Jeff

You know I'm a DUMBASS, this whole time Im talking about the BBB I was meaning the Chamber of Commerce DAAAAAA The websight I was talking about was our Local Chamber Of Comm and that was what I want to join SORRYYYYY So as for the BBB never mindddd:lgbonk: :confused: JL dumbass

Sorry Rod, but thats funny, got any pictures. It must be great to look at where you came from and where you are now!!!! I know it makes me proud to look back and you should be proud also. Congrats Did you ever catch anything? lol I just remember taking a couple hours to do a driveway with a white nozzle, that now takes me 25 minutes. Man my back use to be sore!!!

Look at there website mine around here has a list of board of Directors, officers members with alot of #'s etc. Theres dozens of names that are heads of companies, PM's rest. etc. Alot of pretty big names & companies. They also have several different kinds of get togethers, networking etc. I am going to join just to meet these people and have the BBB sticker in my ads & on my trailer. But the networking would be great around here at least. I figure you get to meet these people and they see your a member and they might prefer to use a fellow member and your input might better your community. It looks like another tool for me, If I have time to go to these functions JL

I was reading some of the posts and going over alot of what Ive writen and asked etc etc. And I was thinking what a great thing these BB's are (TGS) Where else can someone go to hash over ideas, ask questions about how to run a business, fix a piece of equipment, what to buy, how to do something etc etc. I mean the BB is the most valuable tool out of everything I own in my biz and its a free resource I have learned so much, gotten so many great ideas & helpful hints and have had a place to share other parts of my life other than business. I would be somewhat lost without this resource. Go back & read the questions you've asked, the ideas and help and try to think of all the time and hard knocks you would have went through without this BB. WOW I'd still be doing alot of things the hard way if it wasnt for this & other BB's Like I said I love you guys (Im not being gay about this and you wont see me watching Brokeback Mountain lol) But I do love the fact I have a place to go in my busy life where I can learn, share & relax Thanks JL p.s.become a site supporter, best $$$ spent

The way I understood it is you put in the application & pay the $$$ and your in, theres different levels , Thats what I was told by them

Matt I rented surface cleaners from Sunbelt for about a year befre I bought one, I sould of bought one earlier I never used the ones you listed but I'm sure they will be fine Suunbelt usually buys good stuff to rent out. I used cold water 4 GPM machines up until this past september. Althou you have to go slower than if you had more GPM's it works GREAT, you'll love useing a surface cleaner Depending on what your cleaning determines the chems you should or shouldnt use. Many times Ive used NO chem and it cleans fine. When useing no chems I'll at least wet the area down to soften up the dirt etc.. If theres a good amount of mold & mildew you can Xjet a 12% mix on the concrete it helps and sometimes after cleaning you can spray 12% it helps whiten a little and if theres any leaf or nut stains spray strong 12% they will disappear. If theres oil/grease use a good degreaser (S. Hydrox.) you can apply with pump up or just splash a little down& I'd brush it in a little Reclaim I do not do but if its required in your area you can divert run off and not have to reclaim, I wouldnt worry about it for residential Sunbelt rents the for $25 or $30 its worth it if you have a few driveways to do or large projects The floater you show looks good but I like ones with wheels. Check out The Big Guy 30" you can buy it at Watercannon for $719-$749 and I used it with cold 4GPM for a long time its a great money maker Good luck Jeff

I suggest a good quality surface cleaner, they are money makers if your homes in your area have concrete driveways and commercial properties banks malls etc should all be concrete, probably in need of cleaning Why do you need a wand, do you use xjet or have long range nozzles for chem inject. I hate long wands Dont you wish you were rich and could buy it all JL

The networking would be worth it. Im going to join this year. I looked at my local BBB websight and all the Board of director & dozens of officers of the BBB here are all in the PM, Realty, & commercial businesses. I figure go to meeting & get togethers that they offer and strart shaking hands and passing out cards Plus I think they have welcome packs for new homeowners & businesses in the area It may cost alittle but networking with leaders in your area can pay off JL

Jim was that with Larry LW Short?

