Jeff

:wave: Well its 2006. Hows everyone feeling today. Happy New Year from The LeCours Family:beerchug:

I quite often just use a roto nozzle and then rinse walkway with soap tip, but I hate when i overshot and the stuff mud mulch blows everywhere

Its a PITA to fill the diesal and gas on my Pressure Pro skid, theres a plate across the front of the machine & motor and the fuel tanks are below it set back a little. When emptying 5 gallons into machine it quite often spills and you just cant quite see how full its getting. Not to mention these PITA ventless gas cans that go so darn slow, ive tried funnels, propping can up and we still quite often have spillage. Its a real pain not to mention loss off fuel and the fact that this fuel is hitting my flooring and a major safety problem. I tried the little gas pump thing they sell at lowes that worked for about a week or 2. Northern tool sell different kinds of tanks 10 - 30 galllon that have gravity feed or a pump, but I dont want that much fuel attached inside trailer. It doesnt spill all the time but it also gets heavy to hold those slow ventless cans. I was thinking of taking the front plate off machine, but it is protection from motor getting damaged Any Ideas to make me and my guys life easier & safer Thanks JL

Wow those are some great pics, making me miss the Northeast:lgtear: . I even miss the seaweed, I just dont see it here and the rocks, jetty's. Some great pics beautiful!!!

Thanks everyone! Rod, It was simular but cheaper. Roger from Carolina Pro Wash called and told me to check out www.jegs.com They have the tall racing type cans w/vent and handles. Im going to order a couple and build a cage so they wont tip over. I think they'll reach in perfect Thanks JL Thanks Roger I like those cans

It would be alot warmer than Bangor:lgcold: . sorry no nothing about Lynchburg, Good luck

Hey Richard Happy New Yesr In the southern states especially mold & mildew start growing on many homes with in months and most homeowners clean every 12-18 months. Many of the houses arent really that bad with mold & mildew, althou some are. Its preventive maintenance and helps keep a home clean looking. When I lived up north Boston Ma homes were rarely washed, colder climate less mold & mildew On wood surfaces that mold & mildew will cause paint to fail quicker and rot. The average home is sold every 4-7 years i think and cleaning also helps resale value. In my area I would say 90% of the homes are cleaned regularly so it makes PWing a good biz to be in. You have to use chem, it cleans better & faster and if you just use pressure the building surfaces can & will be damaged Maybe you should start advertising the benifits of washing homes, preventive maint, longer life of paint & home material and beautifies homes. You might make a killing being the 1st one to offer this service or people there might think your crazy Good luck & Happy New Year Jeff

Like Don said, works the best for mr I hate when you have the whole thing all rinsed off and then you see a little spot missed and you try to hit it and that darn mulch just flys all over the concrete and you have to rinse again. I hate mulch lol

Jeff I would think deversify and do both residential & commercial, but as Carlos states make sure you can handle everything you offer. By offering both res & comm you can check out if one is more profitable than the other and if your working towards doing this full time eventually, be prepared to spend alot of hours building your biz When I first started doing residential, with in a year I knew I could make some decent money doing residential, then with in a couple years I had some commercial work fall my way and found out that I really like ddoing both. you say where you are you can get plenty of work in many areas res & comm you're lucky. You never know whats going to come your way. I believe if you offer all kinds of pressure washing, you still are specializing. Specializing in PWing. Leaving a fulltime job & doing this fulltime can be scary and take time to establish so why not be open to all kinds of PWing Specializing is greaty as long as theres enough work. Henry & Ron M have some very nice business but Im sure they worked on them very hard to be where they are today. My biz is growing and getting new contacts all the time but I spend alot of time at getting the work. But to me its all fun. Fun doing the work, fun trying to figure out ways to get more work and most of all fun watching the biz grow. As Carlos said customer service is most important, with quality, I say try it all and strive to be the best at what ever you decide and go for it full force. I want to be big, but most of all I want to be considered the BEST Good luck JL

Strong house wash should be fine if not brush or spray it straight and put some pressure to it you should be fine, apply chems a couple times to soften it up. JL

If your doing other kinds of PWing other than wood, you can work real close to freezing, day time temps. We've been in high 20's to low 30's nights and been working every day when temps are 35 and up, usually gets up to 45- 60 days Just something to think about, theres alot of work out there other than wood, althou I read you'd like to specialize in mainly wood Good luck JL

