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Cleaning restaurant floor for $1000 per night
- hackermailman 8y agoRestaurant knife sharpening is another small business that prints money.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoThere's tons of businesses that "print money" as one or two man LLCs but they don't scale well beyond that point. There's several overhead jumps as your company grows to a point where you have to pay someone else to do something because you can no longer do it yourself (hiring your first few employees, company gets so big you need to get someone to do HR/payroll stuff, company owns so much stuff you need to hire someone to specifically maintain the equipment, etc, etc). Sure you can scale but then some other smaller business with lower margins comes along and out-competes you. For businesses where the cost of entry is low this happens fast. It also is worth mentioning that owning a small business is not nearly as good of a work/life balance as being an employee. Expect to work 40hr week managing the business directly and then another 20-40 doing all the behind the scenes stuff that the business needs in order to run. Obviously conditions vary a lot based on what you do and the local economy.
- jeletonskelly 8y agoYeah, our 2-man devops consulting business was printing money until we tried to scale up. Consulting needs a constant stream of new clients so you need a sales guy, then you need to carry a bench so you can start working on new contracts ASAP, then you need benefits and salaries to attract the kind of senior talent you expect from a consultancy, computers, desks, space...
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoIt's even worse in blue collar industries where you have OSHA and possibly DOT circling like vultures waiting for you to slip up. The regs are basically written in a way that it's impossible to comply with the letter of the law 100% of the time at scale. You can't possibly be sure every employee will do everything perfect all the time. It's like speeding. Everyone does it and the unlucky pay the price. One person can't be bothered to tie off to the scissor lift and there goes everyone's bonus.
- mattmanser 8y agoIn the UK we also have a VAT tax cliff that further compounds this problem. If your business makes more than £80k you have to add 20% VAT, but before that you don't. It results in strange scenarios like an accountant recently told a family friend to take more vacations as she was getting too close to the cliff. Makes a lot of small businesses unscalable, but also makes a lot of smaller business ideas viable.
- jeletonskelly 8y agoDo they bring the equipment in and sharpen on-site or do they bring freshly sharpened knives and take the dull ones to be sharpened? Seems like if you had enough initial capital you could buy a ton of new sharp knives, swap them every day, and then spend a whole weekend day doing the sharpening of the knives you rotated out. Then you could keep your 9-5 M-F and make some cash by working a pretty low stress weekend day.
- jressey 8y agoI worked in kitchens for about 10 years and the most common model I am aware of is to pick up the knives weekly and drop some other ones off. I assumed the knives belonged to the sharpening folks. They were garbage knives, but garbage knives are as good as your $300 tempered Japanese knife if you sharpen them.
- wl 8y agoWhile you can get a good edge on a knife made with garbage steel, the edge goes away quickly.
- aquadrop 8y agoBut if you think about it, maybe that's much better type of knife for the sharpening company. You need their service all the time.
- sandworm101 8y agoMany sharpening companies provide knives and keep them sharp for a flat rate. The more they have to be sharpened, the faster they get worn out. If it is on the sharpening company to replace worn blades, they will want to strike a balance between lifespan and replacement costs. The fancy "Japanese steel" knives cost the earth, but high-quality commercial knives (99% identical) don't. Commercial knives are designed with a different approach to safety. They usually have larger grips/guards that, while cumbersome to noobs, reduce injuries. A blade destined to be used constantly and resharpened many many times will also be substantially heavier. That may seem a problem for cutting tomatoes in your kitchen at home, but try prepping a few hundred chickens each day for a week and you will appreciate the heft.
- josefresco 8y agoA couple notes, as my father owned and sold two carpet cleaning businesses. $100/hour is actually fairly standard/reasonable. My father always shot for $150/hour as his standard rate (he had no employees). 30 years ago he wasn't making this but for the last 10-15 he was. The assertion that his supplies and overhead are essentially "nothing" is hilariously naive. I watched his video, he has equipment, not to mention the other costs of running a small business (insurance etc.) I get that he's just starting but it's just silly to assume no overhead if you're looking to emulate. Reading further, he says "I think you can get started for less than $15k". Expect to spend at least that every year. Cleaning floors is hard work. Much of my father's focus in the later years was spent on reducing fatigue, and streamlining the services offered. It's good, decent work, but not easy physically and mentally (worrying about equipment failure) Lastly, my father worked for some restaurants. The % of restaurants that never clean their carpets is huge. There's a good chance that most of your local restaurants have never cleaned their carpets.
