PressurePros

Merry Fargin Christmas.. road trip! Good luck with it, Bill. Here is what we expect to see next year.

My God Neil, that is a TON of wood. Nice jobs posted here by all. Keep up the good work.

I'm adding the same types of setup for 2 "wood wagons" this year. They are going to be built solely for maintenance cleaning and sealing and small jobs. The area where my trucks sit at night is isolated and near train tracks so open trailers are out for me too. The units are going to be driven by guys to whom I would not trust a trailer (thats just about everyone) My time in the field this past season was spent primarily on wood detail. I worked from an E-350 that had half of its cargo area taken up by hydraulics and lift electrical system. Downsides: After being in it for awhile, Christine says "You smell like the truck" which is a combination of VOC's and fuel. To me its the smell of money but that is why some guys don't like the enclosed quarters. And, of course, on very hot days you have to make sure your reserve gas/diesel supply is not sitting in the cargo area. It does get hot in there.

You can use regular Krud Kutter as well. The graffitti formula works faster and is actually milder on painted surfaces and siding. It isn't available everywhere, I get it at a paint store.

Krud Kutter graffitti remover works wonderfully.

250 ft of hose sounds like a nightmare to clean. My suggestion is to take a look at your past few posts and think out a plan. Wheeling a pressure washer around and leaving the decker on the truck seems backwards.

KF2, I've never had any problems with it even warming up. Same goes for Wood Tux. Take a product like Cabot's Australian Timber Oil and having a rag in your hand on a 100+ degree deck and it feels like it will combust on any given moment. KF1

Absolutely, Rod. But if we are focusing merely on the content of the article, Michael addressed these points. We cannot make unfair judgements because we do not know his/their plan of attack. In considering the parties involved (wood resto contractors and suppliers of wood resto products) one has to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that the business plan of this endeavor involves the schooling of deck builders and supplying them with the tricks and tools of the trade. I can count on both hands how many decks I did for builders this season. Its not important to me. They want lowball rates. "Why do you have to clean it? Its new wood. Just stain it.." One can complain about changes or read the writing on the wall and adapt. The way I see it, its better to have these builders educated on what we do. Maybe they will see the value in contractor grade cleaners and sealers. A builder's mentality is set in a different pricing tier. Their jobs are $6000-$40,000. To perform deck maintenance they would have to purchase a vehicle/trailer/rig, hire a separate crew (and we all know the quality of today's non-skilled labor pool) and give estimates and run around and sell work that might gross them $200-$1000. I just don't see it happening.

The disco song goes "Ooooooh 'd love to love ya, baaabyyy. When it comes the the PWNA anymore its "love to hate ya baaabyyy". On this one I stopped and thought about it without emotion. The article is 100% correct. They are leaving money on the table. If deck builders are taught the right way to do deck cleaning and sealing, why is it a bad thing? Look we all know whats gonna happen.. The builder will pad his price a bit and throw in the sealing for free or at a reduced rate. If he is a smart guy he will sell maintenance contracts. Whom better to maintain than he who builds? He already has the credibility. Reality check. Many guys that can build, still can't run a business. Most of the trades are specialized. What builder out there hasn't already thought about adding in sealing? Its too much of a hassle. When they have to add crews, increase payroll, sit with a customer while they go through ten color choices and then have to do maintenance cleanings for $200 how many of them do you think will say "screw this" and stick with their core competency? I'd say the majority of them.

