I've only been washing houses / exteriors since about Oct 2016. After owning a window cleaning business for 7 years, we sold it and our house and moved out of the city to a rural location. I started Spark Exterior Cleaning last year operating over an area with a 150km radius. We always offered house washing / roof cleaning services but sub contracted it all out to a friend that's been doing it for 30 years. He still helps out now when something is beyond my skills / knowledge.
Our current setup is
Custom made 500L buffer tank (originally made for window cleaning)
RO/DI system and a couple of poles & brushes for window cleaning
4GPM cold water machine on a slide that comes out the back
DS & X-Jet. I went x-jet thinking my machine wasn't right for DS, but turns out my 3/8 hose has an ID of 1/4 and is reducing the distance I can DS. Anyway, a friend is helping me sort that out.
A solar panel on the roof, charge controller and deep cycle battery for my old window cleaning setup, now connected to 5GPM pump for soft washing / roof cleaning.
I think my next step is vent the rear of the van with solar powered extraction fans, because right now I need to drive with windows down everywhere.
I have a millions questions, but won't trouble you with them yet because so far I've a lot have been answered already at some point in the past here on the forum.
All the best,
Ulls from Spark
Art O said
Apr 15, 2017
Welcome to NSWA Ulls
Liberty SoftWash said
Apr 15, 2017
Welcome.
Eric Schnaible said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome Ulls
waxman18324 said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome aboard.
Hank
BlueRidge said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome Ulls. We'd love to see your rig!
Fred W said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome
Roof Stain Removers said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome.
Chris Mozick said
Apr 16, 2017
Welcome, let's see your rig set up
JohnAEC said
Apr 24, 2017
G'day Ulls, had a look at your map - WOW, you cover a HUGE area. How do you go with getting paid for travel time?
Ulls said
Apr 24, 2017
Hi John,
We moved from Brisbane out to the Granite Belt 18m ago after selling bigredwindowcleaning.com . I kind of wasted 12m doing stuff around the farm instead of thinking about starting a new business so kinda ended up on the back foot. It took a while to work out what I was doing as I have a non compete contract for window cleaning in Brisbane (that ends Dec 2018). I started a window cleaning business in Toowoomba, solar panel cleaning and external cleaning business locally (no one seems to want their windows cleaned locally) and have now just merged it all under one name Spark. It seems a bit complicated but it is all coming together... finally.
There are only about 12-13K pop. on the whole of the Granite Belt, so going to Warwick (pop. 15K), Toowoomba (pop. 150K) and Brisbane is the only way to do it. To answer your question I add $50 to everything beyond about 50km from home but I don't have anything set it stone. I AirBNB in Toowoomba if I have 2 days of solid work and in Brisbane I have relatives. Am really focussing on Toowoomba for residential now and want to start building a team as long term I can't be on the road so much.
Hi there everyone. I'm Ulls from Australia.
I've only been washing houses / exteriors since about Oct 2016. After owning a window cleaning business for 7 years, we sold it and our house and moved out of the city to a rural location. I started Spark Exterior Cleaning last year operating over an area with a 150km radius. We always offered house washing / roof cleaning services but sub contracted it all out to a friend that's been doing it for 30 years. He still helps out now when something is beyond my skills / knowledge.
Our current setup is
Custom made 500L buffer tank (originally made for window cleaning)
RO/DI system and a couple of poles & brushes for window cleaning
4GPM cold water machine on a slide that comes out the back
DS & X-Jet. I went x-jet thinking my machine wasn't right for DS, but turns out my 3/8 hose has an ID of 1/4 and is reducing the distance I can DS. Anyway, a friend is helping me sort that out.
A solar panel on the roof, charge controller and deep cycle battery for my old window cleaning setup, now connected to 5GPM pump for soft washing / roof cleaning.
I think my next step is vent the rear of the van with solar powered extraction fans, because right now I need to drive with windows down everywhere.
I have a millions questions, but won't trouble you with them yet because so far I've a lot have been answered already at some point in the past here on the forum.
All the best,
Ulls from Spark
Welcome to NSWA Ulls
Hank
Welcome Ulls. We'd love to see your rig!
Hi John,
We moved from Brisbane out to the Granite Belt 18m ago after selling bigredwindowcleaning.com . I kind of wasted 12m doing stuff around the farm instead of thinking about starting a new business so kinda ended up on the back foot. It took a while to work out what I was doing as I have a non compete contract for window cleaning in Brisbane (that ends Dec 2018). I started a window cleaning business in Toowoomba, solar panel cleaning and external cleaning business locally (no one seems to want their windows cleaned locally) and have now just merged it all under one name Spark. It seems a bit complicated but it is all coming together... finally.
There are only about 12-13K pop. on the whole of the Granite Belt, so going to Warwick (pop. 15K), Toowoomba (pop. 150K) and Brisbane is the only way to do it. To answer your question I add $50 to everything beyond about 50km from home but I don't have anything set it stone. I AirBNB in Toowoomba if I have 2 days of solid work and in Brisbane I have relatives. Am really focussing on Toowoomba for residential now and want to start building a team as long term I can't be on the road so much.
That was long winded...