Rog,
You can certainly set yourself up in WFP for less than that, but to get the system YOU want then I think £1200 is pretty good.
You could shave a good 150 quid off that by going for cheap poles, a little more by going for a 60psi pump, the shurflo ones are cheaper than the one I have in the back of the van.
You could save money on your water butts, heck, I picked up my 1000l IBC tank for nowt.
Your leisure battery can be picked up for £30.
And as has been pointed out, you could also do away with the transfer pump, another £40 saving
If you are really prepared to hunt around and be prepared to settle for less than you want then you can certainly get up and running for less.
But you do need a light pole, and I know you want to cut down on time faffing about charging water tanks and so on.
I am well aware that you really do want to come home from work and forget about it until you get up in the morning and drive off to start your new day, but you will have to at least put up with five or ten minutes to re-fill your van tank at the end of the day, so you also need a system in place that makes that an easy task.
Seriously Rog, have another chat with your business bank manager and tell him your plans, I think you will find he will help you.
I know you still find it hard to believe, but you WILL very quickly find that your earnings will start to climb, and if you have the balls for it you can up your prices by about an average of £1.50 per account.
Stop spluttering!
I'm telling you that you can!
Take a look at your total situation, you are currently incapacitated, even when you were fine you were struggling to pay your tax bill (not your fault I know) At one point it looked like you only had £150 to buy a new car with, and yet you work hard every day.....
No matter how you continue in window cleaning, you need to increase your earnings.
You simply tell your customers that you have no option, you are too cheap, you increase the price or you have no option but to get out of window cleaning, plus you are damaging your health by your current method of working and have to invest in the new technology...and so on and so on.
Some of your work you will be able to put up by more than that, so initially you should be able to boost your income, even allowing for a handful of cancelations...
It will take you a couple of months to get the hang of things, and you'll have loads of frustrations getting it right, but you will also have a couple of mates close by to help you out.
It takes effort, but the benefits can be enormous, I've told you the kind of money I'm earning now (not to be repeated on here by the way!) my commercial work has indeed increased but the biggest increase by far is my residential work.
Without WFP I wouldn't stand a hope in hell of earning what I do now.
Bite the bullet dude, raise the finance.
Ian
