Mike Williamson

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/congress.htm

It only takes a few seconds to get soap through 200' of hose...after a short time, you learn when to change tips to high pressure to finish soaping the last few feet. I'd much rather take 5 seconds to flush my lines than drag buckets and extra lines around (as you said, who wants two tangled lines?). Whatever works best for you. For me, dragging buckets and extra hose just got too be a real hassle. This is easier, and more importantly, faster.

Sure, I'd like to see pics. Roger has explained it to me, but a picture would be great! Like I've said, we can't be closed-minded to new (or old) ideas...some of them actually work! With the right downstreamer and the right chems, it cleans just as well as the Xjet without the hassle of buckets and extra hoses. The problem is that distributors can't sell a good downstreamer for $159.00, so many don't push it. The distributor I got mine from is also a contract cleaner, and uses this downstreamer for all his washing.

It's a stainless injector that I purchased from a distributor in Vero Beach www.verounderpressure.com ask for Mel Placing it after the gun kinds defeats the purpose, doesn't it? May as well use the Xjet. The point, for me, of using the downstreamer is to avoid pulling chem lines and buckets in addition to pressure hose.

I used to swear by it too. Just don't be closed minded to new (or old) ideas. Time is money, and I can promise you I am faster without it. No ladders or lifts, same quality as with the Xjet, but no buckets or mixing multiple buckets of chems. Get a flow type unloader for your machine (K7 or whichever is right for your gpm) and that will alleviate the initial pressure blast when you pull the trigger.

Boy I miss his columns.

Exactly! I've walked away from jobs where the customer was adamant about how I was to do the job...I lost one rather large roof cleaning job (a dozen or so 8500 square foot two story apartment buildings) because the owner was adamant that if they looked totally clean then I "blasted the hell out of them) and he'd be very upset. I did my best to educate him on how I do it, and why it will look virtually brand new without any damage. Still a no-go. I've been told not to use the surface cleaner, since it will remove the top layer of concrete (this wasn't new concrete). Wanted me to use the wand. I wonder if these folks tell the plumber how to install the toilet, or the electrician how to wire in a new light fixture...

Funny, I was killing myself with the Xjet, until I found a good downstream system! I used to be a big proponent of the Xjet, but since I've been using my current downstream setup, I haven't touched the Xjet. I get my chems plenty strong enough to get the same results as I'd get with the Xjet, I can still shoot chems 30+ feet, and I don't have to drag a bucket around with me. There's no 2nd chem line to get tangled up with, and I don't have to mix multiple buckets of chems. Just fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of 10.5% and a gallon of soap, drop the feed line in, and start washing. The quality of the injector really does make a huge difference. I've used other injectors that didn't give me the ratio I'm getting with this one.

Prices very from area to area...and no one can tell you what you need to make except you (hopefully). I don't think anyone despises someone because they're starting out with lower end equipment. The question is, does it get the job done for you? I'm certainly not one of these guys who tells a newbie that they just HAVE to have a $5000+ hot water skid or a $10,000 trailer setup. I'm not worried about what you're charging, whether you're using expensive equipment, or whether you do your driveways with a wand. My concern is that you're doing a quality job for your customers, and that you're running a legitimate business (insurance, necessary licensing, etc). Pricing is for YOU to set, based on your efficiency, how much you need per hour/day/week, how good you are at sales, etc etc. No one can tell you that you should charge $x for a particular job. If you're considerably lower than another contractor, and you're still making enough to satisfy your needs and doing a quality job, then maybe the other guy's prices are too high. At any rate, welcome to the board!

Sorry, just GOTTA call B.S. on this one....In Feb you were posting "I'm a newbie please help", and now you're making between $360,000 and $480,000.00/year, with $24k in expenses???? Riiigggghhhhht... IF that's the case, hire someone to fix your website...it's pretty, but non-functional...

Even still, that's 30 minutes or so of rinsing...that's just nuts...Either you're rinsing some HUGE driveways, or you're just wasting water (and time). I can rinse a typical 2 car-width 2-car-length driveway in about 5 minutes. I can stand there for another 25 mintutes, but it won't look any better.

Their prices are too high on both business cards and postcards... www.colormation.com Have ordered several print runs from them, and am more than happy.

Just the fact that you're advertising "extreme high pressure" as a selling point tells me you need a good bit more training and experience...Not trying to be a smart ass here, but this is the exact mentality that I have to try to overcome in my customers every day...Many have dealt with folks who thought "extreme high pressure" was the way to go, or thought that hot water was a selling point when cleaning residential houses...

Your overhead is $2k/month, to generate $30-40k??? What kind of washing do you do???

