Hull Cleaning South FL.

[Scubabill]

I'm looking for 4 more to start up Hull Cleaning in South Fl.

As of right now, i have a place to rent @ 500.00 per week that has 5 beds, AC, cable.
Thats 120 a week per person. Must have Dive equipment! Must have enough cash to support yourself 30 days. Everyone will throw in 500.00 for new/used cleaning equipment. I would think 2000.00 per person would be a good start.

The plan is to hit the docks 12 hours a day, looking for work. Once we get a few jobs, i'm certain it will snow ball. First 2-3 months will be the tuff part. All expenses will come out of work done. AFTER expenses, 50% of profits will goto equipment purchase. The rest will be divided 5 ways. If everything happens as planned, the company will be made a corp. and all 5 people will be partners. No games, no bull.

Let me BE REALLY CLEAR!!!!!!!! >>>>>>>If you have drinking issues, or Drug issues of ANY KIND< Don't bother contacting me. I have been sober over 15 years, and WILL NOT DEAL, OR BE AROUND IT!
I don't mind people going out on nights off, and drinking, ect (i'll go too, just don't drink). I do MIND people that need to work @ 7 am, and feel the need to get drunk, spend 50+ a night on drinks, and come in @ 3 am wasted... Again, I WILL NOT BE AROUND IT! You will be asked to leave.

Once the work starts to flow, i plan on working 5 days a week, reserving Monday & Tuesday to diving. Thats the whole idea to living in FL! Diving. (i also will be fly fishing, and deep sea fishing) First 2 months, 7 days a week. Would love to make enough to buy a used boat that can be used by the company plus,used for diving. Would make a good right-off also. I have people for insurance.

So, if you want to relocate to South Fl, have enough to support the company, and yourself a month, give me a pm. Figure 2000 ech. With hard work, 5 people, and cleaning equipment, we will make money.

I'm looking for 4 people ready to start on August 1st! Meet @ apartment on the 30th
ready to roll!


What would be a HUGE help!

Someone with cleaning equipment!
Someone with a reliable newer pick-up truck! (i have a car)

Guys and gal's welcome. THe apartment has one room with two beds (private)
The other room has two beds (people need to walk through for the head)
And a nice pull out couch in living room. So two gal's could use the private room.
Head is shared. The apartment is very average, nothing fancy at all, but the AC works well, and is one block off of US 1 in Ft. Laud. Safe area.

Lets go have fun in the sun, make money, live clean, work long, and dive strong, all over south Fl!

We will hit docks from Key Largo all the way up to West Palm.


Serious only please!.

 

[DennisS]

Good luck on your venture, hopefully with 5 people it doesn't turn into a reality show. There are a lot of one man operations down here you will be competing with. Keep us posted on the progress.

Will the other 4 people be independent contractors working unsupervised or employees of the company?

 

[Scubabill]

Good luck on your venture, hopefully with 5 people it doesn't turn into a reality show. There are a lot of one man operations down here you will be competing with. Keep us posted on the progress.

Will the other 4 people be independent contractors working unsupervised or employees of the company?

Thanks for the support, with 5 people working 12 hours a day, i'm sure we will do good. Everyone will be a equal share holder, after the Corp. setup is finished.
Any new employess (if we are so lucky) will be paid only, the Org. 5 will own the comapany.

 

[BigHarryDiver]

Firstly - I am NOT an attorney and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

IMOA - you should consider incorporating BEFORE you start work. Others feel free to chime in. Being incorporated makes the corporation liable and not you or your employees, subcontractors or anyone else personally responsible for any damages etc.. I have been involved in a different business for 20 years, thankfully have never had any legal issues but if I did, my corporation is the responsible party, not me or my employees personally.

Best of luck with your endeavor.

 

[DennisS]

99% of the boats in a marina are not going to have anyone aboard. No one wants you coming aboard their boat to leave business cards or brochures that turn into messy papier mache after a few rainstorms. There are a lot of boats with no one visiting them for a month or two.

A guy that works where I keep my boat has a solution. He puts his card in a small clear plastic bag with about 1/4 ounce of colored aquarium gravel in the bag. He just tosses the bag on to a seat or a dash, the colored gravel keeps it from blowing away. My first reaction was what's this, instead of "more damn flyers"

If you really want to make money start detailing and servicing boats, get a few good customers. Wash/Polish the boat, turn over the engines, on a schedule, make sure the batteries are always fully charged, check the bilge. Have it stocked with drinks, ice, bait etc when the owner is ready to go out. Wash it down when he comes in. I have a friend that makes some nice money doing this. He's very tight lipped about what he charges.

Each marina needs a separate document from your insurance company naming them. Most are very strict with liability insurance paperwork made out to the marina.

 

[Scubabill]

Good luck on your venture, hopefully with 5 people it doesn't turn into a reality show. There are a lot of one man operations down here you will be competing with. Keep us posted on the progress.

Will the other 4 people be independent contractors working unsupervised or employees of the company?

99% of the boats in a marina are not going to have anyone aboard. No one wants you coming aboard their boat to leave business cards or brochures that turn into messy papier mache after a few rainstorms. There are a lot of boats with no one visiting them for a month or two.

