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Jeff

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Posts posted by Jeff


  1. I've used OXALIC many time for AC rust works fine and will be just fine on the vinyl.

    I mix it at 4lbs to 5 gallon warm water for xjetting but you can dilute that some and brush it on, rinse any windows good, Ive never had it etch glass but better safe than sorry

    If you don't have Oxalic go to Lowes they sell Rust off or someting like that in gallon jugs and its Oxalic just brush it on and watch it disappear. You may have to do a few applications

    oxalic is great on rust & vinyl

    JL


  2. Employees, employees, employees. Its just to bad. I'm lucky so far I have 2 great guys My worker Derrick is 27 and a great work ethic. My Bro In Law is also a great worker and now I have his cousin who is working out great. I pay them $14 an hr just got the raise and the new guy $10 and will give him a 60 day raise if all is well. I think they will stay with me but you just never know. The pay I give them is pretty darn good for this area and I want them to make a living wage.

    I work at keeping these guys, last year was a nightmare at times, crackheads, theives, lazy etc. etc. I hope to have 2-4 guys I can always reley on, we'll see

    As I grow I need them to step up and they do, they'll work almost any hrs I need and they do care, they are still learning and Id like to offer more for them but i cant affor health care yet.

    Good luck to all of us with employees

    I like the questioaire for new employees, it cant hurt.


  3. Looking ahead what are your company goals or in the longterm what do you want out of your company. Your wildest dreams for your company what would they be? realistically what are you striving for?

    I'd like to make a very good living off my company, when I dream of what the future could be for my company I dream of a very successful, respected company. I'd like to make 200K minimum in my pocket, have crews doing condo complexes, parking garages & other commercial work. Have fulltime work for all crews.

    I'd like to have Property Managers calling for our company because they know we do good work and get the work done properly and on time. I'd like a fulltime salesman and myself going after as much of the work as we can.

    I'd like to educate as many PM's HOA's & commercial customers on the benifits of PWing and change the way most thnk around here. They wait until its so dirty its disgusting. Id like the hotels & condo towers to keep up their properties better and realize that PWing is a must do. This town is very dirty and I'd like to keep it clean

    Id like a small retail store with office & warehouse space for all my trailers etc. Retail I'd like to sell locally parts & equipment

    I'd really like a fulltime office person keeping up with all the paper work, payroll daily scheduling etc etc.

    When I say I want to be The Pressure Washing King of Myrtle Beach I mean it. Id like to be the largest & most respected company around. Not the largest just so i can say I'm the largest, but because I have consistantly large volumes of work.

    If I didnt have to do as much of the daily pressure washing & office work I could go out and hustle & sell much more. I'm getting pretty good at talking with PM's and if I had this to do 3-4 days a week I think the skies the limit.

    WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS & WISHES?

    JL - TPWKOMB


  4. JL

    Here in NJ as an S Corp. you are covered under WC. You must wisely choose what classification you are listed as. If you list yourself as one who actually does the work at let's say $ 13.00 per hundred, that would be about $ 3.70 per hour. If you list yourself as sales it would equate to about $ .17 per hour.

    Of course every state is a little different. Also speak to your accountant regarding what you draw as salary vesus owners withdrawal. It makes a difference for WC.

    Electro

    I am a worker on the jobs and as S Corp am not covered. I got a quote to have me put on comp coverage, with the payroll I do Id have to pay over $4600 just to cover me.

    As I was told insurers dont want to cover the owner or Prez, they think you'll use it as a health plan, fraud! say you get hurt on the job even if you werent

    JL


  5. Well, it has been a pretty good season so far. (Knock, knock!)

    Decks - 76 completed

    Brick paver jobs - 24 completed

    House washes - 30 Completed

    Only 3 deck touch ups, 1 brick pavers touch up, and NO house wash touch ups. Only 1 big, fat PITA customer!

    The season for us began in mid April.

    How's it going for you?

    This year is going real well, I'll surpass last years #'s around August this year. I've added another 2 PM companies that use our services now, not all their PM's use us but a few do and I'll try to get the others on line with us. As Ive mentioned before these are 2 PM companies Ive been targetting for at least 2 years.

