RyanH

While in court, plead ignorance to local ordinances, then offer your services cleaning government property at a discount! I usually give the customer a few business cards to pass around to neighbors they know. I've thought about putting a flyer on the neighboring houses saying something to the effect of "Hey buddy, your neighbor has a nice clean house and your messy place just takes away from it.....here's an offer you can't refuse!" but have never actually done it. The business cards work, though. Word of mouth is free and is better than any flyer (from my experience).

I use Purple Power...it is a butyl based cleaner, but you have to be careful and not let it dwell for too long...it'll take the paint off the gutters.

From contractors in other industries with whom I have spoken, it seems that being bonded is more a mental hangup than a practical necessity. A bond (from what they say) is essentially a limited insurance policy on a specific task. For example...you build an addition onto a house. You will have a bond issued by a bank or, in some cases, an insurance company, to cover the durability of that structure. The bond is essentially a guarantee on any particular piece of work. Another example would be to insure that the termites you were supposed to kill and guaranteed to be dead didn't die and came back and ate the house. Bonds cover specific damage. Insurance is a general protection in case you blow a hole in the siding while cleaning a house or rip the surface off a deck. I don't see the point in requiring any type of service like this industry (or janitorial stuff) to be bonded in order to be hired. Maybe I'm wrong on this explanation, but this is what I gathered from talking to the contractors.

7:1 water:chemical

And here's the ultimate nut squeezer.....you are taxed to death, then you are TAXED ON DEATH!!!! Why does the government feel that simply because money changes hands that they should be able to scrape some before you get it?

Dale, Haven't tried anything else on the setup. It's rare that actually have to use it as most of my jobs can be reached with my extension wand. The roof cleaning hasn't been quite as high in demand as I had thought it would be, so no calls for that (when I was actually advertising). I usually tie a quick slip knot in the line a few feet behind me so that if I do slip I will be stopped. The knot is too big to pass through the device, so it does an effective job at stopping me. I also have an upper-body harness with heavy duty D-rings should I ever get someone to help out with a job (would make the job MUCH faster), but haven't needed it yet.

I'll work on getting some pics....probably won't be any "in action" pics as I don't get many calls to do them, but I can set up the gear and do it from the roof of my house (or parent's since it's rather steep). As for the knot, I use a bowline to tie off either ends. Makes it easy to untie when the gig is up. I use a Grigri Petzl device to keep it hands-free.

Have you had the minerals to go over the edge of a sheer face yet? Like the one on that building not accessible by standing on the roof. I have to say that I've fantasized about just rapelling off the side of a house, the main thing stopping me is the potential damage to be caused to the gutters. These things are definintely worth it, though!!! maybe I'll get someone to take a few pics of me using mine if anyone wants more pics.

Pam, Is that for 6, 10, or 12% (or another value)? I found 6% available at Sams Club for $1.38 per gallon, but that was a "need it now" purchase. It was slightly more than that elsewhere. I do like the idea of having it in a larger container for convenience. Yes, I am aware of the Conyers fire. I was keeping very close watch on it since BioLab is one of the companies I am looking into as a potential employer (chemical engineer or industrial hygienist). Thanks for the info!!! Ryan H.

I use a 3/4" hose with a reducing fitting to go from the 2" to the 3/4" opening. I have to have about a 1.5' head between the pump and water tank outlet before I get consistent flow. Otherwise, I get a lot of "knocking" from inconsistent flow. Mine is direct drive, if that helps. Fortunately, I rarely have to use my own tank. Tank has about a 2.5 - 3' head when full; as tank volume decreases effectiveness of pump pulling water decreases.

That puts me on the right path. Thanks, Bill.

There once was a gal named Lewinsky Who played on a flute like Stravinsky 'Twas "Hail to the Chief" On this flute made of beef That stole the front page from Kaczynski. ------------------------------------------------------------- Said Bill Clinton to young Ms. Lewinsky We don't want to leave clues like Kaczynski, Since you look such a mess, Use the hem of your dress And wipe that stuff off of your chinsky. ------------------------------------------------------------- Lewinsky and Clinton have shown What Kaczynski must surely have known: That an intern is better Than a bomb in a letter Given the choice of how to be blown