- saosebastiao 8y agoIt could also be that cleaning hard flooring and cleaning carpets have different levels of overhead. Carpet cleaners are nowhere near the mechanical simplicity of a spinning floor brush. The floor brush probably lasts 20+ years, needing only scrubbing pad replacements.
- josefresco 8y agoYou're probably right, although many carpet cleaners also clean hard surfaces/flooring with the same equipment (truck mounted hot water extractor machine) Probably not 20+ years if you're working daily, but not every year.
- AceJohnny2 8y ago> I get that he's just starting He says he's been doing this for 5 years.
- josefresco 8y ago
- tompccs 8y agoI love this sort of thing. One of my favourite things to read about are entrepreneurs (although they were doing this before they was even a name for it) in an industry that seems simple to outsiders (say, freight haulage) and building a business out of nothing. No fancy education, no world-changing technological insight, just pure hard work and business smarts to see where the opportunities lie, when and how much to bet, and building on each success to make a bigger one. It's not romantic to most people, so these kinds of stories don't get heard much, and there's a sneering snobbery about people who, when they got rich, don't have a good story which complies with the enlightened public's idea of a "genius" - they tend to assume rich people must be academically brilliant, or they could only have got rich doing something unethical. Read up on Marks and Spencers (first retailer in UK to pass £1bn in profit), founded by a poor Polish immigrant and a cashier. There are tonnes of stories like that, much better inspiration than a lot of the SV Ivy League grad gets showered with VC money story (which, incidentally, feeds into the mistaken notion that there are only opportunities for the rich and well-connected under capitalism).
- hourislate 8y agoHe makes it look like it's easy. There are a lot of different outfits competing in the same space, a whole industry set up to clean restaurant Kitchen Hoods, Grease Traps, Floors, etc and it is super competitive. The only plus is your costs are not super high (pressure washer, mops, buckets, hoses, and vacuums). Detergent can be purchased as you need it. Labor will be difficult with employees calling sick, not showing up, not doing a good job, etc. The most successful part of this industry were the outfits making their own soaps, detergents, etc and providing them to the cleaner/cleaning companies. There is no easy money unless you know someone who can help you get some big contracts. Otherwise you will be chasing the same nickle the other 10 guys are.
- ispimpinpimpin 8y agoI'm interested in learning how to do this.
- UweSchmidt 8y agoIt's a business, so you'll have to figure out some of it yourself. Otherwise it would be a job.
- jermaustin1 8y agoA buddy of mine owns a commercial carpet cleaning business in the NYC metro. His company operates at around 20% profit after salaries, benefits, equipment repair/replace (replaced all generators this year), chemicals, garage rent for his 3 trucks, etc. I'm not saying you can't get away with less equipment, staff, etc, but you aren't able to scale the work up.
- beatgammit 8y agoThat's sounds pretty great and you could probably replace yourself, leaving you with some nice residual income.
- wil421 8y agoI worked in various restaurants for about 7 years before becoming a Software Engineer. I knew the floor cleaner of one of the larger chains I worked for. He was making $100k+ cleaning 5 or 6 restaurants and this was during the height of the recession. He put maybe 60k miles or more a year and had to get a new car often. The work required him to work 7 days a week overnight. It was extremely hard for him to hire reliable people. His marriage failed in his late 40s due to the hours and never having a vacation. He did not like the work and it was very backbreaking. The overnight hours ruined his marriage and friendships. Once he had enough money he was going to retire to Costa Rica. One thing he did like was getting new trucks after about 80-100k mikes.
- magduf 8y ago>Once he had enough money he was going to retire to Costa Rica. Not a bad idea. The US is a terrible place to retire.
