PressurePros

I agree with Alan, acid based bowl cleaner. Janitorial supply houses carry them.

The sugar in a gas tank ploy is a myth (Thank you Myth Busters) It doesn't do anything. I don't know if it available in small quantities or even its chemical state at room temp but if you can get a hold of ethyl mercaptan (the stuff they add to propane in extremely minute amounts to give it an unpleasant odor) you could put it in a gas can. From what I understand a good wiff at a decent concentration can cause spontaneous wretching and affect motor ability. Seeing a thief staggering around uncontrollably heaving in your driveway. Now THAT would make a great video!

Like A Hurricane - Neil Young

You figured out the answer as to why your ankle was sprained. God is giving you a kick in the booty. I know how it is. I want to clone myself six times and be everywhere at once. I'm hoping this is my last season being in the field. I didn't buy into a job but it sure fels like that sometimes. Yeah I have all the rising costs of increasing labor force and what have you but I think the others nailed it.. the biggest investment is your time.

"They all float down here"

Tom, Start with www.pressuretek.com

Three bottles in little tray with equivalents to: HD-80 at 3 oz per gallon (works 70% of the time in under 15 minutes) " 6 oz per gallon " 10 oz per gallon MAB Paints gives me ten paint sticks every time I go in there so that is what I use to test. I rarely use EFC-38 to strip.

Wasn't the girl from The Exorcist (Linda Blair's character) named Reagan? Movies are so subjective. Last night I watched the director's cut of The Hills Have Eyes and thought it was awesome. Told my brother-in law about it and th first thing he said was "You actually liked that movie"?

Mike, barter your services with an ad agency. There are also barter services on craigslist.com and other websites that can get you rolling. I have been lucky. I just rolled the money over from other businesses I have sold so I remained capitalized. I have not had to use a dollar of my own money or any loans to stay afloat. My trucks are both ten years old (clean and paid for), my equipment is decent but not all that impressive and if the business cannot pay for it in cash, I don't need it.

Great post with excellent points, Bill.

swing batta batta batta SWING... GRAND SLAM Barry. Nice job. :wave:

Don, time in business is a key factor to sustained work. A guy that has ten years reputation is going to have a very strong customer base, a bunch of trucks on the road etc etc. The key is not to egt discouraged, learn al you can about marketing and to stay in tune with what today's customers are seeking. And of course, I know I am a broken record, learning how to sell every job to its fullest potential. My first year doing residential work I know I didn't do $50,000 and I had the advantage of having a head start from commercial business (restaurant owners often own nice houses). Targeted marketing, persistance, area domination, building referrals customer by customer, getting your margins right, sales ability, all of these contribute to success. Growth for me has been very rapid and for that I am thankful. My background in owning businesses has been helpful. When you start getting the nice size jobs, you can breathe easier but I tell everyone whom asks... Write a business plan and generally stick to it. The quicker you succumb to adding and taking away services and jumping your marketing efforts from this to that, the quicker you fast forward to three years later and you are still floundering. I am happy with residential work and think I can hit a magic milestone with it next year. This area is good. Some of your areas might not be as producing in which case exploring commercial work might not be a bad idea.

agreed, John. I am doing a housewash and gutter cleaning for a couple tommorow morning. The realtor strongly advised them to get the work done before they take pictures or start listing open houses.

congrats on the downstreaming! Oops wrong post LOL

Per nationwide statistics, the most effective months for the construction/services trades are May and September. Just a little tidbit I'd though I'd throw in.

Griz, this is not my scenario but someone else that posts here (with whom I have since spoken). He had already discussed the situation with the other business. As far as trademarking it is costing me over $1,500 to trademark the name and logo for Restore-A-Deck. This is a nationally distributed product and will have good nationwide retail distribution in high end lumber yards and hardware stores by Spring 07. I have more to lose in that arena so I am being sure to dot all the i's and cross the t's.

great job, Adrian. the house looks 100 feet tall. Excellent pics for the portfolio.

I tend to agree with Ron on this one.

I kept my two full time guys busy and did a lot of paperwork the first two weeks of July. I didn't mind doing just 2-3 jobs per week by myself during that slow time because it was so freakin' hot. July did not have the growth I expected. I booked a ton of jobs the last couple of weeks so we are back on track but I may have to adjust my overall projections for season '06. I laid off my part timer now I have to bring in another one. One crew - good profit, very manageable Two crews - mediocre profit, growing pains, employee issues. This is the time of growth that is always the hardest. Slow times scare the heck out of you.

Bartering for services and doing things for free are different. Mike W, your example, at least the way I am reading it, is an exchange of services. Nothing wrong with that. By the same token I have some professionals in my family that offer medical, legal and accounting services. I would never assume to ask any of them for free or overly discounted services. Perhaps I should clarify my hard line and John T's point is a good one. I will discount services a bit for family or friends but it would have to be when there is nothing else I have to do that pays full revenue. Here is where experience will help you though and I'm sure some people know what I am talking about. People forget you are discounting services and will either complain or badmouth you if you don't live up to their expectations on finsihed project, completion time or scheduling issues. I'd rather just book them in as paying customer's and everyone is happy. People forget discounts but rmember forever that something took two weeks longer than it should have. James now has a situation where he is losing money and his competency may be called into question by an unknowing friend.

The wheels of these things turn slowly. After the initial membership drive, I am assuming these orgs run out of capital. So far every org I have seen, and this is no offense to any of them in particular, have been mismanaged.

-Cold water portable 4 gpm in E350 bucket -loaded with wood gear and chems Landa Hot water skid 5.5 gpm in box truck -loaded with building wash and flatwork gear

Cabot's is the absolute worst offender. Linseed Oil has to be disposed of properly and immediately. I am sory to hear about your loss.

::laughing:: Good to know I am not the only one.

Vincent, take two detergent mixes both of equal strength. The X-Jet will dilute that mix one part water to one part detergent. (50% potency) A downstreamer will dilute that mix six parts water to one part detergent. (16% potency) You have to think in terms of what the final dilution is hitting the house. Either you mix your water and detergent in the bucket and refill more often using an X-Jet or you let your machine inject the water and concentrated detergent into the line. 1.5-2% sodium hypochlorite with a good synergisitc cleaner containing some TSP and sodium metasilicate will kill mold perfectly without damaging plants.