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Timo

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Posts posted by Timo


  1. Occasionally a customer will ask "do you do brick". I think they might actually be asking "could you give me a price that doesn't include the brick". My answer in the past has been that we clean everything, not only what you can see but we'll be killing the spores. Plus the cleaning solution on your eves will run down onto the brick and it will need rinsing anyway.

    Well, I have a small group of houses that I want to clean and I was asked this again by one of the residents. Now that I have electric pumps for chemicals I can clean more specific areas. I’m reconsidering my marketing approach for this neighborhood.

    Any suggestions?

    We charge the same to detail soffits and gutters on a brick house as we charge for a basic wash on vinyl. We've never been asked by a brick customer if their job would be a different price if it was vinyl.

    People buy what you sell them. Do not worry yourself about the price differences that the customers may not even think about.


  2. Make sure you're wearing steel toed gloves the first time you put the tailgate down and slam your hand Between the tailgate and the jack head.

    I admire, and am quite happy to work with, cobbled together crap. But that trailer scares the bejesus out of me in this application. If you never go over thirty five miles an hour. If you never hit a pot hole. If you never take it off the secondary roads. If you have all insurances paid up and are living right, you may get away with it for a little while.

    But please, for the sake of all that is holy, make plans ASAP to put that rather respectable looking array of equipment on a trailer with axle stubs that are bigger than your pinkie. That trailer can hurt someone.

    I do admire the progress you are making on your setup.

    P.S., The trailer jack is so far forward that you will probably not mash your hand, but the first time you put a jack shaped crater in the tailgate of that nice truck, you ain't gonna like yourself too much.

    Posted in love my friend.


  3. A good place to start would be to identify the product that you wish to purchase. The Sodium Hydroxide that you're asking about is some really nasty stuff in the wrong hands and should not be available in bulk at Home Depot.

    If you are asking about Sodium Hypochlorite, it is sold (in a slightly stronger than household bleach) in a product called outdoor bleach. Skip it. If you can't get your hands on 12%, consider Sams Club Chlorox using different ratios as mentioned above.


  4. You guys that give estimates over the phone and the client is not gonna be home when you do the work, what do you do when you show up to do the job and the house is in real bad shape oxidation like crazy??

    It'll be really oxidized when I leave. But clean. I try to do as many phone sales as possible. I usually follow the phone sale up with an emailed proposal which includes all the standard boiler plate language/disclaimers/warranty.


  5. Based only on the video, I suspect that the water penetrated under the bottom plate. Not through the wall, not through weep holes. Looking at 42 seconds in, it appears that the wall is on a slab, not overhanging the slab. As the water pools at the bottom of the wall, it seeps under the bottom plate.

    It is an abnormal situation because normally that wall would be detailed with a flashing behind the exterior wall surface (EIFS assumed) that would direct all water out away from the bottom or sole plate.


  6. Did any of you guy's have to become E.P.A. Lead paint certified ? I was just wondering if it was just a N.Y. law or all around the country. N.Y. state can fine you 37,000.00 per day if u get caught without bing certified. Guess it's worth the $300 course fee.

    It is federal law, with a few states administering themselves. I took it last year. Paying the $300.00 course fee is the easy part. Actually complying with the law and the paperwork requirements is the more time consuming part.


  7. Ok got a question for you downstreamers.

    I have been thinking of trying to DS but one problem that I think of right off is how do you rinse your flowers and shrubs off?

    I have a quick connect right on my gun and I just pop my wand off and hold my thumb partially over the end and rinse everything off, if I do that when downstreaming soap would start coming.

    Jay,

    I counted in my head how long it takes the soap to show up after switching to the soap tip. When the soap tip goes on, I rinse until I am just about to the point that soap is going to show up (about a 40 count with our current set up) and then I start washing.

    Our downstream mix is not at all like roof mix, so I doubt that we have to rinse as much as we do anyway.

    When I've got the first side or two soaped up, I'll switch to the rinse tip, counting to 40 again while I hit any spots that look like they could use another soaping, then start rinsing the plants on the next side to be soaped.

