March 23, 2025 • 36 mins
The Wash Bros, Matt Jackson and Clay Smith, pull back the curtain on the pressure washing industry's most expensive myths in this eye-opening episode. With nearly a decade of combined experience and millions in revenue between them, they're uniquely qualified to separate fact from fiction when it comes to building a successful pressure washing business.
Rather than chasing the latest equipment trends or following questionable advice from online "gurus," Matt and Clay emphasize that true business growth comes from solid marketing strategies and professional branding. They share their firsthand experience of building six-figure businesses with basic equipment while watching competitors struggle despite having all the fancy gadgets.
One particularly costly myth they debunk is the drone pressure washing craze. Despite viral videos making the rounds on social media, Matt and Clay reveal that nearly none of the successful pressure washers they know actually use drones in their daily operations. The $40,000 investment simply doesn't translate to consistent revenue for most businesses.
The brothers also tackle the dangerous misconception that being the cheapest bidder is necessary for winning commercial work. Instead, they highlight how professionalism, proper branding, and asking smart questions about payment terms will land more profitable jobs than rock-bottom pricing ever could. Their practical advice on approaching commercial clients and establishing payment expectations alone could save listeners thousands in delayed payments and cash flow headaches.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale your existing pressure washing operation, this episode delivers actionable insights that will help you focus your resources where they truly matter. Stop falling for expensive industry myths and start building a business that generates consistent profit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's up, guys?
It's Matt Jackson and ClaySmith and we're the Wash Bros.
Welcome to episode 7, wherewe're going to be talking about
what are some common myths thatare costing you money in
pressure washing.
Talking about what are somecommon myths that are costing
you money in pressure washing.
And if you've been around for awhile, you are aware of these
myths just from whether you havepersonal experience or you're
on YouTube and you see all thealgorithms talking about the
different myths.
(00:53):
But what we're going to do hereis kind of talk about three big
things that we commonly seethat are holding you back in
your business, and we're goingto talk about them and discuss
why they're myths and why it'snot true.
So you want to kick this thingoff, clay.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Absolutely Talk about the myths, my favorite.
I love it because so manypeople out there are following
the gurus on the internet and weall know that anybody can be
anybody they want to be on theinternet.
So, yeah, the myth, I think, isa great topic for this episode,
especially going into spring.
Yeah, the myth, I think, is agreat topic for this episode,
especially going into spring.
First off, I want to thankeverybody that's been listening
(01:29):
to our podcast, episode 7.
It's awesome.
We've had some great engagementwith this Spotify, apple Podcast
all over our platforms.
On every platform we have,we've had some good engagement.
So you guys must be liking whatwe have to say.
So we appreciate you allfollowing.
(01:49):
If you have any questions,please comment on one of our
videos.
Leave us some reviews on theseplatforms please.
That helps us with algorithmand all of that.
So we want to keep reaching outto people like you guys that
are listening.
But, yeah, myths, man myths.
That's so crazy that we came up, because I've just been looking
at some of these forums on theInternet about the gurus and a
(02:11):
lot of the newer guys in ourindustry seem to think they know
a lot of things that the gurushave taught, but some of the
stuff is almost ass backwards, Ifeel like, and and I think
that's why we kind of startedthis, this podcast yeah, no
doubt, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, we started the podcast because we're tired of
seeing the youtubers and thegurus who aren't pressure
washing.
Talk about pressure washing tosell you new guys and uh,
novices on what you need to doand what you don't need to do.
When you look at the businessesof these guys and they've never
been anything more than usuallya chuck in the truck, or they
had a year of pressure washingbusiness and that failed.
(02:52):
And now they're here spewingthese myths.
Whether or not they mean to ornot, they're keeping you down if
you believe in them.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Absolutely.
With our experience, and what,uh, almost 10 years experience
put together in this business,um, we've probably made what a
few million dollars togetheryeah, easy since then?
easy, yeah, since then, doingthis, uh, pressure washing, soft
washing, house washing,exterior cleaning, we have done
(03:22):
many things and experimentedwith many things outside of
listening to, um, the gurus andstuff like that.
And I just think it's somethingthat a lot of people are afraid
to talk about, and I think thatme and another fellow online,
um, you know, we kind of wentback and forth on the internet a
couple of days ago and heseemed to be caught up in all
(03:45):
the fancy equipment.
So the big you know a lot, of,a lot of the myths of, oh, you
got to have this, you got tohave that, you got to have this.
Well, that's not necessarilytrue.
So when I first started, I hadtwo and a half gallon a minute
machine.
Obviously I maxed that out.
We burn up three and just amatter of like six months.
(04:06):
So after that I quicklyrealized I needed a four gallon
a minute machine, which is yourstandard uh, start out option,
uh, pressure washer.
So we bought a four and a guyfour gallon machine and we were
able to do almost $150,000 thatyear.
So outside of, you know, youdon't have to have the fancy
(04:32):
softwash system for 50, 60,$70,000 trailer from AC or who's
the other guys, heath and allof them.
You don't need to spend allthose gadgets or whatnot.
That's their job.
That's the facility.
They're awesome to have, don'tget me wrong.
They're cool to have, butthat's not what makes you money.
What makes you money is asuccessful marketing plan.
(04:54):
So you got to make sure you putthat marketing plan together.
You cannot whatsoever be scaredof spending money and investing
on yourself.
That's one of the biggestthings that I got caught up in.
When I first started, I didn'thave any money and I was scared
to keep dumping money back intomy business because all I was
worried about was making money.
Stop worrying about makingmoney.
Put a good marketing plantogether and dump a ton of money
(05:18):
into it, but make sure you'resuccessful at it first.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Obviously, don't just dump into it, but follow what's
best for you, for you and yourbusiness exactly and, from my
experience with the brandingside of things, once you lock
down that brand, what you onceyou lock down like what your
business means to you and howyou're going to spread it to the
world then you can put all themoney you want into that
marketing piece.
And clay did a really good jobwith, like, his branding and
(05:41):
making that message really clearand resonate well with people,
and then he just started dumpingmoney into it and he's really
has taken a large chunk out ofthe market just from doing that.
And uh, instead of people,people will go to the store and
spend $5,000 on a eight gallon aminute machine with all these
fancy accessories, but they'reafraid to spend $5,000 on Google
(06:02):
ads when one's making money andone's not.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, or or whatever.
It doesn't matter what kind ofmarketing strategy you want to
do I mean, put more signs out,whatever but I guarantee you, if
you're at a hundred thousanddollars a year with an eight
gallon a minute machine, you donot need that eight gallon a
minute machine.
You can literally go back downto a four and you should have
never upgraded to begin with,because you're probably thinking
, hey, if I got this eightgallon a minute machine, then
(06:28):
I'm going to make more money.
You're not going to make moremoney if you don't have the work
.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Exactly, and you get a bigger machine.
You need to be.
You're able to go through morework faster, so you better have
plenty of work rolling in yeah,perfect example.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Uh, today we went um, took one of my guys with me, we
did three thousand dollarsworth of work, took two trucks.
Don't always happen like this.
This is like a perfect morningand we took two trucks, we made
three thousand dollars and somecommercial work and we were home
by 11 o'clock, left the houseat seven and was back home by
1130.
(07:03):
So, um, obviously, the eightgallon machine they make money,
but if you don't have the workto make the money, then you're
you, you've already you've.
You've just you've skipped astep in your business.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You're thinking backwards.
You're buying the fanciestequipment without having the
jobs in place or without knowinghow to get we're so fixated on
trying to get the jobs done andknowing how to clean something
or get the work done in aquickly manner, but we don't
understand how to fill theschedule in a quickly manner and
we don't understand how to putjobs on the books in a fast,
efficient manner.
(07:35):
It's like our focus should behey, let's plow forward as much
as we do with cleaning intogetting our, our business, built
up and getting that schedulefull.
What, like Clay and I, wealways talk like we're at that
point in the season where youhave like $30,000 of work over
our head.
So, yeah, that's a good problemto have.
The problem is now shiftinginto like how am I going to
(07:56):
knock this down as fast as I canto put more money on the books,
logistics, logistics.
And then it's like oh man,we're rocking and rolling.
Like you said, he made threegrand by the time I woke up
today, which is awesome.
And then it's like hey, we knowthat we can efficiently clean
stuff.
The next level in business ifyou're wanting to be successful
(08:17):
is how can I get work, how can Ifill that schedule and kind of
push my logistics?
