PressurePros

Be careful with your bleach solution. Sodium hypochlorite will strip stain.

Happy Belated Alan you old dog you.

Price= too low Closing rate= way too high

David, nice job bud.. my hats off to you.

The last cost I have seen for the stuff I now use to strip paint was $240 per five gallon pail and had to be either hand applied with a brush (imagine spreading pudding onto a deck at 50-75 s/f per gallon) or with an industrial airless. Clean up is nasty. Annnnd, you still will have to sand 20% of the deck. I relegate these jobs to the "not worth it at any price" category.

Happy burthday, Beff.

I think the new formulation is now history. I too doubt the longevity of what was released this spring. From my conversations with Russell the product being made this week is what I was used to using last year. Call it Wood Tux Classic and chalk "ease of use" to a failed experiment. I am not ready to abandon the product as I believe in it. I use other products now because I wanted to see how all of this ESI turmoil shook out. But, one rainy spell and I will not be a happy camper.

I'm just teasing you bro.. Let us know how it works out for you.

RUN, Jeffrey, RUN.

I will second the truck brush. One step further is the hurricane brush. This thing is floor staining nirvanna. Set to the right pressure on a deckster there is NO overspray. You can get within inches of a wall. No dipping just pull trigger and brush out. I don't like rollers for several reasons. Rod mentioned one.. bubbles. They also overaplly the stain (obviously not a problem with RS). The third and most annoying factor..they cannot get between floor boards.

If you add the wrong surfactant you will be rinsing for days. A little TSP in the mix won't hurt.

I remember that avatar ;-)

I know this sounds, well, out there but.. Has anyone heard about a new strain of mold spore? Here is why I ask. A few weeks ago someone posted on my message board about a new construction deck that was covered in spots that were rapidly expanding. This was after a rainy spell. Maybe a week later, a gentleman posted about Ready Seal being attacked by mold. He posted some pictures. The oil in RS is not the kind mold likes to feed upon and other contractors commented that they had never seen this on Ready Seal. Fast forward to this morning. A Restore-A-Deck customer shared his experience. Prior to finding my website he had pressure washed his deck clean. After a week his ipe deck also had an inordinate amount of mold spots. (again after a few day spell of rain) This is pretty rare for untreated ipe to get moldy that quickly. What makes his scenario even more puzzling to me is that his deck is ten feet off the ground and has southern exposure. He stated to me that the RAD Step-1 took a couple of applications and some vigorous scrubbing to get it off. In the same region, another customer reported the same type of problem. The lady that posted her deck on my message board used straight household bleach (5-6%) and she said she got mediocre results. I don't know of any strain of mold that can withstand an assualt with 5-6% sodium hypochlorite. This lead me to believe it was not mold, but now I am not sure. What the heck is going on?

There is an old adage that goes Give a thirsty man a drink of water and you will have made his day. Show that man a well and he will keep coming back for more. Fine rigs, professional service and quality work can contribute to a happy customer. But like all positive experiences in life the contentment can be fleeting. I find it ridiculous how many bad contractors are out there (in the real world). I cannot believe how many half finished projects I run into out in the field. This of course starts many of us in a hole because the disenchanted customer has no reason to believe we will be any different from the last guy. It's reasonable for the customer to expect a decent job performed on time and on budget. But is this enough to sustain a customer for life? Probably not. One question I continually ask myself is if I am providing the utmost in customer experience. Not only that am I consistent in delivering follow through and customer contact? This is my opinion and as egotistical as it may sound I will beat anyone on customer service. I have spent 20 minutes on long distance calls with customers whom haven't purchased a thing from me. I will lose money overnighting a package that was damaged. If I can't do that I will refund a customer 20% if they had to wait for something on my end that caused them inconvenience. I'm sorry, there is no question asked. Nor should there be any rants or hard feelings on my part. Customers get bad service or attitudes from OTHER companies. They do not get it from me. The Rule of 20/80 Anyone that owns a business has probably heard of this ratio. For those that haven't it goes.. Twenty percent of your customers will provide 80% of your business. Ask yourself.. Am I capitalizing on this rule? Here are some thoughts I have that may help you. • Follow up after the check - You're fairly certain you performed quality work. After all, the customer didn't stop the check and you didn't get a call back right? You should really follow up a bit more than just assuming everything is okay. Call the customer. Maybe you missed one side of a spindle and the customer just didn't want to bother you with such a small detail. Apologize and get out there and rectify it. Meet with the homeowner again and fortify your guarantee of outstanding customer service. - Now that you are certain the job was done to the customer's satisfaction, send out a "How Did We Do?" questionnaire. Provide an SASE so they can return it to you. It is absolutely vital to track your performance and constantly improve your service. Maybe the customer thought your service and follow up were excellent but they really didn't like the sealer color you applied. I have started offering a 10% coupon to anyone whom returns a questionnaire. It works. • Keep your name in front of them. - A newsletter is your best source of ongoing marketing. make the customer feel a part of your organization. Let them know whats going on. Introduce a new employee.. Tell them about the new VOC compliance laws in your state.. Inform them of other services you offer. "Wow I didn't know PressurePros offered decorative concrete overlay" (I don't..just an example) • Long term scheduling and commitment. If you can schedule them for next years maintenance cleaning at the time of job completion, do it. We have 85 maintenance cleanings scheduled for Spring '07. Of course some will drop out or reschedule but not a bad way to start off a season without having to spend a dime on new customer marketing. • Spend your time productively. Are you a woodie that uses a moisture sensitive sealer? Did it rain the morning you planned to work? Go visit some customers. See how your sealers are holding up. I made a little "rainy day visit" flyer myself. Its no KBK but its cute and it lets the customer know I was there and I am following through on my commitment to their property maintenance. It also gives me a chance to plant selling seeds. "Hello Mrs G, I was here checking on your deck and noticed your pavers are a little green again. On our next deck maintenance we should probably get some type of sealer on them". I make a note in the customers file and now a $200 maintenance deck cleaning becomes a $400 job. On the same note if the customer calls me and is worried she should not wait to have th sealer applied I wave my minimum charge and we fit the job in immediately. I am old school. I believe customer service above all else. Period. There are too many Ken's, Curves, PressurePros, etc etc out there to choose from. Once I get a customer, I want them for life. That doesn't happen because I pull up a rig the length of the the QEII or because my rig flows 10 gpm (neither of which is true of my equipment) Read the above and let me know how you would react to a company that gave you this level of service. Would you respond to a company that offered to perform the work for less money? Would you take the chance? I have seen a recent Merry Maids advertising blitz. Their byline? Relax, its done. That rocks. Give your customers peace of mind and they will stay loyal.

