# Sweeping Profit?



## hoopdavies

Hello all,

This is my first post. I have been investigating sweeping for the past 6 months. I don't know if anyone has seen the article in this months "Inc." magazine, . It has a story in back about a young kid who started sweeping from scratch in Louisiana.

Here is the link:
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070701/hidi-boykin.html

My question is: He says that a local walmart pays 3,200 to 3,800 a month for sweeping. Do the large big box guys pay in lump sum contracts or is ONLY by the hour like most members here say?

Second: He says that after just a few months he is grossing 45,000 a month on two Schwarze s347's doing about 10 lots a night for various big box stores. Is this a realistic number in terms of monthly revenue?

Third: If he grosses this much is he taking home 20, 30 ,40 or 50+ percent or MORE of that money? I didn't know sweepers made that much money on consistent work.

Whats your take on this?


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## murray83

Not a sweeper myself but they are high maintance machines and one you break down the insurance,up keep,fuel,operator etc you'll find its actually more of a pain sometimes than most think.

Dwan would be an excellant person to ask as he's broken down the costs of doing business before in some of these threads,do a search and start reading lots of good info to be sought on this forum.


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## samtm82

*profits*

If you would like to talk with some guys in the sweeping buisness who are making good money and can give you some insight to the buisness give me a call. I have alot of friends in sweeping that are making alot of money, including Jerome Boykin in the article. Sam 256-426-2970


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## Duracutter

samtm82;394117 said:


> If you would like to talk with some guys in the sweeping buisness who are making good money and can give you some insight to the buisness give me a call. I have alot of friends in sweeping that are making alot of money, including Jerome Boykin in the article. Sam 256-426-2970


And maybe sell a machine while were at it... xysport


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## Dwan

You can call me I don't have anything for sale. PM me for my phone#


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## plowtime1

*new to sweeping*

Hoopdavies,
yes the sweeping industry can be quite profitable..my buddy owns a company a few towns over and does just fine..it is true they require constant up keep. Smart business people such as the last poster seems to keep quite busy as well. Keep your major account area within 30 minutes drive until acclimated. hope this works for you.


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## hickslawns

Hoop- As with plowing or mowing this is a regional pricing thing. We find our sweeping to be steady year round and decently profitable. I have also found it difficult to pick up work due to cheap pricing in our areas. There are people driving from 45 min north of my town to sweep big box stores for $40-60 once a week. I will let my equipment sit before working it just to break even or lose money. Do some research in your area and look up world sweeper forum on a google search. There is a lot of info there. As far as new/old equipment, they all require maintenance and they all break just like any other piece of equipment. Good luck.


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