CLASSICPW

Not all the time. I post a very professional post with my specials and 3 pictures of my work. For a free ad I get quite a bit of work, and I'm one of the priciest guys in the area.

I ask this question every winter so hopefully i find a response that I like. For us northern washers what does everyone do to make ends meet in the winter? I've done painting, home improvement, random odd jobs, but it seems like every year I'm performin bullcrap tasks to make ends meet until mid March hits. There has to be something out there that can provide the kind of money we make in the "on" season. What's everyone doing?

sign me up 2 James, haha

Last year I spent over $10K in advertising. It was basically money in the toilet. I don't know about you guys, but people where I live do not take pressure washing seriously. It's a joke business apparently. I have customers(commercial and residential) that owe me money from early Aug. They feel that they can pay whenever they feel like it. I have a parking garage that owes me $6400 from 2 months ago. I don't feel, I KNOW, that if I spent $50,000 next year on advertising and went out every day and sold work I would't even come close to breaking $100,000 in SALES!! and I am a good salesman, I have a background in sales! people don't buy. IE...I sent post cards with a before and after siding photo to a 200 house neighborhood where every single house on the block had dirty green siding on 1 side of the house.......not 1 single phone call. Tony, I'm not calling you a liar, but I find that very hard to believe.

I've got 2 from Lowes, landscapers choice, but I put acids in a handheld. The backpacks are for percarb, and the other for readyseal.

Diesel all the way. I'm a huge Ford fan, I drive an F250 with a 7.3 powerstroke, the truck's a tank, but I've heard that cummings are the best in the new trucks, and chevy is dropping in Allision tranny's, so it's a hard decision

I bought a second unit. it's a M-T-M corp hot washer, I got it for $400 from a family friend. Anyway, when you fire up the burner the thing blows black smoke and flames shoot out the top. I emptied the old burner fuel and it was yellow with chunks, the filter and separator were full of thick yellow gunk. I cleaned those and put in fresh deisel and the thing still blows fire and smoke, and now when the burner is on the psi drops drastically. I don't really see it as a great washer(maybe a good backup), but it does have a Cat pump and retails for a little over $4000. Any ideas?

I have to bump this up because I"m still baffled and might need it soon

That's a great idea for color matching caulk

definetely caulk before, the new sealer wont allow for good adhesion.

Could you recaulk a light film to cover? I rehabbed a house last winter and got very good at caulking so it would take me about an hour. Could be a job add-on if if sold them on the idea that re-caulking it would make it look better and keep everything tight. BTW how did you get away with stripping over a water source without polluting?

I just finished a deck today that looked just like that. It was the worst deck that I have ever worked on in the past 5 yrs in business. 19 yr old cedar that the customer just kept applying sikkens without ever washing it. It looked putrid. Full strength stripper did absolutely nothing, it was like putting water on it. So I wshed the dirt off sanded it and applied sikkens Rubbol solid. The customer is ecstatic.

In my area everyone stopped selling oxalic acid, powder form. Are there any good sites to buy it from?

Do you ever feel like you know so much more than your competitors? I owe The Grime Scene alot to my success. It seems like all my competitors are incompetent because they have no clue what the internet is. It's absolutely amazing what I've learned off this site alone and I thank god that most of my competitors are illiterate hillbillies.(not all) The only problem is that these are the guys who ravage decks and give pressure washers a bad name. Anyway I feel blessed that I have the internet as a resource and it has propelled me to be the premier pressure washing company in Baltimore county MD, all thanks to Beth and Rod......thanks guys!

Productivity. With a helper I can do alot more in a day, especially on deck stains and seals where a helper is almost mandatory. I can't believe I used to take all day doing by myself. 2 decks in a day and bring in $700 by paying my helper $80 compared to 1 deck by myself for $350. The added bonus is someone to talk to, it get's boring working for yourself and by yourself.

Jarrod, I use a helper for a house wash because we will do 1 deck/1 housewash or 2 housewashes or 3 housewashes in one day. I like having someone do the setup/cleaup so I can get on the phone with customers or write up the bill etc... another 5 gal bucket tip... I drilled a hole 2in from the top of the bucket a little smaller than the tube so you have to force it through, it stays put and is watertight, then snap on a lid. I used the 15gal setup a few days ago and loved it. The only thing I have to do is get straps, bungees didn't work, and make the tube entrance watertight.

I was gonna say, my helper will be the one lugging around the handcart. I get some very big houses in my area so 15 gal wouldn't be far fetched. Now that i think about it, ive never even touched the proportioners, I think i even threw them away, but now that I think about it, that would be smarter making the chems strong and drawing less. It's funny how you do things for years and one day you just get smacked in the face with a better method. Just goes to show, no matter how much you think you know, there's always something to learn!

Business is business very simple. We are not out to be best friends with our competitors, but we can be friendly. You were not wrong, of course. Most likely the competitor had complaints on him, maybe not major, but I guarantee that one of those people had an issue with him, maybe a few. The only thing about it that makes me edgey: I've done tons of good work, but there's always that customer that you cannot please, we've all had them. What if that person raised a stink to the point that this guy lost a major contract. It is DEFINETELY NOT YOUR FAULT, but this has happened to me. One old lady was picky so I never got a call from that community association ever again. basically 30 happy people-1 unhappy(loving the attention from a complaint)person= loss of contract. Nothing you can do but reap the benefits, but maybe he is a hack. never know!

good idea, I've been experimenting myself. This year I'm using a 15gal container strapped to a dolly with inflatable tires, so 1 fillup will cover the whole house. I'm hoping that i can just wheel it around with me. I wanted to set up a hose reel with the x-jet line and have my 35 gal container full on my trailer, but it would be a pain to draw 100' of chem and then flush it.

go with a 4" or 6" stain brush and be done with it. It would take more time and trouble to clean this thing.

The only way that I found a broom to be effective is attached to an extension wand for roof jobs, after applying chems, you can run it up and down a steep roof from your ladder at the edge of the house. Otherwise....paper weight.

An 8-10 gpm machine is a must. The only prob is they cost around $12k new.

Beth n Rod's is in the back so just open the doors, but my buddy who owns Classic Chimney has a huge air compressor for dryer vents and they used steel pipe welded to the exhaust pipe and routed it through the floor, no fumes. Seals malfunctioning on the hoses is another prob, but again Beth and Rod solved that by lining the interior with a waterproof bedliner. Very smart.

I love the sprinter vans, my buddy has one with dually wheels, i'm not sure if they would fit in a garage, but it's a fact that a 12x8.5 trailer would never fit in a garage in Baltimore, the turnstyles are only 8ft wide, my truck and 5ft wide trailer have to hop the curb to fit. Last summer I subbed out Lou Beach to help me and his 6ft wide trailer got stuck on the way out. We had to put in on a dolly and maneuver it out, it took an hour, after slaving for 10 hrs in a hot garage with 3 hot water machines churning in your ear, that sucked.

Another problem of mine, with parking garages, is the twisty/turny tight spaces they create. I barely maneuver my 10 ft trailer in them, I couldn't imagine a 12ftx6ft, it just wouldn't happen. As far as residential, I also get in tight spaces in TH communities and cul de sacs. A flat bed or a box truck is the way to go. If the truck breaks down, big deal, I know alot of mechanics, there's not much that cannot be fixed in 3-4 days, which is a long weekend.