Big Bill

I have to say that it's good, and I am sure it will get better with each edition. Cudos to all the writers and the *****!

You are right, Thad - there is no easy answer.

I was going to stay away from this thread, but some of the things that have been said here really have my blood to boiling point. Firstly, a little history....I was born in NOLA in Charity Hospital (not a charity case, my father was doing his residency and internship), so I am a native New Orleanian. I was raised in the NOLA area (actually a suburb north of Lake Pontchatrain). NOLA has a lot of great things about it, but in the last few decades the greatness that this city had has been diminishing. One of the greatest things is it's history. Another great thing is the heritage and the food. I have been all over the world, you will not find better food anywhere like you will in NOLA. The root of just about all the problems that plague this city is the fact that a large % of the population is welfare dependent, just like is happening to most inner cities in America. With this welfare dependent population comes a multitude of problems, the biggest being what you saw during and after Katrina (where was the gov't, they didn't do their job to help me etc.) Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but when somebody tells me that a Cat 5 hurricane is about to blow up my ass, I know I will have to move my ass to a safe place, and it is MY RESPONSIBILITY to get there. But in NOLA, for the last few decades, a lot of the population has been so dependent on the gov't, they actually think it is not their personal responsibility for even their daily survival needs. This is not solely a race thing either, as there are not only blacks that live by this belief, but also whites and other ethnic backgrounds also. Did our gov't fail these people, HELL YEAH, but it was long before Katrina blew into town. Katrina only brought this problem to light to the national and international level. Our gov't (local, state, and Feds) need to stop this now, or you will see it grow more nation wide. Hey Ant, I know you and others were greatly disappointed with your visit to NOLA, and that greatly disappoints me. I could not attend Thad's NOLA roundtable because I was offshore working, but I wish that I could have been there to show you more of the greatness of NOLA, believe me, it is there beyond the sight of the French Quarter. Ant, I know you are a sportsman, I would love to show you why they call Louisiana "Sportsman's Paradise" Chris, I sure hope a hurricane doesn't hit Tampa, I would hate to know you had to wait hours in line for MRE's and 1 bag of ice. I could write more about all of this, but I think this will be a never ending story.

Years ago, I was doing irrigation repair job, spilled a can of pvc primer on my crotch area. It was NOT very funny. I drove myself to the ER. I was hurting and crying so much, I could not explain to them what happened to me. Then, like all ER's, they wanted me to wait to see a doctor......I caused such a scene that they ended up calling security, it was not a good scene.

Down here in south Louisiana, there are alot of tanks just laying around. You just have to know the right people to get them for the right price. I got mine really cheap, 4 - 300 gallon (I call them pallet tanks) for $100. They weren't in the best of shape, but they held water. I had to build new pallets for 2 of them. We use them in the offshore oil business, there are thousands of tanks of every make, shape and size at every shore base dock along the coast.

Carlos - I have it listed for 40 k right now

John, Since you like buying equipment, this is what you need for landscape maintenance biz Landscaping Truck, Landscape Truck, Landscape Truck System, Custom Landscape Trucks - Super Lawn Trucks I definitely see one in my near future By the way, wanna buy a Bobcat skid steer loader ? 2005, S300 w/ trailer, grapple, bucket, < 250 hours

Ken, Like John and Jeff said, your posts and other posts about biz and marketing are the very first posts that I look for. If there is one area of my biz that needs improvement, it's the posts like your's and Jeff's that I read very intently. I have printed and posted several of these posts on my office wall board at home to refer back to at a glance. Keep the posts coming.......you too, Jeff.

Try Shelter Insurance, that's who I have mine with. Pay about 1900 a year for '07 Dodge mega-cab, but they give me a multi car discount, plus a discount because I have homeowner's policy with them. The insurance biz in Louisiana is a racket. Most people on here would cr*p if they saw my insurance bills every year.

I have been asked to bid on a fairly large Ipe deck. I have done PT decks before, but this is the first Ipe deck that I have ever seen in my area. The homeowner wants it prepped and oiled with an oil that she insists on using, she called it "Rosewood Oil". She said that she has done the research on it. so I guess she kind of knows what she wants. My recommendation to her was for me to strip the deck, then I will apply the oil for her. My main question is if you need to brighten with citralic after stripping (I would think yes to neutralize the stripper). Beth, Rod, Celeste, Jim Foley, Jarrod, or anybody else - give me some advice on this one. I will attach pics when I figure it out.