The first link Michael posted brings me back to the Wendy's commercials of the 80's. Where's the beef? Lots of links bit no facts. For instance, a cooperative study is mentioned. There's a link to the university, but not to the results of the study itself. Another link the author used to support his case against sodium hypochlotie had this to say: Chlorine can be added in low concentrations to water as one of the final steps in wastewater treatment as a general biocide to kill micro-organisms, algae, etc. It is often impractical to store and use poisonous chlorine gas for water treatment, so alternative methods of effectively adding chlorine are used. Adding hypochlorite solutions to pools, etc. is one possible solution. Hypochlorite can gradually release chlorine into the water. Even more convenient for some users are compounds such as sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione (dihydrate or anhydrous), sometimes referred to as dichlor, and trichloro-s-triazinetrione, sometimes referred to as trichlor. These compounds are stable while solid and may be used in powdered, granular, or tablet form. When added in small amounts to pool water or industrial water systems, the chlorine atoms hydrolyze from the rest of the molecule forming hypochlorous acid (HOCl) which acts as a general biocide killing germs, micro-organisms, algae, etc. So I am to conclude that it is an effective enough biocide to purify drinking water and the pool which my kids swim in but not the right chemical to kill mold on my siding or roof? Please. The assumptions this wave of "no bleach roof cleaners" is making is not based on empirical data. Yes, quats may kill mold and prevent regrowth for a longer period. Their appeal is in preventing the regrowth. Making an assumption that hypochlorite is not an effective mold killer based on the fact that mold regrows sooner is hocus pocus manipulation of the facts. So, if quats work, they don't kill plants and they keep a roof clean longer why not use them? 1) They are expensive 2) They don't work like we need them to. Mel comes in and sells a roof clean for $400. I come in and want to sell the same roof clean for $800. When Mel collects his check, that roof looks great. Customer received his value. Mel shakes the customers hand and says, "see ya in two years." My job was completed in 45 minutes. The roof still looks like crap and now I wanna get paid. "Trust me Mr Customer, in 30 days and a few rainfalls, your roof will look great" Final note: I find it real convenient that at the end of the article Mr Hoffman says, "I wish we had known about these kinds of technologies ten years ago when we were cleaning roofing systems. Instead of spending so much time protecting the landscape, we could have done an additional job or two. We could have completed more jobs and our subsequent warranty workload would have been reduced." How this translates to me: We ran a successful business utilizing sodium hypochlorite to clean roofs. We maybe made some promises we couldn't keep but now that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain because I sell products not service, its safe for me to say we would have used quats to clean roofs. Where is the credibility in that? Quats were around ten years ago. This isn't new science.

I think doing anything less is leaving money on the table. The more services we offer to our customers the more they gobble them up. They trust me, they trust my company. In the world of contractors, thats not easy to find. Use customer loyalty to your advantage. If you have the capability of performing the work, go for it. Start small, get your foot in the door. Do the drive-thru. Go back during the day and talk to the bank manager and make sure they liked the job. Hand him/her the thorough property assesment that your company offers free of charge. From there go home and write a thank you letter and outline those additional services you offer once again. Bill's thoughts are absolutely on point. Little/No marketing dollars spent. A huge part of success is maximizing your customer base. Look at it this way, the customer needs thse services done. Why would you let anyone else do them? Cuz guess what? That window guy may not think it greedy when he buys a pressure washer and beats you at the game.

Now is that nice, Chad? hahahaha

whats not funny? I was being serious.. whats wrong with a four way call? ::angel::

Can I call too? Then we can have a four way with Celeste.

Watching viral videos like this one posted by Matt B called Infrared fart: http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1165402319/Infrared_Fart or this one of a lovely kitty waiting for adoption: http://www.ejb.com/video/2416/Cat_goes_crazy.html

That patina is the copper's protection. I recommend you do not get bleach (or anything corrosive) on it.

Excellent, John. Happy Holidays.

Yes Barry. A more current form of marketing is to have free recorded messages for people to listen to. They are driven there by your marketing efforts. You can set up a menu of options and have the ability to transfer calls to your cell phone. For em I also want the ability to place orders and have 24 hour emergency contact for Restore-A-Deck.

I am setting this up to handle RAD and PressurePros calls with menus, live operators and recorded messages. I am still unsure which company to use as there are companies with deceptive billing practices. I haven't been to the site you listed yet. As with anything, do your research. There are also ways (programs) you can hook your computer up to do set up a virtual office for you via modem.

LOL, John. I remember a certain someone asking that at a certain roundtable.

