Blog Beth n Rod

There have been round table events in our industry for many years now, but over the last few years they have increased in both frequency and popularity. Most of the time, the events are held on weekends and do not have schedule conflicts with other events. From time to time schedule conflicts will arise which make it difficult for contractors, because they are forced to choose between two events when both of these events might have been beneficial and attended. That's a shame.

Both veterans and newbies attend these events, and walk away from them with information, literature, new contacts to network with, new equipment that might have been on sale, and sometimes prizes as well. Topics range from those covering the basic business services like house washing, to more advanced ones like building restoration. Both residential and commercial services are often covered. Additionally, business topic such as sales, marketing, advertising to name a few are covered at these events. The events tend to have a nominal fee, much lower in cost than a typical convention.

So check the forums for upcoming events this year, and mark your calendars. These events are worth the time and money to attend them, and here's hoping the rest of the season runs smoothly and without scheduling conflicts.

Beth

Why should I BLOG on The Grime Scene? What will it do for my business? The answer to that, is it will do only as much for you as you allow it to. Look, social networking is HOT. Blogging is hot. Articles are also hot. The search engines look for this type of content and it boosts rank. Each blog post you make will be added to your profile and linked to you. Anyone who visits your profile will see what you are all about, and you can get business this way. Many of our users have gotten business from TGS and many work together on jobs. This is one more way to sign your song, dance your dance, sell your service!

We suggest your BLOG posts be meaningful to those who may seek you out. We also suggest that if you have written articles you consider adding them to our ARTICLE area on TGS.

Both of these features allow you to add photos etc. to enhance your message. In the case of Articles they appear inline as they would in a news story. Very slick.

Enjoy!

Beth

Today' date=' I’m not writing about marketing or advertising, I’m not writing with tech tips or how-to’s. Upon occasion reflection lends valuable insight into where we are going, what we are doing, how we might get there, and how we can improve along the way. It shows us who we were, and who we do not want to be, as well as who we wish to become. Buried deep within that context is an understanding of what we can reasonably expect and what we can not change. Sometimes, keeping this in mind helps along the way.

I’ve done a lot of reading over the past years, and have listened to many conversations. I have heard many tales of hardship and of success. There’s a ladder we all climb, but we do so with hesitation and fear of having someone come along and push it over while we are on it. We are protective, and fearful of our competition. I can recall growing up and participating in sports of many kinds, some team oriented, some individual. In the end, we were taught that sportsmanship would flow into many areas of our lives, to respect the competition and to congratulate them. We were also taught to better ourselves and that the person who wins today may not win tomorrow. Betterment for all, was the message. Stretch. Grow. Expand. Shake the winner’s hand and work to win tomorrow.

Many contractors keep to themselves, never speaking up and absorbing all that is put before them while fearing the competition. There is no right or wrong in that, but I’ll ask these questions. Do you complain about the stigma attached to contractors? Do you complain that people stereotype you and treat you as less than they are? Do you work with others in the industry in an open manner for the betterment of all to change it, or do you leave that to others and complain about how it could be better if only they would do it differently? Do you share your ideas to better the industry, or keep them to yourself?

I want to challenge you all to open up and speak up. Share your ideas and your thoughts and experiences. There is an old saying that if you are not a part of the solution you are a part of the problem. In essence, if you sit back and complain but never speak up, it’s your own fault as well. Teamwork. It takes teamwork.

Visit any, or better yet, visit all of the BBS’s out there today, but don’t just read, POST. Ask questions. Share ideas. Brainstorm. Help out the new guy. There are many folks out there without the benefit of a college education, but it by no means is an indicator of their ability to do business. Everyone has something to offer. Everyone. Try helping someone who has a question you can answer.

Look at yourself, and the image you present to the customer. Do you want to go toe to toe with the toughest competition out there? Yes? Then pick yourself up by the bootstraps, and do it. Go back to may article on image improvement. Improving the industry means we all have to take a stand and be active participants in the growth and development of it. We all have to think, to speak out, to be honest, and to act accordingly. We have to get past our fear of being crushed by the competition and realize that there is work out there for us all.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”[/quote']

This article was written and submitted by Steven Rowlett. Steve' date=' thank you for this helpful information!

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Too many people neglect to do the little things to maintain the pump of their pressure washer. Personally I try to change the pump oil every time I change the engine oil, every 50 hours. This is the least expensive thing you can do for your pump.