Met with the builder again yesterday , we are getting excited now. Have a couple things included that I wasnt sure were in the original price, some nice stuff, like Tile shower & a nice whirlpool tub, tray ceiling in master bdrm. More attic space than i thought which always helps. In the kitchen we moved a few things around so we can get a 5 foot wide pantry instead of a 2 foot one, plus we have a small broom closet attached. Gained a closet under the stairs and some storage. A few other nice touches also, some little stuff that makes the house a nice home. My moms side she's real happy with also, she gained a couple closets and her mst walkin closet got a few ft longer, her mast bedroom is a little bigger than in her present house and the living room also. It will be a big change for her going from a big 3 bedroom to a 1 bedroom, but since my dad died her present house is to big & lonely, so she/we are excited to have her under the same roof. Its also nice her part of the house is a whole house and seperate from main house , including full kitchen, full big living room & bedroom, nice bathroom with full size washer & dryer. Plus her shower is a HP accessable and all her doors are HP accessable nice & wide. If she should ever need to be in a wheel chair Still alot to do, getting our houses ready for sale and getting all the papers signed, got the bank loan at a real good rate, got to get the lot cleared. Its going to be a hectic 2006, selling 2 homes, building house, baby on the way, moving and running a busy business. What am I going to do!!!! I cant complain LIFE IS GOOD!!!! JL:lgsideway

Xterior Sales is the only one I know that has it.

I'm in, checks in the mail. Thanks Beth & Rod its a great BBS

Over the past year Ive had several people ask how I get to Property managers and how i get some of the condo work I get. Anybody want to share how they get their work Any helpful hint or good ideas that you want to share to help some newbies or pros list them! Im no expert on getting the work but I want to share some things that have worked for me. Alot has to do with the area your in, like my area theres a ton of condo complexes, hotels& retail places. So 1st of all I would think you have to figure out what the market is in your areas and target that market. Like I said theres a ton of condos and neighborhoods run by HOA's so thats what I target. All the complexes & neighborhood usually hire property management companies, so you have to target them also. I probably do alot of things the hard way due to the fact that Im no marketing wiz, am not that great with computers and in my past had no need to do this kind of targeting, but with a little hard work & luck Ive been staying busy and have gained a good name in my area. The 1st condo complex job i got I lucked into, I did some work for a property services company and i asked the guy to spread my name around and he did. he helped me get a 10 building complex. I did it and it went real well. After that I knew I wanted more of this condo work. Then I did 2 small jobs at 2 different condo complexes for a resident. I asked the who their HOA Prez was and their Prop Mang. Co. Now both of these properties needed cleaning, so I started calling the PM's & HOA, I asked them if I could submit a proposal to clean the properties, they werent really looking for proposals yet but they said OK. I wrote up proposal and faxed it to them, i waited a called them to make sure they got it and asked them if they had any questions please feel free to call me or if they had any other properties they wanted me to lok at. I called these PM every month for a few months, then I finally got them to call me. Now i had no real idea on pricing , because I had no real experience but i figured the projects on how long it would take me and materials & labor. I knew that it was competitive around here so I kept my prices reasonable to try to get my foot in the door. I ended up getting these 2 properties. One is 35 buildings & 1 is 32 buildings. I was actually scared to do these 2 large jobs because of lack of expeirence. but i got a crew together a few machines and i went for it. Everything came out great and everybody was happy with the job I did. These 2 jobs is when I quit my night job and went fulltime. These 2 jobs Ive done twice already and have them scheduled for 2006 These 2 jobs have lead to many many more jobs for me. So what I have to say is look around find properties that need your services and go for it. Now that I had the names of these property managers, I knew I had a contact , So what I did and it works is call them, write them, fax them and ASK FOR WORK!!! Asking for work works, I ask all the time Ill ask residential & commercial customers all the time for work or ask them to pass my name on. A major part of me getting work is being persitant. Just because they say they dont have work for you now doesnt mean they wont in the future. I tell EVERY PM I talk to that i want ALL their work Now when I submit a bid/proposal I do a detailed proposal. I write up scope of work in detail requirements, process etc. I also send a list of reference and a past projects list. Both these list arent always easy to have if your first starting out. I had a couple names of commercial properties I did and they werent big jobs but I listed the names and it helped. Most PM wont call your references just because they are busy. Now with PM's I tell them Ill do any PW job large or small. Quite often they will start you out with some small projects, just to see if you are reliable and do a good job. You have to be reliable, I get a call from a PM I make sure I go look at the project that day or the next and I get a proposal to them quick and Ill send a cover letter thanking them for the call. How else can you get work? WRITE, FAX, CALL and do it OFTEN. You have to get your name in front of these people as much as possible. I compile list. I look on the internet, super pages etc. I write down every PM company name & address, fax# I can find, I look at their web sights and try to get names from the site of the PM's or presidents of the companies. Then I start. If I have a name I address it to them, If I have no name I address it to Prop> Mang Dept. I do a letter of introduction, explain what I can do for them and ask for work. Once tis letter goes out I start faxing them and calling their offices. Now when I call their offices, I sort of chicken so Im happy when I can get a voice mail. Ill leave a quick message stating " Hi, Im just doing a follow up call. i wrote you about the srevices i offer and i was wondering if i could be of service to you" leaveyour name & # and call the next one. Now the faxing i think works well also . Ill make something simple up on the computer and fax it every couple months give or take. I make sure it reads well. My company name BIG and what I offer. Ill change fliers often but they basically say the same thing. As Im faxing Im also writing up a new letter to send. To get a call it may take weeks, months over a year or you may never get a call. I have PM's Ive written for 2 years and never got a call from them > I figure maybe someday i get a call. Im not a great speller or that great with grammer so I always have my wife proof read everything I send out. You dont want them to think your an idiot. You dont have to do high dollar brouchures but the have to have correct spelling etc. I work for several PM's now some get me alotof work some just one job, but I write & fax them all the same MANY MANY TIMES. I also send them biz cards always, I figure they might stick it in their roledex or desk and they might go to it. When ever you write or fax , do follow up. I even go to there offices every once in a while Ill get a dozen or 2 of donuts and tape my biz cards to them and jsut drop them off Now you do a good job and this is when you dont let go. Keep thanking them for the work and ask for more and ask them to tell others about you, many will . Its hard to find a reliable contractor and when they do , they quite often will tell others, I get alot of referall work SORRY for the long post, got tired of wrapping Xmas presnts at 3 in the am so I thought Id write this up. Theres many ways to get work Im sure and I'll write more ideas that I do but its time to go to Walmart and get the rest of the Xmas dinner Just remember WRITE FAX CALL, be persistant and do great work and do it on time See Ya MERRY XMAS Jeff ANYBODY ELSE GOT GOOD IDEAS ? Im always looking for something new that works

