I'm thinking of getting a pressure washer and training my now 15 year old to operate. A friend had one in college and pretty much paid his way through using it. Of course that was 20 years ago. Anyone have any thoughts on that business model today?

Go to home Depot
Rent pressure washer
Pay $60
Take home
Screw it to faucet
Pull trigger
Take back to home depot.

2hrs max??



I'm not sure you'll do as well as someone 20 years ago.



(1 week ago I aerated my own yard front and back in under 2.5hrs... and it cost me about $65 I think....again rental from home depot.)

I was operations manager for a three truck mobile wash crew for three summers in college. We had several contracts with trucking companies to wash trucks and trailers on their lots. 90% of our work was truck work. The remaining 10% was homeowner/business/industrial property washing.

It's hard, hot, dirty work. Money is there to be made, but overhead is high, running those pumps/heaters/etc 12-15 hours a day is hard on them and there are lots of breakdowns.

I credit that job with cementing in me a desire to get my degree and never again have to earn a living with my back and arms instead of my mind.

I power washed drive ways for $100 a pop one summer about 10 years ago in my parents neighborhood. Basically I went door to door and tried to get referrals from people. I did some decks and siding as well. It was good coin for a college kid and definitely cemented my desire for an A/c 'Ed job

My stepbrother does this fill time. He washes driveways all the way up to terminals at IAH/HOU. He seems to do well. Has a few guys that help him on big jobs. His biggest cost is maintenance on his machines and fuel.

Kid in our neighborhood tries to charge $350 for a driveway and sidewalk. Maybe 400 sqft tops. If people pay that then I'm in the wrong business. I think for a high school kid it's a great way to learn business skills in a summer but $100 a house is probably more reasonable.

The pressure washers at Home Depot (even the one I bought) won't work. You need a trailer rig with a hot water unit (mandatory or you won't get jobs), water tank and probably 8-12 gpm minimum washer. Having it all enclosed would be better and more secure. You'll need 10K for even used equipment (not including pickup) plus you'll need a way to get accounts.

You might check around town for places that rent trailer washer rigs even if they don't have hot water and start with the easy jobs such as small strip center sidewalk cleaning. If you're going to go at it for a living and have the required capital, I wouldn't bother with residential work. You also need to research what, if anything, needs to be done with the runoff. If you go to a municipality you aren't familiar with, wash the grease off a gas station's deck, you might find out you are responsible for the runoff and you'll suddenly be $5K poorer.

On the other hand, if you just want to see if the work is for you or your teen, get a 4gpm (minimum) stand alone unit and do the driveways and fences in residential areas. Less than 1K in startup costs and door to door flyers for marketing. I'd budget 1-2 weeks in just flyer delivery. If you decide to go pro, you can always use this unit with small jobs. Once, the office complex I was at had a wooden fence that got tagged. The city came out and removed the graffiti, but the fence was now 2 shades. I brought up my washer and did the rest of the fence to make it look better. Had I been doing that professionally, I would have then wanted to seal-finish the fence. Anyway, those types of jobs you can do with the small units.

Got mine from Northern Tool, never looked at Home Depot (or anyone else). Now on my second unit in a little less than 10 years.

Something to consider is if you want to do commercial work lots of it will have be night work when the parking lots are empty.

Hotsey all the way. Bought one 2 months ago for $7500. Works amazing.