dpaull

You serious? For the most part, boxers are fearless...that's their strong point but also their weak point. And I was just "heckling" you a bit. I love weimaraners. Very intelligent dogs. A customer of mine has one, I was just there yesterday as a matter of fact. Very well-behaved. I personally just like the short-snout dogs a little better.

lol...your weimaraner was used to hunt fowl, rabbits and foxes...my boxer is of bull mastiff decent and originally bred to hunt bear, wild boar, and deer. ;-)

Yeah just keep it quiet...or your competition will grow tremendously and all those guys with paintbrushes and lawnmowers will trade in all their equipment for pressure washers lol. I was at a house last week giving an estimate for a house wash, walkway and retaining wall...and the interior painter was on his lunch break...After he told me a little about how long he had been there and how much he was making, I just said something along the lines of "yeah we make an honest living though" The problem is that is too many folks start getting into it, what you're willing to do for $1400, he'll be willing to do for $1200...forcing you to either not eat or do the work for $1100...it's a vicious cycle and there should be some type of standard pricing going on in the industry.

lol no kidding. I've wanted one all my life but had a dog in the family that wouldn't allow it. So I'm so glad to have gotten this crazy guy. I never knew why I wanted a boxer, but now I know...craziest dogs out there no doubt about it.

I have 75' of 3/4 and 50' of 5/8...If I can use just the 50', I will...but sometimes, I run them both together. Most homes I've seen are just gushing with water. If they're not that good, invest in a water tank and run your pwasher off that...stick a fitting on the top of the tank to attach your supply hose to so it can act like a buffer...just make sure you keep an eye on the tank.

Looks good. How'd that percarb work out for you? I think I clogged a pump up sprayer with it 2 or 3 times before I realized what was going on. I thought the sprayer was defective. Oh and yeah they do make some nice strippers. I used the Behr stripper once because I was desperate. There are some good products through the 2 or 3 main retailers here on the net...and most paint stores have a pretty strong one. I've used a lot of the Benjamin Moore stripper and it works well but is expensive. A gallon is around 15 or 20...but 1 gallon makes anywhere from 2 to 5 gallons depending what the old stain looks like. But yeah the deck looks good...stripped nicely. Most folks probably leave a lot of stain on for their first try. Good attention to detail and good idea to check here before going any further.

Thanks...can you recommend a specific product that you like, or they are all pretty similar? Thanks again.

When you find out what to use there, let me know...I have a customer with a back porch that looks like that and I have to get the old stuff off. What do you normally use to get old failing sealer off concrete? I'm guessing sodium hydroxide?

That deck is not stripped. -- The deck NEEDS to be stripped of ALL old stain and dead damaged wood before applying a new stain, otherwise, it's a waste of time and will fail prematurely. The stain is meant to sink into the wood. Two "things" cannot occupy the same space at the same time (the old stain and the new stain in your case). Regardless of anything else, fuzzing is going to occur when wood with a good bit of damage is stripped properly. It is caused by the removal of the old damaged wood...and it will wear away after time on the floor boards. The only thing that would probably need sanded would be the handrails. Hope that helps, feel free to call me with any questions. dp

OK so I've never priced a job this big and could use some help with what to charge. Supplies aren't an issue, the guy that owns the properties is going to give me a credit card to purchase everything. In total, 5 properties scattered about a 3 mile radius in a lower class end of town. The measurements break down as follows: Flooring: 1179 sq. feet Rails: 617 linear feet Steps: 47 Lattice: 30' Fence: 232 linear feet (108 sq. feet of that flooring is going to be solid) (56 linear feet of the railings will be solid) (and 11 steps solid) Now I come up with right around $9,000 if this was just standard residential pricing... Water hookup is a problem at three of the locations...as there is no outside supply. So I'll have to port my own h2o around. Won't be a problem filling as I can fill it up at one of his other properties when I run out. So what kind of discount do you normally give commercial customers for a good bit of work like this? Keep in mind I'll be so busy for a week or two that I may lose a couple of residential jobs that need something quickly. Also keep in mind, this guy owns about 450 properties...so repeat business is probable. Feel free to PM me or give me a ring at 412-901-2880. Thanks! - dp

OK well I think I'm just going to submit this like I normally would to a regular homeowner. If there is a problem, I'll talk to him about it and see if we can work something out. Yeah I hear you on the pricing thing because it isn't like a large sq. footage job, as it's a bunch of smaller jobs...I'm not sure how many companies are bidding, but I don't think anyone that would undercut a job like this would even bother submitting a bid...it is a good bit of work and each site has their fair share of obstacles that need dealing with. He is requiring proof of insurance -- which should knock out the under cutters right there anyway.

