The cheapest realistic setup that can still do paid work, with the essentials separated from the optional.
Being filmed. The written lesson, the steps, the action task and the downloads below are complete — work through those now and the footage will appear here.
2700–3000 psi, 11–13 LPM, petrol, triplex pump, belt or gearbox drive. Avoid direct-drive universal pumps: they are cheaper and they die in six months of commercial use.
Not optional. A wand does a double driveway in three hours and leaves stripes. A surface cleaner does it in fifty minutes with no stripes. It is the biggest speed upgrade you will ever buy.
30 metres of non-marking two-wire pressure hose, plus a good 20 metre garden hose for the feed. A kinked or undersized feed hose starves the pump and you will blame the machine.
25 and 40 degree tips for work, one turbo for spot jobs. Bin the red 0-degree tip that comes in the box. It will cut concrete and it has no legitimate use.
Downstream injector and a 25L drum, plus a 5L pump-up sprayer for pretreatment. Test the injector's real draw ratio before you trust a mix.
20L of 12.5% sodium hypochlorite, 5L of surfactant, and a degreaser. Buy local and buy fresh — it degrades in heat and light.
Boots, eye protection, chemical gloves, ear protection, wet weather gear. Non-negotiable.
Two branded shirts, ute magnets, 250 business cards. Spend this before you spend anything on a nicer machine.
A measuring wheel or laser, so you quote area instead of guessing.
Driveways, paths, pavers, patios, pool surrounds, fences, retaining walls, single-storey house washes with a downstream injector, and exterior windows by hand. That is the large majority of residential work.
| Job | Why not | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Roofs | No safe soft-wash delivery, no height kit | 12V soft wash system + harness + ticket |
| Two-storey walls | No reach | Telescopic lance, or a proper 12V system |
| No-tap jobs | No water | 400L tank + transfer pump |
| Gutter clearing | No vacuum | Gutter vac or do it by hand from a ladder |
| Commercial grease | No hot water, no containment | Hot unit + recovery kit |
The essentials list comes to about $2,415. To land on $2,000, skip the turbo nozzle, the degreaser and the measuring wheel (pace the area out instead and buy the wheel from your first job).
Buy the cheapest machine that has a triplex pump and the best surface cleaner you can afford. New operators do the opposite: they spend $2,500 on a machine and use the supplied wand. The wand is why their days are twelve hours long.
In the portal these tick off and save as you go.
These come with the lesson when you enrol.