dpaull

Hey Ron, great idea...I have been looking into two-step myself. How far on the pH scale do you have to go? Would a nice citrus cleaner followed up with a little alkali (say a mild 6% and surfactant) do the job...or do you need a stronger acid? I've been meaning to try it, but didn't really want to try as I've been busy lately and didn't want to start experimenting on people's houses lol. I'm waiting until someone I know needs their house done to experiment.

hrmm...good to hear that wood tux holds up well. I'm probably going to order some soon here. Had a customer interested, but ended up choosing something else. But no, I always put stain on according to recommendations ...usually try for 200-250 sq. feet per gallon on most stuff. What was your coverage rate?

So I cleaned about 300 linear foot of 2&3 story house today. White, vinyl siding...It turned out beautifully. Anyway...as soon as I was finished, and waiting for the siding to finish drying, and setting up to start the deck, a landscape truck pulled up and off jump 3 guys with their mowers and weedwackers... -- Rewind to the beginning of the job...I couldn't imagine why the mildew/stain was so bad on the whole bottom of the house. It was just green with stain so bad. The back was worse than the side I am about to show you a picture of... -- Came pretty clean...like new! lol -- So I'm adding extra hose, making sure I can reach the deck, setting up my sprayer... Wouldn't you know it...the whole entire bottom 3 feet of the house is just caked with grass after one pass of the mower and weedwacker. Oh man I was kind of jacked... I'm going to re-wash the bottom of the house when I go back to stain so the customer is happy and so I can have a good before/after set. -- Oh yeah...wasp nests 3 stories up don't bother you if you're on the ground. There was two wasp nests up in the corners. I sprayed them and they got all jacked but never made it down to me. They were dive-bombing the siding though. That was intense.

Man...must be nice to not need a 4x4. My 07 FX4 stickered at 36,200. Worth every penny. The door said 14-18 mpg. Around town I get about 14...with a trailer and full load, around 10...on the highway, I averaged 23 on a 250 mile leg on our vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC about 2 months ago. The mileage thing is inaccurate. Sometimes it says 2 mpg, sometimes it says 50 mpg...all depends. I always average the mpg when I get gas. Total miles divided by gallons put in.

haha...that's what I've been saying for years. You mean I was telling the truth, not just being lazy?

I like them...wouldn't own one myself, but they are sharp. I was just looking at a Dodge 2500 Cummins three days ago.

Around here, some do...some don't. I would imagine it's a different price. Most of the guys on the huge riding mowers aren't bagging at all. But I saw a dump truck with a 6x12 trailer today...the trailer had all the equipment, and the dump truck was FULL of fresh grass clippings and two trash cans piled on top.

lol...you'd think. These guys didn't do that thorough of a job to be honest. Took about 10 minutes and there's a good 3 acres. I'd offer to cut it myself but it probably cost as much in gas to get there as he pays to have the grass cut.

Yeah good idea beth...I did a walk-around with the customer, and explained what happened. Hey...maybe he'll want me back next year to clean it again :D ... job security. The siding was 3 years old, never cleaned. Homeowner borrowed his neighbors pwasher once and blew some paint off around the door and a strip of siding off, so he won't be trying it again. I did apply a wax to protect the siding and make it easier to clean in the future though.

Ahh man...what a day. I think I learned my lesson...don't give estimates over the phone. The house in the photo below had called and asked for an estimate on washing their siding. I checked the address and it was a good bit away, so I just told him my min. charge was $250 and I could wash his 30 feet of siding for that. I completely assumed he'd say no. So he said sounds good...we show up today after another job and oh my...the siding is horrible. I mean the paint is actually missing. There is artillery fungus spores on it near the bottom (from some old red mulch he had)... So I decided to talk with the customer, and explain that his siding needed painted and that we can basically wash it to get it ready to be painted (prep it)...for the same price, but I threw in some windows and the front sidewalk to keep him happy. He said, "so the darker spots won't come off?" I told him that the dark spots were where the paint was missing and no way would washing the house take them off. He understood. I further explained the artillery fungus, and he said his neighbor told him the same thing I did -- that it needed painted...he had already replaced the mulch with small rocks. -- So we wash...gets the siding clean, no doubt, but of course we can't remove something that is there because there's no paint lol... Anyway, what do you think about those pics? Would you have even tried to wash that? -- So we are finishing up...his wife comes home and says no way in hell they're paying because the house isn't clean. I just gave them an invoice, told her about her husband's decision...but she insisted. I told her no big deal, just decide what she thinks is fair, and pay me that amount...I doubt I'll see a dime. -- It's not like I'm slow either, I have a decent sized deck (390 sq. foot, 50+ feet of railings) to do that I'm starting tomorrow and a 300+linear foot 2-story vinyl siding wash that is only 2 years old...oh well...you win some, you lose some. -- Anyway, I stopped to check a deck I did recently on my way home...beautiful.