Mike you doing condo complexes, lets see some pics. Expanding out of residential arent you since you have that baby to pay for, oh ya and the new machine. Well good luck with everything The apartment buildings around here dont want to spend money to clean them, Most are filthy . Now condo complexes I love and do a ton of them

Xterior Sales in NC makes & sells it Also Watercannon in Orlando sells it The adjustable fan helps alot, good tool

Heres some letters & fliers I send out to PM's & properties, They are pretty basic and simple and they get me work. Maybe they can give you some ideas, hope it helps. I might also have a brouchure made up in the future. Also you may of seen my newsletter, well it paid off a little I had a property manager call just yesterday and ask me to meet with him, he said he was just reading my newsletter. We met and he had me look at 2 very large condo complexes and a gutter job. I got the gutter job we do it next week 14 buildings and more under construction. Also I explained to him that we want all his PW work and we will work with him on schedule & pricing. The 2 properties he wants done on an anuual basis. I bet we get them, our meeting went real well and Ive done several projects for him. He liked the newsletter and it reminded him to call me. Jeff

Xterior has a surfactant/soap Barlox they sell in 5's its pricey but you only need a few oz's. Its good stuff Or just use a dish washing liquid

How are you applying your mix, Xjet Chem inject ? 12.5% & citra should be OK, You just may need to go alot stonger Good luck down in N.O. Sure you have your hands full, God Bless all of you

