Gavin

This is my first year refinishing decks and my prices keep going up every job. I've lost a few bids here and there but for the most part, people agree to my price right away (which is why it keeps going up). Most of the homes I do here in Colo range from $300,000 - 2 million+. Deck refinishing is suddenly popular here (according to some of my suppliers). I've already raised my price .50 per sq in 6 months. I do think that I'm at my threshold now at .95 for a strip & brighten & 1.95 for a regular strip, brighten & seal. Two-tones I'm more like 3.00 per. There is also not a lot of compition here as well as there are a lot of upscale areas in the Denver subs. I couldn't survive at .50 per.

Most of the decks here in Colorado are Redwood. The only way to get that true Red color back is to sand, sand, sand. Here's a pic of a Redwood deck after it has been brightened and then dried (no sanding). As you can tell, it's not very red. Big lesson I learned was if you plan on sanding at all (especially the floor), make sure you blend away from the area being sanded or that Red that you are looking for will be the brightest spot on the deck. I'll also attatch a pic of the same deck after it was stained with a "redwood" color (still wet). It lightened up quite a bit after it dried completely. Gavin

Yes, yes, yes..... I do want to try out both RS and WT. Since this is my first year of business I'm still learning customer trends for this part of the country. I have a feeling next year is going to be rediculasly busy and I will have a better feel for it and I'll know what to order. As far as price, I was getting the TWP for $80 per 5 gal. Hard to pass up that price. I pay $120 for the Superdeck. It's not that I don't want to order from Beth & Rod (love the HD-80), I was just trying to get a local distributor that I could rely on. This year I've done 7 decks, so as you can see they are few and far between (but gaining momentum). I can easily see me doing 30 or more decks next year and then I WILL need a constant supply source I can count on.

Yeah, I would have mixed if I thought I was going to run short. I was trying to finish off a 5 gal pail and thought I had more than enough to do the job. I understand slight variances will happen but this was two completely different colors and textures. Not even close. I'm still learning though. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks to you Reed. Much appreciated! Gav

It's Redwood. I would say that here in Colorado at least 90% of the decks are Redwood (the other 10% are PT or Trex). I used the Cuprinol (now it's called Woodscapes - waterbased acrylic) Navahoe White for the verts and Kwal's Superdeck Red Cedar for the top rail, posts & floor. That stuff is really high priced but customers love it and it applies really easy (2 rolls of tape later, LOL). We probably could have gotten away with one coat but I wanted the contrast to really show up between the two colors. It did take a bit longer but the quality is what I was after. The customer was so happy he tipped me and extra $50. My first tip. Cool. Just want to thank Reed and everyone on this board. Without you guys I probably would have made a huge mess and taken twice as long to get it done. Thanks again! Gavin

Thought I'd share. The homeowner was really pleased. We 2 coated everything and that's probably why it took so long but the results were good.

Has anyone used this product yet? Comments? Thanks

Well, I ended up using the Navahoe White (color of the siding) by Deckscapes. Boy does that cover well. Very easy to work with. This was my first two tone and it took quite a bit longer than I thought it was going to. With a helper it took about 11 hours to do a 336 sq ft deck with railing all the way around. The prep time is what killed me. I ended up underestimating this one by a couple hundred bucks. My normal price is about 1.50 sq ft for a strip, brighten & seal (which will be going up to 1.65 now). For this two tone I charged 2.15 per sq ft. I figure I should have charged about 3.00 a square instead. The Red Cedar by Superdeck (Kwal's) turned out really nice against the Navahoe White. Both customers (neighbors) went with the Red Cedar and RAVED non-stop about the color. I too was very impressed with it! I have to say, the two-tone is a pain in the rear but the results are awesome! The nice thing is, this guy is the only one in his high-end neighborhood that has a two-tone, so hopefully we will sell some more from his. I'll post some pics tomorrow after I go back to put a 2nd on the floor and take up the tape. Thanks for everyone's advice! Very appreciated!

