Lou Beach

Hi, I need to put a quote together on this house. It is aprox 2600 sq ft and the propterty owner wants vinyl and concrete foundation only cleaned. He does not want the brick front done, but does want the gutters and vinyl trim done on the front of the house cleaned. What is a fair price for this house? How do I clean the vinyl trim and gutters on the front of the house without getting any streaking or affecting the brick front of house? Do I wet the entire front of the house down and then spray on my housewash for the vinyl areas? Here is a real dumb newbie question. What do you call the area's in the pictures of the vinyl? I put arrow in the area's I am talking about. Also what is the best way to get to that gutter that sits above the triangle peak above the garage? The third picture gives a shot of the gutter above the gargage. How would I get to that? [ATTACH]2991[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2992[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2993[/ATTACH]

I have not gotten a response from the homeowner. I ended up bidding 350.00 on the house but I have not gotten a yes or no from the customer as of this date.

2 Question about direct mailing 1)Where is the best place to get a list of homes you want to target? I want to target homes 350,000 and up in certain counties in Maryland. What is the best resource for identifying those type of residences? 2)Are envelopes with flyers in them better then postcards or vice versa? Do oversized postcards generate a better response rate? Thanks

Very good choice Don! When you get everything hooked up (HDTV) your gonna love the picture. Congrats!

Remember Scott, your gettin better, not older! Happy Birthday!

I don't think you'll be homeless Don, because the good news is no matter what you buy, if you stick to the major brands like Sony, Toshiba, Mitubishi, Samsung, Panasonic you will be getting an excellent television. Keep in mind however that the picture quality that you get on these televisions is totally dependant upon the source that you have providing the signal. For instance, if you hook up a DVD player to the sets you will see an excellent picture. However cable sources are usually fairly crappy. I have found that satellite generally provides the best picture quality and you want to find a satellite company that provides the most HiDef channels because that is where these fancy new televisions really shine. Regular digital channels look ok, but HiDef is where its at with the television you will be buying.

Product worked great for me. Full strenth, applied once, let dwell for about 15 minutes, applied again, let dwell for about 10 minutes then PW with hot water. Removed all the rust. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4781

Excellent advice Beth!

Your welcome Shane, they are into the A/V stuff big time on that site. Enjoy!

Don I don't envy you. There are so many flavors of big screen televisions out there now that it is very tought to make a choice. Plasma, LCD, Rear Projection, DLP, the choices are numerous and confusing. Here is the mother of all Audio Video forums. Spend some time reading through this forum and it may help you narrow down your choices. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink. If you stare at the the black + in the center, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black + in the center of the picture. After a short period of time, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating. It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear. This should be proof enough, we don't always see what we think we see.

If it does I would be available with heat packs and a massage.:)

With makes me think of this question If a house has no disernable mold, mildew on it, do you forgo the bleach/chlorine in your house wash mix?

Thanks Jeff, that was good information that I am going to follow up on.

Nice work Jeff, I also love how brick and concrete cleans up. How to you get on the HOA website as a recommended contractor? Thanks

I submited the contract/proposal to the homeowner. $375.00 for cleaning the front vinyl trim, fascia, eves and trim around the windows. Cleaning all the gutters, exterior only around the house and cleaning the foundation. It's more then a fair price and it he doesn't go for it, he doesn't go for it. I already told him that if he wants the cheapest price possible, he doenst want me, but if he wants the best value for his money, then he should hire me to do the job. We will see what happens.

Hi, any suggestion for websites or books that would give some educational information on wood? For instance, a resource that would identify the different types of wood, what type of wood they would be, soft or hard. what the different types of wood look like. Just some info on wood that would be educational and would help me identify the various types of wood. Thanks

I will probably come down in price just to get this job, and then I may not get it but everbody is saying 3.5 hours on average for this house. I will prbably take me about 5-6 to do it, but thats because I'm new. Once I tackle a couple of these size houses and get my routine down I should be able to do in the 3.5 range. I use purple power, which has butyl in in and it has worked on gutters. The gutter I am worried about getting too is the one above the garage. It doesn't look like I wll be able to reach it with a brush and an extension poll. So should I X-Jet purple power right on it using an X-Jet and get a 50/50 mix and then let is set on the gutter for a minute and then do a rinse? Does butyl cause any problems with brick or vinyl? Thanks Also there is a concrete foundation that has mold, dirt and mildew on it. I was thinking my housewash mix (Emulsifier+, Clhorine, water) should take care of that also along with some hot water. Comments for the concrete and the butyl on vinyl and brick?