Great points Carlos about the PM's bosses. Also many of the complexes I do are occupied by homeowners or are vacation rentals, so appearance does mean alot. Homeowners in condos just like single family homes want a clean property and dont want the surfaces being damaged. Also resale is a big thing, you can have a beautiful unit , but the outside looks like crap or dirty it will bring the sale price down. If its a vacation rental, you may rent it to someone and they come down and its nice they will likrly rent again if its dirty they probably wont rerent. Ive found apartment complexes to be some of the dirtiest properties and least often cleaned and they always want the cheapest bid price. I dont target apartment Buildings

Rfitz, you are right in many cases, but WRONG in many cases. This is where having a good reputation and a good working relationship with PM's & properties come in handy. I have PM's & HOA's that have told me they have gotten burnt by crappy contractors and thats why they use me. They know they get a good finished product with me Now I have one PM company that is excactly like you describe and I know theres many others. BUT I have several property managers that ONLY call me I tell/ask PM's I work for if Im not the lowest bidder tell me and show me the lower bids and lets see if I can adjust my bid. This is where a good working relationship comes in handy. Theres a lower bid thats say 2,3,4 hundred lower than me. I tell them sure I can drop a few hundred, I have no problem doing that, to land a job thats in the thousands of $$$$'s. Now theres been times the bid or previous contractor has been much lower and Ive told them theres no way I can come close to that price and I havent got the job and a few times I have got the job , because the previous contractor did a crummy job & was unreliable Like I said many HOA's around here have been burnt by crappy, unqualified, unreliable contractors so when a PM tells them they know a great PW contractor "me" they go with the PM's recomendation. Many PM's and properties dont want the janitor or painter or landscaper doing the work because they've gone that route and regretted it Rfitz let me give you some examples..... 1)I work for 1 PM and he oversee's many highend residential nieghborhoods. Now these are jobs in the couple hundred to around $2500 range, jobs like cleaning there pool areas, clubhouses, all the concrete sidewalks, curbs, mailboxes, fences etc etc. He calls me and says give him a price to do this & that. I call him with a price and he says DO IT, thats it no competitive bidding involved. I did one property were they took bids and he recomended going with me the HOA went with his recomendation. I get good money for these projects. I charge $.10 for flatwrk on these smaller jobs and in one case I charged $.14 because it was so dirty & 40 minutes away from my normal work area. I only once did not get a job I bid with this PM and that was because the HOA wanted only to go with lowest bidder and it was way low and that was OK. I also have gotten many referealls from this PM to other PM's 2) Another PM told me he likes the fact that I specialize in just PWing and thats why he uses me. I get well over 70% of every job I bid for him. He told me since I started working for him , he wont hire the landscaper or painter to do his work. I love it when I hear something like that, it just makes me feel soooooo good lol 3) I do a gutter cleaning job for 1 PM, 26 condo buildngs they had their carpenter contractor do it for them for the past couple years and he would hire some day laborers. He did it for them 4 times a year for a toatl of $5000 yearly. Well after he was done it would rain and the downspouts would be clogged and the HOA prez would take their maint. guy and go unclog the downspouts, the got tired of the crappy work. They called me because I clean their buidings annually and they know I do good work. I told them I cant do it for $5000 annually if they want it done 4 times a year. Their budget was $5000 I got the job and I only do it TWICE a year and they're happy, Ill be doing it again this Feb. 4) Another gutter cleaning job. its 4 different HOA on one large property a total of 47 buildings. They had several different contractors over the years doing it quarterly and the prices were low, well most of them never showed up to do it again, either they realized that there price was to low or they just werent in biz anymore. So whats the use of a low price if they cant the job done and the clogged gutters are damaging the property. well Ive done it now 4 times and am still under contract to do it for another year. I rent a lift and charge them well over $5000 each time and it never takes me and 1 or 2 other guys more than 4 days the last 2 times it only took under 3 days 5) I PW a complex 35 buildings 181 units, Ive done it 2 times already and will be doing it again in june. One board member wanted to get other bids the last time and the PM told me the others only wanted to use me, but they got 2 other bids one was higher than me but the other was $5.00 less per unit, they could of saved $905, they stayed with me. WHY? because they knew it wold be done right and on time!!! I also got the job to clean all the concrte in the complex, sidewalks, curbs, & 181 small driveways. NO OTHER BIDS TAKEN 6) NOW HERES A GOOD EXAMPLE. I just finished a parking garage, it was 107,000 sq ft. This past summer a PM recomended me to this propety to clean two 6 story walls of the property. I did it and I awsnt the lowest bidder but they went with me because of the recomendation. The GM & Chief of Maint. LOVED US. the Chief of maint. could get over the fact that we were there on time, had all our own tools and did a great job. He even called the PM and sang our praises. Well the past 2 years they have had a company out of GA come in and do the parking garage. The property didnt know any better but these guys , 3 of the from GA would come in and spray chem and white nozzle the hole 107K garage with cold water and the property wasnt that happy at all with the finished product. So the Maint chief ask me if I could do better. I EDUCATED HIM & THE GM. I told them how it should be done with hot water, good chems, & surface cleaners. I gave him a price of $.08 a sq ft it was over $3000 more of what the GA company charged. He said they are going to use me and see how it comes out. They were THRILLED the guy was AMAZED. He told me its 1000% better and it is, He realized the other company didnt really clean anything. I already am signed to do it next December. I got recomended, educated them, did a great job on time with no hassle and I will be doing it again next year. Now I could give you many other examples of how being a good reliable contractor pays off, but I think this post is long enough. Now you are absolutly right there are MANY PM & propeties that just dont care, its only lowest bidder, but not all of them these are all PMs Ive done work for. One other thing I also try with NEW PM companies Ive never worked for is I discount the project.If its a PM company Ive never worked for and I get the call to bid a large job, I explain what I offer, give them a detailed proposal, list of references, past projects list and I tell them when I submit my proposal that I went low on rice, gave them a discount, because I want the job and I want them to see what a great job we can do. Ya my bids a little low but I can still make decent money and may have the chance to bid other properties once they see the work we do. This has worked and I also have been burnt doing the discount. I had a PM say do the job and then bid on other jobs for them and NOT GOT A ONE. Now theres another PM I did this and he loves our no hassle jobs. He calls all the time and I get most of his work, AT MY PRICE. He told me we do great work and he likes how he gets no complaints. Like he says he knows the job is going or gone great because no has called and complained I dont live in a fantasy world, I know and have run into many who only care about price, but there are so many properties around here they can keep the jobs that dont want to pay crap. $10.00-$15.00 an hour they can have the job. I dont know to many companies that would last long in biz at those rates.HARDLY WORTH IT IS RIGHT. If coomercial places are only going to pay $10-$15 after everything how do you or anyone stay in biz I dont want to burst your bubble Rfitz, but the truth is Quality Work, Competitive Rates & On Time Service can & will land you many jobs, not all of them but many. So all in all the leg work is worth it. Its a great biz PWing, but some of its luck & some of its skill and some you'll never win, but theres alot of us out there making a good living, you just have to keep thinking of ways to make the money SORRY for the long post:lgbugeyes :lgbonk: Hope everyone had a great XMAS The LeCours Family sure did!!! Happy New Year !!! JL