- wil421 8y agoIt’s possible to retire there and only live on Social Security. My brother in law was there for 10 years, married a Tica, but they are back in the US so his kid gets a real education. Things like mail, road maintenance, power, and water are not always guaranteed.
- taternuts 8y agoThere's some special exemptions for US citizens who are getting social security from what I remember, but it's also really really hard to legally live there if you're from a different country. I knew a Canadian woman who had lived there for over 10 years, married a Tico, and owned a successful business for 5+, and she was still on her third lawyer trying to become a citizen. First one took the money and ran, second one actually died before the process was finished, and who knows how the third lawyer worked out.
- wil421 8y ago
- nimbius 8y agoI am a master diesel engine mechanic by trade, and $100/hr is the lowest shop rate ive seen for a journeyman mechanic. I havent earned less than $150/hr since getting my ASE certs. That having been said, it (like floor cleaning) is not easy work. Personal protection and safety is critical. Slips, trips, and falls are the #1 killer in these jobs The video talks about de-greasers and gloves but shows the guy wandering around in a pool of degreaser with tennis shoes, no gloves and short sleeves, so im guessing he hasnt had a major accident yet. Degreaser is a base, so it is very slick. It reacts with fats to form soaps, so it only gets slicker. Do not wear keys on slick surfaces, or youll be picking them out of your leg after a fall. The idea that any of these blue-collar jobs "print money" is laughable. We get overtime, sure, but we can also get canned quickly if we dont agree to take it on. Expect to work nothing but third shift as a floor cleaner. expect guys like me to yell at you when you move a rack or a tool chest and dont put it back exactly where it was before. To anyone whos thinking of doing this, Scrub your driveway every day for a week and see if its still appealing.
- lightedman 8y ago"To anyone whos thinking of doing this, Scrub your driveway every day for a week and see if its still appealing." I love power-washing my driveway on a weekly basis. /r/powerwashingporn
- jbob2000 8y agoThe lesson here is to do your job with passion. This man loves his job, otherwise he wouldn’t be posting and making videos about it. It’s the same in tech. If you don’t have passion, you’ll bounce around tech companies, never moving up, always making money, but never enough. But it’s the passion that gives you the edge to deliver something 1% better than the next guy, and so you get the big bucks. Be passionate and the money will follow. Edit: uhh did I say something wrong? Why the downvotes?
- le-mark 8y agoMy highschool job was at a smallish mom and pop grocery store. I took care of the floors every night; sweep, mop, buff. There's a real zen to doing this kind of work, I really enjoyed it.
- bsenftner 8y agoI know a guy in Sacramento with a lawn mowing business. He hirs high school guys and pays them minimum wage. He has 4-6 teams going 4 days a week, and he clears $300K a year. His expenses are 6 trucks, 40 riding mowers, and gas. His employees tend to be high school burn outs.
- westiseast 8y ago“where’s there’s muck, there’s money”
- m0atz 8y agoAs they say, “Where there’s muck, there’s brass”.
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoLots of talk about professionals earning more than this. But you can do this kind of thing with no education at all. Right out of school. All you have to do is, be willing to get your hands dirty. One of the best business models is, selling something that is mandated. Like cleaning restaurant floors (health and safety rules).
- adrianN 8y agoWilling to get your hands dirty, wrecking your health, and never having time to socialize because you sleep when others are awake. Nightshift work is associated with all kinds of health problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_working#Health_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_working#Health_effects
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoMowing lawns; repairing sidewalks; testing car emissions. Many public-mandated jobs can be done during the day.
- dazc 8y agoIn a previous life I earned good money doing re-modelling in banks and office buildings. Because these businesses needed to stay open with minimal disruption, a lot of work was done at night and weekends. I never got used to switching from day to night and days off were spent mostly sleeping. Eventually it came to an end, after about 8 years, and I returned to the land of the living, working 9-5. The adjustment was difficult and the drop in income wasn't much fun either. I ended up changing jobs every few weeks because there was always some reason to leave and eventually I just stopped working altogether. I didn't know it the time but I was drifting into a severe depression that lasted several years and ended with me living on the street. I can't say for sure that working nights for so long set me on that road but I have a strong suspicion that it was a major factor. I got lucky after a short while, got back into work and it's all just a bad memory now. I do wonder where I'd be now though if I'd just stuck to working days, like most people do?
