Proclean

Can't resist. OK. The left side of the 1 year old Ipe board has been sanded. The right side is weathered for 1 year. The top of the left hand side has been sanded & stained. The lower left hand side has just been sanded. Look at the right hand side. Who would spend 20K plus to say wait 1 year and we'll make your deck deck new. I sell my decks on looks and how I can make them always look great. I will only comment on this thread is that my customer wants the best looking deck from day one. Maybe instead of being the "expert" listen to what the customer want and expects. Paul

I'll thow in my .02 since you are in Atlanta. I'll also agree with what has already been said. "Are we pricing too high for this area?" No. you are pricing to low. Forget about linear feet, stories or etc. The company has to make money everyday. What is your customer base? 100k condos or multi million dollar homes. It is your job to educate the customer what you are going to do and what materials you are going to use. I could post many examples of this, but the customer is so confused about pricing and not understanding the work to be performed other than "pressure wash the house." I've been hired and home owners have told me that they wouldn't let the other contractor sweep the driveway. "If you are looking for the cheapest price, then I am not the contractor for you." I'll also throw in a very powerful sales/marketing tool. Always include in your quote "100% satisfaction quaranteed" Those words alone will seperate you from your $125's. Read the board. Ken has posted a lot of info on this subject. In my market, I wouldn't touch a house for less than $325. I'm running a business, not extra money on the weekends.

Winter is really hanging on, but here is a project the guys finished today. I'm going by next week and take some pictures after the landscape is done. The bottom deck alone is about 1000 sqft on the floor. This pic is done about mid day. This job from start to finish is 2 days.

Thanks Guys/Gals. The whole thing is sealed now. Landscape is going in the beginning of next week. I'll post a pic after the whole job is complete.

Just got back tonight after 3 days in Orlando. Great Expo & Seminars. Great to see old friends. You Thompson's guys can be proud. Great looking booth with 2 flat panels. Weather was perfect.

Hey, when the weather gets cold you have to stain inside:). I don't post much but I thought some might like this. This a privacy wall that is going on a new deck. This is part of the job. It is great to stain under a controlled situation then move it to the job site. You see the new wall section compared to the stained sections Color is Brown sugar. Short story is I had to do the staining myself:lgsad:

Check this out. This all happened in a 1 week period last summer. Ken, the bottom step was my treatment and solution. If I told you what I did, I would have to kill you. I know you are too nice of a guy to do that. I can say that bleach did not work. You'll have to wait and buy my book on wood restoration to find the answer:) I will only post my solution if Jim's answer will work on my test board. Batter Up.

Yeah Ken, another great post. It would be a great round table for us to discuss our business models and how we all take care of and find customers. Take for example what someone uses for stain. If that is what you use, great. Next topic. I also believe that customer satisfaction is the key. I started out just like anyone else. Right now I am having a hard time turning down business and have implimented a "deck assesment fee" to help weed out people. Other contractors in Atlanta are doing this. You hit the nail on the head as far as new customers. By year 3 you should have enough referrals and old customers for it to be a great year without any marketing. Disclaimer: Now in some areas this may not work. Again, great post.

Ken, That is what I started seeing on Siberain Larch about 1 1/2 years ago. Look at this pic. It starts with those small specs and turns to this in less than 1 year. This wood comes from Russia. Give me a call.

It is only Wednesday and these pics show Brown Sugar on Cedar and PTP thus far this week. You can't see the Ipe floor on the painted deck. Painted & stained. Another 5K sq. feet for Thurs & Fri.

Wow, what a thread. Just got back after a couple of days off. Guys still working though. Look at the thread from last week called garapa. That is Brown Sugar on cedar, PTP and garapa.

I thought I would share these pics. Garapa will always have one side with the "hump" marks. Not 100% of Garapa will have the marks, but it should. The second pic is a little white washed due to the camera angle. It is more of a "light" wood and takes color very well. Deck/ceiling is all WTW Brown Sugar.