Beth Ive said it before & I'll say it again, you folks run & control this board so well its a BB without the BS and thats what makes TGS the best of them all!!!!! Thanks again JL

Rservices You present insurance company wont even write a new policy for pressure washing. Did you ask why? I'd figure any insurance company that writes Gen Liabilty would/could/should be able to cover pressure washing. Whats their reason, I figure if the work you do now is covered as a handy man in restaurants & retail you probably deal with electric plumbing etc. I would think thats more of a risk than spraying water. Just wondering My policy was about $750 a couple years ago but now they are baseing it on my payroll also so its up around $1400 Id look around & shop for price, I would think you shouldnt have a problem getting GL Good luck JL

My 1st year & a half I did everything the hard way & wrong. I bought a 3GPM machine I would have bought at least a 4gpm, I used all HD & Lowes chems & household bleach. I use to use a white nozzle to do driveways, then when I found out about roto nozzle I thought I was golden. Iused to be up on ladders & step ladders. I mean I did everything!!!! the hard way. I just didnt know better I have guys that come up to me now and if Idont have time the one thing I do is tell them about theses BB's It wasnt until Ron Strickland of Xterioor told about TCN & TGS that I started making my life easier. To answer your question. I would have liked to know about these BB's and done some research. I basically wasted alot of time

Are you guys talking 1 crew say 2 guys doing 1 mill? Pwing I can see multiple crews making a total of 1M or more in a urban area and the owner doing all the sales etc. They would have to corner the market. In an urban area if someone was to do restoration cleaning I think that well over a mill or several million could be done. Im talking more than just pwing My goal is to by 2008-2010 to have done 500K in one year. I just dont know if that 500K could be maintained year after year in this area just doing PWing & gutter cleaning. this would be running 3, 1-3 man crews with some additional labor as needed. Close to a 1/3 of that being profit. I dont think this is unobtainable goal for my area so I would think in a urban metropolitan area 1 mill could be done easy To achieve 1 mill doing PWing tone of he hardest part is employees, maintaining reliable help JL

I usually use duct tape to cover things with plastic. Is there a good waterproof tape i could use that wont leave a sticky residue. I need it to cover keycard slots on hotel room doors Thanks JL

I wondering someday if I'll drop my residential side of my business. Anybody out here that has been in business for awhile and maybe started their biz with alot of residetial work, then dropped it over time and just do commercial Residential work I get still fills in some of the slower times I have and i plan on still offering residetialbut can possibly see sometime in the future dropping it for a couple reason 1) May have to much commercial work or enough to support biz without doing residential 2) Profit isnt as good as commercial 3) Residential is much more time consuming, estimates, so many of them take alot of time & $$$ fuel 4) Residential isnt a great money maker, compared to my commercial work. I'd say 50% of my residential is good money, roofs, concrete and highend homes. But many of the neighborhoods that I do are not great money makers. 5) targeting & marketing of residential takes alot of time and money. Time mainly. The more I tim I spend on residential marketing the less time I have for comm. targeting Now I'm thinking two different ways when it comes to residential. Should I find that my commercial supports me just fine should I drop Res. Or should I work harder to grow residential and have a part of my biz/crew dedicated to residential. Its a crossroads in my biz that I know Ill have to cross within the next several months or at least with in the next couple years. Do I keep res. or drop it Has anyone out here dropped their residential side and just gone with commercial & why? JL

I'm thinking of it more becuase of the time factor, which is also money. But the time spent is really bugging me. I have to drive all over hell & back one day, say doing 10 estimates Ive lined up. It takes 3-5 hours of my time and I get 5 of the jobs but there simple house washes and say there is no upsell. So those 5 jobs total $850. Not great money but ok even if I can have them all done in a day, Ive spent so much time on them. Taking 10 calls for estimates, going to do the ten estimates, driving all over, only getting the 5 jobs for not that great of money. Now add that I have to do estimate like that twice a week totalling 6-10 hours spent doing them calls & estimates. Thats a long 6-10 hours just for 2 days work. Id say 75% of residential around here is 1200-2500 sq ft homes and there almost all vinyl. If I charged $200 Id be lucky to sell 1 or 2 I like residential and Im pretty good at upselling so my figures are probably better than my example but Its just taking to much time!!!!!! Ive been very busy and Im looking at this as a time management thing, weighing the pros & cons. If I could get better prices for house washes I wouldnt even think of dropping residential, but the more I up my prices the less jobs I am getting and Im pretty good at sales, tell them the benifits of hiring a pro Im personable and the peple like me and how I explain the process, but they still dont want to pay Between the banks I do,contract condo gutter cleaning jobs and say 1 big condo job which all of this takes say a total of 40 days to do. I make more than all the houses I wash in a year and it takes many more days than 40 days to do the house/ You get what Im saying Plus Im really liking the condo & gutter cleaning work. Ive been pretty darn busy this winter and it looks like it will continue and then some the rest of the year. So Im looking at being busy year round year after year (hopefully) Now I need time to keep this busy stuff coming and need time for my family and cant work 5-6 days a week 52 weeks a year. With the commercial condo and other commercial I do I can can have my 2 fulltimes guys and my seasonal fulltime workers do almost all the work and I'll actually just be supervising much more. I can have my guys on jobs that my reg guys can oversee/work while Im doing other stuff. A condo complex I can go the first day explain what has to be done & how to do it and then I actually could leave for the 5 days it takes and they would get it done( now I wouldnt not check a job for 5 days but I could) Now residential I have to explian each job, what to do house, drive, gutters etc. I like to check behind my guys also TO MUCH TIME involved compared to commercial. I do 18 banks twice a year plus 1/4ly drivethroughs Now I send the guys to do them and I have Sundays with my family, just any way I look at it I come up with better time management doing commercial. Time is money, but time is also just time and Im not liking the time it takes for residential. Now if I could get $250 or more per house it would be different. For now Im keeping residential, a year from now who knows Thanks everyone theres been some GREAT input on this. You all are a great help I love TGS JL

