newlook

Yea and why do we call things that are sent to us by land a "shipment" and call things sent by the sea "cargo"....shouldn't it be the other way around? :)

This is outstanding stuff folks. I mean the p/w industry has a slice of pretty much every trade out there: Police Officers, Oil Riggers, Scuba Instructor, Lumberjack, Hot Shot, Quality Control Mgrs(James :))., Army, Navy, Air Force Retired (Reed :)), Luxury Hotels (Craig), Firefighter, Web Designers (Ryan), Engineers, Milkman (Scott :)), RV Industry, Marketing background (Beth :)) and the list goes on and on and on.... Damn....this industry has some depth.

That is a very interesting read Rod & Beth. Thanks for sharing it with us.

All this talent out there in Power Wash Land...who would ever have thought?

tidyjet, Good for you......go for it. Do you have a fax #? If so, I would like to fax you something if you don't mind.

Craig, That is too funny about your relatives calling...I am sure you got a kick out of that.

Thanks Scott

CCPC What is a barback? Alan, what branch of the military...I was Navy for 5 years

I am almost hitting 40 years of age but have been told that I am in good shape for my age ~~ Plenty of sleep. Eat Healthy. Get something in my stomach for breakfast with either a good cup of Starbucks or a Red Bull and I am ready to tackle any 2 story thrown at me :). We also own a concrete business. Try to wheelbarrow oh lets say 13-15 yards of concrete between 3 people.....that will keep you in shape in between power washes. If you done concrete before then you know what I am talking about.

Mike, I started our company on a rental cold power washer, borrowed ladders from my neighbor and stuck everything in and on top ~ yes ladders also :) of a very old beat up Volvo. I remember going door to door with make shift flyers in my hand and pretty much begging for someone to give me a shot at showing them what I could do to their home. Over the years I have purchased 3 H.D. units....and still have them today. All of them work and I consider them to be very important to our fleet....nothing wrong with a H.D. unit...I use them all the time...and yes, even on homes folks....:)

Desi, Find reels that are rated for 4k.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the folks overseas. Can't imagine going through something like that. Ryan...who's Petra...was she from that region or something?

My wife is making me go out and get a Emergency Kit (water, canned foods and etc). today....:)

Gavin, Did you ever do this job? If so, interested in hearing how it turned out.

Another point to consider is try to meet with the builders even before they break any ground on a new development. Usually post construction agreements are already signed, sealed and delivered right before construction begins or very soon there after. Sight supervisors do not want to be dealing with clean-up issues right at the begining of a new development. Another angle is to find out mid way through the construction on how well the post construction clean-up is going? Try to get as much feedback as possible. Is the current company meeting all expectations and etc. If not, make a sales pitch to the powers to be as to why your company would not have let something like this happen.

Ladders with rubber footies as Ryan H. mentioned. You can get them at any hardware store. Before we bought the footies we used about 3 pairs of socks and sled them over the top ladder post and tapped it with tape. It wasn't pretty but it protected the building.

Beth -- you bring up a very important point that is sometimes overlooked by us owners relating to job descriptions and expectations within that job description. We found ourselves in a "fickle" with one of our supervisors this past summer as it related to his/her responsibility. Our company has seen tremendous growth over the last year. This past summer was nothing short than a "rat race" as it related to our growth. We expanded our services to other counties, locked in major contracts for commercial work and etc.etc. We promoted people within and hired a few more individuals to offset the growth we were experiencing. During this frenzy....we failed to keep the job descriptions UP TO DATE with the work at hand. Needless to say it bite us on the butt. The supervisor was called on the "carpet" for lack of performance. Well, he/she called us on the "carpet" because we failed to put the additional responsibilities in writing. They knew what their job was because they were doing it all summer but because it was not in writing...there was nothing that our H.R. person could do except update all job descriptions. I guess the morale of the story is to make sure that you keep your H.R. Dept. in line with any growth that you may experience. Cheers!

Diversity is a topic that is seldom discussed in open forums such as this. Thank you Beth for bringing this topic to our attention. In short....if you can do the job and qualify for it....then your hired. Screw up .... then your gone. As a general philosphy, our company does not get into the negative proclivities around diversity ~ meaning we do not tolerate any negative treatment to anyone of our workers due to their background or country of origin.

All the best to you and Rod this Holiday Season and may both of you have a Blessed New Year.

Good points all the way around and well supported. We charge approx. 139.00 to do gutters :)

I guess for us we just make it a practice to not disclose too much about our financial affairs -- whether it be good or bad. My post to Henry had a "little rub" to it but I think he knew that. I do recall seeing a poll not to long ago that asked what everybody was making $ and if my memory serves me correct....not too many people responded. I guess it is just one of those things that business owners would rather not discuss in public ~ at least that is my impression.

Henry, I gotcha on your point. Again, my question was not to jam you up or anything...I was lost in the shuffle as to why you choose to disclose the money you made/make. Usually people around here don't like to talk about the "ching-ching" unless they are making a ton of "bling-bling" :) ~ Obviously you are and you should be damn proud of that Henry.

Mike, If you are gonna be on this end.....then you need to hit Vegas for at least one day :)

Ryan, Thanks for the response. Thought maybe you owned a sled. Enjoy your trip.

Henry, I am not quite sure where your posts are going as it relates to the topic. You go to great lengths to reveal what you make in the gutter cleaning business and why you do not have the desire to increase your price at this time....that is all fine and dandy but how does it relate to the topic? I apologize if I missed something in the previous posts but I am trying to find out how much money you make in the gutter cleaning business relates to a price survey..... I tip my hat off to you for your success..... For us...we would probably never would reveal how much we make in our business unless: 1. you are the IRS 2. My CPA 3. My wife In that order :) There is an old saying Henry..."you can't THINK your way into good LIVING....you need to LIVE your way into good THINKING".