PressurePros

Beth, I'm not saying don't watch your costs, thats more of a given "duh". Economic indicators will tell you nothing about your lead and/or close rates. Your real world actual lead/close rates are the only things that tell you your story. As per certain indicators, the economy is down yet I will have my best April ever. I keep raising prices, minimum job, etc.. people still won't stop saying yes. So I do nothing but continue the path of what my budget dictates in terms of advertising and purchases. "Indicators" haven't told me anything. We're selling barbecues and curb appeal not SUV's or real estate. It still comes down to raising prices.. period. If my close ratio starts to fall because I cross a pricing threshold, I just increase my advertising to compensate. I know what it costs to acquire a customer and have accurate ROI projections on very method of marketing I use. One can equalize economic downturns and stay profitable. This type of economy is a blessing to business owners. It forces us to become like Roger mentioned.. much more streamlined and efficient. Keep in mind there is a diminishing return on that path. There is only so much slashing of project time and material cost you can perform before you plateau. Then what? Everything is going up.. why should we try to hold prices? Things cost what they cost. Choose your customers wisely by performing target marketing, sell benefits and customer experience over a pressure washing job and you don't have to worry about the economy other than streamlining your internal operation (which one should be always be doing anyway). Fuel costs are at most 2% of my gross sales. If they rise 50% this year, my operational expense rises by 1%. I'll raise my prices 2% to keep my margins constant. I'm not going to lose any customers over a raise of $20. My customer database is not going to balk or have to cancel family vacations or eat Ramen noodles because I am taking $20 more from them. They are not going to cancel their service or hire a lowballer. I took 3 jobs from my competitors (Rolling Suds, Mr Powerwash and Gallagher's PW) yesterday and I was at least 30% higher than their estimates. People don't shop on price anywhere near as much as many business owners would have you believe.

Rod you bring up a good point about estimates being where the money spent on fuel is not as easy to recover, but, coming from Dan's perspective.. it is. You have to raise prices across the board. Giving estimates is a part of doing business so you either charge for them (which I may start doing to slow things down some) or you factor them into your operational expenses. Do I care about the cost of gas? No. There is nothing I can do about it. I try to make smart decisions to not negatively affect the ecology of the planet.

My days staining on my hands and knees are over. That's a new guy in training. Kevin, watch it hombre. CA isn't far enough away for me to not jump on a plane and put my foot in your rear end ;)

Somebody's gotta do it.

Hey John, great to see you over here. Another way I cut some recurring costs this year.. bartering. Two house washes got me 100 silk screened, double sided, 4 color, Hanes Beefy T's and 2 inspections and 4 oil changes.

Russ and Celeste, thank you both very much.

Mornin' Rick.. 80% of our strip jobs are down via downstreaming. With the right chems and equipment setup, it works. When I update you on Monday for the other thing, I'll share what works for us. The only thing downstreamed chem doesn't work well on is solids and heavy acrylic/alkyd blends.

Rick, TheProSealerStore has a decent downstreamable (if that's a word) that we have been playing with. If you are not setup for downstreaming, a little eb (butyl) boosts sodium hydroxide strippers nicely.

I'm sure most of you have your own leads coming in this time of year. I am getting swamped with residential leads. If you are interested in any leads from these states join the Kentractor Network (just teasing, Ron). Seriously if you have a year under your belt and run a legitimate show (I will check) please contact me, especially if you are in the Philly and 5 county area.

Hell no, that doesn't work for me. I am working on efficiency but there is definitely something holding us back.. probably me. I am anal about details and I think it is slowing everyone down. If you guys have some ideas to help, I'd gladly shoot down there and take a tour with Rod. I added a 10 gpm machine this season, that may help. In fact I am probably going to order two more as it is working out very well.

Would you think more or less? Each crew averages about $800 per day. I figure between 375-400. Broke 300 last year with three crews running. We also had near perfect weather last year.

