newlook

Thanks Alan, How have you been? Haven's spoken to you in awhile....hope the business is "cracking" for you down in S. CA. Any future plans for another roundtable? Just curious. Hope all is well. L

Good for you Jon on enjoying the good life. Yea, I did hear that it has been pretty hot down there -- fires are burning again I see....not a good thing. The family will be down in L.A.(Long Beach) mid next month to catch a cruise ship for a 4 day Mexico cruise ~ looking forward to that. I will send you a post card :) I have not been on the boards lately so pardon the late response. Business is pretty busy up here and we are hitting some new areas way up north in the Redding/Yuba City area(s). Alot of new homes which means good opportunities for "post construction clean-up". Good seeing you Jon...

Jon/Alan -- What are you guys doing down there in S. CA :)? Work kinda slow for you two:)? Dale -- good one.

Does anybody have any type of Q.A. program as it relates to their power wash services? I have been thinking about this topic for awhile now and also evaluating whether or not it would be practical to implement some sort of Q.A. program in our company. Ideally we would want a 3rd party to conduct the Q.A. as it relates to our companies overall performance in the power wash arena. The Q.A. would be more focused on our Commercial Accounts than anything. Thoughts?

Rich, Thanks for the insight. Having a 3rd party do the Q.A. would be a reach and I could see where the customer could get the feeling that they are paying for this. I would promote the Q.A. to our commercial accounts vs. residential. I think everybody does some type of Q.A. with their business. What we are talking about is actually formalizing it and marketing it as part of our service to prospective customers. I could see an attraction to this and it would certainly separate our company a little bit farther from our competitor. I will check out the painters chat room ~ thanks for the lead on that! Much thanks Rich for your time!

A new neighbor just moved in next door who is active duty Air Force. His last duty was with NASA. After finding out that I owned a pressure wash business he went on to explain that NASA power washes the proctective tile on the Space Shuttle with water. He stated that the shuttle is wheeled into a special hangar/bay which consist of 3 inch plexiglass all around the shuttle. This is for safety because of the amount of pressure coming from the ....I guess you could call it a rig. Anyway, he said that a computer operates the "rig" and hits each tile individually with one blast of water. He said that the pressure is so high that it actually makes a sonic boom in the hangar/bay each time it releases the blast. The water is traveling so fast that it measures between 2-3 g's when they do this. Now that's a rig.....:) Has anybody heard this before? I couldn't see why this guy would lie....he is a full bird colonel. Oh.....we are power washing his house on Tues. :rolleyes:

I searched the internet for a pic....no luck on that. Alan -- yea....I think it falls more into the blasting catergory. Interesting if it is true. Good to see ya!

Where can you buy Citraclean or is there a website someone can direct us to?

The only thing that could be added to what Ryan and Paul said is the customer service angle. One ingredient that is needed to be successful in the subcontracting areana is to ensure that the subcontractor shares the same approach as it relates to customer services -- providing outstanding customer service and of course doing great work! If the subcontractor does a bad job....this will reflect on you from the customer. Before agreeing to give someone a shot at working as a subcontractor......ask them for references, visit their last 3 jobs and look at what they did. What are their credentials and etc. Good luck!

Yikes! Spirited group. Paul....we never have had the pleasure of responding to any of your past posts but we have certainly learned much from them. Beth...the timely intervention was great...kudos to you!

Alan, Happy B day bud....Sunday and no work ..... good for you. My wife forced me to take a day off today. Anyway, Congrats. on the B-Day. Cheers!

Jon, Ouch! I guess in some ways we would figure this would trickle down to us. If you don't mind me asking ~ how much of an increase did Joe hit you with or should I say the underwriter of the policy. I have been shopping around for other insurance ~ just to see where the other brokers are at as it relates to their pricing. Not finding too many of them that will even take us on. Sorry to hear about the increase!

