Mike Cappa

So, does that meter stay on the trailer or do you remove it after you are through with it. I see the bypass line which makes me think you remove it when you don't need it. Or did you just decide to keep it, lol.

Jon, didn't I see a meter on your rig for hooking up to hydrants? Or did I mistake that for something else?

Here's my question, I don't want to rent one. I want a permanent one on my trailer, where can I buy one and what is a round a bout price?

First of all, what the hell is this guy doing above me, Beth? Second, I love the PITA scale, I will be adding that to my estimates, lol.

I don't think 1.50 per sqft is by any means a low ball price. I have bid against guys bidding .50 per sqft. I have won a low percentage of those bids. I have also re-cleaned and sealed about 85-90% of the bids I lost to the .50 per sqft guy. He in essence has made me alot of money. I understand he sold his home depot pressure washer and his bleach and is now working part time for a landscaping company for 7.50 and hour. I am sure we have all dealt with "him" some time in our career.

I think you have to start to discount for volume. If a deck contractor came to you and said, "I know you get 1.50 per sqft to do decks, but I want to contract you to do all the decks we build (clean and seal) but because I am giving you all our decks, I only want to pay you 1.15 per sqft. And I will guarantee 5 decks per week."Are you going to turn that down? Also, if you have a 2000 sqft deck, would you still charge 1.50? I wouldn't. I would probably go to 1.25 or somewhere around there. Just my .02

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, I use 2 oz of foamer also.

Here is my mix... 1/2 gallon of Citrus Cleaner 2 gallons of bleach 2oz rinse aid 2oz of wet wax all mixed in a 5 gallon pail, I then fill with water. I usually mix about 20 gallons to do a house. I then x jet the mixture onto the house.

That's exactly where I was. I wish I would have told you before I came down there. Would have loved to meet you. He wasn't doing PW, he also does light residential construction. He was installing new carpet and electric and heat if I remember correctly.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I will help any way I can. I am not an expert, (the day I stop learning will be the day I get out of the biz) but if I have more exp. than someone else, I will gladly lend a hand.

Ron, was wondering why you asked those questions because I know you know the answers to them. I understand what you are saying about thinking it is "that easy". some soap and some bleach? Doing it like that I think will put you out of business faster than the newspaper will take your money to advertise. I think there are about 20 different house wash recipes that I have heard of, I think some work and some don't. Hey, since we are taling about washing the house, shouldn't we also talk about the gutters, windows, application procedure, dwell time, cold weather, hot weather, stain removal, waxing, removing chalkiness, blowing off siding, closing windows (seems like a no brainer, but guess what) not forcing water through..., electrical outlets, proper pressure. Now, doesn't sound as easy as initially thought, he he. Oh, and up selling.

Ron, I use a house wash mix that includes a rinse aid and a wet wax. Never had a problem with windows or chalkiness. But I bet you already knew that.

He's in Angier. Though I met him at his job site. Near where you get off 40 E to 86. Sound familiar?

I just picked up an Alkota unit and it has an air valve on the pump for this exact purpose. I picked it up in NC (70 degrees) pumped all water out with air. got home to Ohio (20 degrees) I ran water through the machine just to see if anything freezed, and guess what, nothing froze, or atleast not completely. I didn't turn on the machine but I let the water flow and it came right out of the hose like it was the middle of the summer. I think all pumps should have this feature, or atleast offer it.

I'll take a pack of smokes and a Sam Adams lager please. lol. Nice bbs Beth, good luck with it. I will be here often.

Chuck, nice work. Like that sure kleen huh. Do you know who Extreme Clean is? If so, how far are you from him. I was there the other day and if you are close, I will kick myself for not contacting you and meeting you.

Cold water. Low pressure as Chuck said, you achieve this by using a larger tip, not adjusting your unloader. Beth may have a nozzle chart somewhere, if not, I will post where you can get one tomorrow. As for products, I have heard good things about a few and only use one. It is manufactured by another web sites owner so I won't push it here. I have heard a lot of good things about HD-80 and EFC-38 (I do make my own version of this). I am planning on trying the HD-80 this year.

I don't use hot water to wash houses. Unless in extreme cases where I need to apply wax with hot water and rinse cold. But that doesn't happen very often.