Rod - thanks for the reply. She couldn't tell me the exact name of the product that she used previously, just that it had something with rosewood oil. When I googled Rosewood oil, I came up with the same aromatherapy crap too. Then I googled rosewood oil stain, the only stain that showed up was Penofin. I will find out out more from her in the morning. Believe me, I am doing research on this, mainly for the reason that whatever finish she has on the deck is failing in a bad way. She does have some spare boards laying on the ground next to the deck that I am going to ask her to let me do some testing with. I think that after she sees what I can do with the test boards, she will have a more educated idea of what she wants. Jim, you are right about the mold down here. Up until Katrina hit here, she told me that the deck was shaded really well, until the 2 large oak trees were blown down (the trees were on the south side of the deck, the 120+ mph winds were from the north during the storm, so the trees missed her deck and house). She did tell me that there have been 2 coats of finish applied to the deck, (a year apart) but that the wood had never been stripped, just lightly pw'd. I told her that the deck would probably need stripping before another coat of any finish is applied. Because I have never seen Ipe decks around here, I knew that I had to ask the right people just to make sure. I have read every post on the Grime Scene for the past 4+ years and have learned so much from so many people. Thanks to so many people on here.

Ken and Russell, thanks for the reply. I have stripped a few p/t decks and used citralic to neutralize. I just wasn't so sure about the Ipe. When I do strip decks, I do use very low pressure. I will first do a test patch with a sodium percarb cleaner that I have to see how it looks. If that doesn't look like it's doing the trick, then I will try some sh stripper that I have. By the way, what is the shelf life of the sodium percarb and citalic? What I have is probably 1 1/2 years old. If I remember correctly, I think I read that the older it gets, the weaker it gets. I don't do alot of decks, people here just don't seem to want to spend the money having their decks refinished. In over 3 years in business, I have probably only done 15 total deck restorations. This year, this is something I really want to push, the reason I really want to make this job look good. Russell, I will definitely give you a call Monday morning. Thanks again.

The deck has a finish on it now, the deck is about 3 - 4 years old. She couldn't give me the name, but I do believe it could be Penofin. I will have to check back with her on that to make sure. I really want to do a great job on this deck, it is in a really high end subdivision that I do alot of work in.

I agree with Rick, long term is where it's at. I have been investing for the long term for 20+ years. When the stock market took a nose dive in '87, I thought it was disaster for me, but I took my old man's advice & stuck with it, it was only a loss on paper. I kept putting away a little bit every month, I have never missed a month's contribution in over 20 years. When the IRA contribution thing started, I have contributed. When the company I work full time for started offering the 401k in 1995, I have contributed the maximum amount every year. It takes discipline and hard work for me, which is the reason I am in the pressure washing business - so I can keep investing.

Jeff, I think that is a great idea. I think 8 ft might be a bit too high though, would that be the height of the bottom of the tank, or the top of the tank? What kind of setup does the supplier have for filling the tank, gravity feed, or pump? A couple of other things to think about is ventilation inside the warehouse, being closed up at night and other long periods of time would be a problem. Then you would have the problem of corrosion for your equipment and the metal of the building. What about seeing if you could place the tank outside? Good idea on the containment with blocks and linex. I would also have a chain link fence with razor wire on top. The price might be expensive, but I would imagine it would be cheaper than having any type of spill. Another thing to think about is liability insurance and permitting, maybe the supplier could give you help on that. One of the big advantages of having that is not having your guys spending valuable time having to go get the stuff every week or so. Good Luck with this, its a great thought that will save you lots of money in the long term.

Right out of high school, I landed a job working on an offshore rig in in the Gulf of Mexico. 5 months later, the company transfered me to work in the North Sea, working offshore England, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Denmark. I have also worked in Indonesia, Brazil, and West Africa for short stints. I am presently working in the Persian Gulf offshore Saudi Arabia. I work over there for 30 days, come home for 30 days, so I have lots of time off. I have been employed by the same company for 26 years. I started pw'ing 3 years ago as a side gig to have something to do on my days off, and make extra $. I didn't get married until I was 40, so I really took advantage of working overseas and have travelled all over the world, 29 countries. I have done things and been places other people only dream about. 9 more years until retirement, then hopefully I will be pw'ing full time.

Jeff, Find yourself a highly recommended certified financial planner (not a life insurance agent or stock broker - their goal in helping you is to sell you their product). Pay this person to sit down with you and come up with a financial plan for all of your future needs. The ideas that others have mentioned here are par for the course, but you will still need to ask qualified people for their help. I was recommended to a top notch guy years ago, he helped me with all kinds of needs, insurance, IRA account, company pension, etc. I have been set up on the bi-weekly mortgage plan for the last 5 years, it definitely reduces the number of years significantly. Good Luck Dude! One other thing, look into opening a 529 college tuition plan for your kids. It is a state sponsored program that is awsome. Most states have them now, do it now while your kids are really young, the earlier you start, the cheaper the cost.

