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Jeff

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Posts posted by Jeff

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Gutter cleaning - removing the debris from gutters & downspouts

    The way we clean gutters on condos & other complexes is 80% of the time we do them with back pack blowers and blow everything out and then pick up everything on the ground that you blew out. I also use an electricians fish and run it down the downspouts to make sure there not clogged. Usually if they are clogged its at the ground level, then we either flush with water or usually dismantle them at the elbow.

    If they are 2 story buildings we use a 32 foot ladder and get up on roof with blowers and walk roof. If roofs arent walkable which is rarely on condos we take ladder around and hand clean. I very rarely have to hand clean much and if I do. If theres a ton of buildings say 15 & up ad you cant walk them Ill rent a lift and I also always rent a lift if they are 3 story buildings, 3 stories is un safe to use a 40 ft ladder just to steep.

    We usually do the large complexes with 2 or 3 guys.

    Now pricing these you have to know how to get the work. I do some houses for more than I do complexes. I do 1, 2 & 3 story buildings from $65 - $125 a building. It doesnt seem like good money when your standing on the ground looking at hundreds of feet of gutter on a buuilding , but you have to figure if they are going to be a PITA or maybe some might be completely empty. . HOA's arent going to pay 2-3 hundred a building to clean 20 buildings

    Let me give you an example of one of my best gutter jobs. We do 47 buildings 4 different propeties within a few hundred yards of each other. With a discount that I gave them its $5395 I bill them. Some are almost always almost empty and some can get pretty full I charge anywhere from $85 - $110 each building, we rent a lift for one week same as a 3 day rental. $1000. 2 guys can do all of they with blowers walking the roofs in 2 1/2 to 3 days and we do them 4 times a year. Subtract lift cost thats $4395 I get each time minus labor. You dont have to charge a ton to make a ton

    Next week we have 24 1 & 2 story buildings to clean the gutters Im charging $65 for the 1 story ones and $75 for the 2 storiy ones these are very easy to walk and I know 75% of them dont have much debris and we will be doing them twice a year We will do all these in one day over $1600 and all it cost me is a little labor cost and gas for the blowers

    Like I said gutter cleaning on complexes can be very profitable

    But I cant stress enouugh to all and my guys , your on a roof you have to becareful and aware of where you walking at all time. One slip and that profit means nothing , Be carful

    Oh ya if it rains the night or 2 before cleaning sometimes i wait a day or 2 till they dry or we bring a PWer to clean any mess on the buildings but thatdosent add much time.

    JL

  2. Posted · Report reply

    I started in MB in 2000 parttime, first year I didnt even know if I wanted to do this fulltime. By late 2001 I started going for more work and was thinking I could make a living at this. 2002 I told my wife I would be trying to build the biz to eventually go full time by 2006. I worked full time nights and Pw'd days. 2003 started getting alot of residential and some commercial . I went nut targetting PM in 2003 and by 2004 landed some big condo jobs for 2004. I couldnt do these jobs with out quiting my night job so in March of 2004 I went fulltime, it was scary, I wasnt sure if I would get the work to support myself, but I worked very hard of targetting residential & commercial and I still do sales & targetting endlessly and all has worked out great. But if you want to go fulltime, you have to put alot of effort into it to just get the work.

    My goal was to go fulltime in 2006 and I was lucky to reach my goal much earlier and Im not looking back and going full steam ahead and its fun

    JL

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Jeff, I have to ask, why did you edit your post? It was very inspiring. In any case, congrats to your success.

    I'm glad it was inspiring, but I read it again and thought to myself that this is a pressure washing board. I felt strange having it here.

    All I have to say is the good lord & my family has helped me at many intersections in my life and my only real WISH is to be a good & productive man for the rest of my life.

    Life is GOOD:lgsideway

    Thanks

    Jeff

  4. Posted · Report reply

    dont know yet .but i will have one made you can count on that .i like having just because i may need it one day.ive got pressure tools i dont use .i have 2 new surface cleaners ive never used and all kinds of good stuff just because.All my friends cal me the gadget man .cant buy one have to buy two of something.