    Use good stainless couplers and plugs, we use motorcycle chain lube to make the tip switch easier.


  8. We did a roof clean this year with a fish pond.

    Had the normal conversation during the sales call, "We're not doctors, but our motto is, first, do no harm".

    Covered the pond with a blue tarp, then covered the plants, then bagged the downspouts.

    Used copius amounts of soap to help with cling/minimize run off.

    Got the roof treated, pulled back the tarps. Checked the bagged downspouts and found that the one right above the pond had overflowed.

    Nice strong stream of soapy solution rolling above grade, right into the little pond. Bubbles on the surface of the pond.

    My first thought, "there goes my Christmas bonus". Sweating like crazy, no floating fish visible, yet. Talked to the home owner (very nice lady).

    She was cool, not flustered at all.

    Then she told me that she had taken the fish out and put them in the community pond. They were getting old, and too big. She wanted them to live out their last days with plenty of room to swim and be free.

    "Thank you Jesus". Yes, I said it out loud. And meant it.

    She was waiting until we finished cleaning the roof and then she was

    going to clean the pond and get some new fish.

    She wrote the check and had the pond empty and the scrub brush out before we could finish packing up.

    Some days, living right really does pay off.

    And I never did ask what kind of fish they were. For all I know, they weren't even the expensive ones.

    post-4439-137772296887_thumb.jpg


  9. When someone calls wanting an estimate, i was wondering how you schedule the estimate. Meet with the home owner or just show up during the day. I AM LOOKING FOR THE VERBIAGE ON THIS ONE, not if you do one or the other.

    How do you answer the question "so do i have to be there" or better yet, how do you answer that question before they even ask it?

    Much Thanks, Joe

    I only insist on meeting the customers on the jobs that I intend/desire to sell.

    Scenario 1:

    me: "Sure, I can help you with that, I am going to be in your area later this week, what day works for you so that we can go over the project together so that I make sure that I understand what you want done?"

    We select a time that works for both of us.

    Results: 68% close rate for Aug/Sept. (The vast majority on the spot)

    Or: Scenario 2:

    them: "Just look at it and send/call/mail me a price"

    me: "My customer satisfaction is higher when I evaluate the project with the owner"

    If they still do not have time to meet, I will be happy to provide them a preliminary proposal by email after they email me pictures of what they want done.


  10. i am sure i saw this someplace but cannot find it. is there some place to get a wand that has more of an angle on it i do alot of mobile homes and would like to have more of a direct spray pattern rather than up. or maybe an idea how to make one?

    Bob has one listed on Pressure Tek. We used it this morning for flushing two story downspouts from the ground. It is an adjustable flexible pipe that holds its angle pretty well. Look for "McCauley's Spray Flex"


  11. Is this external by-pass line something that you can add to your machine or is it more of a special design on high end pumps or power washers. I'd like to add this feature to my machine if it can be done.

    Thanks!

    Yes, it can be added fairly easily to most commercial rated machines. Not so easily to those machines that have a built in unloader.

    Do you currently use a float tank for your machine? If so, you can plumb the bypass back to your float tank and waste no water at all.

    If you do not use a float tank, then you can dump to the ground, but that does not always create the appearance that you want to maintain.

    Post a picture of your unloader/pump and someone will be able to guide you through the process.


  12. Is that necessary? I would rather stay anonymous. You never know who may be reading what you post on here.

    Dave...

    All the more reason to think before you hit "Submit".

    Welcome to TGS Dave. There is an untold wealth of information and experience contained in this board. Many (I am but one) lurked and searched for a long time before ever posting. The administrators have exhibited a lot of patience with people trying to make their own rules. But I think that their tolerance for the scofflaws is just about gone.

    Again, Welcome, sit down, read awhile, post awhile and we'll all be the better for it.

    P.S. And if you wish, you could probably even get Beth to change your user name. Where I come from "new meat" is something open to attack and that won't happen here.

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