Basically, I hate debt. With a passion. I’m trying to do this with as little debt as possible, and I draw a blank when it comes to my work vehicle. I’ve got two kids that I may occasionally have to haul, so my little car does a decent job of that. My full time job supplies me with a work vehicle, and because of that my car has been rarely used.
I’d like to get a van or pickup with a ladder rack, but I’m having a hard time deciding on that because of the lack of an ability to haul my family of four. I know several of you guys started out with an SUV, and I think that’s awesome. My deal is that I don’t have a car with an existing roof rack to carry ladders. Then, the idea dawned on me. A roof rack! Something like a Thule or Yakima that most people use to carry bikes and kayaks and such. Just enough room for a small extension ladder, a step ladder, and I can carry all my bucket and stuff in the trunk.
I’ve heard that most people don’t care what you’re driving, just care about the job that you do. But I think a Nissan Sentra with a handful of ladders on the roof would look dumb.
Care to elaborate? I think I should stop worrying and get out there already.
I have a Thule roof rack on my Astro van. I put a 24 & 32 footer on it regularly. I paid $300 new for it. You can get a used one on Craigslist for $60. They sell an artifical rain gutter plates that you can put on your vehicle if it doesn’t have a raingutter. That’s the problem with Astrtos - no rain gutter.
I think the Thule racks are more than capable if bolted securely to your vehicle. You have a choice of mounting the artificial rain gutters more on the top of the car or neare to the windows. I think the strongest position is right at the edge. Bolting on racks a few inches towards the center of the sheet metal dramatically weakens the structural integrity.
I use rachet straps with no hooks on them to secure the ladders to the bars. I’ll post pictures if you’d like.
I had the bars on my Subaru wagon previous to the Astro, and before that on a Ford Ranger. The bars outlived them all
I started with a Honda Accord and a roof rack. I drove it till I wore out the transmission and the struts. Bought a van in year 3 and it was scarey committing to such a large financial purchase. I am happy I did buy the van. The thing is, The large purchase made me work harder to build my business and make the money to pay for the van. It actually motivated me.
I have an extended cab Silverado, it’s my work and personal vehicle. It fits my two kids and lady in there fine with room to spare. Sell that car and look into something like that?
I wanted a van or transit when I was on the vehicle hunt but found a great truck with more room than I needed. Right now I’m saving up to get a nice cap w/ roof racks and hopefully come fall I will have enough set aside for it.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Resource
Its all a matter of how you present it. I love this. If I could afford one of these I would get one! I would go with a piece ladder though (for more than one reason). The piece ladder just looks less ghetto and more intentional than an extension ladder on a small car in my opinion. TO me this says I can afford something else but I choose to use this because I am hip, trendy, and efficient.
I had completely forgotten about stack ladders, that’s not a bad idea at all. That smart car looks much better than I would have imagined a smart car with ladders on the roof would look.
Does the back seat fold down? If so, just go out and buy a 17’ little giant type ladder from home depot. It’ll get the job done for most houses and almost all commercial. The little giant will get you rolling and you can then upgrade vehicles and ladders down the road.
Also, learn to use a pole. For commercial work that pole is invaluable and you don’t have to drag a ladder from job to job.
It’s great that you’re doing this debt free. Listen to Dave Ramsey if you need a pick-me-up on the debt free living.
… Personally I don’t think a car with ladders doesn’t look as professional as a truck or van.
However…A car with ladders that’s in good shape, has nice paint, perhaps even some
signage (magnetic or otherwise) is better than some dented, smoking, missing a tail light
van or truck. Also, a neat tidy guy in a company shirt and hat driving that car helps balance
the “car with ladders” problem. The last thing is, yes, stop worrying ( I don’t know anyone who has benefited from it)
and get out there with what you got ( or can afford) because we all gotta start somewhere.
I drive a 98 Dodge Dakota with classic bad Dodge paint on the hood and roof. Got it for 2300 in 2010
and have easily put that much more into it, not including the graphics all over.
It now has a nice dent on the right rear fender where I took out
a customers stucco column mailbox. My wife keeps encouraging me to get a nicer looking vehicle ( it runs very well)
but I don’t think I’m losing any business because of it. Heck people even call me from the
road “Hey I’m right behind you can you come clean my windows?”
There’s “looking professional”, and then there’s “being professional” - and the two don’t always go hand in hand when you’re just starting out.
Its very unprofessional to over extend yourself and have problems with your business because of unwise borrowings, and this kind of unprofessionalism can affect your business and your personal life long term.
It may LOOK unprofessional to some (Mostly other window washers - rarely the clients!) to use a car with a roof rack,… but this will have a very small impact on you business if any at all, and if your other business decisions are as sensible, it will probably only be a short term thing anyway - - I’d say go for it!!
When I started out I drove a Volkswagen Jetta with sectional ladders on a roof rack and had no problem working for the rich and famous folks. They didn’t seem to care.
“It’s great that you’re doing this debt free. Listen to Dave Ramsey if you need a pick-me-up on the debt free living.”[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]Good advice, Jared. Debt free is the way to be.
[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]There’s “looking professional”, and then there’s “being professional” - and the two don’t always go hand in hand when you’re just starting out.[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000cd]
More great advise. Fake it 'till you make it. Just don’t fake it so hard that you end up in massive debt :0 You just need a little momentum.
You may not need a 1 ton van, but personally I would aspire to at least a mini van, though. A minivan can hold a lot of gear and is still very fuel efficient. It would be hard to work out of a small car, but it [B]can be done if you are strictly doing window cleaning.
[/B]I’ve cleaned multi-million dollar houses when I was working out of my Subaru wagon. I think that there was a little more resistance to my prices. I had to sell a little more, and hustle to prove to them that I was top shelf. In fact, a few of the people who first balked at my prices apologized profusely after the job was done and their windows looked so awesome.
However now, working out of my Astro van is much more comfortable and I don’t get the price resistance nearly as much. Yes, the van does help close the deal, but I can still close a deal with a geo metro.
This vehicle is wrapped and looks professional. It tells me (as a customer) that whoever owns this company is doing well, which means he has many customers, which means he knows what he is doing and I would consider hiring him.
The same vehicle without the wrap will give me the impression that this is some guy trying to make extra cash and either doesn’t care about image or not in business full time (cares less about customers because he has a “real” job to support his financial needs or working for beer money) and not a professional.
BTW, my statements have nothing to do with the type of vehicle, only the way its presented.
I agree with a lot of the sentiments above- you don’t need to go into debt to look and be professional, and I worked out of sedans for several years. But here’s a thought if you really would like to change vehicles: sell the Sentra and buy a used xB. You can find used xB’s in decent (presentable) condition for around $4k. That’s not a lot for a vehicle that has some real “wow factor” with a lot of people, especially if it’s set up right with lettering. I would say that at least 4 out of 5 people who comment on our vehicle call it a truck or a van, even though it’s really a passenger car. They can clearly see by the signs and the ladders that it’s a work vehicle. For added effect, try and find one in white
Also I would recommend looking into Inno racks- that’s what we have and they are great for ladders: rugged, rectangular steel cross beams. Competively priced, too.
