CCPC
-
Content count
1,675 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by CCPC
-
-
I always attempt to explain the benefits of cleaning the whole house vs. just cleaning the dirtiest sides, but I will do partial cleanings. I think it's silly to say that under no circumstances will you do a partial house wash. To me, you have to take it case by case. What if they live out in the middle of no where with no neighbors? What if they only wanted one side of their house washed, but also wanted you to clean the roof, deck (clean and seal), driveway, and pool enclosure? you're gonna turn down the all the work just because they don't want the whole house washed? That's just silly.
As for the worry of passing neighbors seeing an incomplete house wash, I know a few of you are proponents of listing exterior gutter cleaning as a separate service, wouldn't you feel the same way about a neighbor still seeing dirty gutters on the house you just cleaned? Or, if you're cleaning a roof, they don't know your just cleaning the roof, so they drive by later after you're done and wonder why the house still looks like crap.
-
Personally, I hate to paint! Just painted a house for a customer...hated every minute of it!
I hate painting myself, don't have the patients for it. That's the main reason I don't like wood restoration either. Sometimes I don't mind cleaning or stripping em, but I almost always leave the staining for someone else.
-
Why do you need 100g of water? With a 4gpm machine, you will very rarely need a back up supply of water to support your gpm, but even to play it safe, the most you would need is small float tank. carrying water serves two purposes; one, to back up a high gpm machine, or two, to allow for cleaning when a water supply isn't available. 100g is right in the middle, not enough to use as a water supply, yet much more than needed as a water supply back up.
I can think of a lot of other things you could consider in your equipment search:
step ladders, extesion ladders
downstream injector
as many assorted tips you can get your hands on
rags, bags, buckets, lids,
pump up sprayers
shurflo
garden hoses
back up high pressure hoses
ball valves (high pressure and low pressure)
surface cleaner
hose reels
extension lances
gas cans
o-rings, spare couplings, plugs, and other assorted fittings
tefflon tape, duck tape, electric tape (you can never have to much tape)
tool set
extension pole, gutters brushes, deck brushs, toliet brush
maybe a few siphon pumps for drums
I'm getting bored now, but there's much more
-
My fear of hiring employees is how can you find an intelegent, hard worker and not simply loose them because they learn the trade and start their own gig. It would seem to me that the best case senerio is to find an honest, hard working individual that's smart, but not to smart. Anyone know anybody like that? I guess there are people out their who have plenty of smarts, and common sense, but have no desire to own their own business, just work and collect a pay check.
-
Here's a link to a past thread on this subject.
http://forums.thegrimescene.com/showthread.php?t=5375&highlight=cleaning+trash+cans
-
Oh yeah, you will find roof cleaning to be one of the most profitable opportunities in this area. Do some searching on this BBS on roof cleaning to learn how most of us FL guys do it, and if you have any questions just ask.
-
Andrew, There's to many variables to take into consideration to throw out a blanket rate per foot on exterior cleaning, i.e. landscaping, type of exterior, layout, how dirty, rust stains, etc. As you begin to get your feet wet, you'll find that when pricing houses, time guaging is the most accurate and most time efficient way to estimate a house wash. The same goes for driveways.
Around here in our area, an average 2000 sqft ranch style home will range between $150-$225 depending on factors described above, average driveways for me run between $65-$85. The Jacksonville market is also littered with with low ballers that will charge half that. Be prepared to compete with these guys. It can be done, you just have to be smarter than them, and practice your sales approach.
I've found it very difficult to sell quality wood work in this area, most just assume their deck rot away and then have another one built. I clean wood now and then, but usually will decline the opportunity to stain/seal.
-
A lot of the wood pro's on here would be more than happy to trade some learning for labor. That will probably be your cheapest option finacially, but will require a bit of your time. I would, but I generally avoid wood care like the plague.
-
Jeff and Lance, while the work is gratifying, I would drop wood care tommorrow if I could. It's sometimes a thankless niche and it is not the highest profiting one you could pick.I have a feeling that wood care up North, and out West, is like roof cleaning down here. When I started my business I had a lot of issues with cleaning roofs and really didn't even want to clean them, but I soon found out that to be a successful exterior cleaning contractor in FL you almost have to add roofs to list of services. I tried not offering roof cleaning a couple of years ago, but it seemed like 50% of the customers who called either wanted just their roof cleaned, or wanted their roof, house, drive, etc., and obviously, if I wasn't willing to clean the roof, they're not about to hire me just to clean the exterior and drive.
