PressurePros

Is there something you didn't get, Terry? :lol:

That's a little harsh of a punishment. ;)

Nearly 1600 views.. what a train wreck!

I think I remember telling me something about twice boiled linseed oil not being a favorite of mold. Don't quote me on that.

You: One man show, no advertising Them: Multi crew, organized, tons of marketing. Match their price and you will absolutely go out of business. Find out where your customers are and direct market to them. Only 2 in 5 people buy based on price.

When I reviewed my numbers for house washing my closing ratio was good, but I knew it could be better. I was coming across some guys that were selling for cheaper. (not lowballing but selling a little cheaper than my average house wash). In getting to the bottom of that, I found that nobody was offering gutter scrubbing, polymer treatments, etc. So I could either include all of that and tell the customer I am $200 more but I add all this stuff or I could compete on an apples to apples scale. That's where the three pricing plans came into play. I can offer customers our minimum house wash for $450 that is no-frills and looks good. That allows people to directly compare me to my competition. Or I can lay out the available upgrades and let them choose the most popular plan which sells for a 30% upgrade in cost that includes the gutters, acid on the foundation, and a polymer shine and mold regrowth inhibitor. VALUE. Not only did my closing ratio go through the roof, my average billing rose while my CODB on a house wash fell. I've heard all the arguments on including gutter scrubbing. I agree that a house looks best when gutters are scrubbed. Which is why 95% of my customers opt-in for the upgrade. An Excellent Closer Which would you think is a more effective close? A) "Mrs Johnson, the cost for doing your house wash will be $595. How does that sound to you?" (keeping in mind the two other bidders were at $450) or B) "Mrs Johnson, here is your pricing for each level of service. Based on what we spoke about, which plan best fits your needs? Choice B works on an effective multiple choice/ assumptive close . Also keep in mind people naturally gravitate towards ditching the high and low end and settling in the middle. Guess where you should create the most profit margin?

Definitely, Rod. The part in the manual (if you will) about tarping has been removed because of the change in technique for deck staining. For my business model the technique has to be as foolproof as possible to keep up QC standards.

I posted this on another link about the weather. I figured I would break this out to a new thread and have a little fun. Enjoy! This was one of the more complex jobs this year so I was on the jobsite. Height, acyrylic stains, multi level, glass inserts, steps, benches, lots of sanding and brush work.. this one had it all. Preparing to get 'er clean. Testing out the new invisible harness from SafeTech. I dare you to find it! The first coat is down on the floor. Porch, 3rd story deck, gazebo and rails are done. Pierre cuts in under the rail system. A couple close-ups of the gazebo. We used a lighter color inside to accentuate the beauty of the cedar shingles. The second coat goes down on the floor. The after-shots of the whole deck and porch did not come out because of the sun. Here is the only one I could salvage along with some better shots of the way the color turned out. Beautiful if I do say so myself.

No. You run more hose. There is negligible pressure loss. Doesn't matter anyway. You clean decks with 1000 psi or less. There is a search function on this forum that will guide you in the use of proper chemicals, cleaners and pH balancing agents for wood.

Its part of the second tier pricing package if they want them scrubbed. When you go to a carwash you can get a wash and rinse or you can pay extra and get wheel cleaner, armor all for the tires, etc. People are used to that. I use multiple tier packages and let the customer choose. Empowering a cuistomer with decisions closes more sales. There is never a question if I am doing the job, only what package they choose.

A couple of reasons.. efficiency, looking professional. Pros use high flow machines that require large heavy pumps and big motors (20+ hp). There is no way you can move those around. It much more efficient, even if you have a smaller portable machine to just unwind a couple of hoses from a reel and get to work. This is an example of a professional machine. Diesel Fired 12 Volt Hot Water Burner System General Belt Drive Pump General Pulsar Unloader Valve with EZ Start 5.5 GPM @ 4000 PSI, 20 HP Honda Engine 50' High Pressure Hose with QC's Gun and Wand Assembly with QC's - 12 VOLT 5.5 GPM

Doug, like I mentioned.. not a real tech geek here. I am unfamiliar with that unloader. Why is it dropping your pressure? Is it adjustable? Did you set it with a tip rated for your gpm and pump's rated pressure?

