Mike Williamson

Been drinking distilled/purified water for years...I get plenty of minerals from other sources (which is all distilled water is...water without the additives)

Actually, the majority say they make between $5k on up past $15k...27 people voted for either $5-$10k, $10-$15k, or $15k+...Only 14 voted for between $1-$5k. 14 isn't the majority of 41. Then you have to figure the guys who are single operators who voted for the poll anyway. Or the 2 man rigs where the owner is the 2nd man. Still not a lot of money, but doeable. It'd be pretty dang hard to keep your income below $5k while working two people 8 hours/day 5 days/ week. That's a couple of cheap housewashes/day, so what do you do with the other 4 or 5 hours each day? Maybe these are the guys doing $75.00 housewashes or $89.00 roofwashes?

PWNA has pressure washing companies now??? Next thing you know they'll be holding reclaim classes for $500.00 a shot!

No, it's just pretentious and assinine... Could I afford it? Sure, financed. Do I want to? Hardly.... I could see having a setup like that if I were doing a LOT of large area flatwork, or something else that requires a lot of power... You say you can't afford it, but you said yourself that you could make $15k in two days by yourself with a rig like this, or wash a water tower with 4 employees for $75k in three weeks...the rig would be paid off in no time at all. I say, go for it! Me? I don't want to clean water towers, and I have my doubts about a one man show washing an apartment complex in two days for $15k...someone was lying, or someone got screwed. I don't care if you're putting out 100gpm...you're not going to wash $15k worth of apartments in two days by yourself, even at the over-inflated rates you northerners charge! :eek:

My life history? How'd they get all that information? Does my doctor report to the department of drivers licenses every time I come in for a check up? :rolleyes: Do you have a link to maybe an online article about such a thing? I might believe the car's computer can track these things, but I've never heard of a cop plugging into it and downloading your speed records...Or an insurance company for that matter. Yes, a person can do just about anything they set their mind to do. Does that make it EASY? Hell no. Until you've been where I'm at, you can beg to differ all you want, you're still dead wrong. Yes, folks have quit cold turkey. Was it easy? I doubt it, for most of them. And yes, some people DO keep smoking regardless of what the doc says.

If you did, and the restaurant owner didn't mind you doing that, I'd simply move tables, or leave. I don't even mind non-smoking restaurants, I don't typically smoke when I eat. I don't smoke indoors at home, and I don't smoke in the truck with the windows up. I don't like smelling like stale smoke, and I don't want to have to smell someone else's smoke while I'm eating with my family. I agree, it should be up to the business owner, not the government.

What's it to you if I want to spend my money, get sick, have ugly teeth, etc? That's my choice. You talk about how bad the government is, how in our business they are, but when it is something you don't like you'd like to see the government jump in and ban tobacco? :rolleyes: The one thing non-smokers just have a really hard time getting is that for some of us, it is ENJOYABLE. It isn't just a habit we can't kick, we like it. Yes, I'd like to quit, have done so in the past, and plan on doing so again soon, permanently. But that doesn't change the fact that it is an enjoyable thing to do. Just makes it all the much harder to kick it.

Agreed! My parents bought a 2 bedroom 1500 sq. ft. home on a small canal in Crystal River for $400k...The taxes went from about $4k/year based on the prior purchase price of $150k, to $9k/year based on their purchase price. It's crazy. They're paying $750.00/month just in property taxes, more than I pay for entire mortgage, taxes, and insurance. It's nuts. www.fairtax.org

Not sure I understand...Are you saying you use 2 gallons for an entire roof? For a 1500 sf roof, I'd use anywhere between 10 and 15 gallons. For the same house, I'd use 5 gallons, maybe a little less depending on what the siding is, and how bad it is. Sorry, posted this before I read your 2nd post!

Man I hate it when I miss a huge bunch of posts in a thread like this...too many things to respond to, and I wind up with 5 posts at the top of the thread. Sorry, I just don't see how wheeling a cart around with 160lbs of chems on it is easier than filling one 5 gallon bucket, once. You drag your hose, your cart, and an extra 50' of hose. I drag my hose. How is your way easier? I just don't get it.

