Monolithic

Chapter Nine: Starting a Urethane Foam Spray Business

by david B. South April 02, 3:02 p.m. The Polyurethane Foam Book

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People hoping to start a urethane foam spray business often ask me for advice. This chapter contains my suggestions, based on how I did it.

Ideally, a start-up business should be well funded and initiated by experienced people. Unfortunately, the ideal seldom occurs. I have found that most foam applicators fall in love with equipment and lose sight of the mission. I started that way. It took a good dose of reality to wake me up.

Equipment – My Original Set-up

In 1970, my first rig was a two-ton van truck. In its back, it carried holding tanks, a generator, an air compressor, paint equipment and, of course, the foam machine. This was “standard” equipment for foam rigs then and is the dinosaur still used by most urethane foam applicators. They and I had many troubles. See if you can recognize a few of them.

During that first year, a competitor had essentially the same standard equipment as I: a two-ton van truck with all the stuff. We were both insulating potato storages. August and September were our busiest months. Unfortunately, during one fall campaign, my competitor lost his truck engine, but he could not take time off to overhaul his truck or install another engine. The harvest waited for no one. So for nearly two months, from job to job, he towed his van truck with a pickup. This generates serious expense and some real danger.

Often I would get on a job and set up only to discover I needed some other tool or part. It took 15 minutes to wind all the cords, get the truck unmasked, etc. before actually driving to get the needed part. Upon my return, I spent another 15 to 45 minutes preparing to spray, since it takes time for the system to reheat. And what about a quick run to town for lunch? I can tell you, it is not conducive to getting a project done efficiently. So we started taking another vehicle with us just for running errands. We had to balance the cost of the second vehicle against the downtime running errands. Most foam applicators, who use a truck for the equipment, use a second vehicle.

Very seldom do you do a job in an afternoon. So what do you do with the equipment? If the truck is your only transportation, you obviously have to “roll up” and drive it to the motel. Sometimes you can leave the equipment in place, especially if you are in a building. Most foam equipment is kept in a truck van or trailer that can be locked. Can you see the problem? We will get to the answer soon.

When we did a roof, I kept all of the equipment onsite, even though the foam phase was done. I needed the equipment for coating. You just have all of your eggs in one basket. Most of the time, you can “plug” into job site power – even if you must have a temporary outlet installed. House power is always better than generator power. So why transport a generator to ten jobs when you only need it on one? What I am trying to illustrate is the answer most new foamers arrive at: have a big truck van with everything in it. Some operators go so far as to utilize forty-foot, over-the-road semis. When large trucks are used, a second vehicle is absolutely needed. Moving large and multiple vehicles from job to job gets very expensive.

Rarely do you coat while you are foaming. Even if you do, generally there is a distance problem. Again you drag around all of the equipment, when you only need part of it. When doing roofing, I often sent a "coating crew” ahead by a day to prime the roof. They needed the coating equipment, while I needed the other equipment on another project. This became a real scheduling problem. If you have everything in one “big” truck, you will always have at least half of your equipment just sitting and not being used – like a captive stored in your truck.

For a foam spray operation, scheduling is absolutely paramount. Often you only have two to four hours to get the foam in place. This is especially true for roofing. You have to wait for the wind to die down, the dew to dry off, the sun to get in position for adequate heat and sometimes for a car to take you home. You must quit when dew starts to form again, and sometimes that is in the middle of the afternoon. Some argue that the van truck has all the needed stuff on it. Not true. You often need something else. If the van is your primary transportation, I guarantee that you will need something to get started in that small, okay-to-spray window. You can easily lose that window by leaving to get that needed something. Do you see the problems?

A commercial drivers license (CDL) is needed to operate the truck van. This can be a real impediment. If you are traveling far, the truck van will need to stop at all ports of entry. This takes time and is a bother. If you travel out of state, you need special licenses for permits – another bother. Lastly, big trucks cost big bucks to license and operate.

Another Chance to Equip the Operation

The next year I started over. I had a clean slate and little money, but experience had taught me much. Here are my conclusions:

My power unit should be a one-ton pickup. I bought a ten-year-old Ford one-ton at a very low price. I didn’t worry about the engine. If something went wrong, I could easily replace the $1000 pickup. It lasted three years and was heavy enough to pull the trailer and carry a generator when I needed one. Note: Don’t take equipment you don’t need. It is a bother. Your equipment will run better and last longer running off commercial power.

The trailer is the heart of my solution. You can have several for the price of a truck van. Use one for the foam operation, another for job preparation and another for the coating operation. Don’t get sucked into the idea of a big, goose-neck trailer. They are not needed and they jump you into the size that costs extra for both licenses and permits. Again, they require a CDL. They also make your equipment too general. Trim the fat and get the job done while making the money. Do not fall in love with the equipment. Get good equipment and make it work for you. The cost of licenses and insurance for trailers is a fraction of that cost for trucks. Be light and nimble. Have a trailer fitted for urethane foaming, another for coating, another for transport of foam if needed, another for clean up or preparation work. Use pickups sized to the project. Maybe you will want a one-ton with a crew cab for the coating crew. A simple single cab unit may be just right for the foam machine. But you can always mix and match.

