See............I told you all you needed was some practice. 

Keep up the good work.

As tempting as all this cheaping out sounds, I love my hose reels.  I can peel off one section at a time, run it into the house without dragging hose, and lay it down as I walk.  Winding up is a sinch, throw it behind your van and reel away.  Way faster than winding it up to put it into a bag.  Now I know a high school athlete could probably beat me, but remember that working smarter equals working harder equals working faster.  There are hose reels for a reason.  People wouldn't buy them if they didn't work.  Everyone would be running around without them and just throw the hoses into the van, hell I would if I thought I could save some money.  But listen, your biggest investment, your most important tool, is your body.  If it makes it easier on yourself to have hose reels, it makes sense to buy them for a couple hundred bucks.  And trust me, I can wind up a solution line WAY faster than you can coil it and put it in a bag or put a strap on it.  I can also teach you (or explain to you) how to take solution line off of the hose reel into your hands faster than you can get the hose bag out of your van, and lay it out in the house ready for action.  I do have big hands, though, which helps.  ha ha.  Again, not trying to sound "snooty" here, just trying to help!  If you can't afford the hose reel, do what you gotta do.  But your van will look way nicer with the reels, andyou will look much more organized to your clients.

I would only put a hose reel in if you owned a truckmount and did residential HWE work every day. Most cleaners don't use more than 150' of hose.  The electric reels are really nice if you have 300' of hose out. For $1200 though, I would reel it by hand for those few times it was really needed.

Bottom line is a Hose reel take up space in the van. If you don't have a truckmount you could use a smaller van. Less things bolted in adds to its utility. Gas savings of a smaller van add up over the course of a year.  That's not being cheap, its being practical.

AZ,
 I decided to go with out a hose reel, because I found that I can set up and put away fairly easy with out one,  If you want to call it "cheeping out" go ahead. I have a feeling you would call any set up (that's less expensive than yours) a "cheap out" anyways.

Mike I really hate to disagree.  Time is money.  I would make far more money spending less time on a job and doing more work in a day than buying a smaller van and having to struggle with hoses and equipment.  It takes a lot of gas to make up for an hours work at $100 per hour.  Now if you can have both, meaning a smaller van AND a nice neat setup with hose reals and plenty of organization, I'm there!!  but for now, I'll keep my extended chevy with a 6 liter motor that hauls ass.  For me, there is no way I could do anything smaller with all the services I do.

I am set up cleaning carpets in less than five minutes with my equipment. It gives me less time on a job and more money by doing more jobs in a day. How long does it take you to be setup and cleaning? 

Glad you are back on here stirring up the pot Kerry.

hehe ill agree, a hose reel is a need if your over 100'

when i was running my TM and a few 350' hose runs, i cant imagine not having a reel

dont miss that one bit ! 

Andy instead of buying a hose reel use the funds to mail out 1500 postcards and use some of the revenue generated from that campaign to purchase the reel. Pay as you go bubba

 Hi Ed,
 I am so used to the OP routine that I feel like a fish out of water when HWE cleaning. But the more I use it the more I like it!

 I'm considering getting a hose reel, and maybe a fresh water tank to reduce set up time.  The recoil preforms very well and I'm very happy with it.  Dry times are good and the heat from the LG is awesome.