Every time, every month, you'relike okay, how can I spend a
little bit more on marketing, orhow can I try to land bigger
jobs and projects here and thereso I can fill that schedule up
even more.
It's less about oh man, how amI going to clean this huge
building?
It's going to be.
How am I going to get that nextbuilding on the schedule for
this month too?
(08:37):
And that's kind of a reframethat that you and I like to do.
We're not chasing oh.
I'm stressed about this hugeproject I got to knock out in a
week or two.
It's more.
How can I get another?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
one of those, absolutely.
Once I've booked one, I'malready trying to book the next
one.
So, yeah, it's, it's awesome.
Don't get me wrong, though.
The equipment helps a ton.
It's great.
All the gadgets are cool, loveall of it.
I'm fascinated with it myself,but I'm more fascinated in
trying to find work, coming upwith a successful marketing plan
(09:10):
.
Where can I throw my money tomake more money?
It's almost like being afinancial planner initially, I
mean, or you know, working thestock market, but it's your
business.
So if you're, if you're fixatedon the next little gadget that
Johnny blah, blah blah thatyou've seen on YouTube coming
out with, and you're fixated onthe wrong things, you need to
(09:31):
fixate on the business first,the business side of things,
because the business side ofthings is what makes you money,
it's not the equipment.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, no doubt, and as far, as the equipment goes.
Know that these guys make moneywith selling you new equipment.
They don't want you to have apiece of equipment for five
years.
It's like, hey, we have toconstantly tell you this is the
newest, best thing.
We have to constantly say thatworks perfectly fine, but now
you have to change to this.
So don't get wrapped up insaying, oh, I need to have these
(09:59):
skids set up with 10 gallons aminute on each truck, and then a
12 gallon a minute roof pumpand then a lawnmower surface
cleaner to get all these jobsdone.
And then the jobs will comelike.
You're being sold by thesedealers who are selling you
equipment, and a lot of themwork with the gurus or they're
in these facebook groups andthey build up these groups to
push their equipment, and topush this is the only way to do
(10:21):
it.
So these myths are built up sothey can make money off of you,
not necessarily so they can helpyou pressure wash.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
The biggest myth I think in the pressure washing
industry is drone pressurewashing and I get a lot of my
friends and stuff and people allover the internet and Facebook
and social media.
They'll send me those reels ofthe drone cleaning the buildings
or whatever me those reels onof the drone cleaning the
buildings or whatever.
(10:47):
But I don't know a pressurewasher in our industry that's
cleaning with a drone.
Um and and this is what I telleverybody you know you can spend
forty thousand dollars on adrone, but then what you're not
going to clean with that droneevery day it's not going to pay
for.
It may pay for itself, but youknow if you you get lucky and
land one big job.
But me personally, I knowprobably 100 pressure washers
(11:08):
and none of them have a droneright you can.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Of the people I know that don't have drones make far
more money than the people thathave drones.
We do have a guy local here thathas a drone, but I don't see
him using it much, yeah unlessyou're doing some massive
buildings, that has no clearancefrom the ground to do a lift,
cause we ran into this issue acouple of times when we're doing
some hotels out of state andthey're like, hey, can you look
(11:34):
at this other one?
And it's like on a main streetand we couldn't put a lift on it
because it would be alogistical nightmare.
And then I could say, all right, maybe in this rare occurrence
it would make sense to have adrone.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Or like a skyscraper in the city or something.
But still still, you still gotto worry about uh the uh,
overspray and all that.
Where's it going?
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
That plus think of it breaking.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, just seems a lot, of, a lot of liability or
if you hit something, or well,you know, know whatever a fancy
toy.
That's what it is, yeah it'sjust a fancy gadget that uh it,
it and oftentimes just distractsus.
Yes, it's cool as shit, love itcool.
Yeah, that would be cool topressure wash with a with a uh
drone, but that's not gonna makeme money.
That's not gonna make me, uh,consistent money.
(12:21):
I want to be consistent exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's funny too, because I recently upgraded both
of my machines on my trucks andwe just keep it simple at the
eight gallon a minute machines.
We go down to georgia so we usenorth georgia airless and
they've been with us.
We've been using.
We've been using them prettymuch since the beginning.
So I've probably bought likefive or six machines off of them
and, uh, they got all theirfancy like 10 gallon minute plus
(12:45):
machines and you see all theseguys online they're running like
a hundred gallon buffer tank ina short bed truck and they got
10, 10 gallon minute machinesoff of that.
And logistically you and I arelike how are you going to keep
that thing full of water?
Like, but they're like peopleare selling you this.
Like, hey, more gallons aminute, you can knock this job
out in 40 minutes versus 30minute or 40, 40 minutes versus
(13:07):
an hour.
But then you start to think andyou're like that thing's going
to constantly be searching forwater.
Do I need this?
All that?
So, like, I actually did notupgrade my setups to 10 gallon
machines because, oh, it's aeight gallon.
Eight gallons are fine and it'sone of those things where I
know they're going to work.
They're not super sexy, butthey're just a workhorse.
But I'll post stuff on socialmedia and these guys are like,
(13:30):
oh, is that a 10 gallon a minutemachine?
Because, like our surfacecleaners are clean fast.
And I'm like, no, it's basic agallon machine.
But the questions aren't how didyou get that job?
What did you do to get that job?
The question is, oh, you'recleaning this thing fast.
What machine is it?
And you kind of notice likeit's ingrained in these people
oh, what's your equipment?
What's your equipment?
What's your equipment?
(13:51):
The first thing they always askis like, what's your equipment?
They're not asking how did youget that job?
Like, how are you growing thebusiness?
Like, where are you findingthese?
Everybody's always like, oh,what's, what's that equipment
and how can I buy that equipment?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
right, right, yep, yep.
I think 100 agree.
And then the 10 gallon a minutemachine is not.
It's harder to find parts.
It digs up gas.
Um, when I mean parts like ifyou need a, a downstream
injector for a 10 gallon minutemachine, that's not as common as
an eight gallon a minutemachine downstream injector.
(14:26):
So it doesn't pull as well, yeah, running all kind of other
problems and I think it guzzlesgas a little more yep so right
now I'd say the eight gallon aminute machine is the most
efficient one on the market,especially if you're doing a lot
of residential.
Uh, really good for commercialtoo.
I haven't had any issues.
And then the other thing isbeing the cheapest on commercial
(14:51):
jobs.
I think that's one of thebiggest myths too.
You don't have to be thecheapest, you need to build
value in your company.
Boom so when you first getstarted you think you got to be
the cheapest.
I mean, I guess, I guess you'rekind of right, you got to, you
got to kind of, you got to dosomething to try to give
yourself a shot versus somebodylike me or Matt that has three
(15:12):
and 400 Google reviews online.
So Google presence is very huge, social media presence very
huge and build a relationshipwith that commercial.
The whoever the whoever thedecision maker is plays a big
part in it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yes, and I think too, you got to be aware of the
market and aware of the factorsthat are in there besides just
pricing, because a lot of timesif somebody's looking at the
bottom dollar price on, say,they're the purchaser or they're
like the GC on it, they don'tnecessarily want to get the
cheapest guy because there maybe something wrong with that and
(15:48):
it may mess up their project.
It may be subpar results likethere's more that, there's more
than go, more than more thanjust pricing.
That goes into this equationall the time.
But like to clay's point, ifyou're competing against
somebody like me and Clay whocan be competitive because of
our equipment and our knowledgeand we have a team of employees,
you got to know where to fit.
You can't just say, oh, I'mgoing to, I have value, I'm
(16:11):
going to charge more, and I seethat all the time.
A lot of times the opposite istrue with with the newbie game,
where they're chargingastronomically out of the
ballpark pricing because theydon't know what, know what their
pricing should be, and out ofthe ballpark pricing because
they don't know what, know whattheir pricing should be and I'm
like, yeah, 30 cents a square,it's not going to win any
commercial cleaning there, buddy.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
But well, they have also seen that that stuff online
.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Uh, the guru stuff, exactly.
Um, and the biggest thing I seewith the gurus online is uh,
today they will say they didthis amount and that you should
charge this amount.
But then when they come out andthey say, okay, this is what I
made for the year, none of theirnumbers ever add up and usually
they're way lower than you'dexpect correct.
(16:54):
Especially going off of thesehigh, crazy prices.
It's almost like they'resetting us up for failure.
So just be careful who you'relistening to.
I'm not saying uh-and-so, I'mnot calling out anybody.