Randy the wood species varied from ipe to cedar. That also would not account for the guy that pressure washed his deck clean and then had mold start appearing 5 days later (it could I guess if he didn't use any type of mold removing agent). Also the Ready Seal decks showed this being on TOP of the stain. That wood was older not new construction. Jim, be an adult and share your wisdom. I don't have time for your games or self proclaimation of being a guru. I'm not interested in calling you to hear how great you are. If you have a constructive answer, post it.

www.kbkgraphics.com

I had to double check my notes. Yeah it was that high. The WT is loaded with so much trans-oxide pigment that diluting it that much probably brought it on par with Cabot's Clear Solutions or Deckscape's "toners". It will be ready to be redone at the end of the season though. As long as the customer is cool with that, so am I. Total cost of stain including min spirits: $25 lol

I was inspired by your prize Kevin. Here is your logo.

Up until this year I had to develop formulas for the field, yes. This year I started doing the same until I ran out of product only done via mixing stock WT colors together.

Here is an orange one for you... This is the only deck I ever applied stiock WHG to. Of course this customer must have said "its not going to be orange is it?" like ten times. After Russell confirmed to me that nope, it wouldn't be orange and then after I started applying that "it will settle out" the frikkin thing was orange. This may have been a few years ago when a bad batch came out. Just giving you guys that have used Wood Tux for the first time this year. When Russell changes back to Wood Tux Classic, paint some onto boards to sample out. Much more pigmentation stays near the surface and you will have very yellow and/or orange decks if you use it on pine or cedar.

for clarification.. I don't use much brown sugar (black and yellow pigment ) on decks. All of my decks have a good amount of red mixed in as well. That pic though, has no red (I know cuz I mixed it). Any toning would be from the yellow. Rick, there wasn't a single drop on the concrete. Thats tape that was over the edge of the tarp. The customer wanted (was adamant about using a clear. This was the compromised color as Kevin mentioned diluted 70% with mineral spirits . It has actually held up (to my surprise) for a year.

Rick, Long Island NY and Northern Jersey were two. The lady whose pictures I posted last week.. not sure where she is located. Very bizarre. Oh yeah, I got an email from our mutual acquaintance. Give me a ring on Friday when you get the chance.

Adrian, I cannot honestly say there is anything I like about it. I think you may also be infringing on some questionable territory.

I'd be very skeptical putting a full bore stripper on composite (especialy at the strength you will need. I think you would compromise the life of the material too much. (I was on a deck the other day doing an evaluation for future testimony where the wood portion of the composite rotted. I could put my foot through some of the boards. Prep it, prime it and restain.

Hi Alisa and John, There are cleaners that will remove the stain from the spindles. You should make it common practice to let landscape friendly cleaners and pH balancing agents do the work for you and use a pressure washer (adjusted via nozzle size for low pressure) as an accelerated rinse. I would advise you do this to remove any remaining product on your deck floor (I'm guessing there is still pigmentation and/or oil in there) a well as finish the job on the spindles. For a sealer you would be best served by a high quality semi-transparent penetrating oil with some type of toning. A clear sealer will not protect the deck from UV rays and it will turn gray quickly. Cabot's in our region (northeast) is not wonderful. Unfortunately, this holds true of all the oil based sealers available commercially. Tightening VOC regulations have made them a shadow of their former selves. I have heard good things about Olympic Maximum. Some contractors on here swear by it. Best of luck in your project. Post some before/after pics. We do have a forum on here for homeowners (where I am sure this thread will probably be moved. --Ken