Phillip, I am a person that stands up for the underdog. Always have and got my azz beat plenty of times throughout my life doing it. I guess growing older and understanding the futility of fighting certain battles has made me a bit more choosey in selecting my opponents. Back in the day, war meant conquering and gathering spoils. Now we fight to help those that cannot help themsleves. To what end? Why are we not occupying South Africa? Do we not become the very bullies we seek to quelch the longer we occupy a foreign land? How do we win other than forcing our definition of democracy down their throats? Were we heroes in Irag two years ago? How about 2 days ago? Do you think it possible that we are starting to be thought of as potential oppressors by the Iraqi people? Perception is reality and I can tell you if a foreign military occupied my neigborhood for years I would begin to wonder what their intentions were despite the seemingly altruistic agenda they spout. Helping an old lady against a gang of thugs is admirable. Dusting her off, making sure she is okay to stand on her feet and sending on her way is still a heroic act. Staying in that neighborhood and trying to lower the crime rate so she never has to worry about being attacked ever again is a lesson in futility. Thats not my job. Why does the US have to be the world's police? We are resented for it more often than not. Any country can study our model of democracy and is free to copy it. While not perfect, it seems to work pretty damn well based upon our standard of living. Why does my brother have to be killed? Why does my son have to take up arms? I don't live in an occupied country. We have dismantled a serious threat to US security. I though thats what this whole war was about. That to me is what any international policing done by our country should be about. Do you wanna f*** with us? We will take you apart and guess what? We may not be there to put you back together again. Is your totalitarian government not working for you? We would be happy to show you how we do things here. Other than that, you are on your own. Using your old lady analogy again, Phillip, suppose you were armed and shot one of the muggers, paralyzing him. Is it now your responsibility to look after his family indefinitely? Are you going to take the same stance and give a portion of your earnings to keep his family afloat? Are you going to send your son to his house to mow is grass.. paint his house? It has to end somewhere.

D-limonene

Hey Brent, Again hard to vouch for a product I haven't used but I know on the FineCoat I can run solid stain undiluted with no sputtering. A high quality interior latex paint may be pushing it, so I use the Floetrol to take it to a viscosity I like. I am a fan of multiple coats anyway. I think you get a finer finish.

This sums it up for me: Some have suggested that to leave before “the job is done” would dishonor the fallen. As cold as this will sound, past deaths should not be considered in decisions about the future. The past is the past. And if the dead could speak, they would warn you against dying for their benefit. Even so, the troops HAVE accomplished a lot for which they can be proud: 1. A dictator was removed. 2. America verified to 100% certainty that Iraq had no WMD (that’s a big deal in my book) 3. Iraq has been given an opportunity for democracy, even if it does not take hold. 4. Presumably we learned a lot that will help us fight terrorism. While our execution of the after-war was a mess, the world can’t doubt our intent to make democracy work. We bled for it. But it only counts if we leave. Otherwise we are occupiers and the Iraqi government will appear to be our puppet. There is also genuine concern for the fate of the Iraqis if we leave. Yet, according to this opinion poll, 7 out of 10 Iraqis want us to pull out. http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep06/Iraq_Sep06_rpt.pdf And so the decision about leaving Iraq can be boiled down to this: 1. American troops are dying. 2. It’s impossible to know if national security is best served by staying or leaving. 3. 7 out of 10 Iraqis want us to leave. 4. We have accomplished all that we KNOW we can accomplish. Anything else is guessing. 5. Iraq diverts resources from our higher priorities. It’s impossible to know the RIGHT answer about Iraq. But it has become simple to know the RATIONAL path. Unlike a financial investment, where you might be willing to invest in a high risk/reward situation, you can’t diversify war. If the payoff isn’t obvious and predictable, the rational thing to do is pull out and minimize troop casualties. Any other path is just guessing.

There is another contractor whom I stay in contact with. Great kid..getting his business off the ground. They did the same thing to him.. had to pay him half and half again when new budget kicks in in the spring time. That to me raises major red flags.