It's just there's a lot ofmisinformation going around and
I feel like it's appropriate tokind of address it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, and think too, if these guys are watching,
especially if they're in yourspace, they're going to tell you
stuff because they want to setyou up for failure.
If they're bidding against youand I see this a lot on the
Facebook groups People will posthey, this is what I'm looking
at today, like what should Iquote it at?
And they're posting theirnumbers or they're posting the
location of these things andsomebody could easily figure out
(17:34):
who the decision maker is andcome in and undercut you.
So if you're posting whenyou're in the process of bidding
a job that's a big commercialjob or something be aware that
people are probably seeing apost that you're posting about
and I will try to come in andundercut you or they will try to
steal that from you.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So it's almost one of those things keep, keep your
cards close and that happens,that really does happen.
I mean that I.
I mean I I wouldn't ever snakeanybody and anybody in our area
knows that.
But I mean, if I can travel twohours and make a few grand, I'm
going to do it, you know.
So don't put it past anybody,especially if they're asking
(18:13):
where you're at and what you'redoing and how you're doing it,
what you're quoting, becausethey'll show up to that place if
they ain't got nothing to doand they're hungry for work.
So there's always someone outthere that's hungrier than you
are.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Exactly.
And again, business is aboutplaying to win.
Never want to do it in a bad way, but I feel like if you're a
competitive guy and you want togrow a business and you're
saying, hey, there's skin in thegame, I want to get what I can
get, and I'm not saying be dirtyabout it, but understand that
there's nothing hurtful aboutsomebody like trying to bid on
something that you're bidding on, because we're all in the same
space and I see people getbutthurt about stuff like that.
(18:49):
But that's where you need toknow your numbers and know what
works for your business.
I know like we'll bid on stuffall the time and I'm assuming we
probably bid on commercialstuff all the time together too
and like I'll work for like thecity of Greer here and there,
and then you quote them lastyear and then they follow up
with you again this year andit's like who are they talking
(19:09):
to?
Are they trying to drive bothof our prices down to the bottom
to get the best bid?
And that's probably not just aresidential thing, that's
commercial and all of the aboveBecause-.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Ain't nobody loyal.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Ain't nobody loyal.
The hose ain't loyal no, not atall that's why you don't
underbid yourself, you don't putyourself in a hole or say you,
oh, I want to do whatever itcame to win this job, and then
you're regretting it doing it.
And that's like you're nevergoing to lose if you put, hey,
this is how much my businesstakes to run smoothly and this
is the profit margin that I needfor this job or a residential
(19:43):
job, and then so if I get it,I'm not regretting that I get it
and I think people try to win ajob that's commercial.
And then you're like man, thisis, I could have better used my
trucks in a cleaning, softwashing a 3000 square foot house
for two days.
Then I could have in thesethings parked here.
So, like, understand yournumbers on each job, job and and
(20:04):
then as you get past the wholelike beginner stage, you don't
really quote on pricing.
So you want to quote based upon, like, how efficient you are,
how much time it's going to take, and understand the market rate
.
And that's how, because, likeI'll talk to clay and and those,
there'll be guys bidding onlike apartment complexes or
condos and they're pricing itpurely based on a square foot
(20:26):
number.
And I know I ran a townhousecommunity, a townhome community
by Clay, and he's like oh, youshould have done this.
And I was like well, I waspricing it on square footage and
my square footage of that waslike 7 cents a square.
And you're like no, you got toprice those by building at like
a hundred bucks a building.
So it's one of those things.
It's like all right, well, Perunit.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Per unit, yeah, exactly, yeah, charge them by
the unit.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, and that's something I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So that's like where our communication helps out,
because if I'm just basing it onsquare footage, I'm nowhere
close to the ballpark that Ineed to be yeah, and that was
something that I learned from alocal competitor that's no
longer in the area anymore, butanyway, um, yeah, and another
thing with the commercial bids Ihave, I've had a lot of hoas,
(21:14):
uh, townhome communities,neighborhoods, a lot of
commercial stuff, and they'llsay, well, I gotta get three
bids.
Okay, great, if you're lookingfor the cheapest one, you might
as well throw mine out, becauseI'm not going to be your
cheapest.
I don't plan on being yourcheapest, but I want to provide
great value to you.
I want to give you a goodquality job and I want to make
(21:35):
sure that you're happy andfollow up with you when it's
done.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
A lot of guys are're going to say okay, and then
they're not going to come backout and they're not going to
follow up with you and they'renot going to.
They're going to get theirmoney and they're going to run.
Yep, you would be surprised howmany people will choose us,
because we're a little bit moreexpensive but we look more
professional and they got burnedthe last time.
I've had countless people.
They're like well, you're notthe cheapest I got.
I got my guy last year, messedstuff up and I wasn't happy, so
I'm spending an extra 100 bucksto have you guys do it the right
way and they get burnt by thatperson yeah, they get burnt by
(22:07):
that cheap person.
They see, I go with somebodywho's got reviews and may charge
a little bit more money, but atleast I'm not gonna have a bad
taste in my mouth correct.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I found it that, uh, you know, the first couple years
of business I was, I was justin a my regular unmarked truck
pulling a trailer.
But then when I got thatwrapped truck, I could see a
difference in the customers andhow confident they were in
hiring me.
As is, you know, when I wasjust looked like another
neighbor in the neighborhoodpulling a trailer with a tank on
(22:37):
it, it seemed like people askeda lot more questions.
That way I didn't look asprofessional very nice, clean
truck, clean trailer, whatever.
At the time I really didn'tknow any better.
But as I kept growing mybusiness and I put a wrap on my
truck okay, I still have mytrailer.
And then I got my skid and nowI hardly get asked any questions
(22:59):
.
They're like okay, here's mywater.
Uh, hook up, go ahead, get work, let me know when you're done.
As if before it was, theywanted to ask 20,000 questions
before you get started becausethey were a little bit nervous
about who they had just hired tocome out to wash their home.
So professionalism goes so far.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Exactly.
And that professionalism isn'tjust what you say and do you
know how to pressure wash andthe technical?
And that's where kind of likeback to what we're talking about
earlier this episode.
People are so fixated on aneight or ten gallon minute
machine or a soft wash pump thatthey'll have 30 grand in the
back of their trailer, butthey're pulling it on an
unmarked truck they're pullingit with and they don't look like
(23:39):
a business.
It's like instead of spendingall that money on the super
efficient machines and equipment, spend that money on your brand
and build that business up.
So people look at you as abusiness and they don't look at
you just as an owner operatorand say, oh, I wonder what he
does on the.
I wonder what he does duringthe week, because he's out here
on a Saturday and he's probablydoing this on the side or this
is a part-time gig for him.
Like.
People view you completelydifferently if they say this guy
(24:03):
is all out in his business andit's not him, it's a business.
Whether you're running thetruck yourself or you got
employees.
They're like this is a businessI'm, I'm hiring and I'm not
hiring just some guy well, yeah,like I say, it gives them.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It gives them so much more confidence and the money.
Like you I think that was agreat point you're spending
$30,000 on a trailer but nobodyeven knows who you are riding
down the road.
You can make so much more moneyif you do.
I mean, we have more than Ihave, more than what I need on
my skid from C3 skids andobviously we buy from North
Georgia Airless too, but I haveway more than I need and you
(24:40):
know, 20 to $25,000 is all Ineed.
So and it's honestly probablytoo much more than I need.
I just kind of spoiled myself alittle bit with the electric
reels and all that mess.
But, yeah, just just be alittle smarter making decisions.
The money is in the business,it's not in the equipment and a
lot of people get fixated inthat and, um, I think that's
(25:01):
just something great that weaddressed into this episode.
And yeah, like I say, just getit.
Get ahold of that decisionmaker with the commercial work.
Commercial work is a wholenother ball game.
You got to price it differently.
It's you, you gotta, you gotta.
Come into figuration.
You're going to get that 1099at the end of the year.
You got to make sure you havethe proper insurances, the
(25:23):
liability if something happens,because stuff's a lot more
expensive on a commercialbuilding or facility, whatever
you're cleaning and it.
Another thing is one of thefirst things I ask is okay, when
I would love to do this job foryou and some people may think
this is unprofessional, but thisties a play into how I'm
pricing things uh, the firstthing I ask is hey, when am I
(25:46):
gonna get paid?