I use the same one Mel uses (got it from him). Not sure the ratio, but it works, that's what matters. One day when I have the time and think about it, I'll test the ratio on my machine and see how it compares to the Xjet.

Amen to that. I started out with the original Xjet, mainly because it came with my rig (bought used). I was very happy with it, and am now on my 2nd M5. However, Mel from Vero Under Pressure got me to seriously consider downstreaming, and since I have tried it, I'm very happy with it. The Xjet still has it's place, like cleaning heavily mildewed aluminum screen enclosure supports, and other things like that where I need a little boost to the chlorine. For most uses, however, downstreaming works just fine and saves me a good bit of time and hassle.

I do much the same thing, though I DO want them to know that I'm the owner. I don't want to look too small, nor do I want to look too large. I want them to know they're dealing with a company that is established and reputable, but not so large that they're simply dealing with hourly employees who may or may not care about their plants, house, etc. In adding an employee this summer, I have run into aprehension with several customers when they find out I won't actually be doing the work. It has taken some reassurance to get them comfortable with the idea, and assurance that I stand behind the work, regardless of who performs it.

It's pretty simple All you do is type in the responses you want where you want them. Then copy and paste the "QUOTE=username" (in brackets) at the beginning of each segment of quoted text, and copy and paste the "/Quote" (in brackets) at the end of each segment of quoted text. Then, if you like, you can make your own text bold, italicized, underlined, or change colors

I agree completely here...How you approach yellow pages advertising depends on where you're at. Here, there aren't any real competitors, so it is easy to be the dominant ad in the book. In a market like Orlando or Atlanta, I imagine that there are a LOT of ads, so it is much harder to be noticed. Then you have the problem with distance. If you're in Douglasville and are advertising in the Atlanta book, I would imagine you'd get a lot of calls from areas that are really too far away. It isn't cost effective to drive an hour one way to give a free estimate, then drive another hour one way to get the job done. In the books here, when you open them to pressure washing my ad jumps out. If there were a large number of large ads, I'd definitely scale it back and seek other means of getting the phone to ring.

What type of neighborhoods are these? I've found that working middle class older neighborhoods are NOT good sources of work, at least here in Gainesville. I may pick up a few jobs throughout the year in neighborhoods like that, but for the most part, money is too tight for most there to afford a couple hundred bucks to clean their house. They're more concerned with keeping the lights on and keeping the repo guy away. Find neighborhoods where there are a lot of lawn care and/or pest control companies companies working. Find new neighborhoods with upper middle class homes (here that'd be homes prices $200k and up, but I'm sure that would be different in the Atlanta area). The best luck I've had in generating work is in this type of neighborhood, where the houses are between 5 and 10 years old. One tactic I have used with quite a bit of success in the past two years is to find a neighborhood like I've mentioned with houses all pretty much the same size. I then do a mailing to the entire neighborhood, offering a neighborhood discount for a specific period of time (say a three week period). I set the prices for each job (housewash, roofwash, driveway). Yes, sometimes I wind up with a slightly larger house or driveway and don't make as much as I'd like on that job, but for the most part it works out well. These aren't just flyers, they're full color one page letter (front and back) on letterhead introducing myself, explaining what I'm doing and why, explaining the services I offer, how I do the work in a safe manner, etc, and setting prices. They're sent out in regular window envelopes with a full color return address logo, so they look more like something the homeowner should open rather than simply being discarded as junk mail. Someone who might not normally even look at junk mail will open this thinking "what is this??" They're individually addressed to each homeowner. Each mailer costs me about $0.57 including postage. A 200 home neighborhood costs $114.00 and a couple hours labor to print, fold, stuff, stamp and mail. Out of 200 homes, I'll get anywhere between 5 and 25 responses, depending on the neighborhood and the time of year. The nice thing is, I don't have to go give estimates for these. They have the price already, and most of the time they're calling to schedule. I often see the house for the first time when I'm pulling up to complete the job (though I HAVE driven through the neighborhood several times to get a feel for the houses and to make sure there won't be any horrible surprises). The names and addresses of the homeowners should be available either online or on disk from the property appraiser's office in your county. If you don't want to spend the money on postage, you could deliver them door to door. Most importantly, keep the prices up! I'd rather wash 3 $200.00 houses than wash 6 $100.00 houses. I agree with others' assessments...your prices are too low, and to offer a set price for ANY house tells the homeowner that you're either a hack, or you're running a gimmick. I realize you're not, but the homeowner doesn't know that. Leave the prices out of the ads. What if someone calls with a 7000 square foot three story house that's going to take you 6 hours, 20 gallons of chlorine, and 5 gallons of soap? Are you going to honor the $125.00 price? I'd be more than happy to email you the forms I use for my letter mailers, as well as the postcard I use. shoot me an email to mike@northfloridapressurewashing.com if you're interested. I can explain a little more about how I get the addresses and get them into the letters. It takes about 15 minutes to download them, clean them up, and import them into the letter template and have them ready for printing.

