Rick G

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2007-01-09T195343Z_01_N09482420_RTRUKOC_0_US-APPLE-MACWORLD.xml&src=rss&rpc=23 Im looking foward to this.

Baretta 9MM- and my hand never hurts. ;)

Alot of people dont understand that oil price is set by the market. Yes the oil companies make large profits beacuse they have large sales. No one bitches when OJ goes up beacuse of a winter freeze and the CEO of Tropicana still makes millions. Im one of the few people that thinks if the Oil co's make money and they pay there execs very well - good for them. Would you like someone to come to you and tell you how much you are allowed to charge and in return make? I wouldnt. Do oil co's lobby to hold back compitition? You bet. Welcome to politics in America. Not their fault. I pass on all my fuel cost to clients. Its just part of doing buissness now. We will all hurt until the market corrects itself. If it doesnt it will spur invention to solve the problem. It still hurts though.

I egg houses in my neighbourhood, then leave flyers.

Thats the name I use when looking up porn! ;)

I agree 100%. Get a new PW 1st.

I have seen one from Espec that pulls from three lines. I dont know what the final % is though.

I think the thing you fail to see PressurePros, is that Mikes (and my) market will not tolerate high amounts on house washing. Hell any service. The money is just not there. The pennsaver in this area has at least 10 adds in it all saying lowest prices. To give you an example there are serveral co's here that will clean the roof, drive, house and pool deck for under $250.00. Its in their print adds. Now in a market where such low prices dominate its hard to command what we feel we are worth. This does not make us Low Ballers. I started off wirghting high estemates and battleing every customer trying to educate them on why I was better and was going to do a better job. I was not busy, it was exausting and my close rate was low. Clearly I was priced to high. So I decided to 'get in the game' and lower my prices, sharpen my teqniqe and speed and now I am very busy with lots of satisfied customers. Now Mike, I feel that you have to look at this in reverse. If he is one of the few games in town and the consumer is uneducated then he can command a higher price. You bet if I go back up to NC to live my prices go up. No doubt. Take it easy on each other. You are really debating on apples and oranges. PP, on the other board you refferd to your teqniqe in such a manner that led us to beleve that you where doing something defferant, better. Would you please share your method with us? ie. chems, application, equipment used etc. Thanks. We are all here to learn.

Ill do some testing today to see if I can get some stats on my gpm. Ill also see if I can find those pics of the wand.

I am sure that there is some pressure and flow drop but it works fine for me. I use a little stronger chlorine solution than I think you do Mike. Between 5 or 7%. Remember 98% of what I clean is tile. I use about 3% on shingles. I use a 6ft PVC wand (credit Don Phelps) to put it down. I use 3/8in blue air hose cause I had already bought it. I here the clear hose is a little lighter. I keep it on a Hanny reel. I can cover a 2000 sq ft home roof in about 30 minutes (average). The trick is to unwind all the hose you need, turn on the pump and let the line fill with fluid, then carry the wand on the roof. It stays primed that way. Mike when you say apply from the ground you dont mean standing on the ground do you? I know you said your 3gpm flowjet wasent fast enough, which I cant really figure out. I think you are just so used to the XJet it must seem slow. Also I rinse the roof once (garden hose pressure) just to get the majority off, Im sure I leave some up there. That might account for my speed. Under two hours pull up to drive off on a one story 2000 sq ft home. Shingles take a little longer cause I rinse more.

I have the same shurflow you have Ryan. Works great. Mine is trailer mounted with 200ft of hose on a reel. I keep an extra 50ft in the truck just in case. It could not be simpler. I have mine hoked up so I can shut off the valve to the chem tank and open one from the fresh tank and flush it out with fresh water. (very important) I also have a small hole drilled in the top of my chem tank where the inlet hose to the surflow goes, that way I can remove the hose and put it in a bucket or anouther container of a differant chem. like degreaser, oxolic, stripper whatever. I love my shurflow.

I use stronger chems and low pressure at the most angle I can hold the wand at.

