The Basics of Starting a Pressure Washing Company

Pressure Washing is a great industry to get into, it can be fun, it can be profitable, and it can be morally rewarding. But starting your own company is never easy, or without road bumps and there are a few things you should consider before diving into a new industry.

I've been Pressure Washing in Cape Coral for over 3 years, I had no business experience except for college when I began my company and because of this I learned the long way how to get everything in place and what you need. The first part of this article will highlight the very first legal steps you should consider before ever buying any equipment, then we will go into the equipment and other considerations in the second half.

Naming Your Company

To start off, you need a name. Your name shouldn't be long or complicated, many companies will use their city followed by their main offering. For example, if you live in Fort Myers and your main focus is paver sealing you may name your company, "Fort Myers Paver Sealers" or, "Fort Myers Sealers". The reason we use our city and our service is because it will help you out when people search on google for your area and your service. Also, keep in mind you must make sure that the name you want is also not being used already on Facebook, Twitter, and the URL is not taken. If all of these are free then you probably found a good company name to use.

After the name is chosen, you can apply for your LLC or sole proprietorship using the name you have just chosen. You will also need to apply for a EIN number during this step which is done through the IRS.

Licensing & Insurance

After forming an entity you can now look to your state and local laws about licensing and insurance. These laws differ from state to state, some will require you to get a specific pressure washing license, while others will not require any special license. In Florida where we live there is no license or state requirements. We apply for a county and city license, which is just a business tax receipt we pay yearly. In your area it could be similar or there could be state level requirements as well. Just go to your local tax collector if you can not find any online info for your area.

You're almost done with the boring stuff, the last legal requirement would be insurance. There are two insurances to consider, both workers compensation, and general liability. Again, which ones you are required to have, and the amount of coverage will differ from state to state. In most cases general liability will be $1,000,000 in coverage and workers compensation is wildly different. These insurances do not cost a lot out of pocket and you should do a lot of shopping around and asking local pressure washing companies who they recommend for your area. In Florida, if you are a solo operation and work alone you can opt out of workers compensation for yourself and save that cost, but then you could be responsible for paying for an injury so careful consideration should be made.

Online Presence

Online presence is a large importance to getting the the customers rolling in and having work lined up. The first thing you'll want to build of course is a website, there are free website builders but I recommend paying for a pro site builder like Wix, or WordPress if you choose to build your own site. If you choose to hire a professional to build your site the results will be much faster and you will rank on google faster as well, but expect to pay about $1,500 minimum for a good quality website.

To go along with the website you'll also need a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever you like to use. Use as many or as little of these social medias as you wish, but keep in mind the more the merrier. Do not overload yourself with social medias that you wont keep up with as this just looks bad when people see an unfinished Instagram page.

One of the last important web presence tools would be Google My Business, or GMB. GMB is how you manage your google page and interact with reviews. Its very important for ranking on google and will help you become steady with customers in the long run. This is almost more important than have social media pages running so make sure to get it up and running early.

Equipment

Now that you've gotten the legal issues solved, you got your web presence beginning to build and customers starting to come in, now you can get your equipment and start taking on jobs right away!

The first thing you need is a good pressure washer of course, it's best to buy one that is rated for 4 gallons per minute and at least 3,500 PSI. This size machine is plenty to get you going for at least the first year, or two if you need it that long. Some good companies are PowerHorse, Honda, and Predator. These are all good starter machines with a good budget point.

Next, some extra pressure washing hose will help you out a lot. Do not buy 100 ft. of hose, buy it in 50 ft. sections so if you blow a hole you don't lose all 100 ft., you just lose 50 ft. Also, the hose must be rated to handle the PSI your machine produces so double check its rating. It's best to get about 150 ft. of good hose to begin with and then you can decide if you need more from there.

If you plan to soft wash as well, no worries just buy a down streamer or X-jet if you do not have the budget for a separate soft washing set-up. Just down stream whatever chemicals you plan to use until you earn the budget for a dedicated soft wash system.

The last necessities would be a surface cleaner. Either the attachable kind or a full handle bar system. As well as some tools, o rings, and back up pressure tips to be ready for any on the job issues. Of course you will need a trailer or truck bed to transport it all and then you are ready to go.

Just a machine, hoses, down streamer and extra tips and accessories and you can be making money. Later down the road when you have more experience you can add hose reels, water tanks, pumps and more to make things faster, but those are not necessary to get going.

Hopefully you found use in our experiences, this article was meant to be very basic and just hit on some of the main points you should consider when starting your company. Different budgets allow for different beginnings, this article highlighted how to get started for less, but more can always be added on top. Happy washing and good luck!