tool box with the hammer and nails and start carpentering! They already have everything they need.
 
ron p

John i think it's the drought,slow biz,and mostly people that start this kind of biz.dont know what there in for. They find out this really is WORK.
 
If this August doesn't weed out the weakings, I dont know what would. Between the drought and the normal august slow down, I know some won't survive. It's getting tough.
 
Gee, maybe Cody is right!

Maybe if all of you so-called "do-gooders", who think you know all about business, and what makes it tick, and just are foaming at the mouth to disseminate this information would shut the hell up, maybe every Tom, Dick and Jose would not go into business!

It takes alot more than what anyone here offers, and to succeed, ypou must pay your dues. And yes, that means the hard way. Not going on a BBS and telling your competitor where and how to bid a job, buy the chamicel or market the business. Hell, if he knows so little, maybe he should not be in this line of work to begin with!

These newbies should spend a year working for some one else and see what it is all about. Then decide whether it is for them, do the due dilligence, investigate, get licenses, permits and then and only then, go into business.

Unfortunatley, you clowns think you'rs so tight, that you just can't wait to spout off. No wonder these people are out of business!

Zippo
(The board pariah)
 
Hiya Zip!
So good to hear from you again. I won't speak for others, but as for my own "do-gooder" attitude and the advice I give, it's well researched I assure you. But as I have said, and will continue to say, just because you offer help or give someone a little information doesn't mean they will be successful. The folks who are feeling it now who have been around a few years undertand that the best. Call it survival of the fittest if you like. It boils down to the plain and simple fact that no one will learn all they need to know overnight. No one. So what's the harm in sharing the same advice that is shared year after year after year? And why not elaborate on it a little? I don't think anyone is saying all can be learned overnight or online.

As for others taking a shot at going into business, I say good for them! Everyone should follow their dream and try to do something that they want to do.

Cream always rises to the top, as one manager once told me.

Mike, I agree this one has been tougher than the last couple.
John, I have been watching guys come and go all year. Seems to me it happens every year. Maybe earlier this year? Not sure.....

How many have seen an increase in deadbeat clients who don't pay the balance due? We have seen an increase in that, and have a new policy as a result.

Beth

:cool:
 
I don't know what to say.
I have been on the boards for a few years, and have seen a lot ofp eople come and go. Many that I thought should have been successful, weren't. Many that I thought were blithering idiots, were successful. Of course then again, success is a personal thing. There are a lot of people that are perfectly satisfied if they gross $60,000 a year. I know that I can make more than that by working for someone else, so for me, that would be bearly getting by.
I guess this is a bit of a rant for me. Sure I share information. I, as well as everyone else, do not share everything that I know, or have learned. I do share some information that will help the general industry. That means, if someone is going to do something that is going to make all of us, except maybe you Zippo:D Look bad, I will try to stop them, or push them in a different direction.
I don't know, maybe I am getting tired of some of the idiocy that goes on with the boards. People whining that too much information is given out, others wanting others to do all of their work for them, and still others doing somethig that does not make sense at all.

Scott
 
Even though this is going off on a tangent alittle here considering I am the thread starter on this post but I have to say for GOOD,BAD or INDIFFERENT Codies post a short while back has really got most of us that like to post thinking. His post had me wondering a little to about the effort I had to put in for myself just to figure out the basic things to do this business when I was first starting out. While others just take take take and never give back and then they hurt our business because of all the info that we speel out on these bb's.

So like I stated above it makes you wonder.......:confused:
 
I wasnt going to say anything but being one of the tom, dick and jose's I must :)

Any do gooder that feels like telling me how to do it and do right go ahead. I have learned a lot here in two days that I have been looking for and it is greatly appreciated.

I feel the information here will help make me more of a professional and help me reach my goals.

My first goal is easy, its my company Motto "Auspicium Exemplum" which in rough latin means Leadership by Example.

I dont know about other areas but in Atlanta there doesnt seem to be alot of companies listed anywhere, most of the numbers I have called in the past are disconnected.

As far as paying dues what would you have me do suffer and struggle for years before I ever show a profit and then I've earned the right to be succesfull? dont hold your breath on that one.

Im here to make a living. Im here to never have to go back to the job I hate again. Im here to do my best and be a respectable member of my profession. I am here to support the family that supports me in all that I do.

those are the rest of my goals, and I'll let you in on a secret

(I plan to deliver the kind of quality that I will never worry about the lurker who steals my business cuase after they see his work they will call me back to fix it). :p

To all the people that have made, ran, moderated and post to this site This newbie thinks you have all done a He** of a job.

Matthew Abbott
Charlie Foxtrot Pressure Cleaning
Auspicium Exemplum
Click to expand...
 
Zippo a question about YOU, not sure how long you have been in the business but surely when you first started you asked someone someplace a question.

I cannot see anyone, you included knowing it all before they even start the business.

Now perhaps your father owned the business you now own so you grew up learning it that way and took over or inherited it.

I can say this about ME, I researched, I read, I asked questions and then I took one person up on spending a couple days with him learning.