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I mean, that's a very important thing in commercial,
because I know you've run intothese issues, matt, where you do
a what a fifteen thousanddollar job and you have to wait
three months for the check,exactly and that's that that
should be factored into justconsidering whether or not you
want to do the job if, if you'relike, hey, this is gonna eat up
(26:08):
a lot of my time in a busyseason where I could make more
money doing residential, getpaid under the table essentially
or not not get paid with a 10,10, 99 and I know I'm gonna get
paid that same day, versus getstrung out over something that's
going to take three months toget paid and that hurts your,
that hurts your cashflow andthat's like you were saying.
(26:28):
That's something I learned lastyear with constantly having
like 40 or $50,000 in accountsreceivable where you're like man
, this is, this is tough.
I know I got the money but it'snot in my bank account when I
need it.
So that's a very that's a goodthing that I'm going to take
from clay.
Uh, when I do these jobs say,hey, look, when are we getting
paid?
What is your terms?
(26:49):
And that's that's notunprofessional, I think.
I think that's actuallyprofessional if you're just
doughy eyed and saying, yeah,sure I'll do whatever.
Give me that ten thousanddollar job and they just string
you along, that'll.
Uh, they're like, oh, this guydoesn't know, we don't care, we
don't have to have urgency withpaying it and from the start you
address the urgency and say,hey, when am I getting paid?
So they say, all right, thisguy needs to be paid at this
(27:09):
amount.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
They're going to submit the form to their
accounting department so you getpaid in a timely manner yeah,
because you got to think most ofthese guys are just sitting
behind a desk, they don't care,they're just.
They're just trying to checkoff a checklist, like okay, I
was told that I had to get thisdone and I'm going to find the
guy to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The person hiring you more than likely is not in
charge of writing your check.
So the next thing I do is I geta hold of the person in charge
of writing the check and then Isay, hey, I just did some
pressure washing, just wanted toget an update on the on the
payment to our company so that Ican be looking for it.
One simple little message willspeed up the whole process so
that you're top of mind withthat person.
And what I normally do is I dofollow up every week, a week, a
(27:52):
week and a half, and say, hey,just following up again if I
haven't heard from him.
But nine times out of 10, Ihear from that person within a
few days and they tell me whenthe check's in the mail or we
make some other arrangement.
So we get a lot fixated on thewow, I just closed a $20,000 job
.
But if you don't get paid forhowever long, and you're stuck
(28:13):
on that job for two weeks whenyou could have been cleaning
residential houses or whatnot,then you're kind of going at,
you're kind of screwing yourselfat that point.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yep, and that's kind of a realization I've made, just
being selective on things andsaying oh, you look online.
No myth.
It's like get into commercial,that's where all the money's
made.
You got to be smart with it.
Like you had a great job todaywhere you made really good money
in a short amount of time andyou do other good jobs where
you've got these like reallyfavorable commercial jobs.
But there's a lot of them thataren't the greatest.
(28:45):
Whether you think you need to bechasing the bottom dollar to
get the job or you're not awareof how long it's going to take
to get paid.
Like there's a lot more toconsider when it comes to
commercial work than there iswith residential work.
So if you go about it, makesure you're going about it smart
, you're asking the rightquestions and that way you're
saving yourself versus having aheadache down the road when,
like in my situation, youweren't getting paid in like
(29:07):
three to six months, which islike completely unacceptable.
But since I didn't start theconversation correctly from the
beginning, I own that as amistake and I learned, and I
hope you guys take that lessonof my failing in the past and
then you don't have to deal withit yourselves, because it's not
a fun place to be in whenyou're just getting sent to
voicemails and emails are goingunopened and all that crap.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And the biggest thing is not letting people forget
about you.
Like I say, stay top of mind.
It helps so much.
I mean, that's just where it'sat.
But I had a GC reach out to meactually this week.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Sometimes they're just notworth it.
I had a GC reach out to me thisweek.
We were modding on a car washand it was a $5,200 job, I think
(29:52):
that's what it was.
It was a big ticket.
And the guy said I'm good withmoney, when can you do it?
And I'm like, uh, I don't thinkI can do it for a few days at
least.
You know, just just trying to.
He hit me on a spot just tryingto figure out logistics in my
head.
Well, he wanted it done sameday or the next day and I said
that's not going to happen.
So sometimes it hurts a littlebit but it's just not worth it.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And then as you, as you grow this into more of a
business, then just like thattransaction hustle that a lot of
guys start out as where you'relike, oh, I'm every job, like
you got to view like the totalhealth of your business.
So okay, it's going to take Xamount of time to do it.
I'm going to have to move thismany people off of my schedule
and piss off this many people.
How much is that worth?
What's the time?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What's that relationship with those
customers to you worth?
And and then this guy's goingto pay me in what?
Two weeks?
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So it's well, not only that factor, it all
probably, more than likely, alot, of, a lot of these people
that are like call me, it's likea rush is hurried.
I never talked to them againand I've reached out.
I follow up and they just don'trespond back.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, not only that, it's a red flag to me that it's
going to be a headache later on.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Exactly, I think too.
It's like a gut thing.
You've got to trust your gut.
If your gut's like this guy's,an asshole, you probably
shouldn't go into business withhim.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Right, 100%.
Yeah, so we've talked about themyths.
You don't have to be thecheapest to get the commercial
job.
The hot tickets are notimpossible to get and commercial
work is another uh animal.
And then the fancy equipment.
Don't get it.
Don't get uh fixated on thefancy equipment and fancy
(31:37):
gadgets before thinking aboutyour business first.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yep, and it's pretty good I think that touched on
everything uh, if you guys don'tknow, I have I have my uh old
book.
I made, uh no pressure pressurewashing.
Got around 300 uh reviews onamazon for this thing, so I try
to keep it up in the top.
If you search pressure washingbooks on amazon, it's up up
there and uh, but my point wasthis was like what I started
(32:03):
with.
Uh, let's see you can see theuh caliber out of the back of my
truck and this was my uhequipment.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
So he was the $99 guy .
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I was a hundred, I was $125 guy.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I was a little better than $25.
Guy with the turbo tip turbotip.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, there's turbo tip, so that Northern tool uh,
surface cleaner too, right there.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So I didn't have to finance a rig.
I didn't.
I didn't start myself in thehole and even what I learned
with kind of taking on debt togrow once I had a business to
like expand and have trucks andwrap trucks and just deal with
payroll and all that nonsenseLike it's a pain, and I incurred
this while I had a strongbusiness.
So if you're brand new andyou're trying to oh, I can
(32:51):
finance this equipment because Ihave a good credit score and
it's a business expense and it'sa write off Try to focus on
building your jobs first andbuilding up that business.
And, like Clay says, if you'redoing a hundred thousand dollars
a year and have an eight gallona minute, you probably don't
need to have an eight gallon aminute.
You probably should be focusingon how do I grow my revenue and
make more money than goingthrough and and having all the
(33:13):
fancy bells and whistles whenyou're not doing a ton of work.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, I mean, we're not knocking you because you do.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
My thing was if you have an eight gallon a minute
machine and you're only doing$100,000 a year, that just tells
me that you thought about theequipment before.
You thought about a pressurewashing business and they don't
think about the sales andmarketing.
You got to prioritize thatsales and marketing and shaking
hands and connecting andnetworking and then building
that reputation and creatingthat brand so people come back
to you and then you can growthat business to the point where
(33:53):
you can say, yeah, I'm going togo down the store like Clay
does and buy a skid for $30,000in cash.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And then off to the races.
I got the video to prove it.
If you go to my facebook, claysmith, go to reels, go to
probably one of the first reelsI made and there's a video of me
and casey caudillo sittingthere in his office counting the
cash and I made that video soeverybody could see it right,
yeah, he's.
He's a drug dealer, and the drugof choice is sh and skids he's
a skid, daddy, but uh, I think,uh, if you guys are watching, I
(34:26):
think that casey may be having apretty stout deal coming out.
Um, on his page.
Make sure you go look c3 skidspage.
He's got a great deal comingout sometime this weekend.
It may already be out.
I know that sunday night andyou guys are watching now, but
make sure you go there and checkit out and thank me later.
Um, if everybody would pleasego, leave us a review on all of
(34:47):
our platforms.
Um, for this podcast.
Appreciate you listening, asalways.
If you have any questions,please leave them in the live
stream or the video.
Um, we'd be happy to answer anyquestions.
We're working on making ourappearance to the huge
convention.
We'd love to meet all of you.
And then, uh, what else you got?
Speaker 1 (35:04):
matt uh, nothing much .
Just hopefully everybody's in agood season.
Uh, dropping this thing, it'sgoing to be march 23rd.
