PressurePros

The recent questions about going full time, slowing business trends, and mentions of The "E" Myth have spawned this post. I already know its not going to be short, so grab a beer and come back. There are questions you need to ask yourself daily. • Did I start this business for the right reasons? • Did I develop a sound business plan that promoted growth? • Am I sticking to that plan? • Am I enjoying this business or am I consumed by it? Did I start this business for the right reasons? Did you really look at the statistics of business failure rate? Of one thousand Grime Scene members with less than two years on their belt, 40 potentialy will remain in business in ten years. Nine hundred and sixty of you are going to fail ! (I just made a quick sign of the cross for discluding myself) These numbers reflect a national business average. I am willing to bet this profession has an even higher turnover rate. Obviously no one goes into business to fail, but poor planning and undercapitalization are insidious destroyers of a business. What lured you in? Was it the promise of ditching the boss and working for yourself? Was it the promise of making $100/hr? Did it just look easy and like something you would enjoy? These all can play a role in getting you off the pot and making something happen but if any of those are your real reason for starting, all you really did was start your business with one foot in the grave with your other foot on a banana peel. Did I develop a sound business plan that promoted growth? Business plans are obviously crucial. Don't have one? I think you know which corner I am going to point you to. Please go stand with the other 960 candidates. If you have a business plan in your head and 'wing it' as you go. Take one step closer to that morgue-bound crowd. If you do everything you can and project profit by taking "whats left over".. shake hands with the corpse next to you. If you plan on staying laborer, salesman, estimator, bookeeper and secretary.. there is an empty table in the autopsy room with your name on it. Of course, initially, you will have to be all these things but try sustaining that frenetic pace for a long period..won't happen. Did you buy yourself a job? I hear many guys saying its fine to start off with a 2 gpm machine and a shoestring budget. These guys are the classic "technician" (Gerber's term). They work their ****** off for mediocre pay and are worried about "screwing" people. They are classically the nicest guys you wanna meet and they work til they drop. They undersell themselves on profit, defy F.M.V of service, may have one helper and have no plans of growing beyond a comfort zone. I am willing to bet that almost all of these same guys that give the low budget advice are still working in the field eeking out a decent living but not going anywhere (some are happy with that) If I wanted comfort and stagnation I would have stayed in the corporate world. I am not trying to be mean or judge the way anyone runs their business. My goal is to make you ask yourself.. am I a business entrepreneur or a job owner? Entrepreuners continually seek and execute new ways to make more profit. Job owners put their time in, make their living and are uninterested in growth. The problem with a job owner is, all his eggs are in one comfortable basket. If his market sours, his business and liveliehood are in major jeopardy.. Am I sticking to the plan? Are you faithful to the plans you have set? Do you stick to budgets or does the emotional excitement of building a new rig become your controlling source? Does your marketing effort jump haphazardly? Have you faced your weaknesses (mine is paperwork) and set about a plan to compensate for this? A bad salesman will never become a good salesman without guidance. Have you sought that guidance yet? Have you really achieved each level of growth upon which you planned? At the same time are you dynamic enough to respond to changing markets? Can you weather adversity or again, are all your eggs in what you think is a comfortable basket? Am I enjoying this business or Am I consumed by it? Ahh, this one hurts. Business excites me. Sales excites me. Negotiations. Maneuvers. Markets. Numbers. Analysis. Marketing campaigns.. blah blah blah. If you want to talk any of these with me be prepared for long conversation. Sometimes it is hard for me to separate myself because business ownership does not stop at 5 pm every day. I love it. Its probably an addiction becuase it is a constant source of adrenaline. I also face the fact that at the pace I am going right now, I am facing problems that can spiral quickly. I have tried to pull from field work. I have allotted more time with my children and Christine. Though I am enjoying what I am doing and it is for the benfit of my children and personal retirement, knowing when to unplug is the last crucial element of being a successful business owner. This is the one upon which I have to work harder.

Kevin, your whole arguement goes out the window when you get 20 rainy days in a season that will throw off your schedule. Can Olympic be used on a moist deck? You can't really come up with empiracal data based upon one job and then plug those numbers into perfect world scenario. Wait until you have to get into completing 7-10+ decks per week. I am not going to use Wood Tux on my decks anymore. To reconsider I will have to see one year of straight up product consistency and distribution. I'm going to take the road less traveled this year with a new product.

Scott.... 10 9 8 7.... :sinister:

You'l get far less room to play around on here, Joe. But starting fresh.. welcome to the board.

Doug..Huh? They are not an insuance company, they are an agency. Why are you opposed to them charging you a fee? How do you think they generate profit?

Kevin, I don't mind the dissention. You make a good point. Perhaps a better word for me to use generically is adhesion. You already touched on the topic so we may not be that far apart in our thinking. Let me give you my point of view. High numeric, fine grit papers clog very easily on exterior surfaces. The rate of friction between fine paper and wood starts lower to begin with. Fine paper creates more heat. I have found when not properly sanded (paper changed often, proper rpm, broad movement pattern) you can indeed create a glaze by heating the sugars and oils in the wood. This, in my experience creates both adhesion and absorption issues. You are much more adept at explaining the science. You can probably help me understand this phenomenon better. I only know what I see and experience. I will tell you one thing.. 60 grit paper creates a plenty smooth surface but at the same time, it is lousy at removing stubborn stain spots. Again experience here, no science. If we are talking about exterior staining products that will not have a urethane protective coat like a hardwood floor or a piece of furniture will have, adhesion is paramount when working with a thorough curing product. If you use products that film (which is everything except those made with 100% mineral oil), using fine paper will affect your finish life. So I stand by my original recommendation to not use too fine of a grit of paper and stand corrected on my use of the word absorption with the exception of the caveats of heat generation mentioned above. The bottom line is, fine sandpaper used for this application is not only futile, it will affect the finish life of any product that cures.. which is everything except those made with 100% mineral oil.

