AAPaint

I don't care to publish pricing online either, but I can tell you about 75-125 sq. ft. per hour stripping depending on finish. 150-200 sq. ft. max per hour staining is about average for us. Rails we average about 1 foot per 1.5 minutes or so. Sanding is variable, but with orbitals and belt sanders we run about 100-125 sq. ft. per hour. Looking at the size of the job, and your posted speeds, we would be pretty much in the same boat. My question is, when you say "man hours", you do mean ONE HOUR PER MAN on the job, right? The reason I ask is, if you have two people on the job for 8 hours, you actually have 16 billable man hours. I hope this is what everyone means, right?

Yeah, HOA's are not something I can live with. I think the communism thing should stay in Russia and China, but as far as keeping a neighborhood looking good, they're ok for that. In some areas they can be really bad. There are plenty of horror stories about them all over the web. Btw, letting anything cure before trying to get rid of it is crazy, and it doesn't take the resins in any stain very long to set up at all.

Just try to properly set expectations before hand. If it's questionable, try to have them pay for a sample area. I've had customers pick colors with my painting business, and then absolutely hate the choice they made once it was up. Of course, we have a clause for this kind of thing, so they're paying either way, and they unfortunately have to pay again if they want it changed. Also had a homeowner pick a color, and after we painted the exterior of their home, the HOA freaked and said change it! Again, our clause covers this, it's up to the home owner to get all necessary approvals for the project. We did help out by drastically reducing our price, and charging bare minimum labor and materials to repaint it for them. With staining, the color can vary quite a bit on different species and age of wood. Tell them to expect that, and if you can, do a sample before hand. You can't be responsible for the final color with certain stains. Try to educate them fully so they know what they're getting into, it can save a lot of headaches.

That's good to know Rick. I've never tried it, but it may be helpful at some point.

If you're using Ready Seal they can walk on it in 45 minutes.

$50 and still didn't figure out both sides are on the same team? OOPS! Not supposed to say that. Forget I mentioned it. Wave flag, sing anthem, pledge allegiance!

Ready seal won't leave lap marks, and in theory it should blend well, but I'd be careful doing it at two different times. I've never tried that myself. I would shoot for doing all of the floor at once, and coming back to do the rails or something else. Is this an issue of not being able to do it all due to traffic in and out? If that's the case, I'd do it on an off day, or in the evening and charge appropriately for doing something outside of your normal work schedule. I'd avoid trying to do part of a floor, then come back and do the other part. Even if you can leave a few boards unstained from one end to the other, coming back a few days later may make a big difference in appearance. You'd have to box all of your stain, which you should do anyway, then make sure it's mixed well so you don't have any color variation, but you could have inclement weather between the first and last part, which could make some boards come out darker than the others. There are just too many variables that could make you look bad, you really need to do it all at the same time.

Working good as far as I can tell.

All the answers for healing the human body come from nature. The reason disease is so prevalent is due to the poisons in processed food and the pharmaceutical garbage they try to get us all hooked on. Excellent article.

Haha...never got that, but I did get the dirty dishes put in my bed once, lol.

Hello Trey. I saw you over there at PTState. Welcome to TGS.

I've created two different LLC's with legal zoom. Highly recommend. They make it very easy, and it's rather cheap too. As for a name, saying what you do is good, but try to keep it short, or at the very least MEMORABLE. Long names like Jim Bob's Professional Quality Pressure Washing, Roof Cleaning & Driveway Tire and Dirt Mark Removal Service is way too long and hard to remember. Try to come up with something short and even something witty. Be creative, and try to do something people will EASILY remember. Think of future uses of your business name, such as website domain names, and fitting the business name all on one line for business forms you complete, etc. My company name isn't short, but isn't super long either. It says exactly what we do, and helps the customer visualize what to expect. A lot of thought and debate went into our company name, because it's our entire identity, and yours will be the same for you. Then if you look at our logo, we used specific design elements, and even color psychology in it's development. We paid to have it created to help us convey the proper things. Then there is our slogan, "We Make Wood Look Good". All of these were put together with very specific goals in mind, so think about this when coming up with a business name. These are very important considerations that can make a HUGE IMPACT on how well your business does. Take for instance Beth & Rod's business "See Dirt Run". It's an AWESOME business name. It's witty, it's fun, it says what they do, it's easy to remember, it's attention getting, it peaks your curiosity. It has a lot of elements that make it top notch. I actually thought long and hard about THEIR business name when creating my own. Don't just jump on a business name, slogan, logo design, etc. Think hard about what you're trying to convey. Brainstorm with others. Write down dozens of keywords, and bounce your ideas off of other people. Some names might sound awesome until you wake up the next day and read it again. I had dozens of these! In the end, my business name is simple. The slogan is simple, but it's effective. If you want further help with this, feel free to pm me. I don't want to write a book here on the forum, but I can help you key in on and utilize some of the important factors I mentioned above. I've had the benefit of owning two different businesses, so I've made mistakes like a long business name that was boring and hard to remember. Not having a slogan, not even considering proper logo design, color psychology, etc. One very small change to any of these can have a HUGE impact on your business. Think about some corporations who literally spend MILLIONS to create logos, slogans, etc. They don't fork out all that dough for nothing...trust me.