A guy that works where I keep my boat has a solution. He puts his card in a small clear plastic bag with about 1/4 ounce of colored aquarium gravel in the bag. He just tosses the bag on to a seat or a dash, the colored gravel keeps it from blowing away. My first reaction was what's this, instead of "more damn flyers"

If you really want to make money start detailing and servicing boats, get a few good customers. Wash/Polish the boat, turn over the engines, on a schedule, make sure the batteries are always fully charged, check the bilge. Have it stocked with drinks, ice, bait etc when the owner is ready to go out. Wash it down when he comes in. I have a friend that makes some nice money doing this. He's very tight lipped about what he charges.

Each marina needs a separate document from your insurance company naming them. Most are very strict with liability insurance paperwork made out to the marina.

Thanks for sharing the info. It's apperciated!

As for flyer's i agree, they aren't the best way. The card in a bag trick is nice, i would use a key ring, with my number on it. Having the Corp. setup, pre work, sure would be nice, but we will have to make some money first. (thats about first on the list, along with insurance) we will have to locate work, to start, in the areas we can. There are plenty of boats on private docks/slips, ect ect....Enough to keep us busy until we can branch off into other more strict areas.

 

[Scubabill]

Firstly - I am NOT an attorney and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

IMOA - you should consider incorporating BEFORE you start work. Others feel free to chime in. Being incorporated makes the corporation liable and not you or your employees, subcontractors or anyone else personally responsible for any damages etc.. I have been involved in a different business for 20 years, thankfully have never had any legal issues but if I did, my corporation is the responsible party, not me or my employees personally.

Best of luck with your endeavor.

You are 100% right, i too have been involed in a small start up. Item #1 insurance, item #2 Corp setup (at the same time). I figure by week 3 this will be in motion. I also plan on medical after #1 & #2 are done. Making lots of money would be nice, but that's not really my goal, i just want to live confortable, clean, right, in Fl, taking advantage of all the great activities the state offers. I have lived there 2 times in the past, i know the area very well. I dont plan of starting a full time ""gypsy"" crew , the company will be very legit.

 

[fstbttms]

The plan is to hit the docks 12 hours a day, looking for work. Once we get a few jobs, i'm certain it will snow ball.

Oh, man. This is a recipe for disaster. How many noobs have I seen come and go over the last 15 years? They buy some gear, hang up some business cards and wait for the phone to ring. After a few months, realizing that they aren't going to be able to pay the rent, they give it up and go back to a real job. I've seen it happen again and again and again.

Here's the reality of the hull cleaning biz; building a clientele is a long, slow process. Boat owners aren't going to flock to your door simply because you're offering your services. They already have a diver. And unless they're unhappy with them, they aren't going to switch. Plus, there's tons of competition. I would guesstimate that there are hundreds of hull cleaners already established and working in the region you plan to cover. Plus you have (presumably) no experience. You have nothing to offer except possibly a lower price. What this means is the customers you do get initially will be those who do not maintain their boats well or are only interested in saving a buck. In the first case, most of the boats you do will be nasty, dirty jobs that are no fun. In the second case, your customer will not only have a poorly maintained boat but will leave you as soon as someone cheaper comes along. Neither customer is one you want to keep for long.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to dissuade you from starting your business. Hull cleaning pays very well and nothing is as satisfying as owning your own business. But nobody jumps into it with both feet (as you seem intent on doing) and begins making a living quickly. And you are planning to drag four others along with you, to boot. There is no way your startup business will immediately support one of you, much less five. Hull cleaning services grow one client at a time. This is not a quick process and usually means you need to have a real job that pays the bills while you build the business. Please consider this before you get in over your head- no pun intended.

 

[pollywogg]

I actually just recently closed down the hull cleaning part of my business. Hull cleaning goes for around $1-1.25/ft around here. At that price, there is little room for undercutting. Also, as fstbttms stated, people with boats already have someone cleaning their boats. Many boat owners have had the same person/company cleaning their boats for years, and they have a trust in those cleaners. You won't sway those boat owners with a $0.25/ft discount. Scuba Scrubbers and Barnacle Busters have a death grip on the hull cleaning biz around here. Another hurdle I came across was that much of the boat traffic in SoFla is transient. They come in from all over, are here for a week or two, then sail off elsewhere. So building a client list takes one in the knees every time you clean a boat, ask the owner about starting a cleaning plan, and he/she tells you that they won't be back in the area for another 3-6 months, so maybe they'll call next time. Last, but not least, many of the marinas here have a relationship with one of the abovementioned companies, if not another company. The harbor masters will not allow you to advertise a competing service in the marina.
The hull cleaning sector of the business was a small part of the services offered, but after over a year of guerilla marketing and trying to get it off the ground, it made more sense to focus on our other services. While trying to get it going, I had competing divers come over and 'threaten' me, I had harbor masters threaten to cut lines, etc. Not worth it to me for $1.25/ft/
I'm not trying to dissuade you, but this whole plan of collecting 4 (!) other divers to start a business like this is a little.....enthusiastic. I hope this was helpful. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

 

[Scubabill]

Nice. I spend half an hour giving you the benefit of my experience and you call me a name. Guess I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear. Just thought I'd give you some real world perspective from somebody who has actually built a hull cleaning business from scratch.

Good luck, buddy. You're gonna need it.

The advice is good, the undertone insults is not.....I'm not the type of person you
accuse of trying to drag people down, and not hear about it. Where i come from, we don't dance in other peoples business, especially if its filled with negative. I'm here looking for 4 people that want to live in FL, dive, and make money.....not to have some ego maniac tell me how screwed up my plan is.... i didn't ask.....I know FL, i know people, and i have a solid plan period.