Anagram Hall of Fame Attributions for anagrams (if known) are shown at the end of each anagram. Internet Anagram Server = Isn't re-arrangement rave? Dormitory = Dirty Room Schoolmaster = The classroom Elvis = Lives Listen = Silent Clint Eastwood = Old West Action A Telephone Girl = Repeating "Hello" Western Union = No Wire Unsent The Country Side = No City Dust Here Evangelist = Evil's Agent Astronomers = Moon starers / No more stars The Cockroach = Cook, Catch Her Desperation = A Rope Ends It The Morse Code = Here Come Dots Slot Machines = Cash Lost in'em Conversation = Voices Rant On Disraeli = I lead, Sir. Clothespins = So Let's Pinch The Great New York Rapid Transit Tunnel = Giant Work in Street, Partly Underneath Florence Nightingale = Nigel, Fetch an Iron Leg / Flit on Cheering Angel (Richard Stilgoe in "The Richard Stilgoe Letters") MacDonalds = Clam and Sod Darling I love you = leaving your idol / Avoiding our yell Butterfly = Flutter-by Heavy Rain? = Hire a Navy! Tom Cruise = So I'm Cuter Animosity = Is No Amity Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler Funeral = Real Fun A Domesticated Animal = Docile, as a Man Tamed it The Railroad Train = Hi! I Rattle and Roar The Hilton = Hint: Hotel A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss = Stroller on Go, Amasses Nothing Sunshine and Shadow = Show in Sun and Shade The Check is in the Mail = Claim "Heck, I sent it (heh)" The United States Bureau of Fisheries = I Raise the Bass to Feed Us in the Future Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z's Vacation Times = I'm Not as Active Software = Swear Oft Silicon Graphics = A Long Chip Crisis / Can logic ship, sir? / Gosh, sir, I can clip! Alec Guinness = Genuine Class (**** Cavett) The Detectives = Detect Thieves The Hospital Ambulance = A Cab, I Hustle to Help Man Semolina = Is No Meal The United States of America = Attaineth its cause, freedom Christmas tree = Search, Set, Trim A Gentleman = Elegant Man Presbyterian = Best In Prayer The Public Art Galleries = Large Picture Halls, I Bet A Decimal Point = I'm a Dot in Place The Earthquakes = That Queer Shake Salman Rushdie = Read, Shun Islam Martin Scorsese = Screen is a storm (the director of movies "Taxi Driver," "Mean Streets," "GoodFellas," "Cape Fear," and "Age of Innocence.") Barbie doll = I'll bare bod / Babe I'd roll / Liberal bod Student Information Processing Board = Computation Transgression Forbidden (MIT) Statue of Liberty = Built to Stay Free Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one Patrick Stewart = A Crap Trek Twist Mel Gibson = Bong Smile Admirer = Married Indomitableness = Endless ambition New York Times = Monkeys Write / Monkey Writes (Andrew Glines) David Letterman = Nerd Amid Late TV Howard Stern = Retard Shown Contradiction = Accord not in it (E. Tyron) Debit card = Bad Credit

The situation: You are in the Midwest, and there is a huge flood in progress. Many homes have been lost, water supplies compromised, and infrastructure destroyed. Let's say you're a photographer out getting still photos for a news service, traveling alone, looking for particularly poignant scenes. If you were to stumble across Bill Clinton struggling keep from being swept away in a raging river and you had a choice of rescuing him or getting a Pulitzer prize-winning photograph of the death of a President: What shutter speed would you use?

How does the Shurflo handle strong/caustic chemicals over time? Is it okay to pump something like acid or bleach (full strength) through the pump for extended periods of time (3+ hours) if fresh water is run through afterwards? Replacement parts or easy serviceability? I would like to put together a shur-flo setup....thinking of the long-term problems.

I think the acid is used to neutralize the EFC-38 (base) used for cleaning. If you mix the two together (or use acid too soon) you will neutralize the solution before it has had a chance to do its job. Unless I am mistaken about the purpose of each.

One important thing to consider with this idea is that it can also serve as a usefull feedback tool. If you find that the heuristics say you *should* be seeing particular results based upon average reports, and the results you acheive are off by more than 10% or so, then you may assume that there are better methods than what you are doing and that may be incentive to explore better alternatives. An hour is going to pass one way or another....might as well make the most of it.

Where's the grass?

:hmmm: That seems REALLY high. $6.25/gal for 10 - 12% sodium hypochlorite? If you cut that with water and make it 6%, like that in stores, that comes out to about $3.13 per gallon of regular ol' bleach....3 times what an expensive grocery store will charge. They must have bumped their head :) . Of course, they did have that big fire at the chlorine company last week....maybe that has affected local prices. Thanks for the info! RYan H.

Rich, Your obversations (area per time based upon severity and conditions) are right-on with what I'm trying to determine. These would be listed as factors in the final relations. That type of information is EXACTLY what I'm talking about!! Thanks!! Travis, Good point. I should have been a little more explicit in my ultimate goal. I'm not looking so much to tell people how much they should charge *directly*. Rather, I'm looking for a way to predict how much work/time/chemicals/difficulty will be involved in the job itself, then a correctional factor based upon your charging methods can be used as a separate relation. Keep in mind that most of the relations are ranges, not absolutes. I'm in no way whatsoever trying to tell people what they should charge, and shame them for charging less/more. It would be more like "A wall made of blank material with blank undesireables (mold/dirt/mildew) on a house with blank foliage and blank feet in height will require blank amount of blank chemicals and these will cost blank amount. Also, foliage may need to be covered, and this protection costs blank amount and takes blank number of minutes to cover blank area." This type of information can be used by someone who has not had the time-tested experience in every aspect of the business and may allow them to predict how long it will take or how much their chemicals will cost based upon how much they will need to use. I understand that a professional will know these things, and a mental heuristic is what we all follow when giving an on-the-spot estimate of a job....most of us just don't think we are. And there is nothing with charging a premium for your services; when you offer the best services around, it's expected that you will be the most expensive. I do the same thing with my janitoral business. Thanks for the feedback! Ryan H.

