Mike Williamson

http://links.thegrimescene.com/

If you have a publix up there, the Publix brand of Premium coffee is identical to the Starbucks brand...likely made by Starbucks and sold under the Publix Brand. I like the French Roast, and it is about $4.00 cheaper per bag.

I believe I've seen several of those pictures posted elsewhere, by others.

I guess that's one way to look at it.....

I just eyeball it, and usually look at the prop. appraiser's website to get the dimensions, because sometimes eyeballing can be deceiving until you get up there. I can usually nail it pretty close.

The problem is that it is just sleazy to take another contractor's literature, created for him by a professional (and top notch) graphic designer, make minor changes to it, add your logo, and then post it online claiming to have designed it yourself!!! Not to mention, stupid, since the guy who designed it frequents this board. There may not (then again, there may) be anything illegal about it...but it is just sleazy.

Well, that's what I've heard, anyway.

TGS: Threads: 7425 Posts: 73,222 Members visited in past 24 hours: 197 Most users ever online at once: 328 Years since started: Approx. 4? ***: Threads: 6985 Posts: 49,451 Members visited in past 24 hours: 59 Most users ever online at once: 204 Years since started: ??? You're right, numbers don't lie. Not trying to say either board is "better"...each has it's place, and both have and do provide an important and valuable service to the industry. This "us vs. them" mentality is just kinda stupid, IMO.

TGS 4 Life....

That's what it seems to have done here...today has been a really nice mid-80s day. The day before Ernesto hit FL, it was a miserably hot upper 90s day!

Thomas: Do you get up on the roof and walk it off with the wheel, or walk it from the ground and calculate pitch, etc?

Really REALLY soon??

That's an excellent word for it, Allies! As far as guys not talking to you, the problem is with their perspective, not yours. They could work WITH you and everyone benefits, instead they worry about bidding against you...hurts everyone, since they're likely bidding lower trying to beat your price. There's a couple guys like that here, but who cares...like you said, their problem, not mine. I'm not going to change them, so all I can do is avoid them. These are guys who've been in the business for years, and as Ken says, they own a job. They're just happy that they're making more than they were at their $8.00/hour job, and if they can clear $200.00-300.00 for a full day they think they're doing great. Let 'em have it. Residential is nice, but I'm finding more and more that the smaller commercial jobs pay much better...In the past two weeks I've done three commercial building cleanings, worked a total of 10 hours between all three, and billed $2000.00. The days of $50.00/hour are over for me. Somewhere around the end of least year I got sick of working all day on a job and thinking "Man, I'm only making $XXX on this thing". Now, I think the whole time "Man, I'm making $$$$ on this job! Wow!!!"

Where'd you find a deal like that??

Very very true.

Everything is Bush's fault. Everything.

Exactly. Where all this will take me in the next 18 years I can't say for sure, but I'd sure like to at least give him the option of taking it over.

Another "ultimate" goal is to build a very profitable, enduring business that will provide a nice profit to the owner for the duration of his life, and something he can pass on to his children.

If everyone thought about their customers this way, our industry would be light years ahead of where it is now. Too many look at the customer as simply a payday, and once the job is finished, who cares about them.

Awesome!!!!!!!! This is the place!!!

Maybe things are different in other areas, but I rarely find myself bidding against anyone, even on many of the commercial gigs I get. I just don't worry about it. When I get the opportunity to talk to another washer in town, I'm very open about what I use, methods, pricing etc. As Bruno says, I'd much rather help a guy out and show him the right way to do things, and show him what he COULD be making, than have another guy out there charging low rates and doing crappy work. Many of these guys are doing the best they can, but their methods and chemicals (if they use any) are just not up to the task. Better to have another local friend in the business than someone who is out there giving all of us a bad name. There's a friend of mine on these boards, Hugh Gibson, who has been working on getting into the business for quite a while, preparing for retirement from the Sheriff's Dept. He will be working in much the same areas as me, so essentially we'll be competing. I could refuse to help him, and let him figure it all out on his own, but I'd much rather work with him and have both of us out there raising the bar. We just finished building his trailer yesterday afternoon, and he helped me clean the University of Floriday Golf Course Clubhouse last night. Now we both have a friend in the business to call on for help with jobs, with bidding, etc etc. I know that with the information he's gotten here and on other boards, and with any help I can provide locally, he'll be out there doing fantastic work and getting paid well for it. And it sure made us look more professional and serious about the job when we pulled up with two awesome, professional looking rigs and knocked the work out! There's a LOT of dirty stuff out there for all of us, and I'm just not worried about losing out to someone else just because I told them how to do it right.

Just the opposite. If you run your bypass to a tank, and feed the machine from the tank, the pump will run cooler. Even a relatively small tank will be better than none.

That'd be the easiest $1000.00/hour I ever made! You'll be fine Xjetting that with some soap for cling...may have to hit it a few times, but for $2000.00, who cares?

I think it'd be more headache than it's worth figuring the cost, and tracking two payments. Most residential jobs for me don't use more than $20.00 in materials, so it's not worth it.

Join the club! I do try to work people in if they have a time deadline, but I've had to turn work down...one very nice $900 job last year. She deserved it tho. I gave her the bid, she scheduled it, then called and cancelled saying her husband was going to try to do it himself. Called 3 weeks later on a Wednesday wanting to know if I could get it done by Saturday. I just told her no thanks, and good luck.