So where we are in southcarolina, pollen's everywhere.
So I don't know if you guys arein similar situations if you're
in the south, but, like whenpollen coats everything,
everybody's just waiting untilit's over and then, once it's
over, it's just balls to thewall.
But with clay and I we've builtup enough where we're, we're
(35:27):
balls to the wall right now.
So we're all just counting ourblessings and waiting for it to
get super hectic and crazy andand kill the rest of this spring
and summer and uh, hopeeverybody else is able to as
well yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
We hope to see you guys.
Well, we will see you guys nextweek, next Sunday, every Sunday
.
Tune in, check us out.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yep, alright, guys, I'll see everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Peace.
What's up, guys?
It's Matt Jackson and ClaySmith and we're the Wash Bros.
Welcome to episode 7, wherewe're going to be talking about
what are some common myths thatare costing you money in
pressure washing.
Talking about what are somecommon myths that are costing
you money in pressure washing.
And if you've been around for awhile, you are aware of these
myths just from whether you havepersonal experience or you're
on YouTube and you see all thealgorithms talking about the
different myths.
(00:53):
But what we're going to do hereis kind of talk about three big
things that we commonly seethat are holding you back in
your business, and we're goingto talk about them and discuss
why they're myths and why it'snot true.
So you want to kick this thingoff, clay.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Absolutely Talk about the myths, my favorite.
I love it because so manypeople out there are following
the gurus on the internet and weall know that anybody can be
anybody they want to be on theinternet.
So, yeah, the myth, I think, isa great topic for this episode,
especially going into spring.
Yeah, the myth, I think, is agreat topic for this episode,
especially going into spring.
First off, I want to thankeverybody that's been listening
(01:29):
to our podcast, episode 7.
It's awesome.
We've had some great engagementwith this Spotify, apple Podcast
all over our platforms.
On every platform we have,we've had some good engagement.
So you guys must be liking whatwe have to say.
So we appreciate you allfollowing.
(01:49):
If you have any questions,please comment on one of our
videos.
Leave us some reviews on theseplatforms please.
That helps us with algorithmand all of that.
So we want to keep reaching outto people like you guys that
are listening.
But, yeah, myths, man myths.
That's so crazy that we came up, because I've just been looking
at some of these forums on theInternet about the gurus and a
(02:11):
lot of the newer guys in ourindustry seem to think they know
a lot of things that the gurushave taught, but some of the
stuff is almost ass backwards, Ifeel like, and and I think
that's why we kind of startedthis, this podcast yeah, no
doubt, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, we started the podcast because we're tired of
seeing the youtubers and thegurus who aren't pressure
washing.
Talk about pressure washing tosell you new guys and uh,
novices on what you need to doand what you don't need to do.
When you look at the businessesof these guys and they've never
been anything more than usuallya chuck in the truck, or they
had a year of pressure washingbusiness and that failed.
(02:52):
And now they're here spewingthese myths.
Whether or not they mean to ornot, they're keeping you down if
you believe in them.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Absolutely.
With our experience, and what,uh, almost 10 years experience
put together in this business,um, we've probably made what a
few million dollars togetheryeah, easy since then?
easy, yeah, since then, doingthis, uh, pressure washing, soft
washing, house washing,exterior cleaning, we have done
(03:22):
many things and experimentedwith many things outside of
listening to, um, the gurus andstuff like that.
And I just think it's somethingthat a lot of people are afraid
to talk about, and I think thatme and another fellow online,
um, you know, we kind of wentback and forth on the internet a
couple of days ago and heseemed to be caught up in all
(03:45):
the fancy equipment.
So the big you know a lot, of,a lot of the myths of, oh, you
got to have this, you got tohave that, you got to have this.
Well, that's not necessarilytrue.
So when I first started, I hadtwo and a half gallon a minute
machine.
Obviously I maxed that out.
We burn up three and just amatter of like six months.
(04:06):
So after that I quicklyrealized I needed a four gallon
a minute machine, which is yourstandard uh, start out option,
uh, pressure washer.
So we bought a four and a guyfour gallon machine and we were
able to do almost $150,000 thatyear.
So outside of, you know, youdon't have to have the fancy
(04:32):
softwash system for 50, 60,$70,000 trailer from AC or who's
the other guys, heath and allof them.
You don't need to spend allthose gadgets or whatnot.
That's their job.
That's the facility.
They're awesome to have, don'tget me wrong.
They're cool to have, butthat's not what makes you money.
What makes you money is asuccessful marketing plan.
(04:54):
So you got to make sure you putthat marketing plan together.
You cannot whatsoever be scaredof spending money and investing
on yourself.
That's one of the biggestthings that I got caught up in.
When I first started, I didn'thave any money and I was scared
to keep dumping money back intomy business because all I was
worried about was making money.
Stop worrying about makingmoney.
Put a good marketing plantogether and dump a ton of money
(05:18):
into it, but make sure you'resuccessful at it first.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Obviously, don't just dump into it, but follow what's
best for you, for you and yourbusiness exactly and, from my
experience with the brandingside of things, once you lock
down that brand, what you onceyou lock down like what your
business means to you and howyou're going to spread it to the
world then you can put all themoney you want into that
marketing piece.
And clay did a really good jobwith, like, his branding and
(05:41):
making that message really clearand resonate well with people,
and then he just started dumpingmoney into it and he's really
has taken a large chunk out ofthe market just from doing that.
And uh, instead of people,people will go to the store and
spend $5,000 on a eight gallon aminute machine with all these
fancy accessories, but they'reafraid to spend $5,000 on Google
(06:02):
ads when one's making money andone's not.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, or or whatever.
It doesn't matter what kind ofmarketing strategy you want to
do I mean, put more signs out,whatever but I guarantee you, if
you're at a hundred thousanddollars a year with an eight
gallon a minute machine, you donot need that eight gallon a
minute machine.
You can literally go back downto a four and you should have
never upgraded to begin with,because you're probably thinking
, hey, if I got this eightgallon a minute machine, then
(06:28):
I'm going to make more money.
You're not going to make moremoney if you don't have the work
.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Exactly, and you get a bigger machine.
You need to be.
You're able to go through morework faster, so you better have
plenty of work rolling in yeah,perfect example.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Uh, today we went um, took one of my guys with me, we
did three thousand dollarsworth of work, took two trucks.
Don't always happen like this.
This is like a perfect morningand we took two trucks, we made
three thousand dollars and somecommercial work and we were home
by 11 o'clock, left the houseat seven and was back home by
1130.
(07:03):
So, um, obviously, the eightgallon machine they make money,
but if you don't have the workto make the money, then you're
you, you've already you've.
You've just you've skipped astep in your business.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You're thinking backwards.
You're buying the fanciestequipment without having the
jobs in place or without knowinghow to get we're so fixated on
trying to get the jobs done andknowing how to clean something
or get the work done in aquickly manner, but we don't
understand how to fill theschedule in a quickly manner and
we don't understand how to putjobs on the books in a fast,
efficient manner.
(07:35):
It's like our focus should behey, let's plow forward as much
as we do with cleaning intogetting our, our business, built
up and getting that schedulefull.
What, like Clay and I, wealways talk like we're at that
point in the season where youhave like $30,000 of work over
our head.
So, yeah, that's a good problemto have.
The problem is now shiftinginto like how am I going to
(07:56):
knock this down as fast as I canto put more money on the books,
logistics, logistics.
And then it's like oh man,we're rocking and rolling.
Like you said, he made threegrand by the time I woke up
today, which is awesome.
And then it's like hey, we knowthat we can efficiently clean
stuff.
The next level in business ifyou're wanting to be successful
(08:17):
is how can I get work, how can Ifill that schedule and kind of
push my logistics?
Every time, every month, you'relike okay, how can I spend a
little bit more on marketing, orhow can I try to land bigger
jobs and projects here and thereso I can fill that schedule up
even more.
It's less about oh man, how amI going to clean this huge
building?
It's going to be.
How am I going to get that nextbuilding on the schedule for
this month too?
(08:37):
And that's kind of a reframethat that you and I like to do.
We're not chasing oh.
I'm stressed about this hugeproject I got to knock out in a
week or two.
It's more.
How can I get another?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
one of those, absolutely.
Once I've booked one, I'malready trying to book the next
one.
So, yeah, it's, it's awesome.
Don't get me wrong, though.
The equipment helps a ton.
It's great.
All the gadgets are cool, loveall of it.