One thing that some have been told to by the person that sold them the machine, is to adjust the unloader to change pressure. I advise against this practice, change your nozzle to achieve this task. Nozzles wear with time and when you turn the pressure back up with a worn nozzle you end up turning it up too much due to the worn nozzle.

With a pressure activated unloader you should have no more than 400 psi spike when you release the trigger of your gun. A flow unloader will drop the pressure to 10% of what the Max. Pressure the machine is rated at, 300 psi (10%) on a 3000 psi machine. Excess pressure from this will cause unnecessary stress on the pump.

The greatest harm you can do is to run the pump dry, water is the only lubrication the seals receive. When the seals start to go bad you will experience water leaking between the pump head and the pump, water in your pump oil or both. A water inlet filter is also a must. One small piece of trash can cause a check valve to stick open and therefore keep the pump from having the proper pressure. A bad o-ring will do the same thing just as it would do if it was an o-ring in the unloader. It is also a good idea to have a pressure gauge with quick disconnects so you can check the pressure from time to time.

The most accurate place to check it is at the end of the hose just before the gun. There will be some friction loss depending on the length of your discharge hose and if you are using a downstream chemical injector (about 200 psi drop with the injector). The friction loss on the hoses are listed on www.thecleanernetwork.com . And one final note, keep the exterior of your pump clean so if any leaks occur they will be noticed easily.

Steven Rowlett

ROWLETT PRESSURE

CLEANING SERVICE

Misconceptions About OSHA

By Bill Taylor' date=' CSP

When a manager sits down for the weekly staff meeting he or she is surrounded by those people with direct control and responsibility for all aspects of the business/department managers. If a problem comes up, say for example, costs are too high, the manager does not turn to the finance manager casting blame and dictate he or she work harder to cut costs. Instead, a good manager, knowing cost overruns can occur anywhere, will try to pinpoint the problem so efforts to resolve the problem can be properly focused. The manager knows that everyone sitting around that table has a responsibility to control costs. Likewise, the manager will tell you that everyone at the table is responsible for managing production, quality, people, etc.

These department managers in turn hold supervisors and employees accountable for the same charge. In other words, everyone has a responsibility for assuring production is met, quality is high, and costs are low because any employee can damage product, affect quality, or run up costs. Therefore, every employee makes up the production, quality and cost organizations.

In this article, we'll talk about how to manage workplace safety and health the same way you manage the rest of your business.

Why is safety different?

Why is it that we manage safety in a different way? First of all, the safety manager is often just a warm body. Or it may be some young employee who was a sewing machine mechanic yesterday. Or perhaps we hired a bonafide safety manager, but we still do not have them at the manager's weekly staff meeting.

We establish teams such as quality teams, to get employees involved in the quality process. We empower employees with the freedom to stop an entire production line if they are aware of a problem affecting production or quality. Because of this increased participation our production is good, quality is up and costs are down. We have sought the participation of a very vital and knowledgeable resource --our employees. But again, we manage safety differently. We do not involve employees in the safety process except maybe to put them on a safety committee or do an inspection. We do not hold employees to the same level of enforcement for earplugs, glasses and lockout as we do punctuality and insubordination.

The Team Approach

We have learned that if we want to improve something for which employees are responsible then we make it an important part of their workday. We put them on a team or committee and give them responsibility. We hold them accountable and recognize their efforts. We recognize them as knowledgeable adults with an ability to contribute to the overall effort. By involving the employees, they develop a greater sense of awareness and ownership. The result is better production, lower cost, etc. This empowerment (involvement) is actually changing the behavior of the workers. We have altered employee attitudes through proper motivation.

Other Motivations

Certainly there are different ways to motivate workers. Workers can be motivated by fear -- fear of losing money and/or their jobs for example. And while fear can be a powerful motivator, it is by no means the preferred method. For one thing, workers should not have to work under a shroud of fear. But also, the fear is usually short-lived. Once they realize they will not be reprimanded for failure to lockout the equipment, many will stop following proper lockout procedures. This is especially true if there is some personal benefit to be gained, such as saving time.

Another method of motivating workers is by desire. Make it desirable for the employee to follow proper procedures. But like fear, the motivation is not long lasting. When something comes along that may prove more desirable to the worker, their priorities will change.

