MelissaMW

Well, at least I got five of the six F's out of that one, and it took me twice to find the sixth! Ok, Ok, so maybe that's not saying much!

Actually, the customer does not freak. They love it. We quote the house wash and tell them what all is included. A lot of the time we're adding things that "the other guy" has not and will not include. No, we don't lowball either. Our price is our price. When my husband bids (he's the one that usually does this, I've just now started getting into the bidding end because of him being in and out of the hospital), he bids it, and bids it at the profit margin he wants to be in. It’s not real hard to have one of our guys get up on the roof and scoop out the debris in the gutters while the others are actually washing the house. Not that hard when on the ladder to point the wand in the right direction and get out the rest of the debris, algae, mold, etc. and definitely not that hard to turn up the pump a little to flush out the downspouts. Especially not while we are there and doing the house washing to begin with. You have to realize though, when we go wash a house, we have a four-man crew or more, depending on what needs done. As far as the maintenance free gutters are concerned? No matter what, there is something, someway that is going to get into the gutter system. Pine needles, dirt, etc., yes, they say they guarantee them and will come clean them for free for a lifetime, but … how many of those businesses go out of business? There goes the warranty! The companies we’ve seen around here go out of business quick. Or let’s say that they do have the maintenance free gutters on, but they DO get clogged? Who do they call? They call us. RonP, Give them a call and see if they flush out the downspouts. This is one of the most important things. If there's a block in the downspouts, the gutters are not going to work. It's a good selling point! Just tell the customer what you do and add "This is one of the most important parts of gutter cleaning, flushing the downspouts. When we flush the downspouts we use high pressure and high volumes of water to get rid of any debris or clogs that are there." Not to mention everything is getting thrown on the ground. Do they clean that up, or is that the responsibility of the customer? If I hired a person to clean my gutters and they just threw the debris on the ground and I came home to that? You can bet I’d not be giving a good review, or recommending them to anyone.

When we are going to wash a house, the cleaning out of the gutters is included in the price. Gutter cleaning only is a totally different price.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off. And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today as they may be connected to the ass that I may have to kiss tomorrow. Help me to always give 100% at work ... 12% on Monday 23% on Tuesday 40% on Wednesday 20% on Thursday 3% on Fridays (Of course we all know it's over 100% a day with our own business!) And help me to remember ... When I'm having a really bad day, and it seems that people are trying to **** me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me!

Investing Good Money The young bride approached her awaiting husband on their wedding night and demanded $20 for their first love-making encounter. In his highly aroused state, he readily agreed. This scenario was repeated each time they made love for the next 30 years,him thinking it was a cute way for her to buy new clothes, etc. Arriving home around noon one day, she found her husband in a very drunken state. Over the next few minutes she heard of the ravages of financial ruin caused by corporate down sizing and it's effects on a 50 year old executive. Calmly, she handed him a bank book showing deposits and interest for 12 years totaling nearly $1 million dollars. Pointing across the parking lot she gestured toward the local bank while handing him stock certificates worth nearly $2 million dollars and informing him that he was the largest stockholder in the bank. She told him that for 30 years she had charged him each time they had *** , and this was the result of her investments. By now he was distraught and beating his head against the side of the car. She asked him why the disappointment at such good news and he replied, "If I had known what you were doing, I would have given you all of my business!"

RIDDLE: Schwartzenegger has a big one Michael J. Fox has a small one Madonna doesn't have one The Pope has one but doesn't use his Clinton uses his all the time Mickey Mouse has an unusual one Liberace never used his on women Jerry Seinfeld is very, very proud of his. Cher claims that she took on 3. We never saw Lucy use Desi's What is it? Answer below! (this is really good) The answer is: "A Last Name." Ok, so you didn't think I'd not keep this clean did you!?

I'm just curious to know what everyone includes in their gutter cleaning service? This is just for gutter cleaning, not for when you're washing the entire house. We take the debris out (and take it with us to dispose of), clean the inside for mold/algae, flush the downspouts out with high pressure and high volumes of water, wash the outside of the gutters, rinse the sidewalks off if there are any. If we're on a walkable roof, we also walk around and inspect the roof areas. Sounds like a lot of work, but in reality, we do make some good money off this even with a three man crew.

*laughs* More power to you, I still dont like getting on roofs, ladders, etc. I had to get a heater down from our rafters in the garage, not too high etc. It took me at least 20 minutes to do just that. We were at a job site that we had pics and ladders set up at, and my husband was on the pic, our guys were doing different things and I was the ground crew making sure things were going ok. Well, all of a sudden I see this guy that's 70ish climbing right UP the ladder and walking to my husband. I'm thinking, oh no!, I'm going to get yelled at who IS this guy! Turns out it's my Mom's girlfriends husband (I'd met him once) and I didn't recognize him. He was doing the roof on the building. OK, so the story was only sorta related, but, he's now about ... 78ish and STILL working on roofs. I mean, working. Not supervising (my specialty), but carrying bundles up on the roof, right there with the guys. Truly AMAZING to me, and I'm in awe of him. I hope I'm able to do 1/4 of what he can when that age, and I"m only 35.

I know this is an old post, but I thought that I would mention that we just bought a first aide kit from Sam's club. Cost was $20.00, a hard case and came with a wide variety of products. Just about anything you could think of. I like Joels idea of the .50 cents taped in there and a card stating what you're allergic to and contact information. I'll have to get my employees to fill out something like that.