I used to live in Scottsdale AZ. I liked it alot. That might be a good transition for you. I dont reccomend the East Coast of S. Florida. Most people are just plain rude. Strip clubs and Pawn Shoppes all over. Drugs and crime run ammuck. We are moving North soon. If I didnt have kids and could just choose somewhere I think the cost of Texas or the West Coast of Fl would be cool. Good luck and keep us posted.

Thank You!

Again, Where can you purchase TWP?

Where do you purchase TWP?

Happy Birthday Beth! Keep up the good work.

Fake *****. But we have those down here as well. We went to see Senfield when he came here. His opening line was "West Palm Beach, are boob jobs here on special or what? What is it? Buy one get one free?" Everyone was rolling, except the bleech heads with their fake ballons, not that theres anything wrong with that! ;)

I put out flyers for about three hours one day just to have an old man call and tell me he picked them all up on his walk and threw them in the trash! Thats the last time I put any out. I agree with Henry, cards, cards, cards to everyone and a small ad here or there.

I would walk away from this job so fast I would make a sonic boom. Read the wrighting on the wall. Choose your customers carefully. Sorry I didnt contribute more to this post but I think you should pass.

Nathan, I agree with Jon. Don’t let me trying to get you to think a different way come across as an attack on you. If that’s the way it came across I apologize. It’s hard to express the tone in which one may be trying to convey in type. That’s all. Speaking for myself I never give it a second thought what people say or do with there own business, However I do come here to challenge and to be challenged which leads to me learning. I hope us disagreeing dosent prevent you from rolling up your sleeves and getting in a good ol fashioned debate in the future. Again, good luck to you.

I have to agree with Mike. It sounds as if your resorting to scare tactits. If you have no problem with thats fine. I educate my customers and dispell all the myths created by people like yourself out there missguiding them. (in my opinion) Thats why I have lituature to back me up. The point I was trying to make is you should be able to sell your service based on YOUR skills, not your preseved notion of someone eles falures. Not trying to make you upset or start anything with you, just want you to think about it. Thats all. Good luck.

I also use Citraclean in the drum form but I add a sufactant(sp), wax and a rinse aid when needed. I find with the sufactant I use less beacause of the cling it provides. I agree with statments about it Citraclean. I have used three other soaps before this one, a local brew, Delcos and ESpecs and will never go back. Im not saying something will not come out better but I doubt it. ClassicPW whats your mix?

Nathan, which product do you use? Name brand please. Also do you put additives in you cleaner? ie- wax, rinse aid ect? Its good to here people are out there doing a good job and providing a good service. Although I dont agree with you useing 'scare tactics' about bleech. I have documents from several siding and roofing manufactures, stucco, dryvit, shingle, tile etc that reccomend using bleach and water to clean their products. I offer two ways of cleaning most everything I do and let the customer decide. But I dont put down one or the other. Some people do have heath adversions to bleach thats true. If used properly bleach is by far one of the most effective cleaners there is. Thats why its in everyones home. Do you think after speaking with you they go inside and pour their Clorox down the drain and wash there cloths without it? I doubt it. Sell your service and the positive aspects of it, just try and do it without bad mouthing anyone eles in the process. Just somrthing to chew on. Rick G

Then why does the Neighborhood Cleaners Association (a very large, national trade association for the dry-cleaning and laundry industry) distribute price information annually to their members? When someone becomes a member and on a annual basis they send out cards to their members asking what they charge for what items and what they pay for raw goods, labor, water, fuel etc etc. then average it based on region and redistribute it. They make no suggestions on what to do with the information one way or the other. They also have statistics on how much labor, chems, profit etc etc for say a pair of 100% cotton pair of kaki pants at whatever the averages are, again say $3.50. In our industry you could equate this to a 2000 sq ft one story house wash. I just don’t understand how someone could confuse information gathering with price fixing? Price fixing is when more than one business 'conspires' to price in the same range to keep prices up. Gathering voluntary information and redistributing it to members is a far cry from price fixing. If this organization in the billion-dollar dry cleaning industry can do it without getting sued why cant the pwna?