- exabrial 8y agoHigh school my best paying job was assembling busses for Chance Coach for $18/hr (in 2002 dollars). I mainly installed windows, seats, and A/C units. This was not easy work, it was not in air conditioning, and coworkers didn't like working with "a kid". I truly appreciate my SE career now though and I think it taught me a lot about resiliency and getting your hands dirty.
- Yuval_Halevi 8y agoThe beautiful thing about business opportunities is that you can create them by mastering a niche. And once you do, You can charge a lot more.
- chromaton 8y agoMany posts here mention the physical difficulties of the floor cleaning business, presumably from moving heavy equipment, etc. One person mentioned carpal tunnel syndrome from repeatedly working a valve on a spray wand. So there might be even more money here for someone who can figure out how to solve these problems: lighter tools, ergonomically designed handles and triggers, etc.
- paulpauper 8y agodon't understand why they would pay $100/hour to have floors cleaned when restaurants pay employees $15/hour or close to minimum wage for low-skilled work. is cleaning floors so difficult that it necessitates a specialist who charges $100/hour?
- dugditches 8y agoHow often do you think the floors get cleaned? How much equipment or tools do you think the average linecook brings to work? How much do they pay to maintain it?
- hackermailman 8y agoBecause of laws stating you have to professionally steam clean kitchens/floors at X intervals, this guy probably is doing a few dozen restaurants per month on a weekly basis not the same one every night. Normal non grease/kitchen specialist cleaning is ten cents per sq.ft per month or so for cleaners so even cheaper than having your own employees do it, with liability protection.
- sublupo 8y ago> It usually comes out to no less than $100 per hour So the person works 10 hours a night?
- trophycase 8y ago"no less than", but yes, it does sound like that
- beatgammit 8y agoAcross their team, sure. In the Reddit thread, the OP said he has employees.
- chasd00 8y agoThe way to do it is bill $1000/night but pay someone $50/night to actually clean the floor.
- chasd00 8y agomy father in law did commercial HVAC work as an independent and his wife did the books. He made 250k/year before retiring. The work was very physically demanding though. He wanted to hand the whole business to his son but the son wasn't interested. Ironically, his son is a phd at the University of Chicago studying ancient turtle teeth, or something like that, and can barely pay the rent for his apartment.
- schnevets 8y agoNice to see /r/entrepreneur get linked here. If you can get past the wantrepreneur BUY MY EBOOK spam bullshit there's a lot of good information in that sub. I especially like the more location-sensitive, small business posts like this one. I like to think that someone can provide good advice and someone else from a totally different region can apply that knowledge in their own community, which is a net gain for that local economy. r/EntrepreneurRideAlong used to be another one, with a specific focus on starting a cleaning service in 27 days.
- MuffinFlavored 8y ago> wantrepreneur I'm super curious... when does a wantrepreneur convert to an entrepreneur? Like... if you call somebody out/knock them for being a wantrepreneur but calling themselves an entrepreneur, you are "hating" and it "fuels them" until they "finally make it" How many actually make it though?
- scrdhrt 8y agoFollow the hustle porn. My empirical studies show 1/10. Most of them I see who makes a good living does so with repeated failures in their business history and new knowledge going into the new venture. Getting back up -> grit -> extended network -> new business idea -> better support -> ??? -> $$$ Being at the right place at the right time also helps.
- schnevets 8y agoIn the context I provided, I think a wantrepreneur is anyone presenting themselves at a far higher value/position than they are in reality, usually in a matter that is detrimental to others. I know starting a business is all about "faking it until you make it", but there are tons of braggarts talking about "wielding influence and connections" (because they purchased 20,000 twitter followers) or "becoming a product visionary" (because they hopped on the instagram/twitch/dropshipping bandwagon at the right time and have no redeeming differentiation). Usually these personalities are just annoying, but sometimes these people have hostile intentions. I personally call myself a wantrepreneur occasionally, as someone who is interested in the culture and community of founders, but who hasn't actually delivered a product yet.
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