    I know Im looking at and seeing all kinds of things, with a few add ons or changes maybe wider model & bigger wheels and a cable system I could be the high risee washing King and not have to get in swing staging as much etc etc . This has peaked my intrest thats for sure

  9. Posted · Report reply

    I was wondering if I could get chems through a water broom attachment

    This would be to use it on flat sides of a 14 story high rise and run it down the 14 stories roof to ground

    What Im thinking is to make a set up useing one of those 3 or 4 tip metal waterbrooms attach it to my pressure line and run it down building

    If I have it set up with chem injecter on my machine IF I CHANGED TIPS on waterbroom to larger orifice will it allow chem to draw of chem injector so I can coat sides of building with chems and I was thinking of having a light weight rope attached to head of water broom to keep in on side of building and greatly reduce the pressure on my machine

    ???? If I reduce the pressure alot will the chem still draw off injector

    What I'm thinking is I wouldnt need a trigger gun I could just put waterbroom attachment right on pressure line & turn on & off machine to control it ???? Yes or No

    Will this work will I be able to get chem through waterbroom

    Then I would use same water broom to rinse, I dont need high pressure at all its just somemold & mildew

    I also will be applying water & chems from the roof and let gravity do its thing , but for the $$$ they are going to pay for this I have to also have this kind of set up and there 1 or 2 spots I'll have to have this setup and Ill have to pull this to those areas to gt them

    What do you think any help please!!

    Thanks

    JL

  10. Posted · Report reply

    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

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Well the numbers are in and some of my cost cutting has paid off My profit through my paycheck and what I can draw off corp profit Im just under 40% of overall total. Wow Im surprised. My accountant was pleased for me also .

    I told him all the trouble I have with paper & computor work and after tax season Im going in with him & his wife and we are going to get most all finacial straight from personal to biz. I told him I needed help and he offered

    Maybe next year will be even better

    2006 BRING IT ON, I'm ready

    JL

  12. Posted · Report reply

    It's a great add on service. Every year money falls from the trees sometime around October - November. While your up there check for loose brackets and leaks as well and add that on if repairs are needed.

    I have a few of them that if there is any repairs needed I do it and charge its also good money but cheaper for PM's to have me do it then have another company come out and repair them..

    Thing about around here money falls out of the trees more than just the Fall time , we have these tall ugly pine trees that shed tons of long pine needles year round so the gutters can fill up in no tome at some of these complexes.

    Then other complexes I do annually and theres hardly any trees and hardly nothing in the gutters and I still get paid

    If anyone has ever thought of cleaning gutters on complexes and just didnt want to bother I suggest doing it . It is very profitable

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Wind can be a big problem here at the beach and even inland a little. I have people ask why I always use a lift on 3 story condos, why dont I just use extensions. I would miss out on to many days of work if I didnt use lifts. You get over 15 -25 ft and a 10 mph wind starts to 15 - 25mph+. With a lift I can get closer with less chance of stuff (chem) blowing around. When your on a tight schedule or have to finish a job to get to the next job the lift helps a great deal. Plus I do alot of 3 story condos and useing an extension every day for weeks gets real old

    I spent over 14K on rental lifts this past year, but this year I'll be spending a lot less. The guy who gets me alot of work and alot of connections bought a used 40 ft lift. This guy is great he owns a property servicescompany and know just about everybody in town. Well he basically bought the lift for me because as he said I always use them so he had to buy it for tax purposes and this way if he neds it he doesnt have to rent one and it will be paid off by me in less than a couple years

    A 40 ft lift rented cost me about $1000 a week w/ rental, taxes, insur & delivery. He's charging me $550 a week and monthly I'll save over $1000

    This guy has been great for my biz.

    He is also having the lift vinyl lettered with my logo on one side & his on the other. I told him Id pay for the lettering. Cant wait t have it lettered

    Heres a pick of the lift. My wind fighting machine. New paint and runs pretty darn good.

