PressurePros

Here is the deal. I don't consider myself a marketing guru, a master salesman or doing things that much better than the next successful guy. When I read condescending lines of "some guys just don't get it" or snide little asides from one man shows it raises the fur, ya know? Christine has been on my tail all day so being in a bad mood to start did not help things. At least the Eagles showed some life today, that cheered me up. Jeff, don't take it as I don't think you run a successful business. You and I have different mentalities is all. This business is not very profitable compared to the effort and work outlay needed to make it something that earns real money. Now, I mean that in general. I'm not saying guys aren't making a decent living but someone show me a PW'ing company that can sell for $1,000,000 or even $500,000. In the entire country they can be counted on 10 fingers. How many of you taking quarter million $$ salaries? I'm cerainly not. Jeff, you are also assuming I do not have the volume of work because I price higher. PressurePros has 88 full deck restorations, another 100 maintenance clean and stains, 175+ housewashes and 40 commercial building washes on the books as of this past Monday. Thats two crews running full time 5-6 days per week. It ain't about how much I MAKE, or what we get in the northeast, we have discussed that ad nauseum, its about the industry coming up as a whole. Don, where you coming from? Do you show up to do estimates in your rig? I show up in a new car, dressed neatly in logo'd gear (or at the very least in a collared pullover shirt). I speak articulately, my vocabulary is good, I am educated, I know what I am doing and I enjoy people. Where would a new truck or rig sitting in a yard or shop benefit me??? I'M NOT ADVOCATING BUYING JUNK. Where did the translation go south? Used means pre-owned. A 2007 vehicle can be bought used at this point in the year. Depreciation occurs over three years. Already stated this but I guess you gleaned over it. I'm talking about a 2004 truck with low mileage.

LOL, in seven months I guarantee you a company owner that understands selling beyond quoting lowball prices and working 60 hours a week and driving shiny new rigs can make more than most working 12 months. Are we now entering the realm of just straight envy now, Alan? Are we talking business or sport here? My money is in toys I enjoy. I don't enjoy work trucks because they are , well work trucks. In 2007 I lost $0.00 to mechanical failure. That's only three vehicles but I'd say it shoots Alan's off-the-cuff retort to hell. Next.

I have a 2006 Altima that I lease for $230/month. Christine just got a 2007 ML500 a few months back. (You see who gets the choice rides). We lease all vehicles for the same reasons I wrote above about depreciation. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/club-house/9121-leases-vs-loans.html and http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/tools-equipment-basic-maintenance/8826-cash-loan.html (These are TGS threads)

Jeff, I never had a problem with Don nor do I now. I enjoy his posts and respect his knowlege and contributions to the industry. My issue was with his statement.

Don, you have been at the forefront of plenty of crap we have all had to sort through. What is self important is someone sitting on high trying to steer threads the way they think they should go. :lgbow:

Kind of unrealistic analysis Scott. We're talking about vehicles that have gone through majority depreciation cycle. Thats a 2004 vehicle with reasonable low mileage, not an early nineties rusted out vehicle. Your second arguement also does not hold water. A broken down vehicle must be repaired whether its under warranty or it is not. Same amount of down time. Again, a 2004 truck with 45000 miles on it is not going to break down every three months. Today's vehicles, when maintained drive for 100,000 miles before accessories need to be replaced. Drivetrains and engines last for 200,000+ miles. Comparing what anyone here does to a company that owns fleets of 20+ vehicles is again apples to oranges. Yes, DHL cannot take the risk of a single day of down time. They buy new and probably sell off vehicles with less than 50,000 miles on them. It comes to proper analysis of numbers and being able to run and coordinate business schedules around planned maintenance. If you look at cost of ownership on a brand new leveraged vehicle compared to a three year old vehicle and separate the "I have to own new" justification because you say it "costs more to own a used vehicle" you would probably have a better grasp of from where I am coming. The singular most important thing you conveniently left out was assett versus liability. You may have convinced yourself of a theoretical liability of owning a used vehicle but the reality is your company owns a liabilty (bank note) and will be paying for depreciation. That leeches net worth. I do understand and agree that when you get to a certain size (maybe 10 vehicles) that are operating 5 work days per week non-stop its probably better to own something newer.. maybe.

I would never trade $25,000 in cash for something that is going to depreciate. Buy used, spend the rest on advertising.

Steve banned me for life. I have to send Gary a box of Cuban and a bottle Remy Napoleon XO to get in his good graces.