I guess wood care is simply in too high of demand around your neck of the woods to not offer it as part of your services. If I lived in another part of the country, I'd probably have to do it, or find a new line of work.
-
Excellent!! Another reason to add to my list of why I don't like working on wood. Thanks Jarrod!!
-
Congrats Philip!! As some of you know, I quit smoking some months back, but what most don't know is A fell off the wagon. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
-
What type of roof's are you using this on?How many GPM and what PSI is your machine?
I'm not using on roofs (yet).
The keyfob is simply a way to shut off the flow to my injector remotly. The main reason for this was to aid in my downstreaming procedures when cleaning houses (much time savings).
My reference to the roof cleaning was because if I were to equip a shurflo in the draw line of my injector I could possibly greatly increase the the chem draw and because of of having the remote valve shut off, I could shut down the flow on the roof which would stop the shurflo from pumping and stop the chem flo from my injector, for easy application and rinsing.
-
Well Mr. PM man, I'm about to give some of your methods a try. I put together a mailing list and contact info on around 100 PM's in the Jax. area. About 40% are residential PM's and the other 60% are B2B. I'm just trying to figure out how to go about it. Maybe mail to 20 or so at a time? I'm a little afraid of being overwhelmed.
-
Well, I’ve finished my latest upgrade. Since I started down streaming again (which I love, by the way), the only thing that really got on my nerves was having to walk back to the trailer, and shut off the ball valve every time I wanted to rinse with low pressure. Well, those days are over. Thanks to the help of my father and brother (both electrical engineers) I finished my remote valve shut off device.
Now I can shut of the draw line to my injector from anywhere on a property with a touch of a button. I helped my brother put together the circuit board that contains the receiver, and my father and I enjoyed an afternoon putting the rest of the box and wiring together. The ball valve is a common 1/2” pvc, powered by a motor off of a retired Shurflo pump. All the electrical is 12v so I can simply hook up to the marine battery I already use for cleaning roofs. I’m looking into refining the design of the motor and ball valve to a smaller 12v motor and a smaller ball valve. The reason for the ½” ball valve was because I needed a valve that could handle the torque of the Shurflo motor.
When I first started looking into this I thought about an electric powered solenoid valve, but to find ones suitable for chemical abuse, they were upwards of 200-300 clams. The great thing about the motor and ball valve idea is that the ball valve is separated from all the other equipment, so if it goes bad, all I have to do is buy another $3 ball valve and I’m back in business. Another possible use for this (now that I can shut off the chem. line remotely), is to put a shurflo pump in the draw hose of my injector for the ability to drastically increase the chem. Strength. I plan to experiment with this over the weekend. Who knows, maybe with the right shurflo pump inline I can increase the chem. ratio enough to clean roofs with my injector.
We also went with a keyfob remote that has extra buttons so I can add other remote upgrades in the future by simply adding a few components to the circuit board.
Project cost analysis:
Electrical components - $60
Ball valve - $3
Plastic container, assorted nuts, bolts, fasters, etc - $15
Shurflo motor and other mounting hardware – on hand
Time – who cares, it’s quality time with the old man and bro.
-
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!
Hate it when that happens. I've ended up with some pretty nasty brews myself because of simple oversights.
-
Tips for high reach chem application, like Barry said, 0020-0050
Tips for mid range chem application - 0540 and 1540
Tips for short range chem application - chemical tip and 1550
----------
Tips for long range rinsing - 0010 - 0030
Tips for mid range rinsing - 0515
Tips for short range rinsing - (I like to use) 8010, 9510, 8020, 6515
-----------
I find using a downstreamer one step down than recommended, i.e. if you run a 6gpm machine, go with a 3-5 gpm injector, seems to draw better.
I also try to use the largest filter I can on my chem line (I use the same one that comes with an x-jet). I use a 3/8" draw hose instead of the 1/4", not sure whether that makes much difference, but it makes me feel better.
equip your draw line with a small ball valve so you can easily shut the chem draw on and off, especially if you plan to rinse with low pressure. I always rinse exteriors with a mild enough pressure that if I don't hit the ball valve, it will continue to pull chem so the ball valve is a must.
I use the same 3/8" ball valve that comes with the x-jet for this purpose.
To me, it's always a good idea to disconnect the downstreamer when using a surface cleaner (especially if using a smaller orifice injector than recommended), so I would suggest keeping it attached with the QC.
