Mike Williamson

Amen to that!! My great grandfather jumped-ship in Chicago from a quarantined ship that was being sent back to Russia. He was illegal, but I'm sure glad he did what he did!

You ever get overwhelmed, I'm just an hour and a half away, and I can usually adjust my schedule around if need be.

Wow! I'm staying here, thankyou! Neighborhoods going up all over the place offering 5 acre parcels for $500k, plus the cost of construction.

Depends on where in my area...anywhere from $150k up to several times that. Then there's the condition of the interior, what kind of property that 4 acres is, etc.

Agreed! Too often the assumption is that the Landscaper is just some hack who is trying to make a few extra bucks doing pressurewashing also. Not always the case! I know at least two very professional PW companies who are also very professional landscaping companies. Same goes for painters. Just because someone is versatile it doesn't mean they're not professional, trained, and experienced!

You mean have two nozzles side by side, increasing the width of the spray pattern? That'd be interesting to do, especially with my 8gpm machine...I could still use 2.5 tips and get good pressure. Spray bar for the Big Guy is about $90.00, might be worth an experiment! I may have to dig out my tap and die kit!

I guess I'd have to try it with casters first before making any mods to it, if I do ever wind up going that route. I likely will...I'm moving more in the direction of trying to get regular contract commercial work, and that would come in very handy. Boy those handles are long, though!!

Sure, it'll do just as good a job cleaning, you just may wind up replacing parts sooner, and sometimes that can be a problem if it breaks in the middle of a job. I know Whisperwash is very good about getting parts out fast...I ordered a new spinner bar, brush, and left handle assembly from Bob at PressureTek and it showed up the next day, drop shipped from WW. You say under $500.00, but for only another $150.00, you can get the top of the line. Better to pay the extra now, IMO.

Quality! Better parts. More dependable.

How do you like the Maxima, with the casters and all?

Gotcha! Thanks for setting me straight!

Actually, that's not true. The 28" spray bar on the big guy is lighter than the spray bar/manifold assembly on a 24" Steel Eagle. Thus, it takes LESS force to get it spinning. The weight of the spray arm is the only reason a larger surface cleaner wouldn't work as well with a smaller machine. I use a big guy every day on a 5.6gpm machine and it works better than the steel eagle I sold after I bought the Big Guy! If I had enough large concrete areas to clean regularly, I'd get a WhisperWash Maxima (36"). If you've never seen this in person, it is HUGE! http://www.whisperwash.com/Whisper_Wash%AE_Maxima36/16578/Whisper_Wash%AE_Maxima36.htm I would, however, have to modify it with a Big Guy handle and wheel assembly. Casters just suck!

Well, luckily I was able to use about 1/2 of it on various greasy tile sidewalks and curbing...had to do all 4 of the BK's this week getting ready for some sort of corporate inspection.

I believe Ron and Scott's numbers...both run several crews, and Ron has 20-something employees, so figure he's running at least 15 crews! Imagine your gas bill X 15, PLUS running the burner full time.

Yep, bypass pumps are great! Unless, of course, you forget about the bypass and decide to use your gas powered roller pump (which is set up for roofs) to spray some sodium hydroxide on a horribly oil caked drive-through lane at a Burger King! I stuck a siphon hose into a 15 gallon drum of some degreaser I had laying around, fired up the pump, and started spraying. Got about 1/2 way done and the spray stopped. Figured I was out of gas (I think it has a 3 ounce gas tank) so I walked back to the trailer. Pump still running, but the drum is empty! There's no WAY I sprayed 15 gallons of degreaser...OOPS, forgout about the bypass line. I now have a nice mix of 20 gallons of chlorine, about 9 gallons of sodium hydroxide, and 20 gallons of water in my chlorine tank!!! Ugh!

Very nice, and 2 hours is a great time for your first roof, especially taking your time. The pictures look great, stop worrying!

I have ordered from espec many times, and have never had a problem with anything! The orders are always correct, the prices are always as advertised, and the parts have always held up just fine. I don't buy items that I am worried about support after the sale, but I'm not too worried about customer support on a $2.00 stainless coupler or a 48" stainless lance. I imagine one reason I've not had problem with wrong parts is that I always fax my orders in, and I use my own form, which includes part descriptions (something their order form lacks). The ONLY time I have had an issue with an order was when I made a mistake and mixed up part numbers on some couplers and plugs I was ordering. THEY caught it and called, and we got it corrected. The other nice thing for me is that my orders show up the next day, since they're only about 80 miles from my house. Paul: Any plans to add a website, or fax service? I'd rather go through you with my espec orders, but I prefer to either fax or email my orders in, since most of the time when I'm ordering, it is rather late at night.

Nope, I work in a relatively concentrated area, and I rarely run hot water!

Yep, excellent tip! Even for those of us who only use 40-60 gallons/week for the machine, it works out to several hundred dollars. Not bad for a form that shouldn't take but a few minutes to fill out, if you have good records as far as what you've spent for what. $0.183/gallon is what the form says, $0.184 prior to Sept. 30, 2005.

$5-6 THOUSAND a WEEK???? I run $100.00-$150.00/week for the truck, another $100.00 or so for the machines.

25 minutes? Maybe if you were running a .0002gpm machine and 20000 feet of hose!!! I run 200' of hose, and it doesn't take more than 10 seconds for chem to get to the gun, or to clear the hose of chem, and that's with 5.5gpm. With the 8gpm machine, it takes even less time.

How did you apply chems before the Xjet?

If allbrite works as well, great! If not, why not just add that extra $10.00 or so into the price of the wash? If it doesn't work as well, you'll wind up spending more time getting the results you want anyway!

You didn't. There's nothing wrong with us disagreeing, and sharing our points of view...that's how we all learn. I would still be Xjetting if I hadn't been willing to listen to Mel tell me how easy and efficient downstreaming was. I'd tried it early on with a crappy downstreamer and lousy chems, and wasn't happy. Tried it after speaking with Mel, and I was sold!!

Nope, but I don't deal with much of that here. At worst, I have a 2nd story house, and to be honest, I don't believe I've ever had to use Shock on any of the 2nd story houses I've done. Most I do here are single story. In your case, I'd Xjet straight from the jug.