*laughs* I don't go on gutter cleaning jobs, unless I'm going to be the ground man, operating the trucks and pumps. I also have a fear of ladders. I really hate when my husband makes me go up on a ladder onto our roof. Although I'm sure it looks pretty commical with me crab walking on the roof, or clinging to the ladder.

Oh, you may be sorry you want me to post more jokes. hahaha I get a lot of them in email, I'll try to post the clean ones *laughs* Glad that you and your family enjoyed it.

*laughs* well, I do know had it been him and doing this test, we'd have both put front passenger side. We recently picked up a nail in that tire. ;)

I definately agree with having money put back to get you through the winter months with no problems. I personally keep enough cash on hand in a savings account, at all times, to operate for 3 months at least.

Isn't it a shame, how many people you see sitting during this time, or even during the national anthem? Or people who do not take off their hats during the national anthem?

Good one Jack! Might want to look into that insurance for back washing ... just could be a lucrative business to get into!

This was very impressive, thanks for sharing it. I'll be sending the link along to my email list of friends and family. It made me cry actually. Especially when the men raising the flag at the World Trade centers came into view. That was a turning point in my life, as I'm sure it was with a lot of others here. Do you remember where you were? I do. I was on an airplane, headed to vacation out west with another couple we know. We got grounded in Dallas, and didn't know anything until we were on the ground. I was extremely scared, because we had no idea why we were going down, and we definatley were not landing in Las Vegas!

We wash just about anything that can be done, and if we can't clean it with pressure washing, we find another way. Hahaha I asked my husband what the strangest thing he ever cleaned was, and he said "Elephants". They were cleaning a building on a Sunday and the circus was coming to town. He said the only way to get the elephants to where they needed to be was by train, and walking them. The trainer seen them washing the building and asked if my husband would mind hosing them down because it was extremely hot that day. Ok ok, so it wasn't really WASHING the elephants, but I really got a kick out of that. Wouldn't you know, that's the day he forgot to take his camera too.

Well, we work in the winter, but it depends on the temperature, of course. Most of our winter work is our regular commercial customers, but, if it's going to be below freezing, we obviously don't want to freeze up their equipment, parking lots, etc. Nor do we want to chance freezing up our pumps and equipment getting to the job site. It always seems though, that we'll get some inside jobs where we can take our equipment, or some other sort of work comes in. As far as awnings are concerned, we started doing these a few years ago, and it's a good part of business to get into. Not only do we clean and seal, we take them down, store them, and put them back up in the spring.

Interesting thought, I'd never even considered that me, being a woman, and pretty cute if I must say, would be threatening to a wife when giving a bid. When I meet in person or talk to the wife on the phone, I am as professional as I can be, and mostly just talk business. However, there are instances where a little personal talk does come in and since I am dealing with a woman, and I am a woman, I can relate. I guess what I'm trying to say is, why keep your wife from meeting with home owners to give a bid? Why can't it be the other way around that the husband, if the man is so good looking, that he won't get the job because the husband is jealous? Most of the time it's the wife that is home when the work is going to be done. There are a lot of women that call our business for quotes, either residential, commercial or industrial. I do not get jealous when my husband is going to meet them to give a bid, etc. Heck, he even tells me if he goes out on a job and the wife, owner, whatever, is there and if they were really good looking. I do agree that a woman does need to be very professional, and yes, there are women out there who will nix the company just because she feels threatened, but if handled in the right way, that won't happen. The woman can not go in and be flirty and feel that if she is, she's going to get the job. Like Extreme said, she does have to be professional. I just wouldn't let that scare me away from letting my wife take over some of the selling. I recently had to take over all aspects of our business when my husband had to have a major operation and was in and out of the hospital for a month. When I got thrown into it, just about every job I bid, I got. 75% of those were women that I dealt with. Ok, I'm done babbling about this, and in no way was I trying to flame, upset, or '*****' about anything said in this post. I just wanted to voice my opinion on it, and maybe add some insite so that rfitz might be a little more comfortable in letting his wife do more in the business. I've been involved in my husbands business for over 12 years now, and I wouldn't have it any other way. No matter what he gets involved in, I want to be a part of it, and do my fair share also, so that we can succeed and move ahead together.

Hi there folks, Neoprene gloves is what we use also. Galeton is where we order ours, usually place a large order since we outfit our guys with the gloves also. It's also a good idea to get some liners for them too, helps in the winter months keeping your hands a little warmer. But they do keep your hands nice and dry, and it's good to use them when mixing up some of the chemicals we all use. I have to buy mine special, my hands aren't as big as the guys hahaha, but I get mine at Home Depot or Lowes. Rain coats and rain pants. We use these to try to stay somewhat dry, and as we all know this doesn't always work. I personally found a pair of colombia ski pants, brand new, at a thrift store for about 10 bux. These are what I wear and they keep me nice and dry and warm. They're not bulky or anything. A good pair of waterproof boots! Gortex is the best that we've found for the waterproofing. Here's a web site that my husband goes to and actually buys a lot of his boots and stuff from: http://www.bargainoutfitters.com/ He shops around and trust me, he finds good deals. They have government surplus too, which we've bought some things from there that our guys absolutely love. As my husband says, if you keep your head dry and warm, and your feet dry and warm, you'll be good. I find this to be very true!