He built a $12k/month pressure washing company… in high school?

Hey UpFlipers,

In high school, “starting a business” never crossed my mind. 

The path was supposed to be high school → college → full-time job… 

And then you can start a business with your skills and savings.

But some teens break the mold — starting a business and working hard now to create a lifelong source of wealth.

Today, we’re looking at how Chase Lille started his pressure washing business at a mere 16 years old… and grew it to six figures by his 18th birthday.

Keep on reading for all the details…

How a teenager built a $12k/month business by age 18

Today, we’re talking about Chase Lille and his Florida-based pressure-washing company, Wizard Wash.

When we spoke with him, he was on track for $150,000 in revenue that year…

Yet he had only started 1.5 years before that.

That’s right: He launched this thing around age 16.

Let’s see how he managed to establish a successful business by the time most graduate high school…

Chase knew from an early age that he wanted to own a business — and he only had two criteria for picking a business type.

First, he loved working outside. Makes sense since he’s in Florida.

He also needed something simple and low-cost. He was a teen, after all.

Enter: Pressure washing. It’s all outside and doesn’t need much beyond equipment.

Getting funding… as a teenager

Still, a couple thousand is a lot more money than most teens have.

So Chase bussed tables at a pizza joint for eight months and, with his business dreams in mind, stashed every penny.

(Such a work ethic would pay off later…)

Chase saved about $3,000 - $4,000. Quite doable if you break it down — that’s a few 4-6 hour shifts a week for eight months, depending on your pay.

The moment he got enough cash, he visited the local Home Depot and bought a pressure washing machine.

He also picked up some chemicals, a hose, and a surface cleaner.

The rest went toward marketing…

Spreading the Wizard Wash word

Chase has to make the remaining money go as far as possible. He used much of it to hire a graphic designer for his logo.

The rest was printing out flyers/letters and hoofing it to pass those out.

“I did a lot of boots-on-the-ground marketing — just walking, walking, walking, and passing out flyers.”

He said he didn’t knock on doors because he didn’t want to piss people off or get in trouble. 

Lots of “no-soliciting” signs around these days. 

But Chase did leave them on doorsteps without knocking.

Landing that first gig

Chase found his first client came from NextDoor (basically a free, neighborhood-focused social media) after making a post on there.

He wasn’t sure how to price things initially, so he charged $125.

That first job took hours — his hose broke mid-wash.

Chase was determined to succeed, so he pushed through. He finished the job, and the customer loved it.

Chase could officially say he had experience.

Meanwhile, he started Facebook and Google My Business accounts to get visibility on free platforms.

Mentorship… the key to beating sales fears

Chase was understandably unconfident at first. 

“When I started, I wasn't super confident in my ability… but I had that almost transferred into me by a mentor.”

Fortunately, Chase’s dad knew a nearby pressure washing business owner, John Cloud (owner of Gorilla Kleen)… and urged Chase to reach out to him.

Chase shot John an email about learning from him. John invited Chase to shadow his salespeople.

Watching reps close deals, do jobs, and make money showed Chase this was possible and played a large part in making him confident enough to sell his services.

Beating the “feast-or-famine” trap

Chase made a common beginner mistake:

“My biggest mistake was to market, market, market… get busy with work… then finish the work and have nothing to do.”

It’s scary when the revenue dries up. Chase learned his lesson… 

Always Be Marketing.

But he knew he couldn’t rely solely on outreach forever.

He built up his online presence and branding. Soon, customers came to him.

For example, he was washing a customer’s house when some neighbors walked up, struck up a conversation, and asked for an estimate. 

He partially credits the branded wrapping on his truck for that one.

Another key piece of his online presence is reviews. 

All he does is ask the customer nicely if they could do him a quick favor and leave a review. He says that it works maybe 30% of the time…

And he just texts customers a gentle reminder if they forget.

As Wizard Wash grew, Chase poured money into direct mail. This helped him scale up his flyering efforts.

He says that one of these mailing campaigns costs around $8,000 for a campaign all things considered…

But, when we interviewed him, he had expected around $38,000 in revenue. Almost 5X — pretty good.

Wizard Wash’s future plans

When we spoke with Chase, he was doing around $12k/month at 50-60% margins. 

That’s $6k-$7.2k a month in profits.

Not bad for 18.

And Chase is still early in his business journey. He recently quit his part-time college courses to go all-in on Wizard Wash.

His next big challenge is learning how to hire and delegate. The short-term goal is a couple of part-time employees…

While the longer-term goal is 20 team members and a second truck by 2026.

