sthom21

I spoke to Tom Yuhas several months ago. He is one of the Executives at Sparkle Wash, in charge of recruiting new franchisees. Very nice guy. I seriously considered the opportunity, but I decided not go with Sparkle Wash for financial reasons. After all was said and done, to get my local market as an exclusive territory, and buy their equipment, I would have been more than $108,000 in debt. And THEN I would have had to start building my client base. That is just too scary for me. If for any reason at all I had failed, I would have lost everything and been in debt for years with nothing to show for it. I am sure the opportunity is right for alot of people, but after long and careful consideration, and several conversations with my wife, I decided it was not for me. I am "going it alone" with alot of help from the pro's here. One of the biggest selling points Sparkle Wash mentions is the tight knit family atmosphere and the fact that if you have a question they will find you an answer. Awesome benefit, but I believe most, if not all of my questions can be answered by the professionals here. And I plan to be able to answer some questions in the future for new guys as well. Good luck with your decission.

FYI On the local news Monday night there was story about a 14 year old boy who used Lime Wire to download "free" music files. He downloaded 32 files about 2 years ago. His parents are being sued by 12 record companies for music piracy damages in excess of $10,000. That's about $312 per song. I'd rather buy CD's. The story also mentioned that there is a huge backlog of these cases and that is why it has taken 2 years to catch up to this kid.

Sorry, Forgot to include my email address. thompsonpw@yahoo.com

Seymour, Great pictures. Thanks from all of us who are interested in getting into this field. I will be opening in the Spring and I want to do decks and fences as well as other mainly residential work to start out. I was curious if you could send me an email with a general parts list and how you assemble this setup. From the pictures I could probably figure it all out, but it would be very helpful to have some guidance. Thanks.

Before becoming a PW'er, I was alot of things. Most recently I was an inventory Analyst for a lighting wholesaler. Prior to that I was a Network Manager for a local school system. Prior to that I was an IT Manager for a major retailer based in Plano Texas, Before that I was a construction foreman. before that I was a pool installation foreman and finish carpenter for a pool and sunroom company. Before that I was a shop supervisor for a custom office furniture company. Add a few odd part time jobs in there and that pretty sums up my working life.

I am a little nervous about using a P2P site like Limewire. I remember how the original Napster was put out of business due to providing free music downloads. My nephew is a Network Admin for the State of Connecticut. He told me in no uncertain terms not to allow my daughter to use Limewire for music downloads. I;m not sure if his statements were due to potential spyware issues or legal issues like those of the original napster. Either way, I will only use a pay per download site like iTunes Store. Better safe than sorry. Just my two cents on the subject. If anyone has spoken to a lawyer about this subjest it would be interesting to hear what they had to say.

Don't know if this is an apprpriate post due to the fact that I have not actually started yet. But, I will be 42 when I start in the Spring. I had a job I really liked, but I gave that up so my wife could be closer to her dying sister. Since then I have worked a couple of jobs I don't really like. I have done powerwashing in the past and really enjoyed not being tied to a desk ALL day. And I really want to do something better for my family than I am able to do in the 9 to 5 rat race.

Plan to open Thompson's Powerwashing, LLC. in the spring of 2007. Just don't have enough cash on hand right now. And I prefer not to start out when the temperatures are dropping which will somewhat limit the amount of outside work available. Anyway, in Connecticut, there are no licensing requirements specifically for power washing, unless you plan to do repairs or installations. If you plan to replace a rotten deck board for a customer, you MUST be registered with the CT Department of Consumer Protection and have a valid Home Improvement Contractors License. You can not even drive a loose nail on a gutter without a HIC License. They are doing lots of Sting operations lately to catch violators. For the cost of $200/yr license, it's not worth the risk. Beyond that, I will have to register my LLC with the Secretary of State, and a DBA with the Town Clerk where my office is located. For phone service I have reserved a number with AT&T (formerly Southwestern Bell). I am paying for it now, and they will install when I have decided which area of my house to use for my office. We have an office, but my wife uses it for Avon. It gets a little crowded from time to time. I am considering a space in the basement or the spare bedroom. Wife's not thrilled with the spare bedroom idea. I have not found a local supplier for chemicals, but one of the power equipment companies I spoke to offered to look into becoming a supplier of the chemicals I choose if I buy and service all my equipment through them. They don't seem to be offering anything I can't get elsewhere, and with so many companies available on the web, having them as a supplier does not really impress me. There are several other equipment suppliers I could buy from, and several companies that sell personal protection items. I have not yet had a discussion with my home owners agent to see if they offer business insurance. But I will soon. I will also be looking at J Walters? Agency. I think that's the name. That's what it takes to be in business in Connecticut. Not that difficult really.

Hello everyone! I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I am Scott Thompson. I have been researching powerwashing for several months and plan to open my own business in the spring of 2007. I will be based in Connecticut. I have done some powerwashing in the past for a friend, but I am sure I have alot to learn. I have never run a business so I will be paying particular attention to any information about running this type of business. I look forward to having a great experience here. Regards, Scott