    Im always happy to get calls from my targetting, I then know its working.

    As for employees I'm lucky my 2 fulltime guys are good and reliable and I jut hired the cousin of my Bro In Law and he is working out real well these past few weeks

    We've done hundreds of condo buildings and thats the work I like most. We go in with 3-4 machines and knock them out, the PM's are thrilled how we get in & out quick with no or very few hassles. If the PM's are happy I'm happy

    My goal is to have enough work for the winter for all my guys if possible. If not for at least 2 of my guys. I'm working on lining up winter work and have several projects I do in the winter already. I hope to be doing Parking garages after the tourist season and through the winter, so Ikeep writing hotels and condo towers every month

    I figure I do about 1% tops of all the condo complexes around here. Looks like i have a long way to go to get 50% of them, thats my little dream I have and work towards

    Im thrilled with how things are going for JL Pressure Washing, I really never imagined it would be like this

    JL


  6. It all depends on what you want. I almost always lived in suburbs and I like it. I grew up in Randolph Ma about 40K but was only 15 minutes south of Boston, we had woods we could play & hike in, ride dirt bikes etc, but we also could go to Boston and do so many other things as kids & adults. Restaurants, aquarium, special events like the Tall Ships, 4th of July we had parade & fireworks in our home town or we could go to Boston with a million people & have a blast. Suburbs near a city have a lot to offer, close to everything but usually without as much crime & traffic

    Now living in a rural area I never really have, for me I wouldnt like it because its not enough for me to do, I would like the wide open spaces but I think I would get bored and may not see whats going on as much if I had to travel 2,3, 4 hours to get to events

    Big city living Ive done a couple times, I lived in Boston for about a year and Philly for a year & a half. It was cool for those short periods of time but I wouldnt want to live there long term, to congested and I was mugged once

    One of the Best places I lived was in Goleta CA at Santa Barbara it was in 1980 - 81 I was 18 and me and freinds moved there to have fun & we did, its a great area the ocean and everything it had to offer, GIRLS. The Mountains and beautiful weather. I also lived in San Deigo fun town, but crime also

    Ive lived short term many places and liked most

    The perfect place for me to live would be suburbia, but with a 5-10 acre of land , but that you cant afford unless it was in the family.

    Myrtle Beach is alright I'll probably live here the rest of my life its my home now and I wouldnt want to go back to cold weather

    I worry about any area nowadays. I worry for my children, I can and have handled all kinds of things in my life , but these days things are so different crime is everywhere, wether you see it or not, Kids arent like they used to be. A fist fight used to be with fist , not kicking or stabbing or shooting. Road rage never heard of it when I was a kid. There just seems like theres a lot more screwed up people everywhere. When I was a kid there was 1 , 2 3 families that were bad or screwy, now it seems like half the population is bad or screwy

    HotShot if your comfortable and happy where you are stay there, but make sure you show the good & bad sides of other areas to your kids take them on family trips to the city and enjoy, you cant hide or shelter them from this stuff, they might get over whelmed if they go there when they grow up. Educate them on all parts of a real world and show them it.

    Lots of the reason I lived or traveled many places in my life since I was 16 was because my Dad told me to go see this great country he did when he was young hitch hiked across the country and I travel by car, van, bus & plane and Ive seen a lot of good bad and GREAT stuff. We live in such a great country just make sure you see some of it

    JL


  7. To funny, as an ex bridge painter & sandblaster I'm laughing my a-- off. You should of sandblasted them no nest left and for sure no baby birds on the ground, just a few feathers in the road.

