Mike Williamson

Congrats! I would say "good luck" but it isn't about luck. It will be what you make it. Don't let the slow times get you down, just keep working it and you'll do fine!

Here's one from another board, posted by a former PW contractor who went to work as a manager at a dealership... Hello all, long time no see. I took a phone call early at work this morning and instantly though of you all. I thought you would enjoy this. Steve if this needs to be in a different forum feel free to move it Those of you who know me know I am a Finance MGR at a Ford Dealership. I always get to work pretty early in the mornings and have to catch the phone some times. Here is the dialog from a phone call I got early this morning. Me: Its a great day a Two Rivers Ford, How may I help you? Him: Body Shop please Me: I am sorry sir we do not have a body shop. Him: Well maybe you can help me. Me: I will try Him: I just bought a new GT Convertible Mustang from you all 2 weeks ago and this weekend I was washing it with my "new pressure washer" and I burned a hole in the rear bumper cover. Me: (Biting toung trying not to bust out laughing) Wow no kidding Sir, how in the world did you do that? Him: Well I had no idea this thing had so much power, I guess i should have known anything with an engine on it should be strong Me: What tip were you using sir. Him: I was using the one that shoots the straight stream, I was getting bird **** off. Me: Hmmm well Sir I am not sure what to tell you except that if I were you I would throw the one that shoots the straight stream in the trash can before you do more damage. Him: I wish I would have got that advice earlier, you should see what I did to my deck. Hey do you know how much a bumper cover will cost? Me: Well Sir I don't work in parts but I would guess for the cover painted to match and installed you are talking about $300-$500. Him: Wholly $%&* my wife is going to kill me. Well thanks for your time Me: No problem sir, BTW if you need help getting your deck back in order call me, I have a friend that that does that for a living Him: Oh thats OK I am going to pick a book up and figure it out Click Moral of this phone call......... Some people never learn

From what I understand, most, if not all, areas in FL have been covered, with the possible exception of Tallahassee...they wouldn't go for my price to drive up there and clean it. I was contracted to do Gainesville and Lake City, at a bit more than they were initially offering. Not sure now what's going to happen. Didn't one of the guys here get something like 25 of them?

PWNA Classroom Writer For Cleaner Times The PWNA Board of Directors would like to welcome Beth Borrego as our new writer for the PWNA article that we submit to the Cleaner Times. Beth has written industry related articles before and brings a working knowledge and insight of the industry that should be an asset to future contributions. When Beth calls for an interview please return the calls promptly as we need to meet our deadlines. This feature in the Cleaner Times is about, and for the PWNA and we would like our members to contribute to the content. If you have an expertise in an area or would like to contribute to future articles please do not hesitate to call headquarters or Beth directly. __________________ Everett Abrams

Just got a call from Commercial Services saying that they are putting all the Cracker Barrel cleaning on hold until further notice. She was a bit vague as to why, or when they would move forward. Anyone have any information on this? I know there was a notice sent out by PWNA about Cracker Barrel looking for qualified contractors in several areas around the country.

Great pic! It would be REALLY effective as a video. THAT would be cool!

What in God's name possesses these idiots to put the zero tip in??? Are they really that stupid? And then not to see the damage????? LOL

Is that homeowner damage, or the results of hiring a hack?

He didn't even change the pictures. Wonder where he went? Hasn't posted in 3 months.

Yes, you have to search for each development individually. http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/corinam.html Once you get a registered agent's name, you can do a search for other properties they're listed for http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/corira.html In my county, they have a listing sheet for apartments, subdivisions, condos, and shopping centers. The apartments listing gives the name, address, number of units, and parcel numbers. For the rest, it gives name and parcel numbers, and other information. I can also search by parcel range, subdivision name, etc, and pull a full downloadable listing of parcel information. Very nice! http://www.acpafl.org/search.html I can also do a sales search, if I want to send a letter to new property owners. That has gotten me a few nice jobs. http://www.acpafl.org/salesearch.asp http://www.acpafl.org/apartmentxref.asp http://www.acpafl.org/areaxref.asp http://www.acpafl.org/condominiumxref.asp http://www.acpafl.org/shopcenterxref.asp

Amazing what you can find online with a little research! Imagine what guys went through 20 years ago for their marketing. No wonder some veterans are secretive about their methods and information...they worked a lot harder for it than most of us!!

Try this... http://www.scsos.com/corp_search.htm I did a search for "Shores Condo" and changed the dropdown to "contains" rather than "begins with". I got two listings, one of them was "Crescent Shores Condominium Association". Here's their info... http://webprod.cio.sc.gov/SCSOSWeb/registeredAgentDetail.do?CORPID=128030++++++

I don't know how it works in SC, but here in FL, it isn't uncommon for the management company to list itself as the registered agent on the State Corporation annual report forms. In FL, that's easy to look up. For any condo or HOA, I can pretty much find out who the managment company is in a matter of minutes. Here's a sample of one condo complex here in Gainesville... http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?a1=DETFIL&n1=N07346&n2=NAMFWD&n3=0000&n4=N&r1=&r2=&r3=&r4=WOODCREEK&r5= It also gives me all the officers, and their addresses. I would guess that the same info is avail in SC somewhere.

Well, that's certainly not too low for here in FL. Not sure about CA. I wish I could get $430.00 for a 3000sf house! Sounds like he measured correctly. Let's say the house is rectangular, 20' x 80'. Each story would be 1600sf..that'd be 3200sf total. It just depends on the layout of the house, but 213lf is certainly possible.

Wow! 42 donors!! :lgjump: Where are the rest of you folks!!!!

Ahh, it has to do with cookies! I looked at Gainesville first, which has 247 listings, which I was able to lookat all of them. Then I looked up conventry, and it only showed 61 listings, but it said, on the last page, "showing 61-80 of 247" . It must store a cookie on your computer for the first t own you look up. Clear your cookies.

I was able to access all 247 listings for Gainesville.

Do you mind sharing your newsletter? I'm working on a similar project, and can use all the help I can get!

Nothing mentioned about it. Then again, I don't know of anywhere in FL that is actively enforcing recovery.

Here's a neat link for fax numbers. They don't have CB listed in this area, but they DO have lots of business fax numbers. http://fax.addresses.com/fax_directory.php

What size machine, and what brand downstreamer? Where do you get it? If you can get 3:1 with a downstreamer, I want one of those. They explained that once...all the years of research and testing to come up with this amazing product that's basically just a wide open downstreamer that works so well because there's no back pressure.

I promise you that, with downstreaming, I can clean the same house faster than you can clean it Xjetting, using the same equipment. By the time you have your first bucket ready to Xjet on the house, I'll have the first side cleaned and be shooting chems on the 2nd side. No boast, just facts. I don't have to mix my chems, I don't have get the Xjet and bucket out, unroll the hose, fill the bucket, carry it to the house, and move it at least once, likely more than that, rinse it out, and put it away. I hook up my water hose, pull my pressure hose, open the valve on the chem tank, fire the machine up, and start shooting chems. I can soap down 200' of siding without letting up on the trigger. It's just faster! Granted, there ARE times the Xjet is necessary, as with pool cages, sometimes.

Yep, that always hurts the calls...people don't get outside, so they don't see their dirty house...and if they're not thinking about it, they're not calling! Good thing, wet weather=mold down the road.

When nothing else seems to work, there's always door to door. Don gave me a suggestion I've never tried, but he said it works for him. Just park at the entrance to a neighborhood that is typical of your customers, and wait for someone to notice you.

Better to just leave a blank line for that, since not all jobs will need that, and in some cases, you won't want to offer a discount for multiple services.