RPetry

Jon, Don't have a clue about Sikkens SRD, aside from the fact that we have to strip Cetol off ipe' and cedar later this week. The only time we used ESI's Timber Oil was when Russell shipped us 10 gals. out of the blue at no charge. Gave all of it to a needy customer, did not care for the product. Defy hardwood stain has held up much the best in testing on my own ipe' deck, not sure of performance on softwoods or how to maintain. Never used or have seen Baker's, its a paraffin oil with, I would guess, clay pigments. Shane use to post a lot of terrific pictures. AFAIK, it is not 250 g/l VOC compliant and they may have to change the stain next year to stay in business.

I can't get next to you -- Savoy Brown Street Corner Talking by Savoy Brown is now 38 years old. Remains a great album (no CD's or MP3's back then), and deserves to be a recognized classic.

Pat, Peer pressure, or in this case, neighborhood pressure of "keeping up with the Jones's" also is a factor in good, quick sales. Attached are pictures of the next door neighbor's just finished new ipe' deck. Makes his wood look like moldy Trex! Gotta' love ipe'.

There is a very worthwhile thread over on the new Armstrong-Clark's contractor forum, concerning surfactants and use. Go to: Tergitol NP-9 - Armstrong Clark Forum I've had the good fortune to know Mark Smith for quite a few years. He has been a both a mentor and a friend, helping me along. After 30+ years in the wood restoration business, he is terrific resource and one of the most knowledgeable contractors in the country.

In eight years in this business, this customer sets the record. Received a call yesterday from an obviously older woman, and set up an appointment this morning. What a wonderful, energetic, intelligent woman. Sweet, great at conversation, sharp, knows numbers like a math wiz, and stopped driving a car 12 years ago. No email, no computer, no cell phone. Lives alone in a home she has occupied for the past 60 years, having lost her husband to heart disease 27 years ago. Her name is Sophie, and she is 92 young years old. Melts even my cynical heart. Never have done this before, but we booked the job at close to half price. She's earned it. And it will be a pleasure to work for her.

Seem to remember reading somewhere that also storing in a cool place, and very tightly capped, helps in retaining chlorine percentage.

James, As Ken and Charlie stated, I would not lose sleep over harmed stain. This summer, we were applying a 2nd Ready Seal oiling to ipe'. I was inside an enclosed, covered porch, my helper was outside finishing some stairs. It started raining, I did not know it. My helper finished up the last few steps before informing me that the oil looked "milky". Sure enough, it was a whitish mess. Packed up and went back to the barn. The next day I stopped by, expecting the need for serious touch up or possibly stripping. The finish was perfect.

Rod, That is some scary stuff. You must be a clone of that bad demon in my head. Hah!

Jon, This was a special situation. We do not offer discounts to anyone in the normal course of business. As is, our pricing is reasonable. I do not expect "rich" customers to subsidize those lower on the economic scale. Picture this. A very old house, on a major road in a local neighborhood we have never serviced. A spry, very friendly 92 yr. old independent woman, with a lifestyle that seems to indicate limited financial resources, possibly dependence on social security income. This is not our demographics and typical customer. Guess she just hit my "soft spot".

For wood restoration, I probably spent about $5K initially for insurances, state license fees, Quickbooks, business cards, minimum advertising, basic equipment and tools, spare parts, chemicals, and a small inventory of stain. Already owned a truck and 3 computers.

I was running my dog on the beach in Pt. Pleasant, NJ Remember vividly when JFK was shot. In my 5th grade class, the announcement came over the school speaker system. Will never forget my teacher, Miss Anstein, breaking down in tears.

Or a 6 pack of greenies on ice!

Pat, Astute observation, must have been still workin' on it...!

Adrian, You are one wild and crazy dude. Rod, The only "rockin" we should do at our age, is in a chair on the front porch. Hah!

