jeffex11

another soft washing success story. I used the pressure washer to downstream the cleaner but rinsed again with pencil nozzle on garden hose. High $$ neighborhood and sold the neighbor . They have had lower price estimates but my NON use of pressure for cleaning won the job

I got a ortho tree sprayer...great for a small job but not enough volume for a whole house wash . I'll use it for spot apps of higher concentrated chems. I guess my pressure washer is still employed. It can cancel its application for a bailout! OOObamanation

DON'T GET ME WRONG I love my pressure washers...but if I don't need them to come off the trailer for a job...oh well! We all know that the box stores sell watered down chems . It is the simple cherry w/ f-13 that is on my payroll! best worker for a house wash IMO

I'll leave the pressure washer on the trailer and start it just for effect if the homeowner is home! your right about the concrete and brick though.

gettin' one of these manana...Ortho Tree Sprayer $14.95 at ace thanks for the tip I can't believe how easy it was to finaly just watch the house clean itself with this formula

where I wash the house pressure is fairly consistant. It would be nice to just load up less equipment . I'm sure a sure-flo pump set up would do the job but then that would be about the same as hooking up a pressure washer to DS. Not a big deal just wondering if anyone has set this up . I will search around and try and plumb the DS injector to the hose and try it.

how about plumbing the garden hose to the pressure washer outlett. I have a pencil nozzle and ball valve setup on my garden hose that shoots my muni water pressure 30 ft.

No chance to stain with all this rain. I washed a deck thursday and am in a holding patern trying to get it stained. Now this hangs over my head trying to book new work and start other scheduled jobs. As an added bonus I have a lawn business that works well with this business but it is a mess with all this rain. I guess thats why GOD made beer! I've learned over many ears of this that you just do what you can and keep your customers up to date with a call. I feel like a city farmer waiting for the rain to stop so I can harvest my "crop". I'm glad for the rain but a few pokes of sun would help too.

today I have to make the calls to re-schedule all those backed up by rain! just part of this business...juggling time

what I thought would take 2.5 for my wife and I took 4 so not that bad. I would definately need a tarp to go over the plastic so I could walk the floor and not stick to the overspray. I gave a bid for a deck just like this one next to one I did and haven't hear from the lady yet and frankly I hope I don't as that bid will need to go up $100 if she calls

I had added extra time on my bid but misjudged the amount. Its people attitude that because you don't have to stain the floor that make them insist the price should be lower. I got a new square footage price for this combo for the future and it is a 25% increase over a standrd deck stain job. The friggin' wind made it worse as well. gald to be done with that one.

Finally got that deck stained. this was my first trex floor and top rail with pressure treated frame and railings. I WAAAY underestimated the time it takes to mask it off for spraying. It took an aditional 3 man hours than I had priced. Oh well live and learn.

still raining!

here is my plan to finish a deck I washed last thursday. the floor and top of railings are timber tech. I will stain the pressure treated railings and frame on thursday morning and put plastic over the railings to be removed in 24 hours. thunderstorms are forcast for thurs evening and this may get this job finished as the floor is not stained. I had to postpone this weeks deck job and they understood because its raining everywhere

can I put on a neoprene suit, mask and snorkle and charge more for "underwater " work?

with such a slow start to the 2009 season i am now booked out 4 weeks of work. April was tough getting work done with weather considerations. From my view point the economic times means many people are shopping prices , prices , prices..... my sales pitch is the same ...I bring a value to the work I do based on my years of experience and equipment , techniques and skill level and NONE of MY cost have gone down. I'll be here when the discount companies move on or we can book your job NOW. What prompted my post was a nice elderly man who I washed and stained his deck many years ago ( I'm guessing 8)who called wanting a price . I had given him a price 4 or 5 years ago and he balked at my modest price increase. He NOW needs deck repairs of 3 to $400 as well as pressure washing and staining. I reminded him that there is a reason that I'm still in business while discount companies have come and gone. Fram oil filters had a great commercial...."pay me now or pay me later" there is NO discount in hoping and praying that maintenance will magically put itself on hold while you decide on price. I got a call this evening from a job I priced 2 weeks ago that agreed to the price but wanted the work done ASAP. I told the customer that ASAP was 4 weeks out and reminded them that when we last spoke I had a spot open for them and would hold it for 3 days. 2 weeks is not 3 days . I'm holding my ground in this battle where the customer this year thinks they have us over the barrel.