We spent three weeks camping up the west coast, from San Diego to northern Washington. Had a great time, but three weeks is just a hair too long to be away from home. We sure were glad to get back. The weather didn't cooperate as much as we'd have liked, but we had a great time.

Is that the one up near Knoxville? A friend of mine spent a week up there at a bike rally and told me about a stretch of road like that. Sorry to hear about the ankle! Glad to hear it's better now.

Read this post, and the attached link. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1944 If a liquid chlorine product is labeled as 6% sodium hypochlorite, it simply means that the other 94% of ingredients are not sodium hypochlorite. The sodium hypochlorite used, regardless of how much is in a particular solution, is 100% sodium hypochlorite. If you have a solution containing 6% SH, and if that SH loses 50% of it's strenth over a period of time, you are left woth a solution containing an effective 3% SH. It's very possible that the chlorine products you're getting aren't full strength due to storage or age or mislabeling.

Taking more of the same strength chlorine, or a stronger mix to kill it in one coat would mean that it was resistant...it takes more to kill it. What would kill it's Floridian cousins has less of an effect upon it. re·sis·tance (r-zstns) n. The act or an instance of resisting or the capacity to resist. A force that tends to oppose or retard motion. often Resistance An underground organization engaged in a struggle for national liberation in a country under military or totalitarian occupation. Psychology. A process in which the ego opposes the conscious recall of anxiety-producing experiences. Biology. The capacity of an organism to defend itself against a disease. The capacity of an organism or a tissue to withstand the effects of a harmful environmental agent. [*] Electricity. The opposition of a body or substance to current passing through it, resulting in a change of electrical energy into heat or another form of energy.

The neighborhoods in Florida are as diverse as anywhere else, some that are older homes with larger trees nearby, and some with virtually no trees nearby. Many of the roofs I do are in neighborhoods without large shading trees, and when there are trees nearby, they're usually kept trimmed back away from the house. In truth, the mold is heavier and harder to clean in areas that are shaded by trees. I agree with the opinion given by someone else in this thread...your problem with a 50/50 mix is likely older chlorine that isn't quite as strong as it once was. I think if you find a supplier of liquid chlorine in bulk, you may well find that you can use less chems to get the same result.

Ummm...anal is close, but not quite the right term...I don't think it's allowed on this board. :eek: Just trying to figure out how you folks have some special algae that is resistant to 5-6% sodium hypochlorite...I mean, it'd be the same as pouring straight chlorox on the roof, and it doesn't kill the algae? Must be some pretty amazing stuff. :rolleyes:

Depends on where in Hawaii, but suffice it to say that both Gainesville, FL and Beaumont, TX get around 55 inches of rain/year. Plants? We have more than 20 plants in Florida. Gotta rinse 'em after cleaning the roof, or you'll have a lot less than 20! According the the NWS, Gainesville has some of the highest humidity levels in the US, with an average morning humidity of 91%, and average afternoon humidity of 58%. Your area has an average morning humidity of 91% and an afternoon humidity of 64%. Really similar stats. Must be some special strain of mold that somehow got loose in your area. Wish you were close enough to make it worth driving over to see this incredi-mold!

Being right next door to TX, I'm sure you already know this, but everything is bigger and badder in Texas! Even the roof algae! :rolleyes:

That's what I pointed out a few posts ago...that's an easy one, the mold isn't heavy at all, and isn't visible on the entire roof. Most I clean here are completely covered with heavier algae, with the only clean areas being below the galvanized ridge vents, vent pipes, etc.