John Doherty

Guy has laid off 20 people since the summer and now says, I'm going back to marketing next month? WTF? Who didn't see the housing bubble's break coming, it was all you could read about since mid 2005.

Just wait and see these when these illegal folks start competing with us all directly as business owners. I see it here already, no language barrier, a workforce that is more reliable and will outwork anyone you can find, even at the same hourly rate. No bad attitudes either, we grew up with the 'one day you can be president' mentality, so most idiots we hire think they know more than they do, or have a better way to do things. Not so with the illegal folks, they grew up with a 'you work and get paid and feed your family' attitude. We don't need innovators, we need guys who will show up on time every day ready to work, not &itch and moan, and follow simple instructions. We're going to have some real challenges ahead.

I'm with Ron, unless you have someone in the hospital or are expecting a baby I follow the same cell phone etiquette as in any other situation. If it rings I reach down and hit a button and silence it, I never look at who's calling, how rude. Is there really anything that can't wait a few minutes, the caller will leave a message, or at least your caller ID will have their #. What ever happened to common courtesy? If your with a group of people and talking to one person and a second walks up, do you just turn away from the first person and start a different conversation with the second?

Dane, you put a float valve in the tank, so you hook up and turn on the faucet when you get there. As the tank fills the float valve turns the water on and off while you work so it doesn't overflow, you don't mess with the faucet again until you're done. The first few times you may drive away with more water then you want to. After you get the hang of how much water you use on a job, you'll know when to turn the faucet off during your rinse, that'll bring the water to the level you want to drive away with.

Figures are annual. In most states no biz broker license is required unless real estate changes hands, then you need to get a licensed realtor involved. As a seller, I'd be looking for 50-75% of retail equipment value, excluding vehicles, and 50-100% of prior yr gross sales. This is strictly for commercial accounts only, residential gross sales hold very little, if any value. I'd say for residential you'd pay or get anywhere from 0-10% of prior years gross sales. As Ron said always get a non-disclosure, and add a no-compete (don't want someone trying to poach you customers while your trying to sell). I'd get some $ in hand before you hand over the meat of your info. too.

Brian, Check out H2O Power Supply in Denver.

I have bought and sold a p/w business. As a buyer of a solid, established business I would look to pay: 50% of the retail value of the equipment (excluding vehicles), and 25-50% of gross sales, dependent on the strength (profitability and retention) of the accounts. Business brokers are worse than used car salesmen, and in the States generally unregulated, stay away, you need a good accountant and good lawyer. I hope anyone with a 1 man op. is not planning on funding their retirement by selling their business and using any of the pie in the sky #s people throw around. You'll be washing until your last day.

Merry Christmas to All!

Has anyone ever seen a P/W guide that was worth any money?

Bought it a few weeks ago but haven't had time to read it yet. Value Added Selling - Tom Reilly How to Sell More Profitably, Confidently, and Professionally by Competing on VALUE, Not Price. When I get the time to read it, I'll share my opinions.

Excellent Ken! You know I'd buy it! I'm posting this as a caution to the newer folks, I've never heard of one that was worth the money. If I'm wrong, I'd love to see the book. Otherwise there's no simple way, use the boards and do some labor for learnin'.

What did PT Barnum say?

Did an alum sided house today, this popped up as soon as my mix hit it, it's the top of the wall, under an overhang, and down the first couple of rows of siding. It didn't pop up anywhere else on the house. Rinsing, recleaning, and even a shot of oxalic did nothing to it. Any help appreciated.

We've got a 75-99 avg house guy here, his crews do 15 houses a day. Never need to do an estimate, give the range and bill on arrival or pull the sqft info from the county web site. Puts em on a maint plan 2,3 times a year, etc. Then you plaster advertising all over the place, schedule the 15 houses all within a 5 mile radius, 2 guys with some ladders and a blower. Guy is making bank, from here down to Maryland.

I use a minimum charge, I can do that wall for 300 or the whole house for 425.

Price high, bid often.

PM me for more info, 2500 sqft colonial, GM staining front roof. JD

This summer I bought a used '02 F-250 with 160k miles, it was used for parts delivery, and was an ugly green color. Brought it to Maaco had it painted white for $450, looks brand new. If I get 20,000 miles out of it with no major repairs I'll be happy. I'd spend no more than $10k, and use the $15k for something else. That's just me, I don't want to be truck or equipment rich and cash poor, I'm too insecure. I agree with Scott, minimum 3/4 ton. Good luck!

Why not post it as a poll and determine interest that way?

We all went nuts when it first went over $3.00, how's the price in your neck of the woods?

I have a well established $179 house wash guy here, 2 guys 30-45 minutes splash and dash. I have a few $99 guys also, they come and go. They are Walmart. I'm trying to be Neiman Marcus. I'm not selling the same thing they are. The people who use them would probably never use me. I can't waste my efforts trying to change them or be pissed at them. I need to use that effort to find that small segment that understands the value of quality. Find them, target them, sell to them, service them, have them sell for me, service them again, etc.

Last week I was buuying an extension pole at home depot, put a brush on the end and had it fully extended all the way to the cieling and pushing it along a girder to see how it'd hold up for gutter brushing. HD employee walks up to me and says, sir we're going to have to ask you to leave the store. I was mortified/pissed off trying to explain why I was doing what I was doing. The guy starts cracking up and tells me the store just got a bomb threat so everyone had to leave.

Somebody called me a few weeks ago from one of the Carolina's about my Bandit experiences. Haven't had a chance to get back to you and can't find the info anymore. You can call me @ 908 907 1557

Last one I had like that I used a soft bristle brush and my usual SC mix without the SHC.

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