the jobs I'm closing did not take a price only consideration. Repeat business is almost guaranteed and my photos on my web site sell results and prequalify customers. glad to hear of your success this year

AAANNNNDDD NOOOWWW heeres the weather forcast....rain ! the radar shows spotty showers all along the east coast. no staining today

good deal my friend...hope it keeps going. I managed to wash one today and hope to stain tomorrow. Just booked another repeat customer this afternoon. things are picking up!

I have seen many people who were laid off looking to break in to pressure washing or lawn mowing. People asking me for a job or advice on how to get started. I have referred a few to this site for info and the ones in my area ...I told the truth....no way I'm training my replacement. The thing about this message board that helps us ALL is telling new people to price HIGH to protect the viability of this as a source of decent income. I'm in a 8 month of opperation area and this year April has been a trying month to get work in. I'm looking at a 10 day forcast with showers in every day. I opperate a lawn business as well and its a struggle to get things done. Your exactly right about this being hard work. NO get rich quick types in this business ! Not complaining though . I think the competition keeps me lean and mean and I compete on value of service rather than price alone. I started in 1992 with a little electric Karcher 1500 psi unit and I still have it in the garage for washing my equipment . what I fear the most is the affordability of my services by my clients in the comming years of heavy taxation to pay for the "change" that is taking place in Washington. I am looking into a different business right now that is not so dependant on disposable income . Diversity has been my friend in business and the winds of change mean more start ups competing for less work. Unless of cource you can get a government contract for pressure washing! I'm asking all my friends and co-workers to see the importance of next Novembers mid term elections for congress. Look at socialist countries and see how well pressure washing business' do there

Usually by this time I have booked April for deck jobs. I have a few odd small p-wash ,window wash jobs waiting for the warm weather but this is the slowest start I've seen in 17 seasons! I am ramping up my lawn business to add customers to cover the difference. How is your season starting? I usually don't do anything until I see 60 degrees but I have at least booked work in the past.

woo hooo! another job on the booking sheet! repeat customer and possible roof cleanig as well. Not since the days when I started did I feel this needy! The last warm spell generated a few calls so come on 70 degrees. This could still turn out to be a record year for sales as I have had slow starts before . I added window washing as a spring service and that has been good so far. the price tag is lower than deck cleaning and staining but the work is easy and virtually no overhead. I betting the $300 roof cleaning will out sell the $600 + deck job this year too. I believe people want the work done , they just are rearful of commiting to too big a price tag. Maybe I could sell a wash and stain as seperate jobs LOL. time will tell

looks like a year where I will have to spend money to make money on advertising and promoting services. I was thinking of calling previous customers to do a touchup service of washing and sealing or a simple re-coat of stain vs full removal of old stain and staining service. Costs of materials went up so I quoted $.10 per square ft higher and sold 1 of 3 bids. Previous close rate was 3 to 4 of 5 bids in past 5 years. Not ready to work for less money so I'll wait it out........

A few call finally are comming in but close rate is low. Only one new customer booked a job for April. Dismal! my lawn business is solid with full retention of customers but I am taking a new approach to my business mix. I may decide to market roof cleaning if deck and house washing gets put off this year. My website is getting a decent amount of hits so I'm hoping a warm spell will trigger calls.

I was a little worried about 2008 as well but it turned out great for me too. I understand that the move in condition is paramount for real estate sales here too from a realtor I network with. I had 2 calls near the end of the season 08 that I gave bids on for large jobs but I had too many on my schedule to finish the year before the cold weather kicked in so I tried to move them to the spring of 09 .That is my usual scenario of having to push work to the start of next season. I may get calls from them or they may have found someone to do the work last minute . I'm not so desperate for work that I want to push this business into the cold months! I network with a handyman / contractor who does a lot of work for real estate agents getting home ready for sale and he is slow but anxiously waiting for the warm weather too.