Scott, I only run 4 crews and will probably be lucky to break $400,000 this year in gross sales. If that number hits a million+, I will probably still buy used vehicles and I'll tell you why. Its not about being established, its about down time here in the northeast. In Arizona and in commercial work, you guys work year round. I shut down operations from mid November until the second week of April. If I had four new trucks I would be making payments on them for 5 months when they sat and earned nothing. That would be approx $8,000 out of pocket for vehicles doing nothing. If I were to buy them outright that would tax my company cash flow even worse. Again five months of down time paying vehicle loans would be equivalent to buying a ton of inventory and sitting on it. I can use that money to advertise and create 20 times the revenue I would be paying in interest payments on a loan. I prefer the mid route and purchase outright something that has already had majority depreciation. Yes there are tax benefits in terms of new vehicle depreciation, but they aren't nearly as much as the actual real world $$ depreciation on a vehicle when viewed as an asset on your P&L. I think many get hung up on he word "used". Not talking about some Sandford and Son P.O.S. that you have to roll down a hill and drop the clutch to get running. I'm talking a four year old vehicle that has 45K miles on it. I use vehicles even older than that. They look great and they are maintained. I have zero down time other than oil changes and inspections. I do understand that statistically I have a greater chance of one of my vehicles breaking down but those stats do not translate into a small business like mine. Now if I ran 30 trucks that all needed constant duty, I may be playing against the odds. Another factor for me is that my trucks all travel within a 15 mile radius. The vehicles are not taxed with excessive miles. Add in that we use massive amounts of sodium hypochlorite, caustics, acids and oil based stains and the insides of the vehicles get beat up quickly. This is why I don't lease. These are the things that make my decision sound for my business model. Each owner will have his/her own set of criteria upon which to make a decision. Employees: I pay my crew leaders $18 per hour and their helpers get $11. I pay my operations manager $42,000 per year. The crew leaders have valid driver's licenses, get drug tested, fill out all paper work, meet and greet customers, keep truck inventory, and log everything. Most of these are school teachers, off-duty cops, firemen etc. The other half of the crew comes from further down the labor pool. Outstanding warrants, no vehicle, no license, etc. They are interviewed and screened but with less of a discerning eye. They roll up hoses, keep grounds wet, haul equipment, etc. I think they are paid very well for their skillset. Equipment: I wholeheartedly agree about being very wary of buying used equipment. The stuff we use is too fragile and there is no way to know how rough that 500, 1000 or whatever hours was on the equipment you plan to purchase. I think I mentioned this a couple of years ago on here and some people scoffed. Michael mentioned a great point about raising prices. Though to me, a combination of both raising revenue and cutting costs is where all business owners should lead themselves. Advertising is the key to ROI for a business. Not only should one do it, but they should track meticulosly where leads are coming from. This is how a new business can go from spending 25% per year on advertising to under ten percent once they get established. Which leads me to one of the greatest cost cutting techniques which I failed to mention. Stay in contact with your customer base. You will be blown away by how much repeat business and referrals will come your way. If you are pricing and selling right, the referrals you receive will be more high quality customers. I believe not staying in touch with past customers is what many companies give away as the single greatest gift of being in business for 5+ years.

Hi Mary, We do have a homeowner section located here: DIY'ers - Ask The Pro's - Pressure Washing and Contractor Cleaning Forums - The Grime Scene This section is primarily for contractor discussion. With that being said, welcome to the board. The person whom you hired use high pressure on your siding. That is an absolute no-no among true professionals. Unfortunately there are many companies out there that are little more than vandals. If you post some clear digital pictures we may be able to assess the extent of the damage. As an alternative, there are probably some TGS members located in your region that can perhaps help you along. Unfortunately the damage, if it is extensive enough, may be irreversible. Was this company licensed and insured? Have you tried calling them back?

• Purchase used vehicles outright. • Don't buy more equipment than you need. • Refine your advertising to what works. Do this by tracking results. Don't fall for every form of advertisment that comes down the pike. • What Celeste mentioned about routing • Pay one crew leader well, his/her helper substantially less. • Buy in bulk • Systemize your operational techniques to be as efficient as is possible.

LOL, the blind leading the blind. You guys need to stick to concrete. Scott, that is a nightmare job most guys would run from. You can plan on three or four trips and a ton of sanding to try and get paint off of a deck. Your better bet may be to scrape off the loose stuff, apply some bleach and TSP, coat it with an oil based primer such as Cabot's Problem Solver and then do a topcoat (or two) with a latex solid stain. Its actually a high ticket item now matter how you do it but I understand you are not doing this one for profit. Just wanted to give you a heads up as to what you are getting into. Any chance of posting up some pics of it?

"The voice mail of the person whom you are trying to reach is full." Another year.. nothing changes. Many of you know whom I am talking about. If it weren't sad, it would be almost comical.

Bleach (especially with a caustic builder added) will strip a deck.

Contact me via pm please

Rick, do you think sodium percarb would be a better choice? I've never done this and would be hesitant to exacerbate the problem. Stains will definitely pit and brown leaves but those are products that also contain VOC's. Not sure about RS.

Dan, add butyl. You can get 10 oz HD-80 per gallon in very warm water.

Hey Tony, Jarrod Grumblatt (Mobile Pressure Wash) and Scott Paul (OPW decks) are in that area and both are members here as well as have more experience than either of them probably cares to admit.

Congratulations, Dan. You just met your first repeat customer that will refer business to you for years. Good job on doing the right thing. Try to continuously get your focus away from products, lowballers and what others are doing and focus on the people. Its a guaranteed formula for success.

Discount if customer asks for it because we are using their water: $4 Upcharge if customer demands we bring water: $150 That usually solves that issue.

Pete, Baker's won't hold up on ipe (you'll be lucky to get thee months from it). WoodTux is very quick to start curing, you just aren't used to it. The quick cure is exactly what you want on ipe since any type of penetrating oil will go in and come right back out. Deep penetrating oils are fighting the natural characteristics/density of the wood. I agree with Beth, the look has nothing to do with finish longevity. You are not used to working with ipe. It is not the same as doing other woods. I price in wiping every board. Whatever has not penetrated in 5-10 minutes is not going to penetrate. Wiping the excess prevents a surface film which can leave you with shiny spots. Fot what its worth, i think what you have stained thus far looks great. One last thought: Be careful what you parlay to the customer. They will follow your lead. If you start showing doubt their confidence will falter and you will have a harder time a) convincing them you know what you are doing and b) accepting the final results. PS: I would never use an Osborne on ipe. It will leave too many scratches.

Hello Nick.. welcome over to TGS An experienced woodie would have recognized that there is no ventilation under that deck. No ventilation and a solid = peeling mess. Nick do a test with that stripper. I think you have a 50% chance you are looking at a nightmare with multiple strips and lots of sanding.