Doug, I am not a tech guy but I am unsure as to why you would want to do that? They go bad often. They will also limit your flow. The only place (as far as I know) that you could shut it off would be to put a valve on the suction hose. I suppose you could rig an intricate T or Y setup to bypass it but at that point, I would just uncouple it and take it off line.

Call a lawyer. Call a lawyer. Call a lawyer. Oh yeah one other thing.. CALL A LAWYER. Once you make that call everything speeds up and neither insurance company is allowed to talk to you. Your whole business is based upon the ability to perform physical work. Like John mentioned, many times problems arise a year down the road. This guy was negligent and admitted to it. "I have bad knees". How well would it hold up in court if one of us put a lance through a window and as a defense said, "I could control it with my bad shoulder"?

I'm pretty good at reading through run on sentences, bad grammar, hyperactive speech and bad spelling. What I cannot read through is a person's emotion stability or lack of it. One minute you are humbling yourself, the next you are talking in complete riddles and biting the hands that are feeding you. What the heck does the ***** have to do with your rants? Time to close this thread and let you move on. Good luck knockin' 'em dead with your superior business acumen.

Its definitely about technique, I agree. We saturate rails to the point of dripping along with rapid backbrushing. Baker's is a very quick and deep penetrating sealer. My rule of thumb is not to skim on sealer.. give the wood as much oil as it can take. Ultimately, the rails could be two coated to avoid that dripping. That is more time consuming and has negligible visible results versus the one heavy coat (on rails). I knew I was wasting stain early on with this technique by letting a tarp catch the extra. This is why I changed technique to staining the floor first. Flash drying and pigment concentrating is eliminated so we no longer tarp. The stain that hits the floor is then brushed out to even the coating on the floor that will not be hit when the floor is given its final finish via 18" brush.

Call a doctor (and a lawyer) about that neck pain you are having.

Beth you can stain a rail system, with nothing to catch drips or runoff and not get any on the floor? Put me on the list to buy that manual as soon as you get it to print!

The only time a dilution would be that high would be on stucco. I've X-jet'd straight 12% onto nasty stucco. We downstream for vinyl cleaning. Some guys still use the X-Jet but I think more out of habit more than anything.

Chemical ratio. The X-Jet gives the most potent. With that being said, plain old downstreaming works 95% of the time.

Beth, with Baker's you have to apply heavy. It is impossible to not drip as it has very low viscosity. It also tends to flash dry on a hot deck. I've eliminated the issue by doing the deck floors first but we use to just throw down a tarp. Most guys will do rails and then just brush out underneath (or cut them in). That's okay if you are not in direct sun or are very fast.

Oh okay, now that I am looking at it again.. sorry about that. Now I am going to critique you a bit. You have lap lines under your rails. If you do your rails first, you have to mask the floor. Did you use one coat or two on the horizontals?

Mark, get yourself a copy of E-Myth and read it. There is a term the author uses called a technician. We all have that tinkerer in us and there is nothing wrong with the instinct. Where it can become an issue is spending time reinventing the wheel. there have been many attempts to copy the X-Jet but none have come close. Its a perfectly engineered product.

I think that is just cleaned, yes? That is the tone I look for after washing.. not too bleached out. Nice job.

Rick, watch out for those little gremlins that hide under decks. They took a bite out of your shoe. :D Cabot's makes a stripper that is very good but also very expensive. I believe it runs in the $25 per gallon range with a coverage rate of about 100 s.f/gallon. It also comes with the post strip pH balancing agent. Honestly, a strip job can be performed painlessly and for relatively little expense by a professional. That may be the way to go on the prep, then you can sand and stain yourself. All of us wood professionals have at one time or another been burned by stripper, killed a plant with it, or caused problems with oxidized siding until we had more experience working with chemicals. Hire a pro.