CCPC

I recently bought another M-5 just to keep as a back up. I can't imagine going without it for the few days it would take to order, and recieve, a replacement in the event I lost it.

Good point James, I'm pretty sure brass does not rust.

Show off!! lol

I always thought supply reels where the same high pressure reels with different fittings.

How many GPM loss per 100ft?

For now, I try to average $60 an hour.

I used to work out about 4 days a week for years, but when I started getting real busy with this business I find that I get a great workout just from working, and then some. The over weight issue is not a problem for me, I couldn't gain weight if I tried. Then again, I turn 30 this year, it could be all down hill from there.

I wrote this as a rebuttal on the pwna thread that I think we are all talking about. I just wanted to clarify that my intentions for this statement were to offset the original posters boasts of arrogance and not to demean anybody with a less than "walmart size" business. With that said, I can agree with Mike's statement. My business and setup is probably 1/10th of what most have, but I'm damn proud of it!

Happy New Year to all! Now I must go attempt to sleep this one off. :lgsick:

I'm planning on putting together a new rig in a few months and was hoping I could get a little feedback and/or reccomendations on hot water skid mounts. I'm looking for somthing in the 6gpm range. Also, if anyone knows of a great deal anywhere please include the details. I very much appreciate the help, thanks.

How many of you ever listen to music when you work. I just bought a mp3 player and decided I'm tired of just stewing in my own thoughts for hours on end. Any input or coments about this would be welcome i.e. good idea, bad idea, unsafe, etc.

I like to: work in the yard, compete in dart tournaments, watch movies and football (season ending soon, that sucks), spend time with my Fiance, future step daughter, cat and pet squirrel; I love to build things, tinker and fix/improve things around the house. My brother and I took my father out to dinner tonight because today he begins his retirement after 40+ years of hard work. I guess he's begining the permenent destressing process. :lgjump:

Not to metion, blow the seals out and fog the glass.

No. and I'm not even sure there is a required contractor licensing for locksmiths im this area. Just like pressure cleaning, locksmithing is another very unregulated trade. For that reason, just like pressure cleaning, there's a lot of folks trying to get into the business who either don't know what the're doing, or are trying to rip off their customers every chance they get.

I've seen a little snow... Just not what other folks up north would consider snow. My brother lives in upstate New York and gets enough snow for the both of us. Hey Mike, Its funny you mention the rain, two years ago it only rained two times in Dec. and early Jan. Can you guess the two times.. Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Go Figure.

School District job I would imagine would be cake work. Alot of repairs and make keys for master key systems, but they should have all the master key specs so it would just be a matter of using the specs to make new keys. We did alot of master key systems for businesses and Jacksonville University. The University had a resident locksmith, but he did mainly the day to day stuff. I would imagine he didn't make alot of money,but at the time, I was a little enveous of his job; Good benifits, low stress, easy hours, etc.

I loved everything about it, but there was two aspects that I couldn't seem to get used to: long, difficult hours and poor pay. I started that trade with the idea that I would work as an apprentice for a few years and then open my own locksmith business. The company I worked for was a one man operation of which the owner had over 30 years experience. I worked for him for almost 3 years and still only new about 1/2 of what I would feel comfortable knowing to go out on my own. When I started I had know idea how much there was to learn: car openings (hundreads of styles models), house openings, residential & commercial rekeys, make keys, instalations, safe installations, safe combo changing, safe openings, linkage and lock repair for autos and homes, panic bar installations and repairs, etc. etc. Long story short, you can't make any money enless you start your own business, but it takes so long to learn everything you need to know to do it right that you and your family sufer in the meantime. Thats why the majority of locksmiths businesses are family trades that are passed down from generation to generation. The most important reason why I gave it up was the crummy hours. I was working an average of 70 to 80 hours a week and alot of those hours were in the middle of the night running AAA lock outs. imagine you come home after a 14 hour day, take a shower, get ready to settle down for some dinner and the phone rings. So you go run a call on the other side of town, and then on your way home, the phone rings again, and so on, and so on. Granted alot of the reason my hours were so bad was becuase there was only two of us, and who do think was on call 4 or 5 nights a week. The worst was when you would get a AAA call for an out of area lock out at 2:00am in morning and have to drive 45 minutes to Starke and after its all said and done its time start all over with no sleep. Sorry for rambling, but you know, I still miss it a little. Just for the record, nothing against POP-A-LOCK, but we used to rag on the pop-a-lock guys pretty hard because real locksmiths kinda look at pop a lock as sort of slap in the face to the REAL locksmith trade. I couldn't tell you how many times we had to go out and open a car that the customer told us that pop-a-lock couldn't open. Not to mention, that they really don't know how to do anything else except TRY to open cars. Now I'm venting..

Franchise opportunities: Buy a POP-A-LOCK franchise. I used to be a locksmith and the work was fun and very rewarding. You will never see someone as happy as they are when you pull up to save them from being locked out in a parking lot. Not to mention rescuing a baby from a car in the dead of summer. You become a frantic mothers hero!As a side note: I have never experienced a job where you deal with such an unbelievable diversity in cliental on a daily basis. one minute your installing a dead bolt on a million dollar estate; the next, your rekeying the locks on an eviction in the worst part of town.

Its getting down in the 50's tonight. BURRRRRR!! I guess I better wear a sweater in the morning.

I've never seen snow like that, or any real snow for that matter. I've lived here in NE FL all of my life and the farthest north I've ever travaled was NC, but that was during the summer. I have been out west in Jon's neck of the woods once. Nice area there in Southern Calif. but a bit dirty. I believe it was 1989 when we got a little snow that actually stuck to the ground for a day or two, but other than that its been all sunshine and palm trees.

I'm with Jim on this one, I go through about 15 to 20 pairs of jeans a year. Thats why I do like Tony suggested, keep an I out for the sales. You can find jeans real cheap if you regularly check the discount stores.

This is very true. The slowest times of the year for me in the past two years have been the mid summer and Dec. 15 - Jan 1st.

I charge gutters by the hour. The average high dollar one story house in this area would go for around 80-100 dollars.

Discussion of this industry and all of its ups and downs is what this bbs is all about. Its great forums like this one that helps to raise the quality and the standards of such an unregulated industry. Besides the important topics disscused on this forum on a daily basis, its entertaining to swap stories and opinions with hundereds of other fellow PW'shrs. Obvouisly you gain somthing from the "whining" that goes on in here or you would'nt be "whining" about the "whining". :lgsad:

John, I like the "We Wash" presonalized trailer plates.