I'm fascinated with it myself,but I'm more fascinated in
trying to find work, coming upwith a successful marketing plan
(09:10):
.
Where can I throw my money tomake more money?
It's almost like being afinancial planner initially, I
mean, or you know, working thestock market, but it's your
business.
So if you're, if you're fixatedon the next little gadget that
Johnny blah, blah blah thatyou've seen on YouTube coming
out with, and you're fixated onthe wrong things, you need to
(09:31):
fixate on the business first,the business side of things,
because the business side ofthings is what makes you money,
it's not the equipment.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, no doubt, and as far, as the equipment goes.
Know that these guys make moneywith selling you new equipment.
They don't want you to have apiece of equipment for five
years.
It's like, hey, we have toconstantly tell you this is the
newest, best thing.
We have to constantly say thatworks perfectly fine, but now
you have to change to this.
So don't get wrapped up insaying, oh, I need to have these
(09:59):
skids set up with 10 gallons aminute on each truck, and then a
12 gallon a minute roof pumpand then a lawnmower surface
cleaner to get all these jobsdone.
And then the jobs will comelike.
You're being sold by thesedealers who are selling you
equipment, and a lot of themwork with the gurus or they're
in these facebook groups andthey build up these groups to
push their equipment, and topush this is the only way to do
(10:21):
it.
So these myths are built up sothey can make money off of you,
not necessarily so they can helpyou pressure wash.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
The biggest myth I think in the pressure washing
industry is drone pressurewashing and I get a lot of my
friends and stuff and people allover the internet and Facebook
and social media.
They'll send me those reels ofthe drone cleaning the buildings
or whatever me those reels onof the drone cleaning the
buildings or whatever.
(10:47):
But I don't know a pressurewasher in our industry that's
cleaning with a drone.
Um and and this is what I telleverybody you know you can spend
forty thousand dollars on adrone, but then what you're not
going to clean with that droneevery day it's not going to pay
for.
It may pay for itself, but youknow if you you get lucky and
land one big job.
But me personally, I knowprobably 100 pressure washers
(11:08):
and none of them have a droneright you can.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Of the people I know that don't have drones make far
more money than the people thathave drones.
We do have a guy local here thathas a drone, but I don't see
him using it much, yeah unlessyou're doing some massive
buildings, that has no clearancefrom the ground to do a lift,
cause we ran into this issue acouple of times when we're doing
some hotels out of state andthey're like, hey, can you look
(11:34):
at this other one?
And it's like on a main streetand we couldn't put a lift on it
because it would be alogistical nightmare.
And then I could say, all right, maybe in this rare occurrence
it would make sense to have adrone.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Or like a skyscraper in the city or something.
But still still, you still gotto worry about uh the uh,
overspray and all that.
Where's it going?
Right?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
That plus think of it breaking.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, just seems a lot, of, a lot of liability or
if you hit something, or well,you know, know whatever a fancy
toy.
That's what it is, yeah it'sjust a fancy gadget that uh it,
it and oftentimes just distractsus.
Yes, it's cool as shit, love itcool.
Yeah, that would be cool topressure wash with a with a uh
drone, but that's not gonna makeme money.
That's not gonna make me, uh,consistent money.
(12:21):
I want to be consistent exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's funny too, because I recently upgraded both
of my machines on my trucks andwe just keep it simple at the
eight gallon a minute machines.
We go down to georgia so we usenorth georgia airless and
they've been with us.
We've been using.
We've been using them prettymuch since the beginning.
So I've probably bought likefive or six machines off of them
and, uh, they got all theirfancy like 10 gallon minute plus
(12:45):
machines and you see all theseguys online they're running like
a hundred gallon buffer tank ina short bed truck and they got
10, 10 gallon minute machinesoff of that.
And logistically you and I arelike how are you going to keep
that thing full of water?
Like, but they're like peopleare selling you this.
Like, hey, more gallons aminute, you can knock this job
out in 40 minutes versus 30minute or 40, 40 minutes versus
(13:07):
an hour.
But then you start to think andyou're like that thing's going
to constantly be searching forwater.
Do I need this?
All that?
So, like, I actually did notupgrade my setups to 10 gallon
machines because, oh, it's aeight gallon.
Eight gallons are fine and it'sone of those things where I
know they're going to work.
They're not super sexy, butthey're just a workhorse.
But I'll post stuff on socialmedia and these guys are like,
(13:30):
oh, is that a 10 gallon a minutemachine?
Because, like our surfacecleaners are clean fast.
And I'm like, no, it's basic agallon machine.
But the questions aren't how didyou get that job?
What did you do to get that job?
The question is, oh, you'recleaning this thing fast.
What machine is it?
And you kind of notice likeit's ingrained in these people
oh, what's your equipment?
What's your equipment?
What's your equipment?
(13:51):
The first thing they always askis like, what's your equipment?
They're not asking how did youget that job?
Like, how are you growing thebusiness?
Like, where are you findingthese?
Everybody's always like, oh,what's, what's that equipment
and how can I buy that equipment?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
right, right, yep, yep.
I think 100 agree.
And then the 10 gallon a minutemachine is not.
It's harder to find parts.
It digs up gas.
Um, when I mean parts like ifyou need a, a downstream
injector for a 10 gallon minutemachine, that's not as common as
an eight gallon a minutemachine downstream injector.
(14:26):
So it doesn't pull as well, yeah, running all kind of other
problems and I think it guzzlesgas a little more yep so right
now I'd say the eight gallon aminute machine is the most
efficient one on the market,especially if you're doing a lot
of residential.
Uh, really good for commercialtoo.
I haven't had any issues.
And then the other thing isbeing the cheapest on commercial
(14:51):
jobs.
I think that's one of thebiggest myths too.
You don't have to be thecheapest, you need to build
value in your company.
Boom so when you first getstarted you think you got to be
the cheapest.
I mean, I guess, I guess you'rekind of right, you got to, you
got to kind of, you got to dosomething to try to give
yourself a shot versus somebodylike me or Matt that has three
(15:12):
and 400 Google reviews online.
So Google presence is very huge, social media presence very
huge and build a relationshipwith that commercial.
The whoever the whoever thedecision maker is plays a big
part in it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yes, and I think too, you got to be aware of the
market and aware of the factorsthat are in there besides just
pricing, because a lot of timesif somebody's looking at the
bottom dollar price on, say,they're the purchaser or they're
like the GC on it, they don'tnecessarily want to get the
cheapest guy because there maybe something wrong with that and
(15:48):
it may mess up their project.
It may be subpar results likethere's more that, there's more
than go, more than more thanjust pricing.
That goes into this equationall the time.
But like to clay's point, ifyou're competing against
somebody like me and Clay whocan be competitive because of
our equipment and our knowledgeand we have a team of employees,
you got to know where to fit.
You can't just say, oh, I'mgoing to, I have value, I'm
(16:11):
going to charge more, and I seethat all the time.
A lot of times the opposite istrue with with the newbie game,
where they're chargingastronomically out of the
ballpark pricing because theydon't know what, know what their
pricing should be, and out ofthe ballpark pricing because
they don't know what, know whattheir pricing should be and I'm
like, yeah, 30 cents a square,it's not going to win any
commercial cleaning there, buddy.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
But well, they have also seen that that stuff online
.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Uh, the guru stuff, exactly.
Um, and the biggest thing I seewith the gurus online is uh,
today they will say they didthis amount and that you should
charge this amount.
But then when they come out andthey say, okay, this is what I
made for the year, none of theirnumbers ever add up and usually
they're way lower than you'dexpect correct.
(16:54):
Especially going off of thesehigh, crazy prices.
It's almost like they'resetting us up for failure.
So just be careful who you'relistening to.
I'm not saying uh-and-so, I'mnot calling out anybody.
It's just there's a lot ofmisinformation going around and
I feel like it's appropriate tokind of address it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, and think too, if these guys are watching,
especially if they're in yourspace, they're going to tell you
stuff because they want to setyou up for failure.
If they're bidding against youand I see this a lot on the
Facebook groups People will posthey, this is what I'm looking
at today, like what should Iquote it at?
And they're posting theirnumbers or they're posting the
location of these things andsomebody could easily figure out
(17:34):
who the decision maker is andcome in and undercut you.
So if you're posting whenyou're in the process of bidding
a job that's a big commercialjob or something be aware that
people are probably seeing apost that you're posting about
and I will try to come in andundercut you or they will try to
steal that from you.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So it's almost one of those things keep, keep your
cards close and that happens,that really does happen.