House washing rates are tough around here and just doing the estimates are a PITA and only land 50% tops. Out of the past 10 house estimates Ive done these past few weeks I got 3 jobs. Its all getting to time consuming and cost I like making thousand doing commercial/condos instead of hundreds in a day and thats how it is with residential around here They do house washes for $65-$80 2200sq ft or less I have one neighborhood Ive charged $100 for a wash for past 2 1/2 years, these homes are 1500-2200sq ft they're easy but Ive done 4 homes in this neighborhood out of probably 50 estimates in person and probably 20 over the phone. When some one calls from this neighborhood I now tell them most homes are around $100 and they say they'll call back or to much etc My commercial I just do so much better and less time. I can go on one estimate and have work for a week or 2. Im going to keep residential at least another year then maybe make a decision

Jim, Build it they will come:lgsideway Thats what the eyelets are for, can tie it or run it down a cable. I'll show you how when we do the job. If you want to come to the job when we start it, I'll show you how to pressure wash too. lol Whats up Dude

Ordered one of them tuesday with a couple additions to it. Put another set of wheels at low pressure end and a couple eyelets Cant wait to put it to work JL

For 2006 what is on your wish list for your A)business B) business equipment C) home - personal And is this a wish list or something you are planning to achieve and how do you plan on getting what you wish for My wish list is A) business - 1)Pick up more commercial work and get more regular contract work & parking garages 2)To pick up at least 1 new property management company Ive been targetting 3) Continue to increase # of projects I get from PM's I now work with 4) Improve every aspect of my office, paper work etc. B) Biz Equipment- 1) Buy another complete hotwater trailer set up, if needed, will know if needed within next couple months 2) If I get above trailer set up Id like anothe Big Guy surface cleaner 3) Another truck for pulling trailer Ford, Chevy, Dodge????? or a large box van C)- Home-Personal 1)Have a HEALTHY baby on my Birthday Aug 11th, due date is Aug.10th. Id really like to have our upcoming baby on my Birthday , mainly because I was born on my Dads 30th Bday 2) Just get through this very busy upcoming year and have time & make time for my wife & family 3) Sell 2 homes and get new home built without many headaches Whats everyones elses WISH LIST for 2006 GOOD LUCK, I hope everybody gets what they wish for JL

We probably share some goals for this year in that regard. There good goals Mike, You'll surpass them Im sure!!

Jon some nice comments thanks dude!!! // Stress some years ago would depress me & bring me down, now stress makes me hyper and I just work harder at getting through it instead of stressing more. Its like a challenge, I get stronger. Fun sometimes. Does that make sense. This year is going to test my stress levels, but when I get through everything it will just be another challenge conquered. Watch out for hyperspeed:lgwave: :banana:

Me too, I hope he's well !!!!!! Im sure theres many more Roland stories since the last time I saw him in the 90's. I can only imagine and laugh.

Man I would of died

You know I havent been able to pressure wash for the past couple weeks due to my hernia surgery. It went well I see the Doc today Well I have all this time off and guess what I havent stopped, Ive been so darn busy with getting the guys out working, getting things together for building the house & closing, tons of last minute stuff, taxes, biz calls and an endless amount of commercial estimates & proposals, sick kid etc etc etc. I'm going crazy and tired every night. Just think I call this TIME OFF???:lglolly: Im not complaining its just amazing to me that theres always so much to do and so little time. The only way Id want to change it all thou is if I won the lottery. Oh ya got to get my ticket. Just one more thing to add to my list Just babbling Life is GOOD Jeff