That's doing pretty well for a one man crew...It's hard to compare a guy in a northern area where the work is seasonal to a guy in GA or FL where the work is year-round and where there is a lot more lower priced competition. I just hired a guy part time (3 days/week) at the beginning of April, and it has been a great decision thus far. Prior to that, I was grossing between $3k and $5k/month. The past two months were both $8k months (that's AFTER I pay him), and June is looking just as good. It has also freed me up to spend more time on marketing, doing estimates, etc. He's a great guy, conscientious, willing to work hard, and willing to work long days if necessary. I'm not in this business to get rich, or to build it up so fast that I can sell out or retire in 10 years...I don't WANT to work 12 hours days 5 or 6 days a week...I want to make enough money to pay my bills, to put enough away for the future, and still have time to enjoy my family and my life.

Is that PER Rig (one rig, two man crew)?? That's pretty darn good!

Exactly...If you're applying your chems in sufficient concentrations, you can rinse with a soap tip, or even a garden hose. The size of the fan spray (15, 25, 40, 65 degrees) doesn't make that much difference...the key is to use as low pressure as possible. I rinse just about everything with a 2515 tip, and have had no problems (on a 3000psi 5.6gpm machine). As far as the Xjet goes, I just switched over to a high quality downstreamer, and have found I get the same results as I did with the M5 Xjet, and no buckets or additional hoses. I use about the same amount of chems, but only have to mix one 5 gallon bucket (4 gallons of 10.5% and 1 gallon of citracleen seems to work well) and it's been just enough to do a typical 2500 square foot single story house. I'm loving it!

It would be quicker and less trouble to just use a shurflo. You can limit the amount of chems by using a smaller tip. I think using a roller for a roof would be very time intensive, and not all that effective. You get virtually no overspray on a roof with a shurflo, except when it is very windy. Even then, you just increase your flow a bit so you get less misting.

Of course, you never know when your hours will change again, so don't give up all hope of a pressure washing career. There is always night work, if you can afford the hot water equipment (and reclaim, if needed).

That all works great, as long as you have enough calls to keep busy with the jobs that you ARE closing...if not, you either need to take steps to increase your calls, or drop your prices a bit. Funny how a few bucks ($10.00-25.00 or so) will sway a customer one way or the other.

If you pull them out really fast, they act like pressure hoses! :lgbounces

Origins: I really didn't care for venison the few times I tried it, but the gator in this picture appears to like it just fine. These photographs of an alligator swimming across a lake with a deer clutched in its jaws circulated on the Internet in mid-2004, accompanied by several different versions of text crediting them to different sources: A photographer flying over Cross Lake (or Lake Conroe) in a news helicopter belonging to TV station KTBS of Shreveport, Louisiana. An "Alabama Forest Service guy on daily fire patrol" at Lake Martin, Alabama. An employee of the Texas Forestry Commission took the photograph while flying in a helicopter with the South Carolina Forestry Commission. A worker at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first explanation was out, as KTBS said they haven't had a newscopter since their chopper crashed in 1990, and Leslie Johnson with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries noted that the vegetation was all wrong and the water too clear to be Cross Lake. And officials with the Alabama Forestry Commission disclaimed the Lake Martin explanation: Although the caption indicates that the alligator is in Lake Martin, officials at the Alabama Forestry Commission said that's not true. "It's a legitimate photo, but it wasn't taken on Lake Martin," said Regina Miller, assistant to the state forestry commissioner. "It was taken in South Carolina, and I suppose someone thought it would be more interesting here if it was on Lake Martin, Alabama." Jim Spradley, the pilot for the Tallapoosa County office of the state's forestry commission, said he too received the e-mail, but he was never fooled by the photo. "I've got that e-mail myself, and as far as I know, I'm the only one who flies Lake Martin," he said. "I didn't take it." In August 2004, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) finally cleared up the issue by issuing a press release identifying the photographs as having been taken in south Georgia (near the Georgia/South Carolina border) by a USFWS officer in March 2004: The sight of a 12 to 14 foot-long alligator is something south Georgia folks see occasionally, but few have seen one take an adult deer out to lunch. Actually — for lunch. The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. "One advantage of fire work is you get to see that 12-14 footers are common from Santee National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina to Coastal South Carolina to Georgia’s coast," said Jenkins. "It looks like the alligator population is doing extremely well." This one was at least 12-13 feet long. Jenkins said that some bull alligators have a 35 inch girth. Last updated: 27 August 2004 The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/gatordeer.asp

Absolutely...It's really not any different than an add-on service, since you're already there...I get those from time to time...Guy next door or across the street wants his driveway done, or something small...I'll do it if I'm not way behind that day...He gets a cheaper price, I get a few extra bucks for a few extra minutes. Everyone's happy. That's the real benchmark...are you and the customer happy? If so, you're doing great.

Some folks have too much money... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1469&item=5577795202&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Oh yeah, had one of those yesterday...Called for a roof cleaning, but when I got to talking to her, she really only wants the chimney done. She already did the house, but can't reach the chimney and it is green. I told her I have a minimum of $100.00. Said she'd call back later.