Expanding into the Tile & Grout Cleaning business

[ohioguy82]

Hi,

First of all, I want to thank everyone on here because I've been reading a lot of posts and you have a really great community here. I own a bathtub refinishing business in Cincinnati, OH and I am going to expand into the Tile & Grout Cleaning business. We do a ton of Tile Refinishing (spray-on finish) and frequently are asked about Tile & Grout Cleaning projects. The cleaner we use to prepare for our refinishing work is an acid-based cleaner and has made many gross grout lines look brand new. I plan to attend training classes and do lots of practicing before fully launching this. But the thing I am really struggling the most with is what equipment to buy. Rotovac has a $5,000 startup package for Tile & Grout cleaning. While I'm not sure if that is the right direction to go that is definitely in my comfort zone dollar-wise. I'm sure after doing it professionally for 6 to 12 months I'll get a truck-mounted van. But I'm not prepared to spend that kind of money until I make sure this is something that there is a high demand for here and that we can earn similar money with. With Bathtub Refinishing we earn anywhere from $75 - $100 per tech per hour in revenue. So if you were me and starting out new where would you spend your money?

 

[PistolPete]

Go big or go home! I do only T&G.
Bought a truck mount and tools right out of the gate.
IMHO you're very limited on what you can do with a portable @1200psi.
If you want professional results, get a pro set up.
I bill between $75 - $200 an hour.

 

[Dream Clean]

A portable could be a good way to start. Not sure about specifically Rotovac though. They seem to me to be a bit too high priced for what you get. You'll definitely want to move up to a truckmount eventually but even with my 500 psi portable I can do about 150 square feet of rinsing on a 12 gallon tank and have it look great. Just need to agitate and let the cleaner soak a bit. I definitely prefer my tm for it and on large jobs it definitely goes faster, but you can start slow and still get good results.

 

[Anielytra]

Go big or go home! I do only T&G.
Bought a truck mount and tools right out of the gate.
IMHO you're very limited on what you can do with a portable @1200psi.
If you want professional results, get a pro set up.
I bill between $75 - $200 an hour.

thanks

 

[Michaels Redwine]

thanks it will help me

A portable could be a good way to start. Not sure about specifically Rotovac though. They seem to me to be a bit too high priced for what you get. You'll definitely want to move up to a truckmount eventually but even with my 500 psi portable I can do about 150 square feet of rinsing on a 12 gallon tank and have it look great. Just need to agitate and let the cleaner soak a bit. I definitely prefer my tm for it and on large jobs it definitely goes faster, but you can start slow and still get good results.