By far the best method of motivation is by belief. If we can get the employee to understand it is in their best interest to follow proper safety procedures, then they are more apt to follow procedures. Employees must understand why it is important to perform in a certain manner and believe it is the right thing to do. Only then can we realize a change in the behavior of individuals that will be long lasting. They are following procedures, not because they are afraid of losing their job, or because they will be given some incentive award. They do it because it is important

The Central Safety and Health Committee Method

The Central Safety and Health Committee/Task Group method of managing safety is a behavioral management system. Developed in 1978, it is still a system as effective as any method available.

The success of the system is based on the fact management recognizes the value of workers, as well as their abilities to get things accomplished. It succeeds because management empowers workers to DO things other than attend a monthly safety committee meeting.

Workers realize that safety, just like production, quality, costs, etc. is also an integral part of their job. Their behavior changes and safety becomes a culture at the work-site.

The Rest of the Battle

While employee involvement is crucial to the success of a safety program, it is only half the battle. A safety and health program will be as good as management wants it to be, or as poor as management will allow it to be. Managers have to enforce safety and make sure that their employees actually follow the procedures that have been established and talked about in their committee meetings.

Employee safety is important to managers. The problem is, we have historically managed safety by assigning responsibilities to an individual as collateral duties, or hiring a safety manager expecting him or her to insure worker safety. We form safety committees to do inspections and come up with ideas, again, expecting them to keep everyone safe. This is not how we manage other issues so why manage safety this way? Why do we not hold department managers, supervisors, and foremen to the same level of responsibility and accountability for insuring safety of workers in their charge as we do assuring good production?

Well, in case you haven't figured out where this is going, it goes straight to behavioral expectations. If I expect my department managers to behave like managers then I expect them to take whatever action is defined by company policy to insure his/ her workers are performing at peak performance. I expect them to insure good production, maximum quality and minimum costs. If they do not meet this expectation then their performance and their behavior is inadequate.

If their employees are violating procedures (unacceptable behavior) and they permit this, that in turn, makes the manager's behavior unacceptable. If an employee fails to properly lockout equipment or wear required hearing protection, then that employee is not doing the job right. And, if the supervisor is aware of this and fails to respond, then the supervisor is not doing his/her job right.

It is not enough to change or attempt to change the behavior of the employee alone. To be successful requires effort on the part of management and labor. It requires everyone doing their jobs right. If employee behavior is substandard then both employee and management behavior must be changed. Because the bottom line is, if you have a safety problem, then you have a management problem.

The many plant managers who have experienced success with the Central Safety and Health Committee management method will tell you they were successful because everyone was expected to make safety part of their job, and safety was to be managed just as everything else -- no differently. Safety, like production and quality, crosses all boundaries into every job, so why manage it in a different way?

But, if a company has a safety program and people are still getting injured, then something is wrong. The problem is usually a lack of enforcement -- unacceptable management behavior.

Management behavior will not change until the ranking manager says so. Until such time as the boss takes control and demands change, it will not happen. Employees will still fail to lock out equipment and supervisors and managers will still permit it because it is faster and speeds production. And people will still get hurt.

Employee behavior, just like anything else, begins at the top. If managers expect good safety behavior, they must change their own behavior first.

[url']http://www.ctjsafety.com/art_manag_behav.htm[/url]

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See you there!

Beth

Sorry' date=' but I have to make a correction here.

"Darkness" of the stain has no more protection factor than a lighter stain.

Opacity is what constitutes protection. This is determined by the pigment level or solid content.

Opacity in terms of how much light can pass through. Toners offer the least opacity. Semi transparent has higher opacity(translucent:meaning light will pass, falls into this category), then there is semi solid which has even more. Solid color stains (looks like paint and you cannot see the wood beneath it) are totally opaque. This means no light can pass through it, so it offers the best protection from UV light which is what causes wood to turn grey, crack and degrade.

To answer the initial question of this thread, there will be back brushing or wiping necessary with the products you have listed.

My advice to your question is going to be redirected towards maintenance. Applying these products is easy enough, the problems start when it comes time to do it again. How hard is is going to be to clean? Will it color shift (change color either lighter or darker as it ages)? This is an issue because future applications may not match what remains on the wood.

This will require the need to remove the product with a stripping chemical. For a diy'er it may be more than you are willing to take on based upon the question you posed regarding difficulty.

My suggestion is to use an oil based product like Armstrong which is easy to maintain and cleans up easily and is easier to maintain on teak which will require annual service.

