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Good advice for you, here, Ollie... HD washer & DIY attachments and you will find out what you really can't do effectively. But you can make beer money. Somewhere between $3k - $5k for good equipment setup. Knowledge of proper chemical use... priceless ! I am expanding my biz to offer more PWing and THIS board is awesome! r

Very impressive Jim! and I thought the other half of the world was Texas, and Australia was the land Down Under... Ha! but I will go back and look at those pictures again! r

Hello Gene, Many ways to survive in biz... One of 'em is to price everyone else out, then u got all the biz. If you make a buck, that's 1 the competition didn't get. You are in a good position, if you own all your gear & no payments. A far better way to go is improve your salesmanship and get your client excited about having you to do a fine job based on your sterling reputation. r

Mat, great website... I just think a website is somewhere you might send someone, once you got your foot in the door... OK, try this angle... make your loop thru town and hit all the lumberyards and nurseries. Solicit them, AND also present them w a short stack of flyers and ask if you can set them by the register of post on a bulletin board. Someday after a few more I'll tell you abt Danny Franco... Point being, you can NEVER give up, when in SALES, you can never rest on your laurels, and you must view ev-er-y-thing as an opportunity to make a sale. I've been around construction and service work many, many moons. All pretty straight forward after a while. It's the people that are the challenge! Try something differrent tomorrow. r

Yaz, Right on post! I spend my time at some of the nicest properties around, anywhere. And sometimes, more than the owners ! Don't mind saying I enjoy my time there, am ALWAYS respectful of the owners, and NOT reluctant when I dock my time spent when I just sit down in a deck chair and enjoy a multi-million $ scenario. Never spent time in a cubby, but was in hi-pressure sales... not good. Even w ups and downs, my own biz is the way to go. r

Mat, make some handbill flyers on your computer. Print 3 to a page, double sided. then take the master to staples and have copies made. Cut 'em up yourself, w a razor blade... just black print on, well, a ream of many colors of paper is only $5... Tell 'em abt your business and put your cell number on both sides. Answer Every call! Start out close to home and go door to door passing 'em out. Let 'em see your smiling face and desire to work and do a good job for THEM. ...Go door to door, on FOOT ! r

GREAT presentation! r

Okay... finally watched a couple newer ones. Ben Stiller's A night at the museum Why bother... not as stoopid as Zoolander or funny as Starsky & Hutch. I don't like Will Ferrell either. Meryl Streep & Anne Hathaway in the Devil Wears Prada. Good flick. Pretty girls, good writing, acting is not bad and a story. Only thing missing is ***, violence, and a rock soundtrack. r

Hello Jon, I am not an expert, but I do know a little 'bout it... A building inspector here in CA once told me 50deg and rising is required for a res foundation. As the concrete "cures", a crystalline structure is formed within the cement that gives concrete it's adhesion and strength. If the water in the mix is frozen during the formation of this crystalline structure, it does not/can not occur. What you would end up with is pretty much tightly packed sand and gravel in the forms. Although concrete is serviceable relatively quickly for limited use, it actually may take years for it to achieve it's full strength, at which point, it begins to degrade! I once saw a res foundation for a very large home, where the batch plant goofed up and the underpinnings could be dug away with a table spoon! You could probably find textbook answers at the concrete institute, or whatever they call it, online. Or you could go to ContractorTalk.com and run a post in the appropriate forum to get confirmation on my views... Either way, somebody is gonna need a jackhammer! r

Wow! What a thread. Being newguy & all that, I'm reading ALL the stuff, to learn what I can... Didn't lern nuthin from this one. You'all bounced through economics, politics, philosophy, mini-flames, and a whole buncha other stuff before hashing back thru it all again! Today is Tax Day, little over a month since last post here... I just read abt hundreds of homes in foreclosure in Greely CO and there are big numbers growing here in CA and these are REAL PEOPLE affected by the economy. I spent 5yrs working for big builders, and they are in a fade, now. I know of tracts where they just stopped and went home. One fellow has a tag line...When life gives you lemons, make lemonade... So, I'm expanding my service offering to power washing homes. If the market is full up, the best looking will get attention first. ...if i can get the hang of all them chems... r

