Chappy

My point exactly. Of course I was joking. Im not so sure that Dan is though.

I got one of those too! My wife was so thrilled she wanted it for her car. I want to use the scanner on my phone to send in comments. What I don't get is of the 771 hits on me. Only 50some clikked through for directions, and no One actually came by. I am really dissapointed in that. I like visitors!

Today I checked on an estimate I gave for some paver sealing. besides the fact the customer was having sticker shock, (I hear that a lot) he said his 3 estimates were with in $5 of each other!! Ive been preaching to every sealing contractor I see about how they can get higher prices, and it must be paying off. Now that everyone is pricing properly, I can go undercut everyone.:sinister: Haha!

Actually, I am a pretty good salesman and do well overcoming objections IF THEY GIVE ME them. Lately I have been trying to go over objections before they come up, sticker shock is a tough one. More often than not they just find a cheaper alternative and dont say anything to me about price. Paver sealing prices are all over the board here. I have a new deck competitor that is almost exactly half price. Roof cleaning prices are rediculous! I sell my self, my service and my reputation and if I dont get it because of price, I move on. Your right Full Blast. It is often who they like the best. I try to be that guy.

Picture is attached. Sorry couldnt get it in body of post. Fantastic. Greg sends along this DIY FYI: "Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever.Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard." untitled.bmp

This is the deck in the Bahamas I did maintenance on last week. Wood Tux cleaned with EFC38 then re sealed with wood tux. I sanded most boards to try to even out the look, and I added just a little tint to it this time.

Im going to get my wife to get her passport. Just in case the owner asks if she wants to come along. SHe would love a couple days of solitude.

Dan, Im still out on WT. The application is iffy as I still get the shiny spots in IPE and PT wood. I dont get any of that with AC no matter how much I apply. After the EFC cleaning, I sanded every board with a RO sander with 60 Grit and then with a pole sander, and still got shiny spots and uneven penetration (see pic below.) I went sparingly with application,only using aprox 5 gallons on over 3000sf, and dry padded it before dry. The other problem was mildew spots. Only a couple in very shady areas, but as bad as the last PT Deck was with mildew I was really concerned and hit them heavy with EFC, no access to bleach there. Ive got some sample board with Ready seal to see how they look after a year and Im not sure I will use WT again on it. Im going to talk to some of the IPE experts and see if there is any thing I should do differently before I decide.

THis is where I spent my week.

Oh yeah, Its about to snow here in pinellas, so I wont have another deck until at least January 1st. Yeah, I know Im rubbing it in, but I cant help myself!:lildevil:

I also sealed the pavers while there. THey are still wet in the pics.

and full moon rise on the other side of the beach

now heres a good pic. Sunset on one side....

has its ups, but still mostly down.

i cant see any org. ever working. One of the things that lead someone to start a company is ego. And egos will always get in the way of an organization. Please dont take that personally, anyone. I am not pointing a finger. Im just saying that Ive watched two orgs. One fail and the next begin to fail. Hopefully the egos will take a back seat and allow common sense to drive, but Ill wait and see. I think the round tables are great, but even with something so small and easy, I have seen the egos come to the forefront and almost waste a good thing.

I love you too, Dan.

WHats the difference btwn a random orbital and a palm sander. What does everyone like best?

Gotta love it when that happens! I dont know how many times Ive done a test spot, on what I thought would be the worst and hardest spot and gone to the job only to find there was another layer underneath of something worse.

Heres a deck I did in Seminole Heights, Tampa last month. Stripped Behr, stained with AC Sequioa

New dock sealing in St. Petersburg, FL This was only 1 year old and already feathering and checking. Cleaned with Restore and sealed with AC Mountain Cedar

Here is a deck I finished in Tampa last week. Stripped the rails of some left over stain and cleaned the entire deck with Restore Stain is AC Sequoia

I hate it when I cant even vote for myself 'cause other entries were so much better than my own. That was an awsome job!

you didnt do the pergola?

some people are just bizarre