OK yeah I am definitely going to price them all seperately and submit 5 bids. Yes, the flooring is a total of all the decks. Two of the properties make up a good bit of the flooring, the rest are small, and there are some railings that are on concrete pads. I was going $2.00 / sq. foot rails at $6 / lin. foot steps at $9.00 each lattice at $7.00 / linear foot and fence at $6.00 / linear foot (roughly the same when I calculate a sq. footage). I will go with your pricing Kevin to get a rough guide of where I should be. ========== Do you think the owner of these properties would rather see for example: 200 sq. foot at $1.50 = $300 100 lin. foot railings at $6.00 = $600 Total: $900 OR 200 sq. foot at $2.00 = $400 100 lin. foot railings at $7.00 = $700 Total: $1100 Minus multiple property discount at (18%) -$198 Total: $902

92 degrees here today... I have been fighting off the rain the past 4 days to stain this deck. Turned out pretty good. I used Wolman's F&P Natural semi-transparent. I think I'm going to order some WTW...What is it the most similar to as far as consistancy goes... F&P, Thompsons Water Seal Advanced, Behr semi? (All seem very different to me -- wouldn't have used the Behr, but a customer insisted on it).

Yeah...96 is what it was saying on my thermometer on the truck while driving down the highway in the shade lol. Thank GOD for AC...My vents had frost on them hahaha.

Thanks all. Yeah, this was my first deck with the patterns. I like the outcome myself, but personally prefer straight boards. Yeah, Rod, that's what I meant...viscosity. I definitely like F&P's consistency. Thanks.

I would change my vote from #3 to #1...I thought you meant someone that you knew, locally.

The house is 80 linear feet all the way around...at 3 dollars a linear foot for 2-story, that's $240...that's pretty much maxed out around here. It's the going rate as I've shopped the competition...actually a bit on the high end. Around here, depending which neighborhood, that house would probably cost 130k and be considered a lower income neighborhood. I don't advertise directly to low-end clients, just get them through the papers.

I go by linear foot...anything that comes up under $250 automatically gets adjusted to $250...so I'd charge $250 for that house. Of course your area may be different.

KBK GraphX - Homepage

Good idea.

Yeah I definitely am ordering up some...I could be on schedule, instead I'm two days behind...the worst part is... Last Thursday's forecast was rain ALL day...every hour, 60-70% chance...it never rained. Same thing for Friday, except we did end up getting a few showers. -- Beth, when you say you don't like to apply it to wet wood, do you wet the dry wood at all before application or mix the product with anything? Thanks. Oh yeah, is that "buy wtw, get 100 free brochures" still going on? If so, at what site?

Oops...I meant carpet cleaning, sorry. I didn't realize this forum was floor also, thought it was just carpet. Thanks.

Anyone using this stuff regularly in a house wash mix? I'd like to get away from using 6% if at all possible and am going to give it a try on an upcomming house. I've never killed a plant yet, but figure why not use a more plant-friendly, earth-friendly ingredient? Being that it basically neutralizes into oxygen and water, sounds really enviro-friendly to me. Anyway...what gives you good results on siding as far as a percarbonate mix goes? Is it necessary to add a surfactant to the percarb when mixing? Obviously you'd want to avoid anything with ammonia in it...any other tips? Feel free to give me a ring if you'd rather talk for a minute. Thanks.

I don't know if I'd say an industry leader...but yeah...a BBS could definitely be in complete control of an industry. It can make and break distributors. A BBS also has the power to help create well-informed contractors. Word of mouth goes a long, long way in most all industries, and especially so in ours. If someone got bad service from a distributor or bad results with a product that was used properly and according to directions, and a distributor failed to make good...their customer service will always be tainted and a lot of new contractors will be turned off immediately. It could take months or even years to undo what a few unhappy customers can do in a week's time. -- Now with that being said, you could certainly thrive in the industry (whether a contractor or a distributor) without access to all the big BBS's out there. But they certainly make it a lot easier to get ahead. -- Heck, think of it this way. How much time and money do you put into marketing? Not just making an ad, but actually getting that ad infront of the prospective customers that you want that ad infront of? Here, at this BBS alone, distributors have DIRECT access to a very large handful of us...exactly who they're trying to market to. Distributors definitely have that advantage over the contractors who struggle to get their customer base firmly laid out.

Simpsonize Me Yeah I was bored...