I mean that I.
I mean I I wouldn't ever snakeanybody and anybody in our area
knows that.
But I mean, if I can travel twohours and make a few grand, I'm
going to do it, you know.
So don't put it past anybody,especially if they're asking
(18:13):
where you're at and what you'redoing and how you're doing it,
what you're quoting, becausethey'll show up to that place if
they ain't got nothing to doand they're hungry for work.
So there's always someone outthere that's hungrier than you
are.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Exactly.
And again, business is aboutplaying to win.
Never want to do it in a bad way, but I feel like if you're a
competitive guy and you want togrow a business and you're
saying, hey, there's skin in thegame, I want to get what I can
get, and I'm not saying be dirtyabout it, but understand that
there's nothing hurtful aboutsomebody like trying to bid on
something that you're bidding on, because we're all in the same
space and I see people getbutthurt about stuff like that.
(18:49):
But that's where you need toknow your numbers and know what
works for your business.
I know like we'll bid on stuffall the time and I'm assuming we
probably bid on commercialstuff all the time together too
and like I'll work for like thecity of Greer here and there,
and then you quote them lastyear and then they follow up
with you again this year andit's like who are they talking
(19:09):
to?
Are they trying to drive bothof our prices down to the bottom
to get the best bid?
And that's probably not just aresidential thing, that's
commercial and all of the aboveBecause-.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Ain't nobody loyal.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Ain't nobody loyal.
The hose ain't loyal no, not atall that's why you don't
underbid yourself, you don't putyourself in a hole or say you,
oh, I want to do whatever itcame to win this job, and then
you're regretting it doing it.
And that's like you're nevergoing to lose if you put, hey,
this is how much my businesstakes to run smoothly and this
is the profit margin that I needfor this job or a residential
(19:43):
job, and then so if I get it,I'm not regretting that I get it
and I think people try to win ajob that's commercial.
And then you're like man, thisis, I could have better used my
trucks in a cleaning, softwashing a 3000 square foot house
for two days.
Then I could have in thesethings parked here.
So, like, understand yournumbers on each job, job and and
(20:04):
then as you get past the wholelike beginner stage, you don't
really quote on pricing.
So you want to quote based upon, like, how efficient you are,
how much time it's going to take, and understand the market rate
.
And that's how, because, likeI'll talk to clay and and those,
there'll be guys bidding onlike apartment complexes or
condos and they're pricing itpurely based on a square foot
(20:26):
number.
And I know I ran a townhousecommunity, a townhome community
by Clay, and he's like oh, youshould have done this.
And I was like well, I waspricing it on square footage and
my square footage of that waslike 7 cents a square.
And you're like no, you got toprice those by building at like
a hundred bucks a building.
So it's one of those things.
It's like all right, well, Perunit.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Per unit, yeah, exactly, yeah, charge them by
the unit.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, and that's something I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So that's like where our communication helps out,
because if I'm just basing it onsquare footage, I'm nowhere
close to the ballpark that Ineed to be yeah, and that was
something that I learned from alocal competitor that's no
longer in the area anymore, butanyway, um, yeah, and another
thing with the commercial bids Ihave, I've had a lot of hoas,
(21:14):
uh, townhome communities,neighborhoods, a lot of
commercial stuff, and they'llsay, well, I gotta get three
bids.
Okay, great, if you're lookingfor the cheapest one, you might
as well throw mine out, becauseI'm not going to be your
cheapest.
I don't plan on being yourcheapest, but I want to provide
great value to you.
I want to give you a goodquality job and I want to make
(21:35):
sure that you're happy andfollow up with you when it's
done.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
A lot of guys are're going to say okay, and then
they're not going to come backout and they're not going to
follow up with you and they'renot going to.
They're going to get theirmoney and they're going to run.
Yep, you would be surprised howmany people will choose us,
because we're a little bit moreexpensive but we look more
professional and they got burnedthe last time.
I've had countless people.
They're like well, you're notthe cheapest I got.
I got my guy last year, messedstuff up and I wasn't happy, so
I'm spending an extra 100 bucksto have you guys do it the right
way and they get burnt by thatperson yeah, they get burnt by
(22:07):
that cheap person.
They see, I go with somebodywho's got reviews and may charge
a little bit more money, but atleast I'm not gonna have a bad
taste in my mouth correct.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I found it that, uh, you know, the first couple years
of business I was, I was justin a my regular unmarked truck
pulling a trailer.
But then when I got thatwrapped truck, I could see a
difference in the customers andhow confident they were in
hiring me.
As is, you know, when I wasjust looked like another
neighbor in the neighborhoodpulling a trailer with a tank on
(22:37):
it, it seemed like people askeda lot more questions.
That way I didn't look asprofessional very nice, clean
truck, clean trailer, whatever.
At the time I really didn'tknow any better.
But as I kept growing mybusiness and I put a wrap on my
truck okay, I still have mytrailer.
And then I got my skid and nowI hardly get asked any questions
(22:59):
.
They're like okay, here's mywater.
Uh, hook up, go ahead, get work, let me know when you're done.
As if before it was, theywanted to ask 20,000 questions
before you get started becausethey were a little bit nervous
about who they had just hired tocome out to wash their home.
So professionalism goes so far.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Exactly.
And that professionalism isn'tjust what you say and do you
know how to pressure wash andthe technical?
And that's where kind of likeback to what we're talking about
earlier this episode.
People are so fixated on aneight or ten gallon minute
machine or a soft wash pump thatthey'll have 30 grand in the
back of their trailer, butthey're pulling it on an
unmarked truck they're pullingit with and they don't look like
(23:39):
a business.
It's like instead of spendingall that money on the super
efficient machines and equipment, spend that money on your brand
and build that business up.
So people look at you as abusiness and they don't look at
you just as an owner operatorand say, oh, I wonder what he
does on the.
I wonder what he does duringthe week, because he's out here
on a Saturday and he's probablydoing this on the side or this
is a part-time gig for him.
Like.
People view you completelydifferently if they say this guy
(24:03):
is all out in his business andit's not him, it's a business.
Whether you're running thetruck yourself or you got
employees.
They're like this is a businessI'm, I'm hiring and I'm not
hiring just some guy well, yeah,like I say, it gives them.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It gives them so much more confidence and the money.
Like you I think that was agreat point you're spending
$30,000 on a trailer but nobodyeven knows who you are riding
down the road.
You can make so much more moneyif you do.
I mean, we have more than Ihave, more than what I need on
my skid from C3 skids andobviously we buy from North
Georgia Airless too, but I haveway more than I need and you
(24:40):
know, 20 to $25,000 is all Ineed.
So and it's honestly probablytoo much more than I need.
I just kind of spoiled myself alittle bit with the electric
reels and all that mess.
But, yeah, just just be alittle smarter making decisions.
The money is in the business,it's not in the equipment and a
lot of people get fixated inthat and, um, I think that's
(25:01):
just something great that weaddressed into this episode.
And yeah, like I say, just getit.
Get ahold of that decisionmaker with the commercial work.
Commercial work is a wholenother ball game.
You got to price it differently.
It's you, you gotta, you gotta.
Come into figuration.
You're going to get that 1099at the end of the year.
You got to make sure you havethe proper insurances, the
(25:23):
liability if something happens,because stuff's a lot more
expensive on a commercialbuilding or facility, whatever
you're cleaning and it.
Another thing is one of thefirst things I ask is okay, when
I would love to do this job foryou and some people may think
this is unprofessional, but thisties a play into how I'm
pricing things uh, the firstthing I ask is hey, when am I
(25:46):
gonna get paid?
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I mean, that's a very important thing in commercial,
because I know you've run intothese issues, matt, where you do
a what a fifteen thousanddollar job and you have to wait
three months for the check,exactly and that's that that
should be factored into justconsidering whether or not you
want to do the job if, if you'relike, hey, this is gonna eat up
(26:08):
a lot of my time in a busyseason where I could make more
money doing residential, getpaid under the table essentially
or not not get paid with a 10,10, 99 and I know I'm gonna get
paid that same day, versus getstrung out over something that's
going to take three months toget paid and that hurts your,
that hurts your cashflow andthat's like you were saying.
(26:28):
That's something I learned lastyear with constantly having
like 40 or $50,000 in accountsreceivable where you're like man
, this is, this is tough.
I know I got the money but it'snot in my bank account when I
need it.
So that's a very that's a goodthing that I'm going to take
from clay.