I'd probably spot sand but a couple of notes to keep in the back of your mind. • Removing stain/sealer with any type of efficiency requires very low (numerically) grit paper. Anything higher than 32 is very slow. There is never really any need to go higher than 60 even for final finish. It affects the absorption of many staining products. • The other side of the coin is that if you are spot sanding aggressively enough (ie removing finish) you are likely to create hotspots that will be noticeable even when you apply a finish.

still in business, Mike?

Sounds good, Rick. I am off to Michigan for a round table this weekend so I won't be getting out to Tom's.

Too much atomization with high pressure airless. Take the opportunity to go with a volume pump like Rick mentioned. Rick, welcome out of hibernation!

x3 on the DSing of NaOH

Little under five gallons Randy. You wouldn't have any problem topping off with more water to fill a pail to the top.

Any injector works fine with up to 200 ft of hose. Get yourself a gun made for use with high volume machines (12gpm+). I've used Simple Cherry at 2 scoops in a gallon of warm water plus 3.5 gallons of 12.5% plus to remove nasty buildup on vinyl with no problems. Polish up your X-Jet.. it makes a pretty paperweight. I'm teasing, the X-Jet is still important in a professional arsenal for stucco or laying down chems on concrete. For vinyl though.. waste of time and chemicals.

Check the furniture for sale section on Craigs List.

I came across his website the other day in a search. Chris $450 is right where you want to be in Florida. I get $600-$1000 for a house that size in my area. I know guys from this board, Chris, whom would argue that nobody could get $450 for a housewash in Florida. Thank you for proving what I already knew to be untrue.

Dan, I cannot answer your question becuase I have never experienced one. Now a large portion of that reasoning is because I wasn't around doing this in the 80's and 90's. Every product I have tried from RS to WT to all the commercial offerings have had deficiencies. It also depends upon whom you ask. Being able to stay on schedule (ie apply to wet wood) is more important to me than having ease of use. But yet, ease of use is a factor because people other than myself are applying it and I need some implement of quality control built into the product. I'm sure you see where I am going with this train of thought. Perhaps a more relevant question to toss into this mix would be "What are contractors willing to pay for a near perfect product?". I don't doubt that Cabot's or SW could make an awesome product for us to use but could I afford to use it? The VOC restrictions and our need for an oil/alkyd formula sets a high bar for the major manufacturers. There is going to be trade-off of some criteria. There has to be. I cannot afford to use a $60 per gallon product. If I came up, via a coatings chemist, what I considered a "perfect" formulation, is that product going to be perfect for everyone? I'm not trying to steal or hijack your thread here, Dan but maybe if some woodies could make a list of what is most important to them in a staining product, someone can move forward and make something we need as contractors. Here is my dream product: 1. Oil/alkyd based 2. Thorough curing to lock in fungicide 3. Wet wood friendly 4. A two year duration on horizontal surfaces without absolute product failure. 5. Maintenance friendly 6. An even finish that makes customers happy they hired a pro.

That's a typical driveway after a PressurePros house wash. KIDDING! So, Ron, since this was four years ago, what was the outcome? Did you "steal" the account?

Kevin ! Great post. You too, Dan. You two truly understand far more than 99% of the stuff I have read on BBS's about coatings. What kills formulas for me is the acylics that are added into the coatings. (They are) not maintenance friendly. Dan, you are right about the resin formulas that end up in VOC compliant stains being expensive. One thing I have been schooled about is the intercoat adhesion capablility of a product..not only how well does the product bond with the wood but how does it bond with itself.

Behr is the leader in water borne/alkyd hybrids and they are usually a nightmare to strip. I'm with Chaz.. Have yet to meet a waterborne I didn't hate. Then again, this is Water Orne stain.. Good observation on the lumber jack. I don't equte them with preservation, no. On a side note.. Has anybody seen the new show on the History channel (on demand) called Axe Men? I like watching the reality shows made for guys to watch. I got hooked on Deadliest Catch. This show is the same premise only with 4 or 5 logging companies in the mountains of Oregon.

If it has mold on it, its oxidized. Bleach can cause the pigment/paint to run off leaving very streaky aluminum. You can use a caustic to remove the oxidation but depending upon the condition of the siding you could clean it to bare metal. (that would be bad) Alum siding can be a delicate clean using a weak bleach solution (if you downstream 6% that is very weak) and some car washsoap and be fairly simple to a two step cleaning process starting with acid that you should charge three times as much for. Like Jeff said, you have to know how to evaluate the work. Make sure your insurance prmemiums are paid up just in case.

Anyone interested? You must bid and sell. Products are spec'd into job.

No products have been purchased yet, Beth. I'm not a stickler on that stuff. Out of respect for a free lead generated from my RAD website I would hope someone would do the right thing. The customer wants to use the RAD/Zotic line. If someone decides they are going to do their own thing I am not going to raise a stink about it. It would probably be the last time that contractor got a lead though.

This is a contact lead. No charge for the lead but the contractor will have to do his/her usual dog and pony show to sell the customer with their own pricing structure.

Did you look at the label? Under what category does Water ORNE fall under?

Cor-rect.. As per customer request. This is a Restore-A-Deck lead.