    This will save me thousands

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Easiest place for me to lose money? Labor. Keeping a grip on extra hours spent having someone with me just driving while getting supplies, balanced with not driving out of my way to drop someone off and get them working. Between labor and materials as far as COGS, labor gets me much more than materials. On to overhead...I try to keep office overhead down to 12% or so, checking monthly. Equipment repair and purchases, small ones, less than 5% of gross.

    LABOR thats a BIG ONE. I now have one guy come in 15 - 30 minutes before the others, he fuels up, loads stuff as needed etc. And when I can I'll have the guys meet me at the job sight if its easier or in between my house & theirs, That can save me some money.

    What I also do is buy them lunch so they dont have to leave the job sight, becuase sometimes it 15-20 minutes just to get to a fast food place. The most I spend on one guy is $2-$5 but I know this way it will be only 30 minute lunch. Plus unlike food, restuarants for biz meetings that you only can write of 50% of the cost, when your buying meals for workers to keep them on the job sight its 100% tax deductible. I didnt know that until I asked my accountant months ago

    I still find myself taking a worker to do stuff like a quick estimate or stopping buy Lowes or something theirs been times Ive paid worker extra 1 or 2 just becuase it was easier than dropping them off at the end of the day

    Labor is a tough one for sure

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Hello,

    I'm new to pressure washing but have been doing a lot of researching on the subjuct. Regarding bleach most of my research say stay away from bleach period. I went to a chemical store and these folks said that they know quite a few pressure washer using industrial strength bleach. So I bought a 5 gal container. The research states that it will adversely affect the nozzle and pump so I'm planning on using it externally of the pressure washer.

    Regarding the closeness of the wand to the surface, namely concrete, I found that with my 3000 psi 2.7 gpm ryobi pressure washer, I need to be at least two inches from the surface to get the desired results. I invested in a rotary nozzle and a wand extension and I'll try these once the weather improves. My next task is my deck and tennis court. You see, I'm testing on my home first before I start soliciting to enhance my business.:lgmoneyey

    If you live in GA. you should be useing bleach type product. It KILLS mold & mildew

    Purchase an Xjet and it goes through no parts of your machine or gun & wand. Make sure you tell them what size machine you have so they put the right orifice in it. Its a great tool. Watercannon in Orlando has them at the best prices about $119 to $129 its money well spent

    You have a rather small machine but the rotary nozzle will speed things up for you quite abit

  16. Posted · Report reply

    When you are rinsing, how close are you having to get with the gun? With the Cleansol, we were still having to get within three inches of the siding for it to effectively clean / rinse. I'm afraid that using the hot water that close could cause damage.

    Xstream what kinds of home surfaces are you cleaning and what are you cleaning off those surfaces

    Your from Alabama so I would think its just mold, mildew and some dirt. You shouldnt have to get closee to any of the house surfaces really that much.

    If you use 12.5% or any type of bleach with soap you should just be able to apply chem thru Xjet or Chem injector let chems sit on surface for a couple/few minutes and then sttand back and rinse surfaces flood it from a short distance and you should have a clean surface. In southern states its bascally 1)prewet area 2) apply chems with bleach 3) Rinse well

    You dont have to use high pressure and you shouldnt have to be real close to surface to get it clean. If you get close with pressure theres a chance of damaging surface if you arent experienced

    If that product your useing isnt working change products

    Try 12.5% & some dawn in a 5 gallon bucket If you have a 4 GPM machine or less if Xjetting put 1 to 1 1/2 gallons 12% several oz's of dawn and apply IT WILL CLEAN most home sidings TRY IT

    Good luck

    JL

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Who does gutter cleaning on Condo/apartment complexes. I now have several contracts for regular gutter cleaning, 1/4ly biannual & annual . I clean from 5 to 47 buildings each time. I'm making a killing on these gutter jobs, no chems or running machine etc etc. These are some of my most profitable jobs

    Just yesterday and today my 2 guys will have 26 buildings gutters cleaned and they each will have a total of 14 hours tops total 28hrs and its a job I do twice a year for $2500 each time. This is great money well over $1000 a day profit and Im not even working it

    I always said I hate doing gutters and never eally went after the work but now I mention it to all my PM's. Residential Gutter cleaning I dont like noone wants to pay fo it

    Just wondering who else does alot of gutter cleaning and do you do it annually, bi annaul ??