What is SH and H20 I think the cost of living up here is higher then Georgia, hence the higher quote.

I havent even given the guy the quote yet so I dont know if I'm even going to get the job and he may want to wait once he has the quote because of all the thousands he has to pump out for various odd repairs inside the house. He wants to replace the hardwood floors in his living room because the family dog has ruined them. He told me the lowest quote he has had on the floors was 3 grand and he didnt look to happy about that. I will use my standard of Emulsifier+. Chlorine and water. But that mix will not get the gutter stains out. I need to talk to Ken about his suggested mixture for the gutters and facia that he posted earlier. I like the idea of writing down the addresses of houses that really need the cleaning. I was thinking of a flyer saying something about last chance before the holidays to give your property "Visual Appeal" and then put on the door handle or actually knock on the door. Even the homeowner told me this development was a gold mine. Lots of vinyl siding that is moldy and dirty. I just get the impression that he thinks 250-300 for the entire house and I dont want to go that low. Five hundred is more then fair for the size of the house and all I am going to do. All four sides and the foundation to make it shine. I should just stick to my $500.00, tell him what I am going to do for that and then let the chips fall where they may.

Put your X-Jet on an extension want. I have a sixteen foot extension wand that I will have to use if I get this job. When I was walking the property with the customer he was telling me about all the money he has to shell out for various repairs in the house. I dont think he's going to like my quote, which is probably going to be in the $500 range. I was thinking about doing a two tier quote. One that would include the gutters and facia, and one that doesnt. I want this job, it will get me in this neighborhood where there are a lot of houses like this that need cleaning worse then this one. Pic's don't show it, but the vinly is fairly dirty on the sides and the back of the house.

Here are some shots of the two sides of the house and the back The sides and back of the house I should not have a problem with. It's doing the vinyl trim on the front and the gutters on the front that I am concerned about doing without affecting the brick in anyway. thanks [ATTACH]2994[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2995[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2996[/ATTACH]

Excellent Idea! So we would have PT wood, Pine, Cedar, Walnut, Ipe, any others that you can think of that are used in decks?

House I did today, when finished had streaked windows from the cleaning. What is a good additive to add to house wash to prevent this or method applied that would prevent the window streaking? Thanks

I have an entrapreneurial streak in me and I have always been looking for something to get into to satify that entrapranuer streak. I used to work at Camden Yards in Baltimore selling souveniers during the games and prior to the season opening I would be out at the stadium preparing the souvenier stand for the season. About 3 years ago I was out there before opening day and I happened upon a guy power washing the walkways in the stadiums. I was curious about what he was doing so I went up and talked to him and found out that he had his own business power washing on a part time basis. He explained that he enjoyed it and he was making good money doing it on a part time basis. That conversation planted the seed in me and from that day on I started investigating and researching the power wash industry. What I found out during my research I liked. It seemed to be a profitable business that did not require a huge initital investment and almost immediately I sensed that I could put a professional image on a power wash company, the same as other contractors in other industries do, and market myself and this business to upper income property holders and other businesses. I worked on the theory that a certain percentage of residential property owners and businesses want a professional looking and acting company to clean and restore the exteriors of their expensive residences and businesses. In addition to that I discovered that virtually anything that is exposed to the elements needs to be and can be cleaned using power washing equipment. I thought that this was a great market with an unlimited supply of work and the key to getting that work was marketing and presenting a professional image to those you were marketing too. It has taken some time, but I finally am to the point where I am starting to get some work, but not nearly enough to pay the bills, so I am struggling right now, but I recognize the potential with the couple of jobs that I have done. Right now I am trying to get my name out there and build up some work, so that I can get referals going. I am doing guerilla marketing, meaning I wear my company Polo shirt and T-Shirts everywhere and hand out business cards to everyone within site. I also give a brief speech as I hand out my business card. I have gotten a couple of jobs just from doing that. I am looking into joining some local chamber of commerces as networking tools and I have a website in its infant stages. I was given some advice early on that this business is all about the marketing of your service and agree with that 100%. In addition you have to do a bang up job on the jobs you get because that, ultimately is your best advertising. This whole thing is exciting because if it turns out to be successful, it will be trememdously gratifying as this business feels like my own child, whom I am nurturing and bringing along one step at a time. The learning curve associated with starting this business has been made much easier with the help and support of many people who post on these boards. I would not be where I am right now without some solid advice and help from many people who have selflessly helped me out. Too those people, I say thank you and hopefully one day I will be able to return the favor in kind.