No, the artillery is at the bottom...I didn't get any close ups of it. First, we tried 6% with some dawn, and a little jomax downstreamed. I let it dwell a good while, re-applied, and let dwell some more, hosed off. -- Then we tried the xjet to get more concentration with 6%, dawn, jomax, and a little dab of tsp for good measure...let dwell...nothing. Then we started on some run-down on the brick, which came off nicely...and she came home and was upset... So we tried straight 6% in a bucket and a brush on an extension pole...not a single thing. -- lol...I mean we knew what was up, but we wanted to try everything just in case...what do you think...you think that should have come off and it's not just missing paint? I mean in some areas, you can literally see where the paint has just worn away. I know it looks like growth in the photos, but the house is nearly 50 years old... He moved in 10 years ago, and never washed it lol. That must have been where some growth was, held in some moisture, and just totally screwed up the paint. -- Thoughts welcome.

Ahh well...bad day today for me. I tried the percarb though on a retaining wall on a driveway...and on some white gutters. I don't think it did a single thing to be honest.

Sorry, don't mean to get sidetracked, but what would cause mold under the finish? I haven't seen that yet. One would assume improper prep?

Wow...looks good.

Wow...that's harsh. I never would have thought it could be so tough to get that stuff off. Now I know. Is the stain in a highly visible part of the siding? Obviously if you painted one piece, it would look a different color because the surrounding vinyl faded...so take a piece from around back, put the piece from around back where that one was, paint the stained piece, and put the painted piece back in the back of the house.

Ahh ok...that makes sense. I didn't realize that a camper slid right out and could be slid into another truck. Sounds like quite a task though.

Pros: can drive it anywhere, easily unlike a trailer Cons: if your truck breaks down, you're out of business. -- I considered a truck cap and so on for my 07 f150, but ended up with a trailer for the simple fact that if something did happen, I get a rental, and I'm back up rolling while it's getting fixed.

This one looks good: TELEPLUS EXTENSION POLE 30' (5-SECTION), Extension Poles

Good point Florin, I was going to mention the same thing. I believe the add-on sales *could* increase, but mainly if you're selling high dollar stuff. If you're doing a $600 job and want to add on a $100 something or other, accepting credit cards really won't do much for you. Now if you're doing a $600 job and notice the deck needs done and want to add on a $1500 job, now is when accepting credit cards may have their advantages.

Have you tried another application of the applesauce? That seems to be common in some cases.

I'd prefer not to get into doing landscaping or handyman work. I have a couple guys I know that do landscaping that don't want to pressure wash...they send business my way, and I send business their way. It works out great that way because instead of maybe adding on landscaping services to an existing customer, I refer them to a professional...then I get leads right out of the blue from folks that need my services...and that's what it's all about anyway. Nothing like getting a customer for free.

Is that enclosed or open? Also, are you just getting into the business? Honestly, that might be a lot if so. So what is $15,100 in US anyway?

I agree, I wouldn't pay over $100 for that. If you just want a backup unit, go to Sears, they have some brand new for like $350.

Those kind of questions are going to vary from customer to customer really. Sometimes you don't qualify for one second. It's literally a ... "Hi my name is Dave" -- handshake -- "When would you like to schedule to have this done?" ... type of thing. Maybe you're over-qualifying. Remember your ABC's of selling -- that is, always be closing. Ask for the sale. Overcome objections. Then ask again. Qualifying should be simple -- they either need the service done or not. From that point on, they are qualified. Then it's all about the benefits of you vs. someone else and making things right so they WANT you to perform the services. Don't get hung up. Always go for the kill when you sense it's time. Whether that's 20 seconds or 20 minutes into it. You could probably benefit from a book on sales from a book store to be completely honest.

I would charge $1.00 per sq. foot, $3 per linear foot (railings), and $4 per stair, plus chemicals -- just to strip and brighten. If they're not capable of stripping though, I think they could be sold on having you stain it also...then my price doubles. You go in too low and you're not going to feel like taking your time...then if the customer is staining it, any spot you missed, they're going to see because they'll be going over every square inch with stain lol.