Stainlessdeal{QUOTE}I think this is the best sales advice you can give somebody, be excited to do the job, and enthusiastically show and explain to your prospective customer what you will do, how, and why. This is right on!!! Some people, PM's Owners, etc just dont know or really think about PWing. You have explain to them the benifits of doing it. PWing makes a difference, a big difference. Stainless is right.....What, How & Why, 3 things that are great selling points Your customers are your money, educate them! Sell Sell Sell!!!!:lgmoneyey

What can I say, I love my biz. Jim can do the new construction!!!!! He does it and his full time day job and usually gets it done on weekends and makes a pretty penny, real pretty. Ive called Jim a couple times and told him when I see a new brick job starting and he's already been there and talked to the contractor. He's smart, thats the way you do it. You cant wait for it to come to you, you have to go and get it. And In time it will come to you also Hey Jim hope you had a great Christmas!!!!

John & guys, "Truly great post" you guys have gone crazy or a little to much holiday cheer:cheers: , but thanks Anybody got any other ways they get work or approach possible customers or commercial accounts I have an idea, grab them by their necks and drag them outside of their property and say look at this dirty mess, pay me to clean it or else, what do you think ? lol Hey its 3am Xmas morning and I have my wife setting up the Thomas the Train track, because I gave up. I sure wish they put the measurement on the outside of the box. This darn thing is 5' X 8' it takes up over half my dining room. It didnt look thatbig on the box:lglolly: I cant wait until Joshua wakes up, Santa has been good to him this year!!!!!!