I have a past customer that wants me to remove all the old stain/sealant from a 2nd story home. This home has cedar shake shingles on 3 sides of the residence. I would estimate the sq. ft. to be around 2k that has shake. Here is my question(s): What chemical and mixture do I need to remove the old stain/sealant? The shakes are almost black in color which tells me they are really dirty. I do not know how much stain this house has on it due to the fact that the owner just bought it and the previous owners did not disclose anything regarding this. I will need to use a chemical that can stand a consistent and strong wind without an adverse affect if the chemical dries too quickly. I need something that can dwell a little longer than the norm. I can attack the house with 2 rigs and keep the surface wet but I do not want to dilute too much of the chemical as it lays on the surface. Last but not least -- what is an average charge for something like this? Thanks!

Rob, Read your post 3 times ~ THANKS FOR THE INFO.. Okay, so on this particular job we are looking at 1650 sq ft. of cedar shake ~ siding only. If we drop your formula into this($3.00 sq.ft) then we are looking at around $4950.00. I verbally told him it would cost between 4-5k without even looking at the house ~ so I am in the "ball park". I am pretty sure he is willing to entertain additional costs due to the fact that we have serviced other properties for him and done a terrific job for him. I am ordering a sample cleaning kit from Beth in a day or two. I want to give him a small demo. This will also allow me to really see what is on this cedar. He is a past customer of mine and I do want to take this all the way with him if possible. Thanks again Rob and sorry for the "late" reply to your thread....things are busy in N. CA right now. Today it hit 93 degrees and people want things cleaned before Memorial Day in May

Thanks Paul ~ appreciate the feed back. I am meeting with the client next week to discuss everything in detail. If things work out -- should be placing an order with Beth on ALL the chemicals that I need.

Those Yellow Pages are a "hit and miss" in my opinion and it sounds like it is "hitting" for you A+ --- I am with Tim -- email me your secret marketing recipe. I did the Yellow Pages last year and it "crashed and burned" for me. newlookpowerwash@aol.com

Thanks Beth Thanks Dale Beth, I will review the store, review what I need and subsequently place an order. Cheers!

Beth, Can you fax me a list of your prices and description of products (chemicals that you sell)? (707)425-1108 At you leisure of course

Beth, Thanks so much for the info. and the support. I will call you early this week once I get more info. from the customer. Thanks again!

Dale, Thanks for the tip and I will contact Beth about the EFC-38.

Jon, A Vette? I thought you were more of a Hummer guy. Put your logo on the side of it and power wash in style. It would be good advertisement :)

Mike, Received the email from you and I will check with the customer! Thanks for the lead.

Thanks for the recommendation Jon ~ I emailed Mike to find out the details. Also, faxed over a copy of the newspaper article on our company that you read last year. Want to make sure that he is comfortable with passing on the info. for the job lead. I will let you know how it works out. Cheers!

Ryan, You mentioned that you would like to get at least 5-10 driveways done per day. This means you will do the sidewalks also. What about the cars that are parked along the sidewalks? When you are washing the sidewalks you will definately have water hitting the cars that are parked there. I would hate to have a homeowner come out and tell me that their car has a scratch on it or damage done to it because something (a small pebble) hit it while you where working. Ouch!:o Consider the logistics that may need to go into this before you agree to tackle this for them. Carlos

Ryan, I am assuming you are also adding chemicals to the concrete for cleaning!?!. If this is the case, then I would not be over agressive with the 8 gpm. Chemical application should get the job done without going to crazy on the 3500. Depending on the chemical you use for the concrete ~ you should be able to get away with a 3k psi. The "Bad Boy" surface cleaner is getting very good reviews and feedback. Jon from Southern Ca. tested it our before it hit the market and has nothing but good things to say about it. If you go with a 5 gpm unit ~ you should be okay on the output vs. input issue that you addressed. Contact Beth as she is selling hot/cold units ~ I am sure she could walk you through with what you will need as far as a brand is concerned. Hope this helps.