Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Anyone use a flat bed truck?

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Nice truck, but dual wheel would be better

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Nice, you can fabricate an overhead ladder rack with area for signage halfway down and still have room open underneath for access to equipment

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

You can always add fold down sides for more signage.

Hank

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I didn't buy the truck yet. Just thinking about it. I was really looking for a used F250 with a bed and ran across this one. Might even decide to work out of my Tundra for a while.

Fred W · Guru

I just bought a flatbed and am in the middle of a build on it. I also have a service truck and a 6' bed PU truck. I know Ray and Eric and many others all run out of PU trucks but to be honest I have no idea how they do it even with their awesome compact skids.....:}

So, for me, a PU is just too small. An 8' bed would have helped tremendously but when I bought another truck I opted for a dually service bed truck (standard cab). It's the perfect truck for the job really.

I recently purchased the 12' flatbed because we are starting to focus more on commercial work. If you go with a flatbed I think you may end up being disappointed unless you know a great fabricator to build you a nice rack.
In all honesty, I should have purchased another service truck or even a box van......too many complications with a small flatbed like that one.

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Doug...yeah, I do wonder where guys carry all the extra stuff I hear about (gutter bags, surface cleaners, extra chemicals, etc.). My truck would be pretty full with a 4x6 skid. No room for a toolbox or anything.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Bryan,

On our 8' bed pick up we have a ton of stuff and still have room to stand in the bed.

Our set up includes 3x55gal vertical tanks, 1x35gal buffer tank, 5.5 gal pressure washer, pw hose reel with 250' of pw hose, roof pump and battery, 200' of roof mix hose, 250 of garden hose, five 5 gallon carboys, surface cleaner, tool box for fittings and tools, 16' ladder, 24' ladder and 32' ladder, another 50' hose for pw, misc. brushes, 3 pressure washer wands, etc..

All of the above is in the bed. The extended cab is free and clear.

Hank

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Photos of truck.

Hank

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Very neat and clean Hank, I love it!

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I just built myself a skid. Needs a P/W hose reel and a D/s tank and a few other things and its done.

I like the fact that I can take it in and out of my truck when I want to plus there is room to spare on the side's

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

That's great, Art. I'll probably be working out of my personal truck for a few months, so a skid I could pull out would be nice.

Fred W · Guru

waxman18324 wrote:
Bryan,

On our 8' bed pick up we have a ton of stuff and still have room to stand in the bed.

Our set up includes 3x55gal vertical tanks, 1x35gal buffer tank, 5.5 gal pressure washer, pw hose reel with 250' of pw hose, roof pump and battery, 200' of roof mix hose, 250 of garden hose, five 5 gallon carboys, surface cleaner, tool box for fittings and tools, 16' ladder, 24' ladder and 32' ladder, another 50' hose for pw, misc. brushes, 3 pressure washer wands, etc..

All of the above is in the bed. The extended cab is free and clear.

Hank

Don't listen to Hank......He's organized.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Bryan,

There are hundreds of designs/set ups available through google images. Pick and choose what will work for you.

Hank

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Bryan,

Check out this facebook page. Plenty of photos of pick ups, flat bed and trailers. Just food for thought.

www.facebook.com/pressurewashingrigs/photos_stream

Hank

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Brian here's a portable rig I made a few years back. I cleaned a lot of roofs with it. The only down side with it is you need to mix on the job. This will get you started and you can go from there. I'm going to move this thread to On the Side

Fred W · Guru

waxman18324 wrote:
Bryan,

Check out this facebook page. Plenty of photos of pick ups, flat bed and trailers. Just food for thought.

www.facebook.com/pressurewashingrigs/photos_stream

Hank

Who do man????

Hank Da man!!!

I didn't scroll through all of the images but plenty on there for some great ideas........the whole time I was looking at them though I kept thinking about how Hank fits everything in his truck with room to spare.......:}

Personally I went with a larger truck for "show" reasons as well. When we pull up to a commercial job, especially a large one, we will pull up with an impressive showing. I considered another service truck and building a rack that fits everything nice and snug but in the end I wanted the "show" factor.

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I like these Alum Flat Beds www.800toolbox.com/flatbeds/flatbeds.htm But only on a 3500 truck with daul wells.