    JL

  18. Posted · Report reply

    You're up late, Jeff! I'm about to get dressed...

    I am becoming increasingly concerned about throwing up chemicals into the air.

    Citic based cleaners, the sort in any kitchen, I can understand, but bleach or oxalic acid? Must be a dangerous thing to do.

    Richard Im always up weird hours, its when I do alot of my office work.

    As for throwing up chems. You dont need to throw Oxalic, this is something you very rarely need except when doing rusty concrete or wood deck restoration

    As for bleach The MAIN thing you have to remember especially as it gets warmer out is that you wet down surrounding areas. WET EVERYTHING, plants shrubs etc. Believe me if you keep things wet and apply chems, then rinse EVERYTHING again you'll be just fine. You dont have to drown everyting just keep it wet then rinse and move to the next area.

    If you should spill some of you mix with bleach, just soak the area and you'll be fine

    Good luck

    JL

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Not being rude at all, valid point. We have not scheduled it yet, we have been working with a real estate agent who has a house she wants us to do, but the homeowners have not commited to it yet, so it may not happen. We have a product from EaCo Chem that we can use in a pinch called Cleansol BC. This is not what we want to use long term however, so we are trying to see what actually works and how to mix / apply it. We have two hot water units 3500 psi @ 5.2 GPM. We also have a Corress wand and the M5. We have not had the opportunity to use the extention wand or the x-jet yet, so we're still gathering info and trying to do this the right way to produce a quality job. Our concern is that it sounds like soap, chlorine, a rinse aid, and possibly some wax are the key ingredients to remove dirt, black mold and green algae from siding and even gutters. We just aren't sure how to mix the products. What ratios do you recommend for each for a standard siding job with dirt, mold, and algae? Also, if we are going to x-jet it, what tip do we use on the x-jet? It came with many different ones depending on how much you want to cut the mix. Also, when you are talking about the 12.5% chloring, do you just pull it straight from it's original container as is, or do we dilute it even more? Sorry for all the questions, but thanks again for everyones help.

    Hey Xstream, house wash mixes can be very basic. Some use 12.5% and a soap. rinse aid & wax other use just 12.5% and soap. Many use inexpensive soaps, Dawn, Tide etc. and other use Soap /surfacterants like Citra clean Barlox or others. They all work

    On vinyl houses I use 12^ & Dawn its simple & cheap and the dawn is a rinse aid windowss come out spot free. In a 5 gallon bucket for a machine your size you can mix 2 gallons 12% and sevearl oz's of dawn and the rest of bucket fill with water, you dont have to be exact measurements, this is useing Xjet. If your cleaning mold & mildew and some dirt and maybe some webs , bleach/12% & soap. You can check out RPC product they have soaps, waxes & rinse aids.

    The Xjet is how I do all my washing. Those arent tips they are porpotioners for getting different ratios must PWers never use them. You do your ratios as you mix. You dont need the porpotioners(sp). Black streak on gutters use RPC Gutter Shock or other simular product and brush it on.

    House wash mixes are easy and to get some experience with your Xjet & machine do your house your families homes. Im telling you your 1st few homes you'll take longer and may be nervous, but really theres nothing to it.

    3 steps

    Prewet surface area to be cleaned

    Xjet house wash mix

    Rinse well

    Good luck

    JL

  20. Posted · Report reply

    I have all my figures for 2005 tallied up and I go do my Corp taxes with accountant tomorrow. 2005 has been a great year I did over double of what I did last year and percentage wise I saved money this year on expenditures(

    Last year I spent alot of money on chems & parts and I said last year I wanted to save or figure ways I can save on my biz cost.

    I was wondering how you all watch what you spend and how you save

    Some of the things I did this year were

    Try to control chemical use and spending

    1)I use to waste some chems and I tried to control that alot better this year and did. Told my employees to be careful for spillage, bought containers with spigots less spills. Used to have some buckets with who know what in it, so we labeled alot of buckets and drums. I stayed on them about waste

    2) Changed some chems - I used to use a high dollar surfactant Barlox for roof cleaning. I found just a little dawn in roof mix does the same job.