My first trailer was a wood box on a pair of axles. It quickly paid for itself. Over the years my trailers evolved. They became a portable work bench, tool crib, foam rig and heated pressure tanks for the urethane chemicals. They were heavy and needed good electric brakes. A heavy duty ¾ or one-ton pickup was the preferred power unit.

During my first year, I learned just how miserable transfer pumps were. They always left some chemical in the bottom of the drums. Running out of one of the two chemicals could easily result in a “cross over.” (Cross over: a terrible event where a chemical crosses over through the foam gun and sets up in the gun and hoses – a real disaster.) Pumping from barrels meant that you ran out of a drum every hour or so. Remember the spray window? Changing barrels in the middle of a spray window can cost you a big part of the window, especially if you have any trouble. The Iso (isocyanate) pump was always needing new packing or it froze up from air moisture combining with the Iso. I guarantee you will lose one to two gallons of chemical per set using transfer pumps. At $15 to $20 per gallon that runs into real money.

So my trailer has two pressure (used propane) tanks. Used propane tanks are cheap but take work to get them ready for use. Nevertheless, cheap was my watch word. Each has a 250-gallon capacity. This allows 4000 plus pounds of chemical to be on board when ready to use. They are filled by “blowing” the chemicals from the drums into the tanks. The tanks are then pressurized to feed the foam machine. This is far more reliable than using barrels and barrel pumps. The tanks are in a separate compartment that is insulated and kept heated with a small electric heater. This means you can have warm chemical when you need it. I have sprayed foam many times when the air temperature was below zero. To ready the tanks for use, the bottom drain plug and the top large input hole are removed. Leave the safety pop-off valve in place. Heaven forbid, but you may have to prevent an explosion from over pressure. (If you fill the tank with cold chemical, pressurize, then bring the tanks to a warm temperature, you can develop several hundred pounds pressure.) If operated properly, tanks provide near-absolute protection from atmospheric moisture. The bottom plug is replaced with a valve and drain, and the top hole is for filling. The magnetic liquid level gages generally work well for showing the amount of chemical in the tanks. These gauges are generally in place on used propane tanks.

Loading the chemical takes time, but can take place outside of the spray window. In other words, they can be loaded at a time when spraying cannot be done. The chemical saved as opposed to using barrel pumps will easily pay for the time to load. Many times you lose one or more gallons from use of barrel pumps per set. At $20 per gallon, it more than pays for the time to load into tanks. If a half empty drum of Iso sets up waiting for the next job, you lose $250 to $500 – all from profit. With tanks you can seal up and wait for weeks.

Here’s another advantage: If you load the foam on the day or evening before, it can be simply warmed up, making it much easier to spray when ready.

At times, it is actually too hot to change or use barrel pumps during the heat of the day when spraying is best done. If the foam is in the tanks, this is not a problem.

The trailer has a compartment for the foam machine, with space for hoses. It has another compartment for a small electric compressor to produce air to run the spray gun (spray gun has an air cylinder that must be activated each time you pull the trigger) and pressurize the tanks. Another compartment is for parts and supply storage.

The foam trailer is low in profile and narrow so the driver can see past it as it is towed. It handles easily and has little wind resistance. You cannot imagine how tired you get walking up stairs and into the back of a truck to check gauges, get supplies, etc. during a workday. The low profile trailer has all of that at eye level. The supply cabinet on the trailer is also at eye level. We mount a vise on the fender. The fenders are tough and become work benches. The flat reinforced top allows other equipment and supplies to be carried on it when needed.

A separate “Utility” trailer is used for the primer and/or final elastomeric coating operation, etc. When needed, the generator is loaded into the pickup box. Today, we often use a one-ton pickup with a crew cab to transport more workers to the job. In any case, you can mix and match trailers and pickups as needed for the most efficient operation.

Note: There is a time to fix and repair and a time to spray. When the spray window is open, spray. This can best be achieved by having the equipment in top shape before the spray window opens.

You must be ready when the spray window is open. It is closed more than it is open. Be ready. Many times I have watched sprayers decide to repair or clean during the spray window. They usually lose money. McDonald’s teaches, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean.” That should be instilled in all sprayers and helpers. While waiting for the spray window to open is often a great time to clean.

Note: I have extolled the virtues of the trailer with tanks. There are times when transfer pumps work best. But it is usually when the job cannot be reached from the trailer. Use your head. But do not automatically follow convention. After all, you are trying to make a profit.

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