100 hours of research

That’s my estimated minimum you should be prepared to do if you want to add Power Washing to your WC and do it the right way. Especially flat work and concrete.

I’d say that’s what I’ve spent trying to learn the right way and what is required to be compliant, as well as just environmentally responsible.

Why that much time?
Much of it has been spent sifting through tons of threads full of emotional tirades and personal vendettas against the EPA, State and Town Municipalities, and retailers of expensive environmental equipment, when I’m simply trying to find info on equipment, methods, and legal requirements.

So here’s my uptake in condensed form. if you are looking to add on:

  • get 3000-4000 psi minimum

  • 4-8 gpm minimum

  • hot water

  • reclaim/vacuum system

  • download a copy of the EPA’s Clean Water Act and read thoroughly

  • download your State’s Storm Wastewater handbook/BMP’s (Best Management Practices)

  • visit your AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) - State/Town .gov website>Storm Wastewater Management

  • visit, in person, each Town Hall where you’ll be working, since each town will have it’s own interpretation of the CWA and regulations.

  • get any permits that may be needed from Town (NPDES)

  • prepare to invest $5000 minimum to get a quality system

  • Box store PW won’t last very long.

  • look at what the PARTS are made of, not necessarily the brand name. Brass will break down faster than stainless steel.

  • black gum on concrete requires hot water to be removed

  • tenants are responsible for proper washing methods. Most will have no idea what they are.

  • Fines can be hefty, 50k

Hopefully, that will save you some time but there’s no end to the research.
PWRA wasn’t too helpful. PW Institute a little better.

If I’m missing anything, pls chime in.

7 Likes

Thanks for this compilation. One reason i actually placed adding pressure washing much further out in the future for my business was for exactly this reason. I could tell there was much more to learn than just aiming a nozzle and spraying.

1 Like

Right on the money! Great post. When I learned all the guidelines it passed me off to see all the guys out working and ignoring them. The guys not following the rules make it extremely hard to compete for business because most business owners don’t k ow the rules and the guy not following them can just show up with minimal equipment and start spraying without containing anything. He can get the job done quicker and for less money on equipment, so he can charge way less and still make the same amount if jot more per hr. Meanwhile the business owner doesn’t know ow that so all they see is a cheaper bid. Educating the customer during the bidding process is crucial to landing jobs!

When I started into PA I started subbing for a company doing a restaurant chain with drive thrus at night. They were paying so cheap and I couldn’t figure out how anyone succinct for them were making money. The they sent a guy into town to show me his process. He was a regional manager or something. He would lay down chemical heat and just start spraying without containing anything. When I asked him about containment he laughed. He said I’m just spraying it onto adjacent concrete so I don’t have to contain it. It will dry over there. The whole time I was laying down dams in the drive thru and containing everything etc. I wasn’t making hardly any money. That guy was done with the store in like 30 min. He didn’t give a crap about EPA regulations.

When I looked into it further my conclusion was, like you said, you have to have a reclaiming system. For that reason I would add to the lost that you will need a good towing vehicle because your going to have to transport a lot of water. It’s best to have a 1 ton. I stopped pursuing PW because of the large investment needed.

1 Like

Exactly!

It seriously makes me consider dry ice blasting as an alternative. No hazardous waste, no wastewater, no damage to surfaces, cleans everything.

But loud and CO2 production. However, much more environmentally friendly.

Very big in Europe. It would eliminate all the red tape associated with PW.

I’ve never heard of that. I’ll have to Google it.

Good info, thanks!

Thanks for the post I have found this helpful. If you’ve got links for resources I’m opening to reading more about all of it.

Links for dry ice or power washing?

power washing, and if you’ve got stuff on dry ice stuff too that’d be great.

You’ve listed most of the reasons why I haven’t pursued commercial washing. The only other thing would be night work

If you want to do strictly house washes, still plan on a solid 20-30+ hours of research. And a good 5-10 hours of practice washing for friends and family before you go washing customers’ homes :smirk:

Oh, and if you’re building your own trailer rig, count on a using up a few weekends, or a solid week, getting everything set up and working.

1 Like

Whatever hours you put into research, expect to put in 10x as many hours at the jobsite figuring out all the details & tricks that make a job go smoothly.

I used to LOVE pressure washing - I found it easy to get a high hourly rate and got real job satisfaction from it. But I live in a very wet country with no restrictions on water usage & no requirements for waste water recovery, so its much simpler to get into here.

3 Likes

http://www.cmmonline.com/articles/232164-keeping-your-propertys-exterior-clean-and-free-from-epa-fines

http://www.powerwash.com/articles/choosing-pressure-washing-equipment.html

http://www.pressurenet.net/forum/

1 Like

Wow! Dude thanks! I’l have to check this stuff out.

1 Like

Oh, my pleasure.

Interesting development in my current phase of research:

Ive been going in person to each town hall ill be working under to gather info on EPA compliance. My expectation was that they’d say : “Oh yes, of course, here is the info you need. We get this request regularly.”

Nope. Both municipalities werent sure what was needed or who to talk to. In one case, both people I spoke to voluntarily said, " You’re the first person to ask about this." Although the first TH was very happy I had inquired and even said they had been wondering about this.

They were rather pleasant to deal with and the whole approach is to establish a working relationship with them, mutually educate, and set up environmentally responsible business practices, not to just find out how not get fined.

If you go yourself, ask for someone in DEP and DPW. Dept of Environmental Protection is useful for town specific requirements, ie can wastewater be dishargeed into soil, etc, and DPW for permits and sanitary sewer usage for wastewater.

Other depts you may have to talk to: Water and Sewer Commision, Dept of Public Health.

Ask them too about time restrictions for noise. One town i went to had a 7pm-7am restriction.

TBC…

3 Likes

[quote=“Njones, post:12, topic:39338”] But I live in a very wet country with no restrictions on water usage & no requirements for waste water recovery, so its much simpler to get into here.
[/quote]

Basically a dream location for pressure washing! :wink:

Are you going to start reporting companies that are not following regulations? If you invest the time and money to do it properly, then you should protect that investment.