Kevin, You are right on. AND remeber this: IT IS A FENCE. Here in Atl it is about $15 a lin foot for a 6 foot high cedar. With the right tools you can knock out some fence. Priced per square foot will kill you in my opion.

BigMan, Give me a call. I can give you prices of what is going on in the Atlanta market. Do you still have my cell #? WTW works great on fences.

You guys know I don't post my decks often, but check out this new little deck. I'm going to get you log cabin guys one day. The screens have been taken out on the far side. Holiday weekend - yeah right. 2 more decks before Tuesday. We will knock out this deck in 2 days.

Yaz, Strip & Seal. Cedar, PTP, T111 and Trex. Cabots oil Cedar goes on. My life revolves around what my workers want to do. They are my life blood & if they want to work weekends, they let me know. They also remember the winter time when we ONLY do 8-10 decks a month (which is Jan-Feb).

Rick, Days off? What does that mean? We have been going since Feb. No end in sight. Turning down customers at this point. It is hard to do. We are pretty much done for new customers for the year.

Oops. Jatoba.

Rick, Thanks for the response. I really appreciate contractors trying to improve the work. Tell me what you are looking for as far as results in hardwoods. I can show you maintenance decks and new decks. We are doing these every day. I don't want to even go over the "old" stain from ESI. The offer still stands on Ipe, Jotoba, etc. Put your product of choice and see what you like. You'll only be out the cost of shipping for the boards.

Hi Rick, I will have to comment at my demise. Let me say that hardwoods are my specialty. Define that – 250K square feet this year. Almost 1 million square feet in maintenance. Don’t believe me, come hang out for a week. To try and define color samples for a home owner is almost useless. The reason is because of the color variance in the hardwood. I show customers the example of the “red” vs the “light color.” Most of the time I explain, “ This is the color.” Even if you tell the customer the color, the finial outcome will not look the same. I could on & on. Attached is a pic from a deck from 2 weeks ago. 2500 square feet all done in 1 day. Ipe floor & Cedar handrail. If RS works for your application, great. I will advise you to look at other products. I am willing to send you sample hardwood boards to play with if you pay for freight.

Larry, I respect your comment and only respond to newbies on the board. Depending on the stain you choose, rinising may or may not be an issue. Most stain manufactors recommend rinising the brightner off the deck. I know how Rod likes to get into the chemical part of what is going on, so maybe he will drop in. Rinsing is an important step. You strip, but do not brighten. Please share with us what stain is your main product. Also, your statement that "you cannot be convinced" is not a very encourging statement. By that I mean, we all learn and grow as companies and I myself am always interested in new ideas. You can conviece me, I just need the proof. Please listen to what others are doing and making the business's grow. Originally Posted by CarolinaProWash Hmmm....isn't that a whole different debate waiting to happen??? What's to debate? As I said...I NEVER have rinsed brightener (not even once), and I have NEVER EVER had an issue related to it. Rinse if you feel it benefits you, but I can't be convinced. If you have horror stories related to that issue, we must be using different strippers (or concentrations), or different neutralizers (or concentrations). To each his own.

I'm with Celeste. No rinse??? I'm not going to touch this with a 100(000) foot pole.

For some that may start seeing this wood. This is Jatoba. Brazillian Cherry. Cleaned, washed and ready for stain. Red without question. Ipe was/is the main, but new hardwoods are coming. Tiger wood and Garapa decks are next.

Hey If you are serious please give me a call. I have moved on. This is a hot water unit @ 5.8 GPM. About 300 hours on the unit. Anyone can have this unit for a lot less than 7K. Call me. 770-428-2101 FOB Atlanta, GA.

In answer to the thread. Yes. It has been difficult training 2 new employees because of this. Not to be on the job site all day and then showing up at the end to collect the pay check was scary. Are there sometimes problems? Yes. However by myself not being on the job for the most part of the day I can generate more business. I did print this out. Thanks. Maybe we should start another thread on our favorite books and why they have helped us.