So you want to start a parking lot sweeping business. Well when you get out to the lot at night what are you going to need to do? Obviously you will need a parking lot sweeper, but you will want to make sure to get the one that is right for you. There are roughly four categories of power sweepers and they are used for different purposes. You will want to identify which one will be suitable for you. There are a few different kinds of technology used in parking lot and street sweepers, some are mechanical, some use Pothole regenerative air, and some use a fan based vacuum. Please keep in mind that the technology used is not really relevant for someone starting in the business. I recommend focusing on results, i.e. parking lots that are clean once you’ve left. With that in mind here are the most relevant sweeper categories:
Truck Mounted: This type of sweeper is mounted on a pick-up truck chassis. For example a Ford 150, GMC Sierra, or Chevrolet S-10 chassis. The truck beds on these trucks are removed, and a sweeper unit is mounted in it’s place. The cab remains the same. These trucks may have one or two sweeper arms, and are intended for sweeping parking lots. It’s very normal to see these trucks having only one sweeper arm, because that’s all that is really required to clean curbed areas in a parking lot. They are also good for cleaning parking garages, because multistory garages often have a low ceiling clearance. Since this type of sweeper is mounted on a consumer vehicle it can easily meet the clearance requirement. Street sweepers generally require sweeping arms on both sides, because they are intended to clean the streets. This type of parking lot sweeper is not intended to clean streets, and often does not come with two sweeping arms.