With a 15-20k initial investment

[LeeCory]

What would be the exact breakdown of equipment that you would purchase? Not including training, or vehicle.

 

[Craig Lindquist]

Training...4-5K

Meters....2-2.5K

Medium Water Claw 500.00

Phoenix 200HT LGRs @ $2400.00 x2

20 Snoout fans @ 180.00 each

Keep the rest for marketing and working capital.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'm a cheap, I'd get a small dehumidifier ($1600.00) and a pair of big ones (2X $2,000.00) and a dozen air movers ($2,000.00).

Buy more as you grow, take a little from each loss and apply it to an equipment fund, or on a big loss spend half of it.

Don't buy a bunch and let it collect dust. You can get equipment pretty fast when you need it, wait until you need it.

Have you consider used? You can cut those prices in half.
I love new equipment but when you just getting started used might be a better value, it all rents the same price.

 

[LeeCory]

Thanks for the responses.

In a couple weeks I am going to Boldens and taking WRT and ASD back to back.

As far as equipment I know I need to get at least 2 LGR's (Dri-Eaz,Phoenix not decided) and 10-12 air movers.

Extraction: I would love to get a Rover or Hydro-X and a flood extractor so that I don't have to put the wear and tear on the Genesis. I have an empty lettered van that I can dedicate to this, and would like to not have to take both vans. The van with the Genesis does not have enough room to use. What is the best extractor to use with a Rover type machine?

Craig is the only one that mentioned a meter. What is the best choice for a good meter that will do most of what I need?

If I have the money would it be helpful to have software like Xactimate or Bluebook Best 7.5 for billing?

What are the preferred chemicals? Do I need any PPE?

After I take the classes and buy equipment I need to have everything I need to actually do a job. Am I missing anything?

I hope the classes do a better job then the IICRC S500, so far it seems like the same thing printed over and over again to make the book look bigger.

Thanks for all the info... Lee

 

[joey895]

I'm glad you mentioned the s500. I've been looking at the dri eaz guide to restorative drying because it seems like it has more info and wondering if I buy it would I still need the s500?

 

[LeeCory]

Yes, I would like someone with an understanding of the S500 to explain if the way it is written is just a bunch of silliness.

 

[Desk Jockey]

You’ll need a non-destructive Tramex and an intrusive meter with probes. If you have the money a Thermal Camera separates you from most your competition, but isn’t absolutely necessary.

We have both Bluebook which we bought and Xactimate which we rent for $115.00
Bluebook is much easier to work with, but most adjusters work with Exactimate.

You’ll probably need and EPA disinfectant for the bad stuff and a Quat for general purpose.

Tyveks for sewage, half face or full face respirator, organic vapor cartridges, nitrile gloves, booties, rubber boots for the deep stuff.

 

[John Olson]

yes you must have the S500. If you get called into court you better be able to prove you followed the standards set in the S500. Not only that there are many new standards that allow you to make more money. One thing Barry has added to his class is having everyone bring their S500 to class so you can tab the new sections. you should also buy the guide to restoritive drying. im on my phone but when I get back i'll post a break down for a 3-4 job or 1-2 large loss start up. the price is about 15k for a package like this. call me and i'll be happy to give you a no bullshit qoute.

 

[steve g]

I say f the extreme extractor and the rover, the people I deal with want the pad out, I have went round and round with customers bottom line is you really need to do things in some cases how they want. besides the pad must be pulled on cat 2 and 3, and if it has a funky barrier on the top. I would also suggest not getting that many of the old school snail type fans like someone suggested, those are outdated technology, they effectively move half the air and use twice as much power as the axial type fans like the red phoenix models. I will never buy snail type fans again. I am drying a basement right now and I have 19 snail type and 2 axials on it now, its been a bitch to run that much power down there, I have power cords running upstairs, it looks like a tangled mess. if I had all axials I would be making 3 bucks more /day of each unit and I would likely only need to run one cord upstairs instead of 4.

 

[John Olson]

Here is what I would suggest if you had 20k to start.
2 F232 DrizAir LGR 2000 1,961.10 3,922.20T
3 F292 Evolution 1,440.00 4,320.00T
1 F365S Guide to Restorative Drying (Single) 134.10 134.10T
1 F355 Restoration Kit 1,399.50 1,399.50T
6 F259 Ace 370.50 2,223.00T
6 F351 Sahara Pro X3 313.50 1,881.00T
3 F367 Jet CXV 389.50 1,168.50T
3 F284 Hepa 500 816.05 2,448.15T
1 LM91 IICRC Standards for Water Damage Restoration S500 125.00 125.00T0
1 AC016 DELUXE MEDIUM WATER CLAW 494.10 494.10
Total 18115.55

The restoration Kit is your MMS,Hammer Probe etc
I did not include a Rover as a Medium Water Claw will work just fine starting out. I did not include tax as I have no Idea what tax Rate your at. The Price is Hypothetical as again I don't know what your supplier will offer but standard price on a pkg like this "usually" is pretty close. Others will have different opinions but if you came to me with 20k and said I want enough equipment to run a min of 3 jobs at once this would be what my crystal ball would say you need

 

[J Scott W]

John's list is a good starting point. But tradition demands that John and I always disagree on things.

John's list assumes you have a truckmount available to use on the emergency jobs. If you did not have a truckmount with at least a #4 blower and 2" vacuum hose, I would say go for the Hydro-X Xtreme Xtractor or the Dri-Eaz Rover. If you have a suitable truckmount, the medium Water Claw is a good way to start. Get one of the other extractors later as your bsuiness grows.

I would choose different axial air movers. I think the Phoenix Focus and our own Focal Point axial airmovers are a better choice than the Ace units based on performance. They should also save you a few dollars.

Scott Warrington

 

[Desk Jockey]

I like Drieaz equipment but the Ace is not one of my favorites.

I'd get most of John's list with one of the exceptions being Ace's, I'd get more Jet CXV's or the Focal point that Scott recommended or the Force Nines.

 

[John Olson]

I like the Jets better myself BUT you can stack more aces in the same space. The ace is probably the most popular Airmover around here because of the stackabillity ease of moving and the ROI. You can put 2 aces on every x3 so one plug is billing +-100 a day. We can get in the same arguement over the X3's and the Jets but while the Jet is taking the place of the X3 in many situation I still think the X3 has it's place.

AS for the Phoenix/Hydro Force airmovers. Well I sell Viking Airmovers and it is funny how many people don't want to buy Viking yet will buy Phoenix and Hydroforce. Ummmm shhhh don't tell anyone but they are THE SAME AIRMOVER just a different color..