Thanks Reed, The Red Cedar turned out really nice. The color is pretty amazing. Depending on how the light hits it, it looks red at one angle and gold at another. Really easy application, easy clean up. I'll post some pics soon. The customer really loved it. As far as the two-tone; I ended up talking the customer into the natural Cedar against a Navahoe White (which matches the house, not the trim) by Cuprinol. I'll be finishing up on Monday so I'll post some pics of this one too. Funny, when I first started up last year I knew there where at least 150 different directions I could go in with this business. At that time I decided that I would see what kinds of calls came in and I would let the market dictate my "specialty", if you will, with minimal direction. Kind of let the business steer me the first year. I have been working with wood and building decks and homes for a long time now so I've always had a love for that kind of work. As the calls have started coming in I've taken what's come in and done a little of everything this year. I've gotten quite a few calls for deck restoration. As I've been learning I found that I really like the work. Suddenly, I know at least one area I want to focus my business in. Funny because a year ago I thought I'd be doing auto detailing with this business. And a lot of house washing. Haven't gotten one call for a "house wash" and auto detailing takes WAY too much elbow grease! Weird. Anyway, just thinking outloud.

Thanks Robert. I have another question. I'm going to be using the Red Cedar on two decks (neighbors, one sold the other, I love that). Anyway, on one of the decks I'm going to be doing is a two-tone. Unlike the common two-tone this will not be white against the semi-trans Red Cedar. They want to make the verts match the trim on the house which is more of a Coastal Grey (darkgreen-grey) that Superdeck offers. Here's my dilemma; The customer saw my color chart and noticed the Coastal Grey and wanted it (not knowing the differance between a semi and a solid). For 3 reasons, I don't want to use 2 transparents. 1) Contrast, I don't think it will look good up against another stain. 2)The possibility of bleed 3) Tape will not stick and it will be a technical hell. What solid can someone recommend (I've heard Cabbots is good) to where it is a very good product and I can get the color I want? As far as I know Superdeck (Kwals) does not offer a solid. Thanks! Gav

Hey guys, Got a call to clean & seal awnings (vinyl) for a Ruby Tuesday's out here. Haven't done any awning cleaning yet but have invested in some tapes (Delco) and have done quite a bit of research on the subject. This is an area I definitely want to go into with my business. Before I turn in my bid I'm wondering about the windows below the awnings and what to do with them. They are obviously going to at least get water spots on them after all is said and done (very hard water here in Colorado). Is it common curtousty to clean those as well... or do you charge extra for that? Or do you say nothing at all cause you only commited to the awnings? I want to be ethical and fair yet I don't want to do more than what is expected, without sacraficing quality. The awning in front actually has a glass enclosed terrerium under it. No doubt it is going to get cleaner, sealer & rinse water all over it. Keep in mind that I go by the philosaphy of, leave it cleaner than you found it. Any suggestions are always helpfull. Thanks.

My bid must have not been up to par. So far, I haven't gotten a call. Thanks for all the advise, it will not be wasted. Gav

Oh, okay. I thought maybe you had a homemade concoction or something. I went and looked at these awnings and they really aren't that bad. Regular soap and water will probably get them clean but I'm still going to use the good stuff. I want to explain how I bidded this job because I don't think people talk enough about estimates/pricing and as a newbie, I think this is the most difficult thing to get down. I realize all areas will vary but I think we can all apply the same priciples and get close. Lord knows I need the help! There are 126 linear feet to be cleaned & sealed. The insides are really clean already so I may just spray them down. I gave him 4 quotes: 1) One-Time Cleaning = 1.50 per ln ft + 25% = $236.25, 2) Annual Cleaning = 1.50 + 20% = $226.80, 3) Bi-Annual = 1.50 + 10% = $207.90 and 4) Monthly = 1.50 -(minus) 10% = $170.10 Now that I really look at it..... hmmm. I want to hear your opinions before I comment. So, did I "get close", "not even in the ball park" or "what the hell where you thinking"?

Jon, what general cleaners do you use? I'll post pics when it's done.

