That was the abbreviated version, might as well copy and paste my first attempt at this topic in a different part of the site..
Hello! First post! This looks like an amazing forum. I've been on a few other types of forums for other topics, and this is what the internet is for, sharing info and helping each other! Can't beat a good, friendly forum. Now on to my question...
I own a lawn/landscape business, and am always scheming for some off-season work ideas. Right now I cut firewood: good hard work, lots of fun, not much money. One day I hope to be able to streamline that activity, run it as lean and productively as possible and notch it back just enough so I can relieve some stress running the chainsaw, and sell enough premium wood so that I can afford to give the soft wood away through food banks and such around here. I hate waste, and I see soft maples chopped down and ditchline wood dozed down/piled and burnt too much with too many people in need of heat that can't afford it.
If you want to cut to the chase, start reading here:
Sorry, I'm bad about getting off on bunny trails, I need my own little emoticon for that. What I am looking at now is detailing farm equipment. I used to detail vehicles here and there, and did a pretty respectible job for a guy with a waterhose, a shop-vac, and a bucket of goodies. That was a few years back, but my uncle called me the other day to "clean" the tractors because he's about to have an auction in Feb to liquidate the farm equipment since he's retiring. So I said yes.
He had a guy with a hot water high pressure system who cleans heavy equipment for a living come in and clean the outside. That's a whole other thing that I wouldn't have a chance at without a huge investment. BUT- I started on these tractors, and couldn't stop. He walked up the the first one I did and was sort of blown away. I don't mess around. I'm sure that there are people out there that do a lot better job than I did, but he was expecting me to just kick out the mud and clean the windows apparently. "I guess this is gonna cost me huh?" "It might" "Well, that's fine, do the rest just like it".
Then I got to thinking... I wonder if I could do this a little in the winter? Does anyone out there detail farm equipment? I would have a lot of questions about the best way to go about it, from business model, to how to's. I would fore-go the powerwashing and contract it out to a buddy of mine who contracts large-equipment cleaning, but do the outside final wash/wax and detail out the inside. It's a beast with all the dust and mud, but I'm not afraid of it.
I know the markets are going to be different everywhere. We still have a lot of little farms around here who wouldn't hire this sort of thing out every year, but there are some big farms that like to look good who would, and my biggest expectation is to work on equipment that is about to be sold. Most farmers probably trust their farm hands to knock the dust off and kick the mud out, but when it comes to selling a $20,000-$200,000 item, sometimes they would probably be willing to pony up the cash. And farmers talk, boy do they talk. Do one good job this year, get two next year, get 4 the next.
Any thoughts on any of this? Sorry about the long read!