I Wish It Would Rain -- Temptations

Joe, This is where taking a lot of photos pays off. Carry a photo album on your truck with pics of your primary stain colors on various species of wood. After doing this work after a while, you just about know what each stain will look like on various types and conditions of wood. In maybe 75% of the time, customers will defer to my stain color suggestion. For the other 25%, we put stain samples down on their wood after prepped. This is not difficult or time consuming. After stripping/cleaning and applying an acid, use a hair dryer on one horiz. board and turn it on "high" while you are cleaning up and packing the truck. From sample containers (most stain manu's can provide them), put down 3 or 4 small stain samples and take a picture. Email that pic to your customer, along with a description, ie: "from left to right, light brown, medium red...". Gives the customer a template to identify their preferred color choice.

Rick, Sounds like a fun idea on a rainy day. I'll start it off... Pic 1 - My wife Judy and I on a pirate ship last year. We stole it from the Somalis. Pic 2 - Our two kids, Nolie and Lia. Kind of look like me. Pic 3 - One of my hobbies when not working.

In general, it has been my experience that customers who can afford an ipe' deck just want it to look great ASAP. You can talk 'till you're blue in the face, "just wait a year, it will hold stain longer", or "Mrs. Smith, it will be winter soon. Why don't we service it in the spring?" Extra cost of cleaning and re-oiling in 6 months does not matter, they have the money and just want the wood to look its best.

Dave, If this monsoon ever stops, have some stripping ipe', cedar, and pressure treated jobs to do next week. Come on down! You may want to contact Tom Vogel of ACR Products in Easton, Pa. They carry everything needed, including chemicals and wood stains, for virtually any type of pressure washing job.

Charlie, No, I never say "You get the senior citizen discount" or, "Gee, I feel sorry that you lost your job, I'll discount our labor 20%". For some customers, that would be kind of demeaning, and most people do not care to accept anything that has the whiff of charity. I'll just quote lower than normal. Some of my older customers have more financial resources than a typical Wall Street investment banker. Beth, You're right, it is Friday! Is 7:00 AM too early to start imbibing the suds? Hah!

Aw jeeze ... All this feel good stuff is making me look like a real sap! A typical home improvement contractor would have squeezed the last dollar out of her monthly social security check. I never was a good businessman...

Rick, Ouch! Good thing you have a friend in the auto body repair business! Two years out of college, purchased a '74 1/2 MGB-GT, the hardtop, fastback model. The last 6 months they exported that model into the US. Learned to be a mechanic real fast! SU carbs were a nightmare tuning, replaced them with Webers. Ignition was a problem, replace it with electronics. Got rid of those wacky 'lever arm' shocks in the back and put in custom hard tail springs and Koni's. The entire exhaust system was replaced with custom pipe and cool sounding muffler. Always fixing stuff, but when that MG was tuned correctly and running, what a fun car to drive. Stuck to the pavement almost as well as the old, 4 cyl. Lotus Elan's of that era.

Dave, There are what are called solid exterior wood stains that look like paint. If it is an oil base, and mostly failed, a strong sodium hydroxide stripping and some sanding can remove nearly all of it. A semi transparent oil stain then can be used to bring back the natural look of the wood. Great observation and good practice. If you are not confident in providing a service as promised, pass until you get to that point. Its a good idea to carry various wood strippers with you on estimates and test, to make sure you can remove various finishes.

We prefer the non-drying, paraffin oils, certainly over acrylic/alkyd formulations, and also over "curing" oils such as linseed oil. This is for exterior wood decks. Jake Clark and company have an interesting paraffin/linseed hybrid product, one that bears watching. We used it on 3 jobs, all last year. Next year should reveal more as to longevity and especially ease of maintenance.

Joe, Some actually do that, although I never request a signing and mailing back in. To be honest, maybe 75% of the time I never ask for a signed contract. Smaller jobs I do not ask for even a materials deposit at the start of work. Full payment is due on completion. We did a 4K ipe' job this year that I never asked for a materials or progress payment. Depends on the customer. I've gotten a fair amount of jobs over the years because I didn't require a deposit. Building a business relationship has a lot to do with trust. You get a feel for residential customers very quickly. Most I trust right out of the box. Others I guess I mis-read as I have not been stiffed for a dime in 8 years. But I am somewhat lucky in that I chose who we do work for as much as the customer choses our services. And we generally service higher end demographics.