Starting a pressure washing or soft wash business? Here is the rig we would build you.
Most people who call us about starting out ask the same three things: cold or hot water, what GPM, and new or used. Here is the plain answer, then the actual starter rigs we build from parts we stock — priced, honest, and fixed in our own bay.
Cold or hot water for a first rig
The single most useful thing to know before you spend is that flatwork and house wash are not hot-water work. Concrete, siding, driveways and roofs are cleaned with pressure and chemistry — soft wash for anything vertical and fragile, a surface cleaner for flatwork. Cold water does that, at a much lower buy-in, and it is lighter to haul and far simpler to maintain because there is no burner, fuel system or coil to winterize.
Hot water earns its cost when the soil is greasy — fleet and truck washing, kitchen exhaust, heavy equipment. That is genuine commercial work with real margins, but it is not where a one-person starter business usually begins. Start cold. Add a hot water unit to a second rig when the jobs pay for it. The hot vs cold water breakdown goes deeper if you are weighing a role you already have.
Why GPM drives a starter rig
PSI is what people quote, but GPM — flow — is what cleans a surface area per hour.
A surface cleaner needs enough flow under it to scrub the whole deck. Undersized, it streaks and wastes your time; the surface cleaner sizing guide shows the match. The same flow feeds a soft wash pump for roof and siding work. So the practical rule for a starter: pick a machine in the 4 to 5.5 GPM range at roughly 3,500 to 4,000 PSI, and let the deck and soft wash line dictate the numbers, not the biggest badge on the box. The PSI vs GPM guide is the whole math in one place.
The starter rigs we would build you
Real builds from parts we stock — push the preset into the Rig Builder to see the full line-up and adjust it.
Pressure-only starter
A clean, portable pressure rig for concrete, siding and driveway work — the cheapest way to start washing flatwork this season.
- BE 4.2 GPM @ 4200 PSI Roller Cart with Honda Engine / Comet Pump$1,650
- SG35 Easy Pull Trigger Gun$42.99
- M5 Twist Nozzle$73.88
- Rampage 1-Wire 3/8 High Pressure Hose$89.99
- Whisper Wash Classic 19" Surface Cleaner$975
Pressure + soft wash starter
One rig that pressures flatwork and soft-washes roofs and siding, so you take house wash and concrete work from day one.
- 5.5 GPM @ 3500 PSI Electric Start CRX with General Pump and Charging$2,299
- Rampage 2-Wire 3/8 High Pressure Hose$129.99
- SG35 Easy Pull Trigger Gun$42.99
- Dieters Industrial SS Shooter Tip 5-6 GPM$33.50
- Remco 7 GPM Fatboy 12V$311.99
- Rampage 1/2 inch Soft Wash Hose — 300 PSI Rated$249.99
- Down Stream Mixer with Clear Manifold$395
- Whisper Wash Classic 19" Surface Cleaner$975
Used-machine starter
A shopped-in, inspected commercial machine at about half new price — the budget play to get a second rig or a first one that still pays for itself.
- 4 GPM @ 4000 PSI Commercial Pressure Washer$1,299
- 100 Gallon Vertical Slim Tank$529
- Rampage 2-Wire 3/8 High Pressure Hose$129.99
- SG35 Easy Pull Trigger Gun$42.99
- Dieters Industrial SS Shooter Tip 5-6 GPM$33.50
- VRT3 Unloader$68
- Whisper Wash Classic 19" Surface Cleaner$975
These are parts-and-machine totals. Build labor, plumbing and freight are quoted by the shop when you send the build through the Rig Builder — nothing is charged until you approve it.
Soft wash is a bolt-on, not a separate business
Roofs and siding are where house-wash margins live, and the good news is you do not need a second machine to go after them. A soft wash pump, a 300 PSI soft wash line, a proportioner and chlorine-stable surfactant turn the same pressure rig into a house-wash rig. That is exactly what the pressure + soft wash starter above does. Everything on that side — pumps, hose, mixers — is in the soft wash section.
New or used for your first rig?
Used is a legitimate way to fund a first or second rig, and it is usually the right answer for a backup machine. The risk in buying used is not the machine — it is buying it from someone who will not back the work. Every machine on our used floor has been through our eleven-point shop-in, and we will tell you what we found and fixed rather than sell it as-is. The trade-offs are laid out honestly in the buying a used pressure washer guide.
Buy where you can also get it fixed
Worth saying plainly for anyone new to this trade: a pressure washer is a working asset, and it will need a bench at some point. When it does, you do not want your only option to be shipping it away mid-season and waiting weeks. We fix every brand in our own repair bay — including machines we did not sell you — which is a different kind of safety net than a discount on the purchase price.
Starting a pressure washing business — quick answers
Cold or hot water to start a pressure washing business?
For flatwork — concrete and asphalt — a cold water machine at 3,500 PSI and 4 GPM and up is usually all you need, and it is cheaper to buy, simpler to maintain and lighter to haul. Most of the house-wash side of the business is delivered by soft wash at low pressure, not by heat. You add hot water later for greasy, petroleum and fleet work, where heat releases soil that pressure alone can't.
Why does GPM matter as much as PSI for a starter rig?
GPM is flow — how much water you push, and therefore how fast a surface cleaner covers concrete. Too little flow and a big deck streaks because it is underfed. Flow also drives soft wash coverage. The short version: size the machine first by the surface cleaners and soft wash you plan to run, not by the biggest PSI number. The nozzle sizing calculator walks through the same math.
Is a soft wash add-on worth it on my first rig?
If you are going after roofs and siding, yes — that is where house washing margins live, and it is why the pressure + soft wash starter is the most common first rig we build. You can start pressure-only on flatwork and add the soft wash pump, hose and proportioner to the same machine when you are ready.
Is it smarter to start with a used machine?
A used commercial machine inspected and serviced by a dealer shop is a legitimate way to fund a first or second rig at roughly half the new price. The catch is you buy it from someone who will back the work — we shop-in every machine that lands on the used floor, and we will sell it to you fixed rather than as-is off a classified ad.