From a previous thread;
For 6 years I worked for my brother in law, he's got a road sweeping company and has PW bowsers too. I used to go out with a driver gully sucking up until I got my license then went out in van pulling trailer pressure washing sites mainly tarmac paving in prep for final layer.
After a little bust up with bro in law he got rid of me, desperate for work I took on a labouring job with some mates dry lining for 9 months, in the mean time having the idea of setting up pressure washing myself.
I was on £200 a week(2006-07)so struggled to save money in the midst of wanting to go out to the pub with mates and keeping my girlfriend happy. My dad bought me a van for £1000, this encouraged me to spend my wage on kit.
In late 2007 I thought of Blast Away and bought the domain name and started a free website on 'Piczo'.
I stole images from google and if I remember rightly some of them were Roger Oakley's(and I bet he forgot)he emailed me telling me to remove them!
Into the new year I bought a chinese snide petrol washer for about £400, an IBC tank for £20 and other bits and bats.
I cleaned neighbours, friends and families paving etc generating money thus investing in new stuff.
I abused Google Maps at the time(of which can't be done any more), there was a cheeky way of adding a business of which I titled the business name as for example 'Driveway Cleaning in Bolton'. I began gaining more and more work via this method as I was coming up in search results.
After numerous changes to the website and commercial work coming in, I was keen on taking images to put on the website to keep on improving.
Equipment got better, sticking to diesel machines, using heat and experiencing different chems etc. Bought better vans for cash and never leased.
Had a stint with Yellow Pages and Yell.com and wouldn't bother with them again, I don't think they're any good.
With the website content and keywords, the website all of which I have built and maintain myself, speaks for itself and that's where the majority of the work comes from, from search engines.
I do adword campaigns sometimes but not a lot. Never advertised in newspapers etc, done leaflets countless times and only get the odd job.
One thing that keeps me going is from what a guy on site once said to me where I was labouring. He said ''What do you wanna clean peoples drives for, they do it themselves and you'll have no work in autumn and winter!''
People think pressure washing is a spring and summer job. It is if you're a mard ar$e that doesn't like getting your B&Q Karcher out in rain and wind.
We've worked through all weather and the demand for pressure washing both commercial & domestic in autumn and winter is there, without a doubt.
My success, I believe is down to my pricing. Yeh I am cheap but I enjoy what I do and I'm not greedy(although there's a gut). I suppose when you have good equipment you can charge less if you're doing work faster. We're well prepared when turning up to a job so a good routine cuts time.
To be 100% confident at the time of doing a professional job it depended on the type of job. Mistakes were made for example paint stripping, I'm not an expert in this and to be honest I don't like doing them. I've damage a front door through not using the best of tape when sheeting. I've also damaged glass from HF acid again from sheeting not applied properly, although as they were wooden frames it's a nightmare to keep a good bond.
There is competition in Manchester but very few who are hands on like myself. There's companies that are run by guys sat behind desks sending out their operatives to do the work. Not producing the best results as there's a lack of desire for the work, only a desire to finish the job as fast as they can so they can get home.
Today I've just discussed a contract worth £70k plus further work.
Time to wind down and off out for an Italian.