If you can afford to start an LLC, then go ahead and do it. It's not expensive to get it started. Your most important concern should be advertising and getting the business rolling in, and you seem to know that by your post. That is positively top priority. Having an LLC is a little more legit looking than just a dba, but I've operated as both without issue.

Hoods, fleets, heavy equipment. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

What about the cost of overhead, chemicals and fuel? Can you shoot chems that high (looks like over 30' on some areas) or will you be climbing and moving a ladder around? That's a good bit of surface area to clean at that price. Your hourly rate is hefty, but does that include everything? Overhead, chems, your salary, and profit for the business? Being a newbie is ok, but you're running a business now. You're not working just for an hourly rate. You are working for a salary and profit over and above material, fuel, and all other overhead costs like insurance, advertising, equipment maintenance, etc. Salary is what you pay yourself, profit for the business is separate from that. They are not the same thing.

I'm looking for the right kind of setup to shoot caustic on houses. I have a two story cedar restoration that will be coming up in a month, and I want an easy way to get stripper up to the second story. I'm fully aware of the precautions needed to do so, it's the pump setup I'm not so sure about. Will something like the 5800 pump kit from PressureTek meet my needs? How far can it shoot chems? Would it be cheaper to build a setup on my own (I'm guessing it would)? What kind of setup would you recommend? I realize I could downstream stripper, but I'm worried about getting it strong enough, and also worried about having too much power behind it when doing it that way. I really don't see myself going that way for stripping wood. With decks, I really don't have a problem with a pump up sprayer, but there are some high spots on this house that I don't want to be on a ladder spraying caustic at, and getting the right setup will mean not needing a pump up sprayer for decks anymore also. What setup should I use, and what's most economical? I'm outlaying a lot of cash on new equipment right now, so I want to be a cheap skate, yet get something decent.

Well, I spent the money and got a good dolly to set it up on. I have my pump, I have my battery, hose, wand, and fittings. I just need a tank. Where is everyone getting their tanks, and what sizes are you using?

Wow, very informative! I never knew all this about carpet before. So, can I clean carpet with my pressure washing rig?

There is indeed a market for dock staining. I've done a few myself over the years, but never anything really huge. As far as spraying salt water, you will literally destroy any equipment you spray it through. I wouldn't worry about the dock itself, they get salt spray all year round, but high pressure salt will wreck anything you put it through. The filtration equipment to remove salt from water is expensive too. The cation filters needed for that would foul rather quickly, and need frequent changing, but this IS done on an industrial scale for certain applications. It's just not feasible for our work. You'll just be looking at getting long hoses and working your butt off!

I offer dock staining too, but I'm only willing to go so far to do it. If it's what you're talking about, I like TonyG's idea. Of course, I'd charge through the nose for the work, because that's some serious business to handle.

Ahh, sorry Ron. I wouldn't want to say anyone, because I honestly don't know that many in the wood trade. There are probably 10 or 15 I would put on the same level from my years of reading here. I simply can't judge or put some people on a pedestal above others, and I can't trash anyone either, I'd rather remain neutral. I was simply nodding to the women who work along side their men in this business. Kick some butt at whatever you're up to. I hope you get the information you need from others.

Hmmm....I don't bother judging others. How good they are is determined by THE CUSTOMER, not me. Perception is everything, and if the customer perceives them as good, they're just as good as any so-called top dogs from internet forums. All the guys here do good work from what I've seen, and I wish them the best of success. Rock on fellas, and ladies (nod to Beth, Celeste, my better half and some of the others out there).

Hey cleanhoods, I meant sodium hypochlorite, sorry for the confusion. That mixed with soaps that have ammonia can produce some nasty fumes. It will even say on some detergents not to mix with bleach for this reason.

Hey Rick, thanks for that, especially the pictures. I'm a visual learner, so pictures are worth more than a thousand words to me. Anyone else with pictures of their setups would be helpful. I have a utility cart I'm going to use, rather than a hand cart, so I certainly have room for two pumps, but I don't know if I have the budget for it right now. It will take up more space on the trailer, but I have extra room for which I don't have any other use, so that will be fine. It might actually be easier to move around than a hand truck too, but I'm not sure yet. I'm spending a ton on setting up a small trailer to make my life easier. The recommendation on the battery is helpful, because I was certainly thinking a large marine battery is what I needed. I'm just not sure about the tank portion of the setup yet, or if I'll just use a 10-15 gallon bucket/container for the chems.

You're probably going to waste money lugging around extra hose for nothing. Most machines do just fine with 3/8" hose, and any back pressure on the machine is going to be the same with 1/2" as it is with 3/8" if the you are running the same amount of pressure at the tip anyway. If you're worried about the pump burning up, don't squeeze and release the trigger every ten seconds, and run your unloader to your water tank to keep the pump cool. With 1/2" hose, you'll fit less on your reels, and you'll work yourself harder for house washing than it's worth. In some cases, bigger isn't always better, and this is one of them. Btw, check out Russ's special on 3/8" hose here, real good prices: http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/look-whats-new/23762-pressure-wash-hose-specials.html