I'm going to use the Universal Vinyl Cleaner from Awning Rejuvanation Systems International. Here's another question: He only wants a one time cleaning, a "spring cleaning" as he called it. That tells me he only wants yearly maintenance or by-yearly at best. I'm wondering if I should seal with a medium term sealer that will last 4 - 6 months or a heavy duty one that will last 8 - 12 months minimum? I guess what I'm trying not to do is cut myself out of some extra work by doing too much of a maintanence-free application. Ryan, I think I will just up my price a bit and do the windows. Yeah, good idea about spraying down the glass. I've gotten to the point to where I'm always spraying down the surrounding area when using any type of chems or sealers so it's pretty much 2nd nature now. That's a great idea about the car wash rinse too. I might give that a shot. I also have some spray wax that I got from Delco awhile back. I might just try x-jetting that on the windows as a rinse when I'm done sealing. Also, if he only wants them cleaned once a year, would you guys consider that a maitenance-schedule price or a one-time cleaning price? I was going to charge him 25% extra for a one time cleaning. Thanks again!

Yeah, you've got to vent that thing out of the top or your machine won't be able to breathe (even with the doors open). I actually have my burner and my Honda both vented out of the top ( Y'd together inside). I had a local pressure washer supply/repair store vent mine for me. I have the 3/4 floor bare in my 6 X 10 (still wish I would have gotten the 7 X 12 for storage space) and have seen no signs of weakness. I did drill 1/4" holes in the corners and a few in the middle for drainage but I don't get to much water inside anyway. Plenty of fuel/oil/chemical spills (no matter how hard I try). I have a Cargo Express and the guy told me that floor could be completely submerged for 2 weeks and it wouldn't warp it. I wouldn't want to test that theory but to date I haven't had any problems. Question of my own. I'm trying to figure out a better way to secure my 16' ladder to the inside of my trailer. The walls are balsa (I think) or something really flimsy and don't hold weight. I don't really want to drill through the shell if I don't have to. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

I have a variable speed Makita and was wondering if it would work for defurring.

Mine is 100*64*5317 ; )

Okay, last week I did a 300 sq ft deck. I put 2 coats on the railing and on the floor (used TWP Redwood). Used about 2 1/2 gallons. Used pads for the entire thing. This week I just did a 240 sq ft deck. 2 coats on the floor and railing (using TWP Honeytone). There was also about 35' x 3' of Lattice. This time I only used pads on the floor and top railing. I sprayed the Lattice and Spindles. The application time was 10 times faster (yes, I did backbrush everything) but I used 4 GALLONS??? 4 Gallons for a 240 deck seems like a lot. Did spraying (I did notice a LOT of spray floating away) really use that much more stain for a smaller deck? I mean if it's a toss up between time and stain, the stain is a lot cheaper than my time. Thanks in advance! P.S. If anyone is interested, I play drums for a band here called Losing November. You can listen to some tracks from our new album at www.losingnovember.com . :bandplay:

Here's a better pic of the Redwood floor. It was still a little wet when this was taken.

Here's the one I did in TWP Redwood 102

Ya know, a lot of people don't know this but Zildjian is the oldest company in the world. Established in 1623 by Avedis Zildjian. They started out making gongs for Chinese Emperors. Still family owned to this day, 381 years strong! Almost every deck (except Trex) in Colorado is made out of Redwood. Other than straight pressure treated, I don't think I've ever seen any other kind. I'm using the TWP 100 series. Redwood 102 and Honeytone 115 were used on these 2 jobs. Let me see if I can upload some pics of both jobs for you. Thanks for the help. Gav

Hey guys, Well, got a call from the Yellow Book ad. Not bad since it's only been out for 1 week. Yeah! I got mail!!! Any way, I'm going to be doing her deck and she also wants all the windows done inside and out. I don't normally do windows but I have a feeling she wants me to do a lot of other work for her cause she's trying to sale the place so I'm going to do them. Any good receipies or products I should be using for a good streakfree clean? Thanks!!! Gav Sorry guys, just realized this was in the wrong area.

I paid just $225 for a Yellow Book ad (actually got listed in 3 different sections of the book) that came out last week. The good news is, out of 14 pw companies I (by far) have the largest ad. I thought that was pretty cheap for 1/4 page ad. I also advertise in my local paper and pay $200 for 13 weeks. As well, I put an ad in a "homeowner" magazine that goes out to 52,000 homes priced over $300,000 each. That ad cost me $480 and will run quarterly (at $480 a pop). Not to mention the $600 I've spent on my trailer lettering (getting ready to ad more lettering so ad another $250). I even had embroidered polo shirts made up for when I'm doing estimates. Hoping all of this pays off!!