I agree with you Jeff. This scum bag is the same as Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart. Watch this story unfold, there will still be idiots believing his side of the story and sending him money so that he can live a lavish lifestyle.

I have an Allison Iron Horse machine, had it for almost 3 years, so far so good. Mine is 6.5 @ 3600, w/ a 25 hp Kholer and General Pump. I wish I had opted for the bigger gpm, but it works well for me right now. This machine was made by John Allison, but he told me that he is no longer making them now.

Umm, Celeste, didn't Miss Hannah teach you that it's a continent? :) Looks good, I hope she gets an A on that project. Can she name all of the countries on there?

Alot of the difference in the price of gas through out the country is due to taxes we pay. Northeast states, California & other states are taxed higher. In Louisiana, we have a bunch of refineries (4-5 within 50 miles of me), yet we still pay more than alot of you guys in the midwest or elsewhere. The worst thing here is that fuel taxes are supposed to pay for roads, if you have ever driven in Louisiana, you would know that our roads absolutely suck.

Jeff, I sometimes have the same problem that you do. So. let me give you some ideas of some things that are helpful to me. My wife swears that I am the most unorganized man she has ever known. I have a box that I put all receipts in. I have lots of file cabinets, my wife and I have organized these beautifully, all files labled & organized in certain cabinets. I have a eraseable white board that is a calender/monthly planner. We both write on the board everything we have going on, personal for her, me, kids, & Supreme Clean. I also have another white board that we scribble other notes. I have to do this because I have some kind of disorder, my wife swears that mental disorder anylist's have not seen this before, so we don't know what to call it. I also have & use a calender book, 2 or 3 spiral bound notebooks that I carry with me at all times. I have to write down things all the time. One of the things that I have started doing is writing down phone calls that I make; ie company name, person I talked to, subject discussed, time, date. Alot of times, I have to stop on the side of the road & write things down, whether it's for personal or business. I also use Quickbooks Pro w/ Quickbooks Customer Manager. Every couple of months, I'll take 2-3 hours out of my time, get my note books out & put things down in it, especially customer info. I also write letters to people that I have done bids & done jobs for. I am not some organizational guru, I am actually a complete mess (ask my wife), so I have to really put my mind to getting things organized. I give all of the credit to my wife, who has taught me more about organization and usually give me a swift kick in the a$$ to get things rolling. I do alot more things that help keep things organized, just can't think of them right now.

Scott, one of the major things that diabetes affects is the circulation in your extremeties (arms & legs). The circulatory problems lead to what is called neuropathy, & it is a pain (literally). I have it pretty bad. It feels like numbness, needles, tingling, pain all at the same time in my feet. I take a bunch of pills everyday for this. Some mornings, my feet hurt so bad I have to wait about an hour after I take my medicine before I can really get up & moving really well. I had the same symptoms you are having right now before I ever checked my blood glucose level. I'll tell you this, lay off the high sugar items (including beer & alcohol), high carb food items (bread, pasta or anything made with processed flour). The hardest for me was potato chips, oreos, & chocolate chip cookies. I also took a diabetic educatiion course at my local hospital that helped alot. I have lost about 50-60# since being diagnosed, just by watching my diet & being a pressure washer. I was at about 320# five years ago, now I am 260 - 270#. If my feet didn't hurt so much, I would probably be smaller.

Scott, I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic about 5 years ago. A friend of mine found out he was diabetic, so I was curious to see what my blood sugar was. I had my friend check my blood sugar and it was at 471. Whoa! Normal blood sugar is 80-100. I also noticed that I was having to pee alot. I pretty much keep it under control now with medication, but not as closely as I should. Being overweight, as I always have been, is the main contributing factor to being a diabetic. I also have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, which I take medication for. The doctor really lit into me telling me that I was a walking time bomb.

I have a 8' x 20' Wells Cargo trailer, loaded w/ 2 x 300 gal tanks, Hannay double stack hose reels w/ 300' x 3/4" feed hose and 300' Goodyear Neptune 2 wire pressure hose. I have an Allison Iron Horse hot water skid @ 6.3 gpm. Also have a Steel Eagle 24", 6 different size wands, 36' Corress Wand, 40" Craftsman Tool Chest full of Tools. Thank goodness that the trailer has 2 x 6,000 # axles. Very rarely do I ever travel w/ both tanks full of water.