Starting up paperwork

mountain view

New Member
I realize that it may differ from region to region but, in general, what type of insurance, business license, etc. should I expect to have to get when I start up a power washing business? I will be a one man show for awhile. How much of your "personal" expenses do you guys put down to the "business"? I realize I may not get alot of answers to that second question. :rolleyes:

Pete
 

CaroliProWash

New Member
Hi Pete and welcome to the bbs :)

Ahh, the paperwork and of course you've listed my favorite soapbox topic! Even as a one man business, you will still have the basic requirements.

Insurance - General Liability is a must. Rates will vary from state to state but while you are looking, notice that the difference between the minimum amount and going on and getting $1M is minimal. The larger limits will allow you to bid on commercial jobs with bigger bucks! We carry Worker's Comp (because we have clients that require it) even though we are technically not covered, it protects the homeowner and any helpers we may use from time to time. Also, not a very expensive piece of change when you realize that you're not gonna get some of the higher paying jobs without it.

Business licenses - this can ranges from state requirements right down to privilege licensing in various municipalities/cities/townships, etc... At this time, there are not "on the books" licensing requirements for pressure washing, however, as an example of what you MAY see - in Maryland, if you stain decks, you have to have a Maryland Home Improvement Contractors license (weird).

There is nothing wrong with including personal experiences but don't be ridiculous about it. Using your dad's pwer once a year since you were twelve doesn't really entitle you to say you have decades of experience! Use good judgment - be honest! It is much better to be upfront than to try and boost yourself and get called on it! When we first started, we worked around the question...now our portfolio speaks for itself and building that doesn't take too long:)

Good luck in your endeavor - kudos for doing things in the proper order!

Celeste
 

mountain view

New Member
Excellent info Celeste! I'll be checking into the regulations here in Texas during the next few days. You may have misread my second question. I was asking about expenses, not experiences :) .....although others experiences are an important learning tool for me too. It looks like you guys are full time, true? Is it just the two of you or are you bigger than that? I ask because I don't think my wife would object to giving up her day time job if I can make a go of this, but niether one of us really want to go much bigger than the two of us.

Thanks again,

Pete
 

CaroliProWash

New Member
Oops, my bad - I did misread. Expenses...personal ones will depend on how you list your company. We are an LLC partnership (50% Roger & 50% me) It keeps the company and personal assets & liabilities separate until the bottom line is done on taxes. If the company shows a profit, we'll cut a nice check to ourselves as a bonus or salary or whatever - personal taxes being less expensive than corporate ones you know :) If you put personal monies into your LLC, then the LLC owes you money and anything you take back is repayment of the debt - not salary or income. Make sense?

We are full time now. We started up part time in August of 03 and went full time in April of '04 - haven't looked back since although I will tell you, winters are kinda scary! One thing to consider before leaving a job with bennies - they're stinking expensive for a self-employed person. I used to get a huge chuckle from these letters that we got from the military telling us in the real world how much we were actually making......now I see where they were coming from. If your wife has benefits, it would probably be worth keeping that job while you build your base. I'm not in the field with Roger so much but part of that is because we're expanding our services. I'm busy with the groundwork on that (and I'm not too fond of being wet, sticky, muddy, cold, clammy, stinky - all the lovely things that one can become when pressure washing :))

Celeste
 

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