Uh, when I do these jobs say,hey, look, when are we getting
paid?
What is your terms?
(26:49):
And that's that's notunprofessional, I think.
I think that's actuallyprofessional if you're just
doughy eyed and saying, yeah,sure I'll do whatever.
Give me that ten thousanddollar job and they just string
you along, that'll.
Uh, they're like, oh, this guydoesn't know, we don't care, we
don't have to have urgency withpaying it and from the start you
address the urgency and say,hey, when am I getting paid?
So they say, all right, thisguy needs to be paid at this
(27:09):
amount.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
They're going to submit the form to their
accounting department so you getpaid in a timely manner yeah,
because you got to think most ofthese guys are just sitting
behind a desk, they don't care,they're just.
They're just trying to checkoff a checklist, like okay, I
was told that I had to get thisdone and I'm going to find the
guy to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
The person hiring you more than likely is not in
charge of writing your check.
So the next thing I do is I geta hold of the person in charge
of writing the check and then Isay, hey, I just did some
pressure washing, just wanted toget an update on the on the
payment to our company so that Ican be looking for it.
One simple little message willspeed up the whole process so
that you're top of mind withthat person.
And what I normally do is I dofollow up every week, a week, a
(27:52):
week and a half, and say, hey,just following up again if I
haven't heard from him.
But nine times out of 10, Ihear from that person within a
few days and they tell me whenthe check's in the mail or we
make some other arrangement.
So we get a lot fixated on thewow, I just closed a $20,000 job
.
But if you don't get paid forhowever long, and you're stuck
(28:13):
on that job for two weeks whenyou could have been cleaning
residential houses or whatnot,then you're kind of going at,
you're kind of screwing yourselfat that point.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yep, and that's kind of a realization I've made, just
being selective on things andsaying oh, you look online.
No myth.
It's like get into commercial,that's where all the money's
made.
You got to be smart with it.
Like you had a great job todaywhere you made really good money
in a short amount of time andyou do other good jobs where
you've got these like reallyfavorable commercial jobs.
But there's a lot of them thataren't the greatest.
(28:45):
Whether you think you need to bechasing the bottom dollar to
get the job or you're not awareof how long it's going to take
to get paid.
Like there's a lot more toconsider when it comes to
commercial work than there iswith residential work.
So if you go about it, makesure you're going about it smart
, you're asking the rightquestions and that way you're
saving yourself versus having aheadache down the road when,
like in my situation, youweren't getting paid in like
(29:07):
three to six months, which islike completely unacceptable.
But since I didn't start theconversation correctly from the
beginning, I own that as amistake and I learned, and I
hope you guys take that lessonof my failing in the past and
then you don't have to deal withit yourselves, because it's not
a fun place to be in whenyou're just getting sent to
voicemails and emails are goingunopened and all that crap.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
And the biggest thing is not letting people forget
about you.
Like I say, stay top of mind.
It helps so much.
I mean, that's just where it'sat.
But I had a GC reach out to meactually this week.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Sometimes they're just notworth it.
I had a GC reach out to me thisweek.
We were modding on a car washand it was a $5,200 job, I think
(29:52):
that's what it was.
It was a big ticket.
And the guy said I'm good withmoney, when can you do it?
And I'm like, uh, I don't thinkI can do it for a few days at
least.
You know, just just trying to.
He hit me on a spot just tryingto figure out logistics in my
head.
Well, he wanted it done sameday or the next day and I said
that's not going to happen.
So sometimes it hurts a littlebit but it's just not worth it.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
And then as you, as you grow this into more of a
business, then just like thattransaction hustle that a lot of
guys start out as where you'relike, oh, I'm every job, like
you got to view like the totalhealth of your business.
So okay, it's going to take Xamount of time to do it.
I'm going to have to move thismany people off of my schedule
and piss off this many people.
How much is that worth?
What's the time?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
What's that relationship with those
customers to you worth?
And and then this guy's goingto pay me in what?
Two weeks?
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So it's well, not only that factor, it all
probably, more than likely, alot, of, a lot of these people
that are like call me, it's likea rush is hurried.
I never talked to them againand I've reached out.
I follow up and they just don'trespond back.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Well, not only that, it's a red flag to me that it's
going to be a headache later on.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Exactly, I think too.
It's like a gut thing.
You've got to trust your gut.
If your gut's like this guy's,an asshole, you probably
shouldn't go into business withhim.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Right, 100%.
Yeah, so we've talked about themyths.
You don't have to be thecheapest to get the commercial
job.
The hot tickets are notimpossible to get and commercial
work is another uh animal.
And then the fancy equipment.
Don't get it.
Don't get uh fixated on thefancy equipment and fancy
(31:37):
gadgets before thinking aboutyour business first.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yep, and it's pretty good I think that touched on
everything uh, if you guys don'tknow, I have I have my uh old
book.
I made, uh no pressure pressurewashing.
Got around 300 uh reviews onamazon for this thing, so I try
to keep it up in the top.
If you search pressure washingbooks on amazon, it's up up
there and uh, but my point wasthis was like what I started
(32:03):
with.
Uh, let's see you can see theuh caliber out of the back of my
truck and this was my uhequipment.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
So he was the $99 guy .
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I was a hundred, I was $125 guy.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
I was a little better than $25.
Guy with the turbo tip turbotip.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, there's turbo tip, so that Northern tool uh,
surface cleaner too, right there.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So I didn't have to finance a rig.
I didn't.
I didn't start myself in thehole and even what I learned
with kind of taking on debt togrow once I had a business to
like expand and have trucks andwrap trucks and just deal with
payroll and all that nonsenseLike it's a pain, and I incurred
this while I had a strongbusiness.
So if you're brand new andyou're trying to oh, I can
(32:51):
finance this equipment because Ihave a good credit score and
it's a business expense and it'sa write off Try to focus on
building your jobs first andbuilding up that business.
And, like Clay says, if you'redoing a hundred thousand dollars
a year and have an eight gallona minute, you probably don't
need to have an eight gallon aminute.
You probably should be focusingon how do I grow my revenue and
make more money than goingthrough and and having all the
(33:13):
fancy bells and whistles whenyou're not doing a ton of work.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, I mean, we're not knocking you because you do.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
My thing was if you have an eight gallon a minute
machine and you're only doing$100,000 a year, that just tells
me that you thought about theequipment before.
You thought about a pressurewashing business and they don't
think about the sales andmarketing.
You got to prioritize thatsales and marketing and shaking
hands and connecting andnetworking and then building
that reputation and creatingthat brand so people come back
to you and then you can growthat business to the point where
(33:53):
you can say, yeah, I'm going togo down the store like Clay
does and buy a skid for $30,000in cash.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And then off to the races.
I got the video to prove it.
If you go to my facebook, claysmith, go to reels, go to
probably one of the first reelsI made and there's a video of me
and casey caudillo sittingthere in his office counting the
cash and I made that video soeverybody could see it right,
yeah, he's.
He's a drug dealer, and the drugof choice is sh and skids he's
a skid, daddy, but uh, I think,uh, if you guys are watching, I
(34:26):
think that casey may be having apretty stout deal coming out.
Um, on his page.
Make sure you go look c3 skidspage.
He's got a great deal comingout sometime this weekend.
It may already be out.
I know that sunday night andyou guys are watching now, but
make sure you go there and checkit out and thank me later.
Um, if everybody would pleasego, leave us a review on all of
(34:47):
our platforms.
Um, for this podcast.
Appreciate you listening, asalways.
If you have any questions,please leave them in the live
stream or the video.
Um, we'd be happy to answer anyquestions.
We're working on making ourappearance to the huge
convention.
We'd love to meet all of you.
And then, uh, what else you got?
Speaker 1 (35:04):
matt uh, nothing much .
Just hopefully everybody's in agood season.
Uh, dropping this thing, it'sgoing to be march 23rd.
So where we are in southcarolina, pollen's everywhere.
So I don't know if you guys arein similar situations if you're
in the south, but, like whenpollen coats everything,
everybody's just waiting untilit's over and then, once it's
over, it's just balls to thewall.
But with clay and I we've builtup enough where we're, we're
(35:27):
balls to the wall right now.
So we're all just counting ourblessings and waiting for it to
get super hectic and crazy andand kill the rest of this spring
and summer and uh, hopeeverybody else is able to as
well yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
We hope to see you guys.
Well, we will see you guys nextweek, next Sunday, every Sunday
.
Tune in, check us out.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yep, alright, guys, I'll see everybody.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Peace.
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