My first day out scouting for potential customers

Roy Sanders

New member
Since I am thinking about this line of work I went out today just to see how many companies I could potentially target. I only had about two hours to drive around and look. I came up with about 25 companies in that time. Before I thought about fleet washing I never gave it much thought as to how many different types of places could be made into a paycheck. Some of these were tractor/trailer business other were construction/dump truck business and some were food,drink, alcohol distibutors.

I did find one companie that does truck/trailer repair that had a wash bay and I was told that they used to have a mobile wash truck but I did not see it there. I am going to start getting the phone numbers for these places and start contacting them. I at least need to see if they are in house or have them washed, if they are happy with washings they are getting and also see what the possibility of them accepting a demo or new bids. I am on the fence about wether I should say anything about that I am thinking about adding this service to my current company. Just trying to do my homework before pulling the trigger.
 
Here is my take on new companies taking on fleetwwashing. There are advantages and disadvantages to fleetwashing.
Disadvantages:
1. The bulk of Fleet washing is done on the evenings and weekends. (say good bye to your family life)
2. It is very labor intensive, read employee hassles.
3. It is hard work, especially if you are going to brush trucks
4. Every truck driver is your boss and expects you to wash his truck to his expectations. You will be amazed at how many truck drivers in the same fleet, have the cleanest truck in the fleet, and how wel they USED to take care of their truck. Astonishing really.
5. Everyone wants to get into it, because it seems an obvious use of a pressure washer and easy to do.
6. There are large companies that are intent on putting small guys out of business, and they use pricing, instead of quality work, to accomplish it.
7. Higher environmental liabilities.
8. Truck drivers have too much time on their butts to worry about the small streak on their hood.

Advantages
1. Regular money
2. Regular work
3. There is a dearth of competent truck washers.
4. Scheduling is easier. (Honestly, learning scheduling is probably one of the biggest things you can do for your companies success)
5. You don't need massive quantities of equipment.

That being said, we had our time as fleet washing. I did it as a primary source of income for about 16 years. Of course, my side income was probably $100,000 a year, but my main thing was fleet washing for a very long time. I gave up my last fleet account about 2 years ago, and could not be happier.
The night and weekend thing really stinks if you have a family, and actually like your wife and kids. I proved that a person does not have to wash fleets on Sundays, that it can be scheduled other days, and you can still be successful. (At least, I think I am moderately successful) I would work to make sure that you have at least one day each weekend set aside for your family. Just a personal preference.
As a start up, I would target small fleets. The large fleets have people coming after them all the time. Look for fleets of 3 to 4 trucks, because they are not targeted, and because they usually pay more, and are more reliable in their payment schedule. Additionally, the drivers are not usually so picky. I also would not target semis, but one ton and smaller vehicles, at least as a start up. That way it is also far easier to accomplish the work as a solo act.

Just my opinions,
 
Great post Scott!
 
fleet wash

I am getting ready to post a bid for a fairly large company that has stainless steal tanks and was wondering about time and cem that you used.
 
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