Doug Dahlke

Anyone who lived during the Carter administration knows taxing the oil companies doesn't work. It is also a dangerous game to let the government decide what an "unfair" profit is and punish a company or industry for it. All of you are business owners. If the government thought you were making too much money and raised your taxes what would be your reaction? I hope everyone in the class said raise their pricing to offset the loss. Anytime the government passes a higher tax onto a business that business is going to pass the cost to the consumer and you will pay the taxes in the form of higher prices. If anyone is making a windfall profit it is our government that takes 60% of our earnings each year and wastes the majority of it. I want the government to be punished for theft, blackmail, extortion, misappropriation of funds, etc. If anyone in private business did what our government does they would be in jail.

Looks nice. Good job.

Find a distributor. I don't think they sell direct. Call them and ask.

Same thing happened to me last week. Bad O ring. It was a very small leak. With the hose lying in the grass you couldn't see it.

Just finished up an apartment complex today. 10 three story apt buildings, nine single story garage buildings, car wash station, pool deck, pool house, leasing office and all the walks. Did the whole thing myself. Fifteen days on the property but about half of those were only 6 hour days for various reasons. Need some more jobs like this. Feels good to be finished.

I've cleaned some of those and it cleaned up just like vinyl siding. No problems. I did do one house that had this on it along with vinyl siding. There was a definite difference in the fading between the two.

The last eight weeks have been pretty good. Started an apartment complex yesterday that will take me about two weeks to do. They have other properties so hopefully there will be some more work from them. Have a few other things booked also. Phone needs to keep ringing.

Looks good Al. Hopefully you'll land some houses inside the subdivision.

It's not just the cost of fuel to run your business that you need to worry about. When fuel costs go up, everything goes up. Delivery charges you have for supplies delivered to your house go up, the price you pay for your groceries goes up, the printer that makes your marketing materials raises his prices to you, the list is endless. Pass all those increases along to your customers to maintain your standard of living and it is more than just a few dollars.

Looks great. What sealer can you apply with the wood still that wet?

I've used NMD80 also. Good stuff. Safe Restore can be good but it is expensive.

I've never used Simple Cherry to wash a house so I can't give you a comparison but I have been using Power House and it has worked well for me. I have some Simple Cherry I use in roof wash mixes but haven't tried it out on a house.

Without a doubt I am worse off financially. Five years ago I had a very good paying job in textile mfg. The company was sold and the new mgmnt and I didn't see things the same way and I was let go. Started this business and am moving forward. While I was making a good living my wife and I lived well below our means and while things are tight now they would have been impossible if we had been in a larger house, newer cars, not saved, second mortgage, etc. We are happy with what we have been blessed with and hopefully will turn the corner with the business this year.

My business is up over 40% from the first quarter of last year. Keep in mind I am just getting into my third year so last years numbers were not what some of the more established companies here are. Still all things considered I am optimistic about the year. Have about 6k booked right now. More quotes out there also that will hopefully come through. I am busting my rear to keep this thing going. This will be the year that makes or breaks me.

Hey James. I grew up in Illinois a little north of Chicago. Mostly asphalt drives there too. Down here nearly everything is concrete. I would like to get my pricing to your level but in this area I really think I would be pricing myself out of the market. I have raised my pricing some this year and so far things are going well. Hope you have a good year.

It is amazing how many "companies" don't return calls, show up when promised, etc. I get compliments from many customers thanking them for keeping them up to date on when they are scheduled and showing up when I say I will. It can get difficult to do when business picks up and the weather messes with your schedule but it goes a long way with your customers. I got screwed yesterday by a prominent rental chain. I reserved a 500 gallon water trailer to truck additional water to one of the "Forbidden Zone" counties where power washing is banned. Had the job scheduled for a week and had already told the customer I would be there at 7:00. This is a town home community that was my largest customer last year. I show up at 4:30 pm to get the trailer and they didn't get it delivered to the store. They said they would deliver it to the job site the next day and I told them that was fine as long as it was full of water when they brought it. Of course they would not do that. Called another rental place that luckily was open until 5:30 and got a 300 gallon tank and used that. It was a stretch but we got the job done.

Just the house was about $400. With the driveway and sidewalk it was closer to $550. I was there around 5 hours including set up.

One other thing. While I was doing the house pictured I was asked by two other homeowners for quotes. One of them used me and another homeowner asked for a quote on that day and went with me. That was three out of four houses quoted in that neighborhood using the same pricing structure. I also did a house in the same sub last year. Thats four out of five quoted in that subdivision. Some people won't pay for your service, many will.

As a point of reference this is a house I did earlier this year. Price was nearly $400 for just the house. I did the driveway and front walkway also. The back and sides were pretty straightforward. The three sides were vinyl. I did have to break out a ladder to hit everything on the front. I also reclaimed when I did the driveway.

Please don't take my previous post the wrong way. Your pricing at the higher level is good. Do good work and build a good customer base and you can get more. People who underprice their service are already out of business, they just don't know it yet. You will find work at $1.00 per linear foot per story.

I am in your area and charge slightly higher. Do us both a favor and do not drop your pricing. You are not going to get every job you bid. There are already too many "I'll wash any house up to 2500 square feet for $125 guys around."

If someone has a problem with what they percieve as your hourly rate tell them this. " Sir or Ma'am I am self employed. I came here and gave you a free quote but I still had to pay for the gas to drive out here with no guarantee of work. If you hire me I will have to drive back again and use more gas at over $3/gallon to get here. My pressure washer also runs on gasoline that I have to pay for and if I am washing your concrete I will be using hot water which requires the use of diesel fuel at nearly $4/gallon. Since I am self employed I have to pay all of my social security benefits because I have no employer to pay part of it so I am in effect taxed at a higher rate than you. Since we both know social security will probably not be around when I retire I also have to fund my own 401K or other retirement plan, once again with no employer match of any kind. I carry one million dollars of general liability insurance to protect your property and my insurance company asks for payment each month whether I work or not. I also carry workers comp and that policy has to be paid in full, at the start of the new year. The Yellow Book ad that you used to find me costs money, my website and other advertising costs money, my equipment costs money, and you certainly must realize that even though I work long hours much of that time is at my expense and not a customers. If you think x amount of dollars is going into my pocket you are mistaken." People don't realize the expenses associated with a business even a small one.

Thanks Ken. I appreciate the efforts you, Carlos and others are putting into this. This will be a great opportunity for everyone who wants to, to get their voice heard.

I have mixed views on this also. Just because someone has a license and maybe passed a test of some sort doesn't mean they will abide by the rules when they are out in the field. There are plenty of people out there with general contractor licenses that cut corners, hire illegals, don't always follow code, etc. On the back of my business card I tell customers to always ask for verification of general liability and workers comp insurance. On the residential end almost no one ever asks about it and I have never had a resi customer ask me to produce proof of my insurance. I don't know what Ken is talking about but steps to educate the customer would seem key to me. Maybe take out ads in trade journals for property managers, real estate agents, etc talking about the difference in contractors and what to look for in a power washer. Put ads in home magazines or other media that could reach homeowners and educate them. Talk to HOA groups about the guys that dump their stuff into the local lake etc. Get people to recognize what a responsible contractor is.

There is someone here that does the same thing. It ticks me off when I see the signs. They disappeared for awhile and I think the county cracked down on people doing that and where they were posted. They are showing up again but in less conspicuous places. You have to wonder about people who would call a company that advertises that way. They must get calls though because the signs are out every year.