I am still learning but one thing I don't want to happen is some "newbie" getting hurt because he/she does not know about the reaction of a chemical, or learning if you point that wand with a 0° nozzle at a window there might not be a window left. Or worst burning an arm on the muffler or turning a valve while the system is running and losing a hand.

Zippo if you took the time to offer advice rather than putting us down you would feel much better for that knowing someone benefited from your advice.

Try it sometime and see for yourself.

Jon
 
You guys just don't get it. Anything in life having is worth earning. You appreciate and succeed when you have EARNED what you have gotten.

People leave this business because they have not worked hard enough to get where they are going, and after a short stint at "trying their hand" at pressure washing, they throw in the towel.

As for people living their dream, trust me, no one here grew up wanting to be a pressure washer. We have all come to this road via many forks in the road and dead end mazes. You start giving people the shortcuts and the learning curve is not there. Would you sanctify giving students test answers to help them, as opposed to doing the research to discover the answers?

So, please, Beth, get off your high horse. You have a huge ego that constantly needs stroking...be it your BlastMaster articles, your proposed book, your tidbits, your web design tips.

If other pressure washers want or need help with a particular application, that's fine. But when guys come on the bbs and are not only incapable of holding down a regular 9-5 job, but feel they have the wherewithal to operate a successful business on their own without doing the work, that's where I get off the boat.

Don't anyone take this personally, they are just my opinions.

Zippo
 
Hey Zip,
Chill out. :rolleyes:
You don't even realize we're saying the same thing. Mince words all you like, but guess what? It's true.

As for the part about the dream, I was refering to owning their own business......not pressure washing per se.

Good night Zippo. Try to get some rest. We do-gooders obviously make you cranky.

Beth:cool:
p.s. you don't know me well enough to comment the way you did... and I suspect I'm not man or woman enough to associate with you anyway. None of us are, so why do you come here? I think the superiority complex is YOURS.....
 
Living your dream

I met a man pressure washing a shopping center I worked security at in 1985.

He told me all about what he was doing, how to do it what he charged his client and how he had bid extra high cause he really didnt want the job (he was overbooked) and still got it. I am curious by nature and asked him every thing I could think of and wrote it all down.

It is now 2002 thats seventeen years I have read up on small business, taxes, pressure washing, html (to do my own site)
all this time I have thought of one thing, Pressure washing. After a messy divorce I just never had the money to do anything with it. Several weeks ago on my way to Savannah for Annual Training I rode with a friend of mine and we got to talking on the way back, and Bang it all came together and with his help Charlie Foxtrot Pressure Cleaning was born on july 18th 2002.

So I think I can actually say your wrong there, after 17 years if it isn't a dream come true I dont know what is.

Oh and Zippo you dont fool me, under that rough exterior I bet your a real teddy bear at heart :)
 
Robo404, you are indeed the exception to the rank and file here, and you deserve whatever success you EARN. Good luck

Cranky Zippo
 
Clean County,

Fortunately, it appears the pawns are in place for my dream World Series, Cards vs. Bombers. Pray we don't have a strike.

As for the high number of businesses closing down. Oddly enough, it seems to me that it is less than a year ago this time. My guess is the reason you are noticing it now is due to yearly timing. My goal is to be 70% sold out by Nov. 1, so I am starting the bidding now. I am only selling equipment, not the business (the sucky part of Wood--no contracts=little value). But I am keeping a trailer and enough equipment to still work myself through Jan.

I imagine the reasons for people selling out vary greatly. Some flat-out probably were not able to keep the bills paid. My reasons are quite different. I'm just ready to do something different for a while. And I don't like TN, have no fam here, and don't like the idea of growing roots (a business) somewhere that I want to leave at some point. That, coupled with a recent job opportunity that required additional schooling prompted my change. I would guess there are many like me that are moving on not because of a lack of success, but for a change of pace.

Zippo and others,

Zippo made the comment that anything worth having is worth earning, which I agree with. However, I think any newbie that stumbled upon these forums and didn't study them so that he could 'earn' his way would be a moron. Just like if I found 40K on the ground, i'd go buy a new truck. Granted, I wouldn't appreciate it as much as if i'd earned it, but hey, I'm driving a new truck. I don't blame the newbies for trying to shorten their learning curve, I blame us for making it so easy. (NOT TRYING TO START ANOTHER "CODY POST")
 
Well, turns out I am going to start another "Cody Post".



So as to not interrupt CleanCounty's thread regarding business closings, i've started a new thread entitled, "Cody Post #2". I wanted to address some other things Zippo said in his post regarding the "free flow of info".

jon
 
Ditto on this August being a tough one. I keep a good relationship with competitors and all of us are experiencing a "slow down" for what ever reason. But remembering the past seasons, seems to pick up once the really hot weather is over and people are getting back out on their decks.

Reed

ps. NEWBIES, ask all you want, research, investigate, experiment (preferrably on scrap wood). There are professionals here who can lend a hand in one way or another. Don't be discouraged by the rantings of a few. This is a great business to be your own boss, work outside and see immediate results. Like anything we do in life, it takes time to develope skills. Just don't give in to quitting. Jon Fife, come on up to St. Louis, your work ethic will be great for the rest of us and help elevate the professionalism.
 
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