Can Blasting Be A Part-time Job And Still Make Money?

gran_national

As the title indicates, I'm curious to know how many of you guys started out part time as I'm thinking about doing. I have an IT job right now and that's a 40 hr/wk job, so blasting would just be a part-time evening and Sat. job. I have some questions, so I'll just post them below:

1. Do you guys remember what your start-up cost was, if so, what was it?
2. For blasting with sand, glass, etc. do I need a specific type of pot?
3. How big of a compressor would be needed (this probably depends on question 2.)
4. How do you guys clean up the media when you're done?
5. Is there one particular type of media that is an environmental nightmare to deal with?
6. How did you come up with your pricing forumla?

I'm just looking at getting into this and would like some help. Anything would be great!!

killzoneq2

I do sandblasting part-time. I am a "cop" full-time. In my area there is not much need for Dry Ice. I started shooting Silica until I was rebuked all for using it. I was clueless at to its danger..I had never blasted in my life, but saw a need for it in my area for as the last guy shot Silica sand and died of cancer. He was an old school blaster with no respiration equipment. My prices may be off on just a bit on what I paid for my equipment, its been awhile. Do a search, as I posted most of my progress.

I would not use any less than a 185 cfm compressor. I found my deal which consisted of a ATLAS 185 cfm compressor and a Clemco 100# pot, dead man and all hoses, Clemco Apollo 60 air hood, Clemco air filter all for $2500.00 just over a year ago. I modified the hitch on the compressor to carry the pot and put a large tool box on it to carry the hoses. I used my 2001 Dodge ram to hull the media and to pull the compressor.

If you are doing small stuff the 100# pot is great. As my name got out, larger jobs started coming in. Tow truck, car/truck frames, dump truck. The 100# pot became a pain in the butt to load every 15 minutes. I found a Clemco 600# pot that I purchased for $500.00. It had all the remotes with no hoses. Just after buying that, I found another deal on a Schmidt 600# pot, with Apollo 60, 50' blast hose, 2 Clemco air filters, a Hood heater, and extra fresh air hoses for $1700.00.

Going from 100# pot to 600# was a the difference between night and day. I am wore out before the pot is empty. Great investment!!!

I found an old Chevy flat Bed 1 ton dually truck for $1000.00 with a 454 in it and it ran great. I mounted my Schmidt pot in it and can hull a skid of sand and pull my compressor. This upped my serviceable mobile sandblasting sales..

The demand for smaller parts blasting prompted me to recently build a 18'x21' blast room that my two Clemco's will stay in. I am in the process of installing exhaust fans and electricity but I focus on the "Mobile" part of blasting. Before the room people would just drop off crap in my driveway. I had to wait for nice weather to get it done.

Money spent to invest in all of this $2500.00 for compressor and 100# pot. $1000.00 for truck. Truck insurance is not much and I have one hundred thousand dollars liability insurance. Had to get a tax I.D. $25.00 to be legit, business cards and stickers for my truck. I do all of the labor myself. Do the math, I got some good deals on stuff but had to do some digging get it. LLC or INC is in my future plans.

Business cards and the stickers on my personal truck have been my only advertisement. I put my cards everywhere, if I see an old rusted out tractor or old equipment laying around. Put them in farmers mailboxes and on barn doors, there is no shame in my game!! Whatever works. Your name will get out there and you will get work assuming there is no competition in your area. Competition sucks in this line of work due to the variable pricing scale I am finding to be out there.

Silica is very cheap but I have found out that you don't want to get caught blasting with it due to it being a carcinogen. I now use coal slag for all of my blasting. I mainly do heavy rust removal and it has a wide option of grits available to obtain different profiles.

Clean up costs??? I charge out the butt for those.. Most will choose to clean up themselves due to the price and wish they had paid me to do it afterwards. I haven't had to do a clean up yet due to pricing. Slag is inexpensive but costs more than Silica.

I by no means am a expert in SANDBLATING but am on my way. All of my items listed above have been paid for in less than a year of blasting and with money left over to play with. I used this site to assist with my pricing as you have probably read if you are serious about doing this kind of work. Don't think you will get rich blasting old horse trailers and car frames part-time. I have lost my butt on jobs due to pricing mess ups but keep marching forward. Your word and your name are all you have in life, be true to both!!!

I spent some time writing this and I am a slow at typing. I hope this helps and answers some questions for you and others that are searching for sandblasting information.

gran_national

Yes it does help a lot and I appreciate it. As you mentioned, my big concern is that there is some competition in my area, but I don't think it's too much to worry about. One guy does JUST soda blasting and the other is a body shop, so I don't think they're mobile. How do you figure clean up costs? What is involved in clean-up of coal slag? What do most people expect? Since you say you've never had to do clean-up, maybe someone else can explain what's involved. I always wondered how you clean up that much sand, soda, slag, etc.

Do you have a good resource for finding used equipment? Any places I should start looking? I did some figuring yesterday and figured around $7500, but if you got your whole rig for $2500, that's great. Anything helps at this point.

killzoneq2

I quote them an outrageous clean up price that is always seperate from my blasting price. I tell them clean up consists of a broom and a shovel. I explain that I can not get it all and that further detailed cleaning will be necessary by them. Has worked up until this point. If they want to pay the price I give them for clean up, I will gladly do the cleaning.

Teetorbilt

Don't forget about the EPA!

I have a friend that has done it for years (big shop) and they are his biggest worry.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

gran_national

What do you to about it when it gets in grass and dirt? Do people get picky about that stuff and expect you to get it out of the grass? How do you explain? Just say "It's gonna make a mess!"?

killzoneq2

You must explain your clean up process in detail/writing. There is no way you will get it out of grass and dirt. Coal slag came from the earth so it is
environmentally safe. You just have to tell them before you do the job, its messy dirty work and leaves a messy dirty clean up. If they want the job done, they will hire you. EPA may play a part if you have a shop, but if you get mobile, they will have a hard time keeping up. Just try and do things the right way. Lead paint is a factor that I have not had to deal with yet.