Pressure Washers & Pick-ups: Why use them?

This is our second instalment on what and why Cleaned by Pete use the pressure washer he does. The first instalment was about electric washers This is about our choice of transportation of these units. Please watch out for the later instalments one on our gas pressure washers and one on propane steam units and "steam jennys".

First let me say I am by no means an expert in the growth of this industry I have only be in the business on and off since the early 90's. I started in hood washing, cleaning restaurant, range hoods, filters, ducking and fans. While moving into concrete cleaning and other business cleaning along with the hood cleaning. Now getting closer to retirement all the time we still have commercial accounts where we clean gum, concrete, drive thrus, sidewalks and store fronts. Washing windows and awnings also for business. We now mostly wash residential homes and projects from BBQ, patios to lawn furniture to name a few things. Specializing in washing homes of multiple stories and surfaces  consisting of soft-wood, hard board, brick, stone, native rock, block, vinyl siding, steel siding, painted, metal, stucco, concrete along with other types of materials and construction.

We use to pull this around to wash with back then if you did not have a large trailer you were not really a pressure washing pro. You had to have a trailer and if yours was bigger you were the best. Glad these ideas are slowly dieing out.

Today's pressure washing trailers are getting more compact and the footprint of the pressure washer is getting smaller all the time too. They may be getting smaller but they are also getting more powerful and efficient.

Low pressure roof washing skids took up the whole bed of a full sized pick-up.

Today the Power Wash Store offers a skid unit that has both a roof washing and pressure washing system with soap and chemical tanks and hose reels. A real all in one unit that is ready to go by just adding water. This is the talk of the industry just being released this week and fits in a short bed pick-up with some room left over. 

This is our service pick-up built over 5 years ago and has been in service since then we have washed and cleaned all types of homes, business, sidewalks and other projects form this unit.

Carrying all equipment aboard and having a heated Landa pressure washer, hose reels and an area above the pick-up to work off of makes this our all in one service unit. Who would have ever thought that when we built this it would be the future footprint of pressure washing.

We also use our second pick-up outfit to aid in the services we provide. Taking just what we need and a backup washer we no longer need to pull the large trailer around with us. Investing in two dedicated service trucks for our company shows we are the true professional. We need not use the family's transportation to pull a large trailer around just to haul water and a pressure washer.

Washing systems are moving to a smaller footprint all the time now you can by a "pressure washer" and a "soft wash roof cleaning" system all in one still carrying all you soaps and chemicals aboard with ladder racks and hose reels that all fit into the back of a short bed pick-up. Cleaned by Pete use to have the big 12 to 16 foot trailer he hauled around carrying water and the washers plus the power generator aboard but at the end of last year we broke it all down. One reason was hauling water, most of our clients have running water and we can use the water supply where we are cleaning. This area was under a drought last year and since we service other areas water issues arose. Where the water came from and where it was to be used was becoming more important. The cost of hauling water with gas up so high was also a deciding factor also by the time the water made it to your job site it was costing you more than using the water tap at your home. After breaking down the trailer we went to using just the pick-up trucks and a small trailer when called for. This in-turn wound up saving money on gas, oil, tires, maintenance and insurance which we passed on to you our clients. Also in doing this we feel we are doing our part to help save and do our part in being good stewards of our world. Our main service truck has been our work horse for over 5 years and continues to preform the job it was intended to. It has a small footprint using less gas and oil and is easier to move around than that big old trailer which we were using less and less. We all had trailers back in the day of the hood cleaning business. I found them to be too large to manoeuvre at times. Took longer to walk around and set up from and to work off of, this is when I decided there had to be a better way. The company I worked for soon moved the cleaning tools, equipment and operations in to vans. Vans were better but the lack of head room and getting to things was at times just pain hard if not impossible. We tried many ideas and worked with it. I found the pick-up truck the best of the best for my uses. When I set this unit up I took everything I had learned, needed and wanted went into the building of this pick-up. It is quick to set up, easy to work off of, carries all the tools and equipment we use, can be serviced readily, its short wheel base makes it manoeuvrable and the cat walk on top offers a work area helping us make cleaning higher areas easier.

Now all these years later it looks like the "next big thing" in the industry is catching up to me and my old pick-up. I am not saying this setup works for all types of cleaning in this industry but it has served us for years. If you see us pull up you know why we don't pull that big trailer around behind. It is because we are the next big thing.