PressurePros

Yo Bleach man, you beat me to the punch!

Its not realy that new if it has ben exposed for six months. Clean with a sodium percarbonate based cleaner like EFC-38, follow by acidic wash product like Citrallic for pH balance, and then seal with semi transparent, oil/alkyd based tinted sealer.

I agree with Phillip. SEO and PPC marketing is not for the faint of heart. I have spent about a hundred hours or so researching and learning what works and what does not and balancing those findings against an effective advertising budget. Sorry about :topic: I have yet to pull the triger on Google PPC. I am worried about fraudulent clicksm overbidding click rate etc. I have instead tried to optimize my website and strategically link to it. Thus far it has had excellent results on MSN and Yahoo (I get first page placement). I get about two hits per day from Google and that is when someone keywords "restore a deck" Phillip, any advice you can offer is appreciated.

Using a downstreamer you will be able to get much more perpendicular to the siding than you will an X-Jet. Offer to do a demonstration at your cost. Point out that your pressure and attack angle would be comparable to a wind driven rain. If worse comes to worst, then tell them you will honor your estimate plust the additional cost of a lift. They are very easy to maneuver and operate. The company that delivers it will show you how it works and in five minutes you would be a pro.

The stat may be skewed by local dialect. Type in "power wash"

You get a 7.5% return rate handing out flyers? Wow.

Deck alone would have been $4500. House another $5000. If I was desperate for work maybe $8500 for both. Silly question.. why were you quoting a job of that magnitude over the phone?

Pressure Pros focus switches to interior painting. I have two union painters I use to do the work. I personally use the time to evaluate marketing efforts, fine tune my budget and business plans, travel and pursue my other business interests.

What he wants does not coincide with anything that can be achieved. Any type of cleaner whether it be be sodium percarbonate based (which is what I would use) or bleach will also remove the grey. That grey wood will not accept or hold onto sealer. My suggestion is to clean the roof removing all the crap that is on there (do your reseacrh and learn what chemicals, pressure and technique to use). Seal it with a clear sealer and set him up on a maintenance cleaning schedule. Once you get a coat of clear sealer on the wood the sun will make the wood turn gray again in less than a year and a simple yearly cleaning with a light bleach solution will keep the roof free from mold and let the wood underneath keeps its patinaed look. You will have to recoat the shingles every couple of years.

Its true some people want cheap but Mercedes, Neiman Marcus and Starbucks stay in business. Let Walmart have the cheapo customer. They are unloyal and will shop you for a dollar. Not worth it.

Jeff, I just pictured you spurting that all out in one breath. I have seen one company all summer that offers PW'ing and that was a painter that had it about 8th on his encyclopedia of services listed down his truck. I'm sure there are plenty of FBN 'ers out there but they come and go.

I have a tab at the local florist. As soon as they hear my voice they ask which stock apology I want on the card.

If I had to live on what the late fall winter months pay in pressure washing I wouldn't even make it until February. I put my machines in storage from Nov 15th until April 15th.

Bleach that doesn't harm plants? Thats new to me. How long have you been using it and have you happened to return to a job site two days later and look at the surrounding vegetation? There are ways to make using sodium hypochlorite safe but overpaying for a gallon of it marked "outdoor" because it has additional sodium hydroxode and some surfactants added is not one of them. Welcome to the board Danebob. Sorry to come down on your post a bit but I don't want some new guys to the business get the wrong impression. The best chemicals for cleaning stucco are sodium metasilicate, TSP and bleach. In some situations mineral stains will warrant the use of an acid.

Jamie..A caveat about getting into full restorations.. They can be dangerous territory until you really know what you are doing and can estimate your time and project completion correctly. I prefer projects where I know I get in, get out, offer top quality at fair market value and have a happy customer. When you get into sanding, repairing and full resto you deal with much more things that can go wrong and more work that needs to be warrantied. The customer is paying much more and will be likely to notice that you missed a spot underneath a bottom rail that one would need a dentist's mirror to see. We do plenty of these types of restorations and trust me, like any remodels or restos, you come across things that you didn't expect that quickly eat up time. There is more profit in a basic strip, balance, defur and seal then there is in a full refurb. Decks are a difficult sell in many cases. If one can get the money for sanding a deck as opposed to taking care of it chemically, they should go for it. My guess is that the triple profits you speak of, Jamie, would be eaten up by triple the amount of down time with no work scheduled. My advice is offer the service in your repetoire, but don't expect to build a niche market in it. Matthew, that came out beautifully. Nice work as always.

Seing that picture (all of them especially Barry's) causes me pain.

Broader view from ground and down steps

Just finished cleaning this one today for two very nice folks in West Chester. These are the befores. Front deck and walkway also constructed of ipe not shown.. about 1800 s/f of beautiful wood altogether. topside deck split into two pics.

THanks Bill :lgkick:

Business is good for me now but I have had to get more agressive with marketing. Had I stayed with the same budget I originally laid out for '06 I would have not achieved the projected growth I had hoped for. Most economic indicators are dropping so now is the time to plan for staying power. You know what you are doing, Phillip. Hang in there it will balance out for you.

I ahve never used the product, Jim. What sets it apart. i have had several decks that were like matchsticks and could have used soemthing like you described. How is this done with a sealer?

Go Mike! Next year charge him the extra $50 ;-)

That is outstanding!

PS: The mothball thing is another myth like the sugar. One last note: Here is the world we live in. When I was a kid we had a neighbor whom owned a nice landscaping outfit. He parked his trailers and trucks at his commercial property. Well one night, he must have gotten done late and pulled a trailer into the driveway. Some kids took the gas can and procceded to ignite the gasoline on the ground until of course it flashed uncontrollably and one of the children was hurt very badly. The parents sued my neighbor for having an "attractive nuisance" and was negligent for not having the gas cans locked away. They won. I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe this a swift kick letting you know to start locking them up at night in a shed.

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