Jeff

I won't be happy till South Carolina is #1

What a day, yesterday the water company called and said the meters will be at job . One of my guys was out there posting signs at buildings for project to start Monday. Water guy tells my guy he's leaving hydrant open partially and we just have to turn the hose bib on. I get out there to put chain & lock on 1st meter and theres water seeping up from the ground(Doesnt look right) so i go over to other meter and theres water bubbling from crack in roadway NOT GOOD. I call after hour # and they said someone out. Now I'm going through the local water company and had it set up for days, but the truck that comes out is from the city. The city guy says they should of let hydrant all the way open or all shut. The other water company screwed up it was under mining the ground, the guy shuts it off all is well for now. This morning water company calls and says bad news. Its not there water its the city and they have to take meters off that they cant charge me when its someone else's water. I ask him where to go. He said City and I told him thats who I called 1st and they told me those guys. He said its city thWater company only handles sewer. Well at 8am this morning after this call I have to go get shot in my neck for bulging disc & pain, so I need a ride after procedure. So Moms with me , I get shot start calling City water go to office they send me to shop to see the main man he's not there. I call rental company to rent 500 gallon tank as a back up to run water from the one hose bib on this whole property its at the pool. I figure I can run my tanks and have this other 500 gallon filling my tanks. I have to strat this job next week, because I have other work lined up after this project. I get tank for Monday. I get hold of City guy and he sends me to meet one of his men. The whole times my Mom is driving me around, she's GREAT. I meet with City they send me back to office to pay deposit and back to city guy. He sets up the whole thing with 3 hose bibs, they only have one meter available. Good enough, these guy were great, they went to the project and hooked it up and showed me what to do and now we are ready for Mongay !!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Now Im off to get my $1000 deposit back from water company. Just another day. I was washing these buildings Monday no matter what, Over come and Conquer:lgsideway and still smiling, but did feel like pulling out my hair earlier. Then I go check on my guys, the builder on a new construction job had them do extra's so they were still there and another builder came over and asked me to price out 15 other new homes around the corner. What a 24 hours and I left out about the fight I had with the builder of my house, thats another story. JL Just venting, thanks

Give it hell John. Keep thinking of ways to get work and call write fax and knock on doors. Get advertising out there and out there often. If you dont have a lot of money or very little make up fliers on your computer and have copies made at Office Depot. Just dont get lazy or pissed off. Remember one job can be more than you made in a week or a month at your past fulltime job. The jobs & money's out there go get it JL

Good for you Enjoy your family

Hey we got a firm offer on our house for sale YAY!!! I was a little concerned because there was several houses for sale in our neighborhood and there are houses being built and for sale everywhere and the market just slowed down a little. We have a firm offer and if everything goes alright we will be closing August 10th YAY. Now check this out August 10th is also my wifes due date, its almost funny. So if we close we would have to be moving and out just when we are having the baby. well the couple buying the house are frm New York and they are in no rush to move here and said we can rent it back from them and stay until 1/1/07 Our new house will be finished way before than, ITS GREAT we wont have to move or rent another place YAY!!!!!!!!! I'm telling you God is GREAT, he looks out for us and always does. Even if this should fall through something else good will happen for us it always does Well wish us luck, The new house is going & looking great too Life is Good

On pressure line if you dont have hose reel you might just want to use 50 footers just because its lighter to carry when loading & un loading

Go get it checked out, as I'm getting older I'm going to doctors more . I used to hate going to a doctor and didn't for years. In the past couple years I've gotten Colon ... upper & lower GI basically and have had other test. I figure life is better than death!!!!! and i sure want to be around and in good health. So many things can be easily treated if caught early. Get yourself checked and take the wonder out of it and good luck Jeff

I write in proposal/contract I'm not responsible for anything pretty much. I try to think of anything that can go wrong and write it up and say not responsible. I write it all up and I'm surprised I get away with some of it. Like ( Contractor will be using 40 foot lift and may leave impressions on grass/dirt areas, contactor will stamp down any areas as needed but is not responsible for any damage to grass/dirt area caused by lift. Not responsible for any water leaks or damage due to poor or faulty building materials, construction and or maintenance These are a couple examples and I'll write up a lot more than this Sometimes you have to be very exact on how you write certain things up and other things you have to be vague to cover your ass. theres a lot of piece of crap building out there so you have to cover your ass on the large projects. they may hold a check but if your covered in writing it sure would help if you have to go to court. If there a problem which I've had a couple little ones I always try to take care of it JL