Great tube! r

S Williams has stain charts/products... Spot clean.. Once over all, Apply thinned product w/nap roller & extension (thinned if it still shows color) sealer over that if more gloss requested. I'd do it for a grand-1200 r

Very cute little playhouse! Can she cover her mortgage? Oops! r

Hello to the group... I just gotta put my 2 cents in here. 'cuz that's abt all I got left after painting for 5 yrs or so . We ran just over a mil in contracts a few years ago and the owner never got the wolves away from the door. Painting is labor intensive and the workers ate up what the suppliers didn't. then there was gas. Prob is that everyone has an out of work shirt tail relative that is out of work, so he can paint it... or the immigrants have bid it dirt cheap... God only knows how many ways they can come up with to destroy paintwork, or the surrounding vicinity, but that was my job, to fix the blunders and indisgressions... there was no end to the different ways they mangled things. But, some could lay down paint as good or better than I've ever seen. And others were a literal tornado at prep work. Waaah ! It's hard to compete... Not sure abt the quote, but... give a customer what they pay for ? 50% of my contacts are grinders... they want 30% off the lowest tier, and then some. Million dollar properties and all they want to do is cut corners. Quality paint starts at $30/g, cheap is $20, and the client says they'll provide and they show up w $12g junk from glidden. After a significant investment in prep work! Go figure.... No, i don't anymore. I just plug along. If a decent client comes along that pays well, they get the best advice, meticulous prep, and end up with a glorious topcoat to be proud of for many years. If they want, or pay for blo n' go, by golly we can do that too. but it hurts. r

I think you will find the F-150 a lot stronger than the 1500. On all the construction sites Ford is #1. The supers run GM's. Nothin comes even close to an F-250/350 w 6.0 litre !

The post abt muffler tuned to engine is very correct ! I would suggest an aftermarket exhaust pipe muffler for an offroad motorcycle complete w/spark arrestor. 20hp is abt the 250cc class, or less. My kid has a few out in the garge..... I could look for names, if you wish. r

Do you think harry might have met bill clinton? GW ain't nothin of a pr guy compared to bill. r "All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway." -- Harry S Truman

Hello to group I'm new to hi-tech and trying to learn thank you . . . Jeff sez xjet is good I love the Xjet it make me a lot of money I'm all for that.. Ken sez NO its hocus pocus But Dan finds a time and place for both options... I want to wash a tract of BIG 2 story homes and they are TALL. Some up to 3 stories and better w the build ups. I would like to do a nice job for the folks, as they've always, (well, usually, for the most part) been good to us while we did the pickup, repairs, and warranty work once the homes sold. Basically housewashing stucco + some painted hardiboard. And then there are the rats w/wings who also moved in . . . Will that Xjet get chems up to a hi ridge on the gable ends? do I need xtenda poles or looong lance? I have a PW from HD that everyone seems to hate, but it performs flawlessly and has never let me down. it has paid for itself and made us money. i can see where it is time to get a bigger, better machine. Is 3500 better than 3k for the Xjet? @4gpm... Which PW to buy? Eagle looks good and BE They are bolt together parts, to me. Honda 13hp, I will be cold for now, 4gpm, but which pump does everyone love to hate? CAT looks dandy, but general, comet, and AR also seem good. Which one holds up best and which has best warranty solutions and parts shipments. Who uses dual lance? What kind is favored? I'd like to learn abt foaming nozzles... From what I can read, NOT needed for housewash, but foam on the front of a home being cleaned has a nice big impact on Suzie homemaker when she sees you working diligently. What kind of lite sealer could be applied after a quality wash job? and what to do w those pigeons! r