Newbie here, question about machine purchase

carolinawildcat

carolinawildcat

New member
I have been in the business and burned up my VBriggs/Stratton 3000 after one year. I'm ready to pay up to $800 for a new machine and have tried to research. Here in SC everyone in the mid-level space (like me) uses Mi-T-M. I've seen the John Deere in Lowe's with a good Honda motor, but now I've read about the Karcher. Help! I mostly clean homes, as here in the beach area mold/mildew on the cheap vinyl homes is a big problem.
 
offdutyfireman said:
i know you have to work within you budget, but 800 won't buy any thing that you could use. nothing at a box store carries anything over about 3 gpm. anything less than 5.5gpm is a waste of time. i use 8 gpm and need more. karcher is garbage. like alex said check ebay. stay away from comets and general pumps.
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There's nothing wrong with General Pumps.
 
??????????

O.K. heres the deal, if you are doing mostly cheap vinyl homes you don't need a pressure washer at all. do some research on these forums and call Bob, try to build a 12 volt system or some small high gpm low psi system.

Something you can use for roofs as well? I'm not a pro by any standard but I read enough on here to know that some guys started out washing houses with nothing but water hoses and brushes.

Remember you don't put high pressure on vinyl, do some research spend what you have wisely, be creative and you can figure this out.

Good luck.
 
If you are looking for $ 800 machine, go to ams. they have a 4000 psi 4 gal min unit for 800. remember, that much pressure is not required for what you are doing. If you have 4 gpm you will be fine on homes (most of them). When you decide to branch out and do more than just homes, you will have to upgrade quickly.
 
Remember cheap vinyl homes arent cheap to the homeowner that is paying the mortgage. $800 is cheap. Try to spend more get a 5.5 use the right chems. Good luck. I was Just down in Hilton Head not to long ago I didnt know they had anything cheap there. Nice area, expensive
 
quality chems & elbow grease, untill you save more $$
 
I made the direct drive mistake at first like many before, then I took the time educate myself. 4GPM 3500 Dewalt with a Comet pump. You can usually buy them at Home Cheapo $799. Get some bigger nozzles and run it at lower psi. It went through 3 Comet pumps in less than 1 year. Warranty fixed them but the down time if you really need it is a pain. Decent belt drives come up on Craigslist around here once in a while. I've had a lot of Briggs on a lot of equipment and never wore one out. But I changed oil and air filters religiously.
 
honda gx390

I've found a "john deere", i.e. -- Troy-Bilt, with a Honda GX 390 and Annovi Reverberi pump I've seen on the Mi-T-M. Price is $999, but Lowe's had a 10% off plus my neighbor got it for me using his discount, so the total $865. I searched the web and was hard-pressed to find the ovc GX 390 for less than $760 -- just for the motor!
It just seems that for most housepainting applications, I simply don't need the power. However, often after I prep the house for paint by washing it, a homeowner then adds on a drive or a walk, and the smaller ones don't fit the bill.
 
That's a pretty common price for that type of machine. Most store's sell them retail for $999. Well if that's all you can get, then it will have to work. I have three of those units sitting in my storage area, broken in one way or another.

I would still keep looking for a used belt drive unit. Then you can buy that and sell your direct drive machine. Sometimes it's easy to get something cheaper, but in the long run it has to be fixed and replaced early. By the time it's all over you will have invested the same amount as you would have buying the better machine.
 
I use a Northstar from Northern Tools. It has a honda with a "CAT" pump, 4000 psi and 5gpm. I only use it for flatwork. Otherwise use electric pumps for chems, thats what they are for and way cheaper to replace/service. Always pay the few extra bucks for a comercial grade and get the warranty. We all want to try and go cheap, but nothing like being in the middle of a job and get shut down (save 300 on the machine, lose 500 on the job). If you look at the projected profits and not the immediate expense you will always win. Just me I've made the miser mistake many times.
 
It all goes back the tried and true saying: "You Get What You Pay For" but also "Sometimes You Pay For What You Get".

What good is it to try to save some money on the most valuable piece of equipment for your business by buying a smaller, non-commercial rated machine when for more money you can get a machine that you don't have to worry about, just do regular maintenance.

It is up to you but if you read the forums enough (like for weeks and months) you will see how many times people do like what you are doing, what decisions they made and how they regret those decisions and end up buying another machine to do the job that the first machine was supposed to do but they wanted to save money or did not have the money.

If you don't have the money, save up for it and buy your machine one time but that is up to you, only you know the value of your hard earned money.

Think about this. Say you buy the hardware store machine and go to a customer's house and bid the job and get the job and before the customer says yes, they ask about how you got into the business, what kind of equipment and chemicals you use. Suppose they look at your machine and say something like "Couldn't I buy that same machine at Home Depot???

What do you say to them? Yes you could, but you need to learn about chemicals and how to do the job. That is about when they are thinking if they should hire you or just buy a machine and do it themselves. That is one of the downfalls of using the cheap equipment, they automatically do not think that price is worth it if they could use the same equipment as you and do it themselves.

You also should be learning about how to do the job and also about chemicals. All of that will help you understand why buying a good machine the first time is always the best choice for the work you are going to do.

There is a wealth of information here, you could read for months and months and learn a lot of try shortcuts and ask a million questions without using the search button and quickly lose respect from others and have people not want to help you from you not even trying.

Just my opinion.





_________________
Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Concrete Driveways Sidewalks and Walkways in Corpus Christi Texas
 
Well said Chris, took me a year and some dollars to learn what you just advised in minutes. All the knowledge that is provided in this forum comes from true hard working and respective washers, no hardware store will offer the info that is shared here, they will just sell you a product. Much respect to the pros here that look out for the "occupation" not just themselves, truly good people :)
 
It all goes back the tried and true saying: "You Get What You Pay For" but also "Sometimes You Pay For What You Get".
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$300 for the engine $300 for the pump. So far 10 months, 5 days a week. I think Im the only one that has actually got what he paid for.

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