He’s already faced difficulties — no-shows, learning how to check references, asking the right interview questions, etc.

But Chase got this far already. He has what it takes to overcome these obstacles and start scaling.

Mastering the two types of products/services — front-end vs. back-end

To build a scalable business, you need front-end and back-end offers.

Front-end

Your front-end offer is the main service you’re known for. It’s the thing that gets customers in the door. 

Narrowing your business to ONE front-end offer simplifies everything for the customer. They associate you with ONE product/service. 

They don’t have to think about what to buy from you, suffer paralysis analysis, and then drop off.

This helps you solidify your positioning in their mind, too. 

Chase started by going after people who needed pressure washing but had never used his service. All his flyering efforts funneled leads to his front-end service.

Many businesses intentionally take a loss to get customers in the door (this is called a “loss-leader”)…

Then make up for it on the back end.

Chase, however, profits on the front end. Makes more sense for his business model. 

The “loss-leader” model requires more planning to pull off.

Back-end

The back-end is where you sell additional products/services to existing customers. This is where businesses can multiply their revenues.

See, products/services solve problems. You fix one customer’s problem… and their attention shifts to another. You sell back-end products/services that solve the “next logical problem.”

For Chase, one “next logical problem” would be the need for regular pressure washing services. Easy enough. 

Wizard Wash and other cleaning businesses can offer ongoing services on the back end to lock in recurring revenue.

But Wizard Wash also began upselling customers on paver sealing to beautify their walkways and driveways. 

It made sense: People who needed their property power washed cared about their home’s appearance… so many returned for paver sealing.

Pressure washing companies can also offer back-end services like:

• Gutter cleaning/repair

• Window washing

• Roof cleaning

Of course, you may need different licenses and insurance to meet regulatory requirements. 

But investments in those things could pay off if it means generating more revenue from customers who already trust you.

3 “little things” that bring in big-money clients

Selling on price is easy — but it’s a race to the bottom that makes you bust your tail for slim margins.

Instead, if you want to target those high-dollar clients that pad your margins like Wizard Wash’s…

You need to build an experience into your services.

The more professional you make your service look, the more those big-money clients are willing to pay.

Here are some things to consider:

A+ customer service

It’s obvious, yes, but if you go the extra mile in customer service, you will get repeat business and some word-of-mouth marketing.

That starts when a lead calls you or fills out your form. Picking up that phone ASAP with a friendly voice or responding to online inquiries quickly will leave a strong impression.

And when you miss a call, have a voicemail set up and a process for getting back fast. 

Otherwise, that lead might just go to the competition.

“They want the company who answers their phone within two rings with a friendly voice and shows up on the estimate dressed well — rather than just quote over the phone.”

Face-to-face quotes and estimates

Giving quotes and estimates online sure is convenient. 

But do this in person, dressed well, if possible. It looks much more professional.

Furthermore, go over the service and what you’ll do to complete the job.

Doing these things face-to-face puts the customer first, building trust and making it easier to say “yes.”

Brand image and visual factors

Appearance matters in reaching those top-tier clients and customers.

Take a look at Chase’s truck:

When that rolls into your driveway, it feels much more like the professionals have arrived.

Sure — the guy without wraps or signage might have a nice setup. But it doesn’t feel the same to the customer.

Same with uniforms. Having a uniform makes the customer see you more as the professional.

To wrap it all up…

Do you remember how much you made during your teenage job?

I started my first job at 16, earning minimum wage, and worked my way up to $11ish/hour by 18 — that felt like a huge accomplishment.

So Chase has to feel proud of his achievement at this stage in life.

The thing is…

Chase’s story proves that almost anyone can start a business with enough grit, determination, and courage.

If you think that pressure washing is the business model for you, check out our guide to starting a pressure washing business.

Woah, check these out…

📈 The pressure washing industry’s growing — is now the time to get in?

💼 If you have/can get funds… check out the 7 best pressure washing franchises.

☀️ Live in Florida like Chase? Here are 19 other business ideas for the Sunshine State.

🎙️ Don’t miss our latest podcast episode.

There are three ways to join UpFlip:

 ✔️ Don’t start a pressure washing business until you take this free course (just 39 minutes long) taught by a successful pressure washing entrepreneur.

✔️ Watch our interview with another pressure washing entrepreneur who started young and is now raking in cash.

✔️ Join our YouTube community and be the first to catch new interviews and other videos.

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