Rod!~[/quote']

Anyone see the example of a martial artist who considers training someone? He points to a glass filled with soda. Then says "this is your glass' date=' it is filled with the impurities of what you have learned", then points to a glass of water, clean and clear and says "this is my glass, it is filled with the purest form of what I know".

Then he pours his glass into the soda filled one and a mess is created. His response is that it is impossible to teach him anything until his student rids himself of what he "knows" and allows himself to be filled with the purest knowledge.

The other example from martial arts is that training never really ends, it becomes a matter of honing ones skills to keep them sharp, effective and efficient.

I have had my share of employees that had potential and those who did not. I hold myself accountable for that cause ultimately I was responsible for their success or failure as an employee determined by my ability to train them.

I wasn't always good at it and like doing the job, I found that training is a skill in itself. Patience is the biggest key along with understanding that everyone learns differently and while some will excel in some or all areas, others will not according to their self discipline.

Another difficulty I had was to break old habits gained through other jobs and experiences and prevent other bad habits from forming.

I found that supervising is not just watching, it is interacting and like driving a car, you must turn the wheel to keep it on the road otherwise it will become uncontrolled and have an accident.

Rod!~[/quote']

BIDDING A JOB DEFINED-

Bidding any cleaning has tons of variables. Following are a few of your fixed variables there are more than this this is just to give you an idea of what goes into a price

Area Demographics

Competition

Water Recovery issues

Overhead

Payroll differs with areas' date=' standard pay in backwoods Tennessee is not going to be the same as Downtown NY thus payroll reflects greatly on the end price.

Real Estate prices, Rent

Workers Comp

Insurance

Fuel Prices

etc

These are just a "FEW" of the items that go into a price. Grant it, some are less dramatic than the other but, on a job of this size they play in.

When pricing there are several critical job variables to consider. These are all dramatic when considering the price since these variables change from job to job.

Gum? Lots of gum = lots of time

Mildew? Heavy mildew can take more time to clean

Estimate last time cleaned? The longer it’s been since it was last cleaned, the longer it’s going to take to clean it this time.

Obstacles? Columns, Planters ((Plants can really hurt buy causing you to try & not blow out all the bark ground covering

Water availability? If there is only 1 working spigot on the premises, it’s not going to go well. I adjust my price to water availability, if there isn’t an ample water source within every 1,000Lft I charge a little more.

Hours of operation? Movie theaters, restaurants, & bars can inhibit your working hours. Working around these places can be time consuming & sometimes this needs to be calculated into your pricing since it can add up several hours to a job trying to work around these open & often busy establishments

Location of property? Is the property near a residential area. If so you could find your hours of operation even more limited. I was run off by the cops more than once in my early days for breaking noise ordinances near residential areas, and was levied a $250 fine for it once.

Concrete type / condition? Fibermesh can be slower to clean than standard crete. Reason is that fibermesh is softer than standard thus you will need to drop pressure &/or increase technique or you'll stripe the it. In addition gum removal takes more finesse since the concrete is softer. Rookie gum removal can cause divots, so cleaning & gum removal takes more time & time = $$. There are other concrete variables too general hardness, age the older the pour the harder the crete usually, porousness,

Curb FaceWill you need to clean it? 9,800 lft of curb face cleaning could add hours to the job if it's bad. Can make rinse harder too if where the curb face hits the tarmack there is a space. In that space is a boatload of dirt dying to come out & into your face. This dirt may need to be rinsed away across the driving area (especially if it's sealcoated)

Is the parking lot Sealcoated? If the parking lot has a nice fresh looking "super" BLACK sealcoating on it, it can add on half again the time it takes to do the job for you will need to fully rinse AT LEAST the driving lane across to the parking area or it will leave a nasty white residue on the area. And if you do not do this you will quite possibly find yourself back at the place using your surface cleaner on the entire drive thru area & possibly more!!

The dimensions of the 98,000 sqft.? If it’s 9,800 ft long by 10ft wide it will go quicker than if it’s 4,900ft long by 20ft wide. Reason,, the rinse

With the 100,000 sqft part I am guessing that this is probably parking area thus it’s probably a large wide area, or multiple areas, in any event it’s going to be big areas, 100, 200 feet square or wide. Areas like this take forever to clean, the rinsing will kill ya.

There it is in a nutshell, nearly all you need to know to price this job!

