I have some business ideas. What do you guys think?

[eddycharles]

1. Sewer drain cleaning. I would probably start with a hand or drill powered snake. Or I would buy an electric powered snake on Amazon for a few hundred dollars. I would offer to snake all the drains in people's homes regardless if they are clogged or not. I would charge a few hundred dollars for this. Where can I get good online training for using a sewer snake?
2. P trap cleaning. Unscrewing all p traps in people's homes and cleaning them out then replacing them. I'd charge a few hundred but definitely less than the sewer snake.
3. Dryer vent cleaning. Pull out dryer. Clean out back of dryer and tube connecting dryer to wall. Clean vent from wall to outlet on side or top of home. All I need is a high suction vacuum and a brush cleaner kit from Amazon. I'd charge 150 to 250 dollars for this.
4. Tile cleaning and sealing. Don't need much equipment and I can get everything I need on Amazon. Seems like a simple process. I would charge 200 to 400 dollars depending on how much tile I'm cleaning.

What do you guys think? Which one should I do? Or do you have other recommendations for businesses with low start up cost?

Thanks.

 

[steph5472]

@eddycharles Some places will consider 1 & 2 to be plumbing and require you to have a plumbing license.

Check your local laws first.

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles I do dryer vents and window cleaning. Depending on your market you may be able o do just dryer vents, plenty of companies do. With a kit from snaplok, a drill and a good shop vac you’re off to he races. Take the CDET certification so you can learn all the ins and outs and be confident talking to your customers. Pretty profitable with plenty of upsells too.

 

[eddycharles]

@droxy Thanks. How do you know when you're at the end of the duct? What do you charge?

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles Oh shoot I forgot to add a camera to the list, you go in with that to see how many rods you need before or during the cleaning. The camera seriously sets you apart from a handyman doing this service because they have no idea if they did a good job, I often do the cleaning and then check with the camera and realize I missed something or there is a disconnect in the system. I charge $175 for most cleanings, seems like I’m fairly in the higher end of middle as far as I can tell.

 

[eddycharles]

@droxy Thanks. What camera do you use?

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles I have the vent vision one from snaplok but their cheaper ferret cam didn’t exist when I bout it so I’d go with that.

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles I have the vent vision one from snaplok but their cheaper ferret cam didn’t exist when I bout it so I’d go with that.

 

[eddycharles]

@droxy Thanks. Is it rigid enough to push through the vent by itself or do you have to tie it to something rigid?

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles It attaches to the same rods you use for cleaning.

 

[eddycharles]

@droxy Does the camera push through lint easily when you use it to find out how long the duct is? Does all the lint cover the screen so you can't see?

 

[droxy]

@eddycharles Sometimes, you just start the cleaning then and switch back to the camera after a bit.

 

[sophyjo]

@droxy Don’t you need to get on the roof to do vent cleaning to take off the cap ?

 

[eddycharles]

@sophyjo No I think you can clean it all from the dryer location.

 

[dreuter032003]

@eddycharles I've often thought the dryer vent cleaning was a pretty good idea. I sometimes worry that my dryer is going to burn the house down so there's some decent incentive for people to get the work done once they're aware of the danger. Not as dirty as the others, but dusty.

How will you promote your services?

 

[eddycharles]

@dreuter032003 Nextdoor and Google ads.

 

[pastorpontibus]

@eddycharles 1 & 2 : Are called "Emergency Plumbing" RotoRooter & MrRooter are the big franchise operators and also do regular plumbing work because there isn't enough emergency work. Are you a Plumber?

1. Over time, with some decent marketing you could build up a name for an area. The problem for me is the one and done nature. If you could establish a routine or include some other services I would find it more interesting. You need a large metro area to keep you busy enough.
2. Do you know anything about tile? Typically it's the grout that gets cleaned and sealed. There is of course natural stone that should be sealed but each requires knowledge about what to use, what is effective and won't effect the color. Tile floors can be large, you'll need many tools including a rotating tile and grout cleaner.

As for pricing, pick a service you can actually perform and then work out your pricing based on market and cost. Your initial stab at pricing is naïve. $250 is too much for a dryer vent and $400 is too little for quality grout cleaning.

 

[gesile]

@eddycharles I would do dryer vent cleaning.
- drain cleaning you don’t wanna get into unless you know want your doing, also your county might require you to have a license.

Plus drain cleaning is profitable but it’s the big jobs that drain cleaning leads into that are really profitable, it would be crazy to only clear a drain and not have a decent camerea which will cost 4-14k which will get you those bigger jobs.

-I would personally do dryer vent cleaning,
Invest in a decent set up that’s portable, look into getting a system that uses a vacuum to suck out the lint so it doesn’t take a mess everywhere.

Also you could sell Yearly memberships; and you can pay someone hourly or commission to sell services door to door.

• experience owning and operating a plumbing company.

Whichever you choose, make sure you have a master plan on advertising and marketing. Neither of these ideas are good if you can’t consistently produce the phone to ring.

 

[eddycharles]

@gesile Thanks. Regarding dryer vent cleaning, how do I know when my brush has hit the end? How much would you charge for this service?

 

[gesile]

@eddycharles Depends, look up. Few how to videos.
- minimum I $79-$250 all depends on access. Sometimes you can clean it from the outside floor or outside roof, or from the dryer going out.

It’s an easy sell, I would go door to door with an iPad showing how easily a dryer can catch on fire because the vent pipe was filled up with lint.

You have to sell the value and solution your doing.