No problem Randy. Give me a shout if you get jammed up on this one.

Rick I'm guessing since Randy already has the job he bid it as a housewash not a strip and seal (ie $400 versus $4000). Randy, my advice is to do a very small area and let it dry before you proceed to the whole house. Show the homeonwer what he/she can expect. A properly disgruntled homeowner can hit you for a whopper bill or insurance claim. Be careful.

Dan, scroll back a page two to the link in one of my posts.

The first thing you should probably get square on is measuring. $1.25 per s/f for EVERY INCH of wood is reasonable in our market. $1.25 per s/f for the floor (and including rails, spindles, fascia, steps etc) is ridiculous. A good way for you to get started would be to charge $1.50 s/f for the floor plus $6 for every linear foot of rail. Factor in 20%-50% extra for decks over 6 ft, surrounded by plants etc. Welcome to the board (and the neighborhood). I don't do a ton of work in the city but if you want to contact me when you are up and running I can probably throw some stuff your way.

Good post, John. I agree wholeheartedly.

Looks like all is well. Glad things worked out for you, Medic. Now spread the word that there are professionals out here that actually know what they are doing :-)

I never heard of that one.. will have to pick it up ;-)

Cabot's Problem Solver (alkyd) and Cabot's solid decking stain (they make a latex)

If its a semi trans, bleach will remove it.

No matter how bad the peeling there will always be spots that stick like that. Rick I would recommend using an oil primer and a latex topcoat. I prefer latex as it is a bit more forgiving with freeze/thaw. Others may have different opinions. I would use some 40-60 grot on a random orbital to feather the edges on any spots you can't scrape up.

It dimples up the wood too much.. the wrong media can also kill a lot of grass.

Dan, the floor.. maybe. Those rails look intact (and there is a lot of spindles going on there). I have never tried the hotwater/fabric softener combo but 200 degrees (water) seems way too extreme for wood. Rick, your probably going to be removing most of that floor paint to almost bare wood so putting oil over latex there is not a concern. For scraping, we have threaded 4" scrapers we put on extension poles. Don't use anything with too sharp of an edge or you'll gouge the wood. Your goal is knock off anything not strictly bonded. If you are going to apply direct.. 32 oz TSP and 2 gallons of household bleach in a five gallon bucket topped with water. On some decks you can eliminate the scraping step by using a stiff bristled deck brush and applying the cleaning solution that way. That deck is a mess though.

Scrape PW with TSP and bleach Prime with Cabot's oil primer Topcoat Cabot's solid That would be beyond a nightmare strip it would cost you a ton of money in paint stripper and take you probably 40 hours in prep to get that thing clean enough for a semi trans. When will people learn not to paint exterior wood? For what its worth, I wouldn't touch that strip and reseal with semi for less than $5000

There is a member on here, Jon Fife that does log homes exclusively. He is in your neck of the woods. I'm certain he would charge you for a consultation but I think it would be well worth it to put your mind at ease. We can all take second guesses based upon what we see in pictures but a) its not really proper etiquette to start pulling apart a contractor's work before the job is completed and b) without knowing the square footage, performing a property assesment and getting into the job personally, you may end up more confused as to what to expect than you may already be. $4000 seems low to me, but if the house is relatively small that may be the right number.

Isn't MO, Jon Fife territory? Medic, those streaks can be quite a few different things. Pics are good. Do you know how to resize and compress. A web picture shouldn't be more than 50K. Even on dial up that would take seconds to upload.

One thing to understand with large manufacturers is that they have "X" amount of dollars to spend on raw materials for a forumulation. They have price points and margins that really dictate how much manufacturing cost they can incur. Now take an oil based product. Mineral spirits ares cheap (well they used to be). If you remove a percentage of that spirits the missing volume has to be made up with something. Adding oil drives up costs so maybe they drop the amount of mildewcide or use less pigmentation. The problem is also that mineral spirits is a good carrier. Less mineral spirits means less penetration and probably slower drying. Its a cycle that takes awhile to get right. I agree with BNR, it has affected ALL manufacturers of oil based sealers. They all suck, imho. Deckscapes/Sherwin Williams just abandoned the fight altogether and now sell nothing but water borne here... want to talk bad product?

When they changed to the VOC compliant version of ATO here in the NE US I had nothing but problems with it as well. I did not have curing issues but everything from flash drying, rapid color shift and mold to it just not holding up for longer than three months.