    You can always do what some of the sicko's I worked with did, they would put a string around the pigeons neck and lower it down over someones head then pull the string real quick and then a headless pigeon would land on you flapping away. Just for the record I never did that

    I think Im going to call Keith Oberman and have him put you on his nightly "Worse Person of The Day"

    To funny

    JL


  8. This summer has been THE summer for complaints. Most ultra-anal in nature.

    I've had one call and complain that the house was FILTHY after we left. I sent the crew back, and they called to find out what they were there to re-clean. Miffed, I drove out there to school them on clean vs. half-a**ed. Found NOTHING. Called the homeowner and set a meeting. In the meantime, I had a friend of mine close by goand look TRYING to find stuff tthat needed work. None found. At the meeting with the homeowner, she was point out phantom spots. I was taking my sunglasses off, squinting, looking from angles, etc. She saw a FILTHY house. I saw spotless vinyl. I still think she was a bit loopy.

    I dealt with Phantom spots last year , the lady actually said they move in different light. I went out there and could see nothing, but I figured it out and met with her . It was different shadows from trees at different times of day. She felt stupid she said and I wanted to say you are, but I didnt


  9. Great for you Jeff!

    I haven't been on TGS much lately because of being so busy.

    Mine business comes from various sources, through painters and HOA's front of the battle lines marketing, face to face, and the 3 foot business card rule but the resi's are booming for me and the deck work is picking up considerably. Truthfully, I haven't even been doing any classified advertising since Nov. of last year and the word of mouth or sub jobs have been very steady.

    I have been landing alot of work from nicely placed business card holders in Gas stations and dry cleaners and diners. But like you said, even when it slows down, another round of jobs come in from the others looking out for you.

    I don't operate on the level that you do, and I only have a helper some of the time. It is nice though to see the stats turn in favor of profit vs. more withdrawals than deposits. I am not sure if it is growth I am experiencing or just a full calandar. Just hope the back holds up. lol.

    Thats great Adrian, its nice when you realize this thing called pressure washing really is a business that you can live off of and enjoy doing it for the most part. Its funny my wife was showing her co workers pictures of our house being built and one of the loan guys asked her "whats your husband do for work" She said owns a PW biz. The guy said you can make a living washing houses. Wife said its a lot more than that. Got to love PWing

    Congrats on your growth and maybe you can get a full time guy somedays, its helps me with my back !!! I have many days that Im hurting lately so I dont wash I go out and sell, supervise or just deal with everything else thats going on.

    Keep the work rolling

    JL


  10. Just hoping everyone is staying busy. I hope the #'s are all good for you.

    You know I think I'm blessed. I have 3 fulltime guys and 1 parttimer and they are getting 45 - 65 hours every week and it seems like I'm always out giving estimates on condos and other commercial projects. Sometimes I worry thou, I'll have only 2 weeks of work lined up and I worry that it will run out and i wont be able to give my guys 40hrs. It happens and then all of a sudden here comes the work, it just got like that this month and now Im booked solid until mid July with more work coming and this isnt including any residential that I have or will get. I'll tell my wife work isnt lined up and she'll say dont worry it always comes in Jeff when you say that.

    God does look out for me. I know someday I might not always be this blessed but so far so good. Now I do go hunt the work down, even when I'm busy. I even call the PM's and tell them I'm slowing down do they have anything for me. I did this a couple weeks ago and I had two PM's call and give me over 2 weeks work, just from the call I gave them. You know I look out for my PM's and they look out for me. I just had one call Friday and say go look at 30 buildings give her a price and we can schedule it for July or August , she also gave me another gutter cleaning job and 2 other large buildings to clean.

    I just get so excited that I can call and ask and they help

    Whats everybody doing these days hows the rest of the year look and do you go out and hustle work or is it just coming to you.

    Just thankful for God & my luck

    Life is good

    JL


  11. Very nice door! Sounds like the salesman was trying to screw you. At least he gave you a good price. Are you going to have the door stained or painted? If you do decide to stain, Therma tru sells a stain kit for their doors.

    Doug

    Doug I'm pretty sure Im painting them havent decided yet, we had picked out a couple accent colors before these doors came in. You know I really dont think he was trying to screw me on these, He screwed up and he knew it and hell he knocked off over $1400. I went to Lowes yesterday and the price on their really good Therma Tru's was up there around the price he stated or more. His mistake my good futune

    Man doors can be pricey!