Asking someone here for a DOLLAR amount for this job & using as they say would be like asking someone you don't know for investment advice & then using it. It'd be dumb. I could tell you to dump all your money into XYZ company, when I don't know jack about XYZ company & they may go under anyday, thus you'd lose your money. I would love little more than to be able to give you a lowball price for this & to have you win the job, just to get completely screwed by the job thus teaching you a very valuable lesson. The only thing that keeps me from doing this is that the action could cost another viable contractor the job!

In short, Learn to walk before you try & run.

"IF you can't price it you shouldn't be doing it"

Start small, small jobs are easy to bid, there is plenty of room to screw up. From small jobs, work your way up, you'll learn as you go what to watch out for & how long what takes. In time you will acquire the knowledge to bid this job, it will be when you are ready for it.

This job, as good as it may look to you in that you could get this great big contract, probably holds nothing but doom for you. I am a very experienced contractor & the job you are looking at is what I do. I would scrutinize the hell out of it. Keep in mind here .005cent (1/2cent) = $1,000 on a job like this, thus it'll be REAL easy to screw it up. 1 PENNY off could be the difference between making money & losing money on it if you don't look at it right!!!!!

Cody.

P.S. ALWAYS price by the SQUARE FOOT & NOT BY THE HOUR - Hence the reason I say -"If you can't price it, you shouldn't be doing it. Some people use an hourly rate to figure pricing, this is simply wrong. If you have experience in doing the jobs then you will know how many square feet you can clean per hour, sort of like Scott said. However the problem with Scotts analogy Not against Scott here, just making a point is that before you go guessing how many sqft you can do per hour on a job like this, you best DAMN WELL KNOW what you can do or it'll bite ya! If you know how many square feet you can do per hour under what conditions then YOU WILL NEVER GO WRONG WITH CHARGING BY THE SQUARE FOOT. Once you find your rate, NEVER drop it to accomadate your increased speed. You will eventually get faster, LIke Scott said, starting out you may get 700ft an hour, one day you will get to 3000ft an hour, this speed increase is your RAISE & your compenstation for the equipment & it's tailoring to your profession. It really pains me when I see guys that drop their rate because they increased their speed, that increased speed is my gravey!

OK, that's it,, I was in a typing mood :)[/quote']

It occurs to me that it has been a while since I climbed onto my proverbial soap box to share my thoughts on a topic. Well' date=' spring is just about here, or at least it feels like it in many regions. This is the time of year when we begin to plan, and it is the time of year when many companies pick up a wand for the first time. For any business owner, new or seasoned, selecting your professional education should be something that is budgeted for both in terms of time and money.

There are many opinions out there as to what kind of education is best, and from what source. There are pro-association or pro-organization folks, and also those who find that for their own use, it is not a good investment. There are many manufacturer courses, to show you how to successfully use a product. The goal is simple, they sell product, you sell jobs. It's a win win. There are distributors who hold wonderful annual events in different parts of the country, and there are contractors who do the same thing. And of course there are companies who bundle together classes teaching certain topics who are perhaps affiliated with one or more of the above but who are focused on selling course work. Let me be clear; ALL EDUCATION IS GOOD. All of it has value. One company's choice and opinion as to what will work for them is based upon that company's needs and objectives. As business owners, each of us must evaluate the services we plan to offer, and the needs of our business. We must decide for ourselves what to spend our budget on. Compare before you spend. Some of the courses out there are similar in design and content. Before you spend your hard earned education budget on class, consider the content. Look at the competing education at products. are some closer to home? Are some part of an organization? Would the credentials of an association membership give you a competitive market advantage? Should you get the training at a round table, at a convention or simply in a class offered by an education company?

Once upon a time, our business was new. At that time, we did not have what seems like dozens of forums with lots of data just waiting to be searched by a user and browsed as time permits. And back in that day, we chose to go to a PWNA convention. There was no other org, and the classes were offered that we had a personal interest in. So we went. We learned and we networked and we made decisions that moved us forward. It worked for us, because we aligned our goals and needs with what was offered to us.

Are the classes enough? Ummmm....hell no. You will not ever get everything out of any of these classes. I do not care who the instructor is, or how many years they have been at it. You cannot impart in just a few short hours or days, enough knowledge to fill your head with all you need, and it is not matched with what you gain over time as you learn and grow. You will read magazines, you will find articles, you will search the forums. As you do these things you will discover your likes and dislikes, and you will tailor your business around your own points of interest and strength, or at least, that is my advice to you.

Never, ever stop learning.

Beth[/quote']