Plan your next move. When downstreaming it's a bit more imperative to plan ahead, so as not to waste a second of time while clearing the line, or when waiting for the chem to draw to the end of the hose. The first thing you need to do is find out exactly how long it takes from the time you put a chem tip on until the chem begins to flow out ot the nozzle. If you know this you can make good use of this time. For me, it takes about 10 -12 seconds for the chem to clear the line, so knowing this when I'm coming to the end of an area I'm applying chem to, I shut off the chem flow to finish out the line. Not a drop wasted, no time wasted. You get the idea. most of it is just practice and getting used to a new way of doing things.
-
I come across these all the time, and on stucco too boot. I haven't found a chemical yet that will emulsify these buggers. The best thing I found for handling them is to wash the house as normal, and know matter how temping to bare down on them, just pass leave them behind. Then when you've finished the house, go back to where you started (by this time it should be somewhat dry) use a toilet brush mounted on an extension pole and just turn it against the cocoons and it will pull them right off. Repeat process around the rest of the house.
It sounds like it will take a long time, but it actually goes pretty fast when you get good at. I'm guessing were talking about the same brown cottony/thread like balls that when sprayed with water, tend to just move around and stick to the rough edges of surfaces like stucco or brick.
-
My rule of thumb is, if they don't have any respect for me, my line of work, of my time, then it's a deal breaker. There's just too much work out there to mess with people like that.
-
I like some of your ideas but would think that mounting the battery/pump a little lower would still allow room for the bucket, and make it a little less top heavy. I would rather have pneumatic wheels verses the the hard wheels for maneuverability. Great job, and I always love to design things with the help of this board.Actually you're right, the box could have been moved down a little, while still allowing enough room to place the bucket underneath. The reason it's so high is because, originally, I had the top half of a 5g bucket mounted on the base so I could slip and secure my chem buckets in and out for mobility, but later decided to scrap it because I couldn't guarantee a liquid tight seal while pulling different buckets. Now I just shut off the valve, disconnect the chem buckets, and move them separately when need be. It turns out to not be a big issue because generally when I'm using this cart, I pull it to a specific location on the property: deck, concrete area, etc, and it stays in one place the whole time I'm using it. As for the pneumatics, I would have opted for them, but every cart I could find locally with pneumatic wheels was just to heavy and bulky compared to this one.
-
Thank you for demonstrating to the deckster/decker people that you can actually put the battery *above* the battery destroying chemical drips and still be stable.And if the deck(er/ster) guys are curious how it works, simply straighten the handle and get the CG on the same side of the axle as the lifting plate.
Funny you should mention that because while planning a design I thought about the possibility of equipping my buckets above the the battery and pump, but decided against it for two reasons, first, exactly what you said, doesn't make sense to put the electrical bellow the the liquids, and secondly, the battery box is a fixed object, so I don't have to lift it on and off of the cart, why would you want too have too hoist a full bucket of chems 4 ft up to mount it on the cart when you can save your back and put it at the bottom.
-
When your downstreaming your chemicals, how are you reaching high areas 2 and 3 stories up?Just curious, I've only been out to a few house washing jobs and all of the guys doing it used the m5 x jets.
0020 - 0050
-
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.
about 10 to 12 seconds here too!!!
-
Thanks Daryl, Thanks Beth. Daryl, its right at around 100'. I could have gotten by with less for what its beign used for, but since the hose came from a good section of retired roof cleaning hose, I figured why not.
-
I thought I would share my mobile shurflo design. Obviously not as impressive as the Decker or Deckster, but it's still a wonderful tool for easy mobile chem application. I use it mainly for applying degreasers, acids, and gutter cleaner (for tall structures). I've never tried applying stain with it, and don't really plan too.
My goal was to keep it simple, efficient and a light weight as possible. It's designed for 5g buckets with special QC lid to easily switch from bucket to bucket. I originally planned to allow the buckets to be secured at the bottom so they can be pulled around, but realized that not all buckets are created equal and trying to secure a water tight fit with one lid just wasn't working.
The ball valve with QC that attachés to the lid allows the ability to not lose prime, and to not drip chem when switching out buckets.
I stays well balanced as long as the ground is at least somewhat level and it's light enough so it can easily be lifted when need be. I opted for the non pneumatic wheels because I wanted as least amount of weight as possible and because of its light weight pneumatic wheels just weren't necessary.
Help !
in Residential Pressure Washing
Posted · Report reply
Wow!! Is that a house or a hotel? I know what I would do with this one. "Mame, I'm afraid that currently I haven't the schedule availably, or the man power to take on a project of this magnitude. Good luck with it". Then again I'm not a wood guy. You woodies seem to thrive on the impossible.