    JL


  12. Check out the deal I ended up getting on these doors.

    We had a front door budget for our new home of $2512.00 that was for the front door of the main house & the front door of the Inlaw. The builder recomended Therma Tru doors, fiberglass. I asked them where to get them or look at them and he told us their building supplier place has them, same place the windows & other doors come from. He also said Lowe's carries them and we could look at them. We found out quick front doors cost some big buck and the $2500 budget we couldnt get top of the line or anywhere close to it.

    We had picked out Benchmark by Therma Tru a lesser quality with a minimal warranty , but they were pretty with silver caning on the glass. The building supply salesman called and he said lets meet about the front doors and this was about 2 months ago. Well they carry Therma Tru but did not haave the same caning style for the glass so he showed me books with other caning and we picked the caning you see in this pic. I showed the guy the quote from Lowes and he said we can get it for that price or maybe even a little lower , he'll check the price. Well one set of doors was door & 2 full side lights and Inlaw was door & 1 half sidelight. The lowes were smooth finish instead of fake wood grain finish

    I told the bilding supply rep to get a price I have to stay with in the total budget for doors. Well a week & a half went by and no call, I called him to ask for the price he was out on a job sight , he never called me back and I called the next day and he said sorry real busy and he'll get me the price he never called me back, well we never ordered doors and was getting ready to order from Lowes soon

    Then last week I go to the house and these doors are in the house not installed yet, but I looked at them and I knew these doors were HIGH DOLLAR doors and not within our budget, real High dollar you could tell. The caning and glass was far superior than the Lowes doors and the doors had the wood grain look not smooth finish and the doors them selves were just heavier and just a much better door than the Benchmark by Therma Tru by Lowes. So I call the saleman and tell him hey theres doors at my house and he never gave us a price on them and we never said order them. I told him they look out of our budget price. I told him they were wood grain not smooth and he said smooth or grain were the same priceuaully. He said he would check price next day when he went to office.

    Next day I call him and he said he's out on another sight and when he gets to office he'll call me. I go out to the house and doors are now installed.

    Saleman calls and says, the Lowes doors must be a metal door and says he just ordered these doors in a rush and he asks are the new doors installed I said yes. I ask him why, He goes he screwed up big time and the one door set is $2800 and the Inlaw is $1800. i said WHOA and I asked him why he ordered them and they will have to go back its way out of our budget. He said that they are installed at least they wont get stolen and he apoligized and said it was totally his screw up , he just ordered them when we picked out caning style. So we met the next day at the house and he said he screwed up he's been real busy and we can pick out other doors or just order the Lowes doors.

    We meet at the house and he says the door company may of made a mistake too, these doors are 6 panel and not 4 panel and he hardly ever orders 6 panel because they are more expensive. He's thinking he can get door compnay to eat some of the price. I tell him I cant afford these doors even if he gave them to us at cost. He calls his office and they check again what he ordered and he did order 6 panel , this guy was bumming out. He;s a nice guy and he screwed up. He said would i consider keeping these doors if he gave them to me at cost, I said what about the builder and he said he called and he's going to call back. He said if I pay an extra $700 on top of the $2500 budget he'll eat the rest as long as the builder waives his mark up. I told him if he gets it in writing Id love the much better door and I'll pay the extra $700. These are some great quality doors and real pretty too. So I figure I'm getting a real good deal because this guy screwed up and I just hate to pass up a good deal.

    If I didnt take doors they would have gone back to building supply place and he would have had to sell them cheap if he even could sell them right away.

    The builder agreed and I get both door sets for $3200 Im happy, real happy these are so much better doors than the Lowes ones!!!!!!

    Check out the doors cool !!!!

    Message to door saleman , check price & budget before ordering.:lgbugeyes oops

    Sorry for the long story Im just happy I got a good deal and some nice doors

    JL


  13. The house is coming along, its looking great.

    We've had some hassles most have been worked out, but I understand now when Ive heard other people say they would never go through having a house built. It can be a PITA sometimes, the builder has screwed up somethings and has fixed most stuff some I had to fight for. All in all we are happy with the actual construction. Im glad I can get to the new house everyday and check things out.