I havent done any 40-50K jobs but on jobs like 30-40 plus condo buildings that are going to last over 2weeks I have gotten a draw after 1/2 the project was complete. The PM offered it so i said yes. If its a large firm or PM company Like Ken said I always worry that I'll get some crazy HOA and its a 10-15K job and something goes wrong and they hold or refuse to pay over some minor BS, Its the risk you have to take sometimes. Good luck on the big job JL

FANTASTIC Carlos enjoy yourself. 40, hell I'm 44 and getting fat oh well, I'll be 45 Aug 11th and maybe our baby will be born on that day too Hope you have a great time!!!!!! I have so much going on this year we don't have time for a vacation 2007 I'm taking 2 Hollywood I was there in the early 80's and it was a weird crazy place at night time, weird & crazy can be fun!! Say hello to Brad & Angolia

Let me tell you 2006 is one heck of a year. Thanks , Hows Brockton doing?

Thats a classic, man he messed that up. Great pic. It just amazes me he didn't see he was messing it up

I've been banging my head trying to figure how to get more condo complex work. I probably have less than 1% of the condo complexes in this area. Now I do tons of buildings and am pretty happy with the fact of being IN with several property management companies, but theres TONS of complexes out there and I WANT MORE of them and I just can't figure how to get them. Any ideas how to find out who runs these complexes, I've looked up on the net, the phone book etc etc. There has to be or should be a list of who manages these properties how do I find it is the questions I hate to see my competition out there working on big complexes and I didn't even have a chance to bid on them. I just saw a complex being done a real large one and I've never known who runs it. I don't have the time to ask at every complex around so a list or something I can look up would help. I always say call, write, fax, but i cant if I have no idea who's running these places I've grown pretty well in the past few years but I want more , I keep 3 guys busy all the time on mainly condos, but sometimes I'm only booked a couple weeks out. Now there is probably thousands of condo properties within 40 miles of me and if i could have a list it would make it easier for me to go after more of them. I know I can't get all the work, but like I said I wasnt more. I want to be the condo cleaning KINGGGGGGG lol. Any ideas where to look? JL

Totally COOL Mike thanks for looking that up for me. It looks like I have some late night research coming up. Thanks again real nice of you JL

Thanks for the responses all, I hav to read them again and see how I'm going to go about looking and getting more of the condo market. Thanks for the thoughts & Ideas Someday I'll be the condo KIng JL

Congrats sometimes you just got to jump right in. Target all kinds of residential and as you figure what you like most go for that, but for now take what will ever keep the food on the table. Houses, roof, decks, residential/commercial Look around your area, see where your needed and where you can make some of the best bucks$$$$ Best of luck to you, work it hrd and you'll do fine JL

Looks great Don. your doing some great work. Keep the pics coming JL

Heat I dont think could hurt at all, but around here its mainly mold & mildew and the right amount of chem It goes real fast. Now in the north where you might have more pollutants, grime i would think the heat would help more. JL

If just mold & mildew yes you can spray strong 12% and do a quick rinse, if thats what they want, they just don't want to pay much it sounds like

12% is fine on Kool Deck, surface cleaner can leave lines in surface but when it dries you don't really see them and they blend in after a few weeks. I use surface cleaner on them all the time some of the many Kool Decks I do are huge and would take forever. After they have been down for a while theres a slight film that comes off when you use a surface cleaner or wand Good luck JL

I have a building where the HOA Prez was doing some staining of wood and he dropped the bucket and theres a large area about 3x6' that has stain on the vinyl siding. Its been there for months now, what can i use to remove the oil wood stain? Thanks JL

HEY BOB, How have you been!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally have a few days off. My guys & I have been working 5-7 days a week for months now. I planned to let everyone take Sat, Sun, Mon, & Tues off around the 4th holiday and its great. My guys needed it, I needed it. I had work that could have been done and one of my guys volunteered to work this weekend. But sometimes you just need a break. Hope everyone is having a great Holiday. I stayed up and watched a movie Sat night & didn't wake up Sunday until 10:40 AM. haven't done that in a real long time Happy 4th of July ........ God Bless Our Troops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JL

My TGS screen is back to how it used to look a week or so ago AND I LIKE IT. Its easier to read and now everything is easy to get to again. The new screen didnt show a spot to hit for forums. Is it just me or is it all back to the old way. Change confuses me, keep it this way Beth I like it. thanks JL

Thanks all!!! JL