Bryan P · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Thanks everyone! One of the things that has kept me moving towards soft washing as a new career is the sense of community I've found with so many of you. My plan is to build (or have built) a skid that I can easily move to another truck once I'm able to buy a second truck. I've got a couple of months to decide since I'm currently trying to work myself out of two jobs.

My truck is a '03 Tundra so I think I'll use that for a while as long as I'm also the lead tech. Then I'll buy another truck, move the rig over and use mine for sales/estimates. My plan is to spend $8k to 10k on equipment (including a pressure washer), so I'm glad I've time to figure out what I want.

In the meantime, My hobby is repairing and restoring guitars, so I'll be doing that through the winter to finance the upstart. Trying to start without debt.

-- Edited by Bryan P on Sunday 20th of December 2015 11:47:45 PM

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Like (similar to) Art, my rig of choice is built on a landscapers wagon with drop sides and big pneumatic off road tires for rolling around estates where distance from truck\driveway is too far for running hoses plus the benefits of

- modular so can use box truck for other things. Can drop off setup with a guy and take another to a different job

-go from main house to pool house to guest house etc

- can have 2 mini rigs to drop off at 2 jobs
Etc.

Similar to this, will post pic when I can
Folding_All_Terrain_Landscapers_Nursery_Wagon_Beach.jpg

-- Edited by Maverick Contracting on Sunday 20th of December 2015 12:41:15 PM

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

BTW, everyone has their opinion on what type of truck to use and why. I as some choose box trucks for the following reasons :

1-big billboard space

2-security, all your stuff can be locked away and no loading up everyday

3-versitile use esp with modular setups, ie 1 job roof cleaning,another painting, another PW'ING, can setup multiple jobs and as your driving around your advertising

4-mobile shop, storage container. We sometimes leave truck on a single site for weeks at a time, everything the guys need is in there, they can store tools equipment etc from being stolen on sites with multiple trades.

Jeff Thompson · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Currently I still drag a trailer around. Got everything I need on it, plus it frees up my truck for personal stuff. Really came close to putting a skid in the back but use my truck for to many other things and couldn't do it.

My next move is going to be a box truck. I really like the idea of having your entire business on wheels and locked up when your not there to watch it. Plus the advertising abilities. My only concern is buying used and getting screwed, would look into a new one thinking it would last me forever since I'm already 50.

Hank, I like your set up....why do you have so many quick connects?

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Jeff, look into any fleet co, like Ryder, etc, the may have high miles but they maintain them every 3k religiously so it's a good buy.

NYC taxis used to be only buy 60k used police vehicles but not sure now

Fleet vehicles are safer bet than some guy on Kraigs lisp

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Jeff Thompson wrote:
Currently I still drag a trailer around. Got everything I need on it, plus it frees up my truck for personal stuff. Really came close to putting a skid in the back but use my truck for to many other things and couldn't do it.

My next move is going to be a box truck. I really like the idea of having your entire business on wheels and locked up when your not there to watch it. Plus the advertising abilities. My only concern is buying used and getting screwed, would look into a new one thinking it would last me forever since I'm already 50.

Hank, I like your set up....why do you have so many quick connects?

Jeff,

I have five tanks on the truck. Three 55 gallon upright tanks(sh, roof mix and hw mix), one buffer tank for my pressure washer and one 5 gallon for rinsing out my roof pump. There is room in the manifold for more.

Hank

BlueRidge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Maverick Contracting wrote:
BTW, everyone has their opinion on what type of truck to use and why. I as some choose box trucks for the following reasons :

1-big billboard space

2-security, all your stuff can be locked away and no loading up everyday

3-versitile use esp with modular setups, ie 1 job roof cleaning,another painting, another PW'ING, can setup multiple jobs and as your driving around your advertising

4-mobile shop, storage container. We sometimes leave truck on a single site for weeks at a time, everything the guys need is in there, they can store tools equipment etc from being stolen on sites with multiple trades.

I really like the box truck for all of the above reasons and also... we never have an issue when someone needs to use the bathroom. There have been some emergencies... having the closed truck really helped! We use is only for cleaning but everything is there except the vacuum system since it takes up so much room.

The last picture was taken in February while building so everything isn't there on the left wall. The LED lights on a timer switch really make it nice on those overcast days.