    We had a big fight they screwed up my vaulted ceiling in my living rm because the hip roof came in the middle of the vaulted ceiling it doesnt look bad but its not what we wanted

    The in law section they put up trusses for a 9 foot ceiling. It was suppose to be a cathedral ceiling. The design guy admitted he screwed up and they took all those trusses out and put in new with a cathedral ceiling, looks great now, but a hassle

    They had no house bibs on the pla the plumber told me and we placed 3 bibs in.

    the 2 front entrances Im battling, they were suppose to add a peaked overhang at my mothers side and theres nothing except the foot wide soffit. The framers said nothing on plan, the design guy said they will figure it out and the main house they put this little overhang roof it was to be bigger, after 2 weeks of crap they just made it a little bigger and we have that settled. The way they have both entrances the rain would of run right on our heads even with gutters if the rain was heavy we would be getting wet.


  14. OK, I'll admit it, I too once did the wrong house. I had been given the right house number, but somehow misread it. The homeowner wasn't supposed to be home and I washed the house. When I was done, I rang the bell (just in case they were home and I could collect) and the homeowner answered. They thought that the homeowners association had ordered the cleaning, so they didn't stop me. I apologized for the mix-up, assured them it was free, and gave them my card and asked them to consider my services next time. (They were very pleased with the work.)

    Fast forward 3 years. Last week, I received a call from one of my regulars in this same neighborhood, wanting to schedule his home for cleaning. He informed me that he is now the president of the homeowners association and that they would like a proposal to clean all 125 condos on an annual basis. (These are 1400 sq ft, individual units.) There are several board members that are also regulars, so there should not be a problem getting this passed.

    This neighborhood should go a long way toward "filling-out" my Feb schedule. Each unit takes about 30 to 40 minutes - max - to clean and will take even less when we can do them all at once. (I normally charge $150 each, but am thinking $100 per with a contract.

    That will be a great Feb job good luck

    JL


  15. I've been doing a bunch of banks (18)for the past 2 1/2+ years. Just recently the windows havent been coming out great They always have before and I still am using 12% & dawn and I also tried 12% & citra clean with same so so results. Now not all the windows are coming out bad but some and we are rinsing real well and not letting anything dry on windows

    Any Ideas why after all this time I start having problems. Could it be the windows just need cleaning after all this time. clean the buildings every 6 months could it be my solution over time leaving a build up that cant really be seen until the next cleaning?????????????????????????????????????

    JL


  16. I would not just let the insurance company handle it. I would be very proactive and call your insurance company and tell them it wasnt your fault and stress that you dont & shouldnt be held liable. Dont trust your insurance company to handle your claim out right fight for your company

    This lady is crazy to come back at you months later and I would of told here it would be filing a false claim to come back at you-screw her.

    I have a line or two about not being responsible for any leaks or damage due to poor or faulty building construction , maintenance and/or materials. Contractor is not responsible for ANY leakdamage etc.

    JL


  17. Dustin get advertising NOW, you'll need the work as soon as you start fulltime, quite often work can slow in August , just how it is around here for residential, warm weather & vacations sending kids back to school people spending $$$ on other things than PWing.

    Do the 2 weeks at old job and get out there and sell sell sell.

    We all wish you good luck its a great fun biz to be in

    JL


  18. Well I finally did it! Had my guys wash the wrong house. What an idiot!!!!!!!!!

    Thankfully it was a small house 1200sq ft, I sent them to 7--- Cypress Keyes, it was suppose to be 7--- Leeward Ln in Cypress Keyes, same neighborhood. The people live out of state and rent it out, I just totally overlooked the leeward part when write up schedule for the day for my crew

    What an idiot, I was just going to email an invoice to the people and caught the mistake. This is a 1st , I thought it might happen someday. WELL IT DID:lgbonk: :bullistic

    Well I just emailed the customer and told them what happened they probably think Im an idiot too. Someone got a free house wash

    What an idiot

    Moral of this story, Dont be an idiot!

    Must be the pain meds the doc gave me for a slipped disk. Idiot!!!

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