    3) Found a local distributor for some of my chems to save on shipping. Oxalic I now spend $42 for 55lb bags compared to $80 a bag plus big shipping cost. My citrus cleaner I use on many house & building washes I found the the same chem for many $$$ less and no shipping

    4) Buying in bulk almost always save a ton

    5) parts - buying in quantity and shopped the net, getting alot of stuff from WaterCannon usually the best prices.

    6) Buying better quality stuff, Guns I went to sutner, they definitly last longer than the cheaper ones I was buying

    7) Trying to maintain equipment better. Common sense stuff like changing oil more often, I used to just top off oil for months. Greasing things more often. Iused to let thing go quite often until they broke or just werent 100%

    8) Estimating - been tring to group them into 1, 2 or 3 days, less traveling, less gas

    9) Advertising- I used to do quite abit of residential advertising, now I do much more targeting of commercia work PM's HOA's Etc and I just about dropped most of my residential advertising, except Yellow Pages which is geared to both Res & Comm.. I still am in 2 residential newsletters, but they are very cheap and still bring in many jobs

    10) Have had problem in past months with lost or broken equipment . More equipment was lost in the past 6 months then in almost the past 5 years. I got on my employees about it. I hammer it in their heads now. Plus I got them to sign a paper stating if you lose you pay. Its worked, nothing missing in over a month

    I'm really trying to save $$$ by watching what I do and my employees do. I have a long way to go and alot to learn, but we are getting better.

    How do you all control cost

    JL

  22. Posted · Report reply

    I think its agreat idea for your web sight. I dont like the font style at the beginning, not bold enough i think you should do your logo at the start of it. Most of the font colors in the sentences were to close in color to the background pictures couldnt see all the words to read them. Also some of it was to fast not enough time to read it or see some of the pics.

    Just trying to be helpful no offense

    I know you'll tune it up and it will be even cooler

    Great start & idea

    JL

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I'm sure it will pick back up in the spring, but it isn't anything like it was a year or more ago.

    Glad to see you here, Bob! Post some pics of your PVC marvel, for those who haven't seen it!

    I think Steve has lost sight of his board. He's had alot going on and not all positive stuff this year, so I think he let the board go for some time now. Im hoping things get better for him which I think they will in time. He's a unique guy and has done alot for many. I look forward to him being healthy & happy again and then I think his board will be good again, hopefully great.

    I do have to say I truly enjoy TGS, I think its run & monitered very well, Not much BS and bickeing. I take my hat off to Beth & Rod. Its like a clubhouse, a hobby and a great learning tool all in one. I dont know what I would do without these boards were else would i go to find answers to my questions. I wasnt born mechanical, or a computer wiz or a biz wiz but I can grow in this biz because of these BB's. TGS is the Best of all.

    Thanks Beth & Rod

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Wash it, spray it with chlorine, rinse, apply oxalic. Better to get all the dirt and everything off/out of the concrete before applying the chlorine or oxalic.

    Barry just as Mike says, but rinse the bleach off pretty well occasionly if you mix Ox & Bleach on concrete it can leave a little outline of a stain. I ant really explain what it looks like but just rinse the bleach off good

    Ox & 12% isnt as bad as Muratic & 12% NEVER mix the 2

  25. Posted · Report reply

    I would like to see Lowes and Home Depot stop selling those cheap powerwashers to Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner and stop telling them "You can do it, we can help".

    Really though, you ask a good question Mike. I would just like to see the general public view powerwashing as more of a trade that involves training, knowledge and skill. I just want the customer to be more educated, and I'm going to do my best in my area to do educate them. It would be nice if the PWNA or another organization would print up some really nice brochures geared towards educating the public about powerwashing and then make them available for contractors to buy. I think a brochure like this from a reputable organization would mean more than if a single biz owner like me would have some made up.

    Barry I think thats a great idea

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