Okay, a few views, no "Yes" or "No" replies (except mine). Okay, so here is a better understanding of what a heuristic is. It is basically a shortcut method of finding something. In the case of what I want to accomplish, a quick way of determining how much to charge for a job. Here's a scenario: Someone wants a house done and you arbitrarily decide on a price of $200 without ever seeing it. You clean the house, which is 2000 square feet and are happy with the price you receive. The most basic heuristic would be to charge $200 for every job. The next day, you get a call from someone across town wanting to know how much to charge. You say $200 and they say "ok." You get to the house and find out that the $200 is a little cheap for a 5000 square foot house. Okay, so you change your cost method and now say that you should charge based upon the size of the house, and from your happiness on your first job you decide that $0.10 per square foot is a good price. On day three you get a call to clean a house. You say "how big is it?" You get a number, give a price, and you are on your way. When you get there, you find that it is a three story brick house. So, you now realize the need to factor in what the house is made of, the risk factor involved, etc. in order to get a more accurate view of what you should charge. The results can either be used by a newbie to get a feel of what is reasonable to charge, or it can give them an idea of what to take into account when reviewing a job. It can also be used to help someone make an estimation when presented with a situation in which they have limited experience (like cleaning granite as opposed to vinyl), even though they may be a professional in other areas. Heuristics aren't rules by which to be bound, they merely offer a ballpark figure of what you need. If anyone has any specific questions or needs further clarification, I'll be glad to offer more help. I did a good deal of studying on this awhile back and would like to try and apply it to a different field. Thanks again, Ryan H.

Hey Crites, If you find a decent source I'd appreciate a heads-up on it. I'm looking for something as well. For some reason none of the pool supply chains, Walmart, Kmart,etc. stores contain concentrated chlorine products. Ryan H.

snot. :rotfl: Oooohh, that's good.

Private message from eric: 1 gal 10% bleach to 99 gallons water will give a 0.1% solution, which will most likely be too weak to be effective. I used to make an 8% solution and then X-Jet it on with a 3:1 water:chemical ratio. This gave me an effective concentration of 2% bleach (I think I'm right on those numbers). I say "used to" because I am finding that using the granulated calcium hypochlorite is more of a hassle than convenience in the long run. I'm in the process of looking for a supplier for liquid sodium hypochlorite, but am having trouble locating one.TSP reacts with water to make sodium hydroxide, which is the source of the "caustic" in TSP. The chlorine kills the mildew, the sodium hydroxide helps to act as a soap and makes rinsing more effective. As for pricing, well, there is more involved in that than the area of the place to be cleaned. Simply doubling the cost of cleaning for doing a two-story house as opposed to a one-story may sound like a good idea, but you will most likely find it hard to justify this type of pricing depending upon what type of cleaning you do. In all jobs there are some "constants" that are involved, regardless of the size of the job itself. The constants may include the time it takes to drive to and from the site and the time involved in setting up and breaking down your equipment. Also, adding a second story generally does nothing for the amount of gutters that will be cleaned, unless you take into account the difficulty of getting it up to the second story (some chemical is lost on the way up, but most likely a negligible amount). You do add some difficulty if you are cleaning windows (lugging a ladder around), so it might not be fair to *you* to simply double the cost for windows since a second floor will involve *more* time and danger than the first floor. You will be doubling the amount of chemical you use for the vertical surfaces themselves, so doubling that amount sounds reasonable. I think the consensus from most people is that it is best to price a job based upon how you work. Most people seem to like charging based upon how long they believe it will take them to do the job. This may not be great in circumstances where you get nosey customers who want a breakdown of how you are charging or in cases where the houses are similar and you have a lot of competition (you want to be consistent in the prices you give to customers in case they discuss it among themselves). And to comment on whether or not a larger house is more economical than a smaller house....that's usually the case. The longer you spend with the variable things like area of walls, lengths of gutters, numbers of windows, the more insignificant the constant costs and troubles become. You can make more money in a single job with a single setup and travel expense than doing multiple jobs that require multiple breakdowns and setups (which can add up to hours over several jobs). BUT, if you can schedule two or three houses next to each other (or in the same neighborhood) you can most likely do better because you go from one house to the next without doing a full breakdown and there is usually an acceptable floor price that most people will accept (like a $150 minimum) whereas someone with a large home may balk at a $400 charge (keeping mind this is just the home itself, not flatwork or decks). It's for this reason that i try to give "friendly neighbor" discounts to people with neighbors who schedule a cleaning for the same day. Hope this gives a little more insight and is accurate. Ryan H.

Quote the cost of applying the stain at a rate that is equivalent to your rate when you do a full job (clean, strip, stain). Then tell her the cleaning and stripping is FREE, but it is a necessity. I've only done one job where I went with what the customer wanted and not what *needed* to be done. Never again. Granted, the customer was satisfied, but I felt so low when I saw the final results as I left that job. Super clean siding...nasty streaky gutters and filthy windows. Ooooohhh...it makes me shudder to think about it. I'm with everyone else: Be the professional, not the patsy. Ryan H.