John Doherty

Celeste, I'd love to see em. I'm rebranding this year, house and roof cleaning on top of the commercial stuff. Got out of the overlays, but I'll sell em if I see an opportunity. JD

I'm really looking forward to it, wish I could get there for Sat night but the schedule doesn't permit. I bet it'll be a little strange for me, I feel like I already know you all from our great little bb community, really pleased I'll finally get to meet so many of you in person! I'll be bringing my girlfriend Louise (she'll be there more for moral support but maybe we can turn her yet!), see you all on Sunday! JD

Check the fine print on your insurance policy, some top out at 3 stiries.

As always check with a professional, but yeah if you don't pay quarterly there are penalties.

Interest rates are low, unemployment is low, inflation is low, we have the highest home ownership rates in history. I agree we should NEVER get complacent, and I think things aren't as bad as we may hear if we listen to a snippet here and there. As far as I'm concerned, the sky is NOT falling.

I do not pay contractors deposits, period. If you ask, I'll ask why, if you tell me it's for materials, give me the $ amount and supplier name and I'll make a check out to them. If it's for 'expenses' or 'overhead', I haven't cost you anything yet, or if it's, 'just your policy', NEXT. The chances are pretty good that my house, roof, deck, etc will be here in a month, will the contractor be in business?

Insurance can make you feel lucky at the most unlucky times! Neil hope your guy is back in action soon and thankfully you didn't lose a rig! This is a great post for all to heed, but especially for the folks just getting started, you have to be insured! JD

How about this? Industrial absorbents, sorbents, spill containment, oil spill cleanup, industrial supplies from New Pig Corporation

What a missed opportunity for those guys, imagine if this had been their response: I'm gonna overnight express a new fuel pump & celinoid to your mechanic and call him in the morning to confirm he got it and see if he has any questions. I apologize that you couldn't get through to us, someone's out sick, on vacation, we are hiring someone new, we are selling machines like crazy, whatever, but that should be resolved in the next few days. If that happens again please call me directly on my cell phone at ...we really value your business Jeff and we'll do whatever it takes to make this right. or You had a problem and you called, we didn't respond or call back, you told people we didn't respond or call back. So in that case we will not honor our own warranty, we will not help you, and we will call our lawyer, who will tell us we don't have a leg to stand on. These guys need a lesson from Ken. Jeff sorry your having a rough time.

I've never done a house wash before so this may seem like a dumb question. If you have the right chem mix do you even need a p/w? Couldn't you apply chem mixed w/water with a shurflow, and rinse with a garden hose? Or is it that you couldn't get the distance (height) or coverage to get the whole house?

Research your market, I admire your ambition, but keep doing what you're doing by posting here, gathering information. I know your market pretty well, building/house washing really doesn't exist there, dry climate=no mold mildew growth. Flatwork virtually ends at the first snow because it's too costly to have you out after each storm so they wait until spring (also this is night work can't be done in freezing temps). Decks can be good money but you need to really sell the quality to get a decent price and you can almost forget about fences, nobody will pay what it's worth. Check the local water districts too, Denver and Aurora for instance restrict you to 2 gpm machines, they catch you with anything more and be prepared to open your checkbook for fines. I'm not trying to discourage you just to prepare you, continue your research, and watch every penny, try not to get ahead of yourself on equipment that will be a capital killer. Good Luck, JD

Tim, Thanks for all the info, how do you think you do time wise compared to pressure washing? JD

I've got the Samsung A900, I like everything about it but the battery life, that just stinks.

Just did the one wall, 1qt 12.5%, 1/2 qt citracleen, 3.5 qts water, original xjet no proportioner.

I also put a squirt of Dawn in there, I let it dwell for about 5 minutes. I didn't seem to get much cling, do I need to add a foamer or maybe more dawn or something similar? JD

I'll get adding pictures one of these days.

I'm with James and Mike on this one. Of course there are some things you keep quiet about like prices. Otherwise what do you really have to worry about? You have much more to gain than lose, you said he was already offering advice, isn't that good? I always used to talk to my competition, and used most of them as subs, worked out real well for all of us. I guess you really need to ask yourself if you have some really big secret your afraid you'll give away, if not I'd call him. At 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon you blow a hose and don't have a spare, who you gonna call? We all need to try and stick together, there's enough money out there. JD

Jeff, Fantastic! Wishing you all the best! JD

Hey folks, been away for awhile I hope everyone is well! I have some old screens I want to try and clean up. I guess I'm gonna take them off, I have a 5/3500 cold water unit but no chems, except a little muriatic. Any suggestions? JD

That would be a min of $4 per sqft for me. That's not taking into consideration the PITA factor of using a shop vac to remove the water.

No I don't see a problem, and it certainly takes more to offend me. I can't express how fed up I am with all the PC crap! Am I the only one who finds fault with a society that endorses describing things as other than what they are? As each little bit of truth is chipped away things become unrecognizable. This is why people who are here illegaly are now only 'undocumented'. Not meant as a knock on you Dan but the whole PC subject drives me crazy!

I know plenty of guys who have embraced the 'south of the border' labor market. There are many who go back for the winter months and return in the spring to the same co year after year. If you have the work you can outpay the landscape co's and we usually only need one or two guys, they need entire crews. Just remember that good english speakers are at a premium and expect to pay accordingly. Most folks exposure to this is a local day labor 'pick up spot', or whatever you want to call it. These guys are generally not the cream of the crop, the best workers are working full time and don't have to look for work this way. Go to where they are; construction sites, etc and ask if they know anyone looking for steady work. In many cases you will end up with someone who can provide you with 'documentation' which is a bonus. The work ethic is usually there, but you have to pay for it.

Lance, The quality time is of course priceless, but do you realize you just gave yourself a raise? Innovation and efficiency put money in your pocket, great job!!

Just to clarify, an overlay, at least an Elite Crete overlay, would be sealed, and any price you are given on it would include that. Sorry for any confusion.

Had it in Colorado for years and never had a problem.