EmpirePW

So this keg I just bought for you might be a little much??? Ok guys, call the girls we need some help with this one...

I have a question about a surface cleaner I recently purchased that I am having problems with. I have a 16 inch Steel Eagle little floater surface cleaner that I run with a 3700 psi/4 gpm unit. I adjust my psi down to a little under 3000 when using it it though. Should I have my tips at a 90 degree angle with the rotating arms in order to make the unit "float" or should I have them at a slight angle in order to help the rotation? if I have them at 90 degrees it doesn't rotate very well and if I have them at any angle it doesn't float and the skirt drags on the ground, spins the casing, and makes it come loose. What should I do?

Beth you are a good woman... I am the bug killer in my house and I only wish my girl could pick up a shoe and do it herself so I can continue doing whatever I am doing that is probably more important than squishing some dumb bug.

Call them too so you can find out who to have the letter sent to specifically. Talk to that person over the phone and see if you can meet them for a meeting to find out exactly what they need done for after construction cleanup. Some will tell you to just send a letter but to meet face to face can make all the difference in the bidding process.

I will do some adjusting of the angle when I am free on friday and see what I can come up with. I will also look into getting a couple 2.5 tips for it to make it run at about 2500 psi. Alan, I am assuming your floater is pretty much the same as mine with the large thin nuts on either side of the casing. I have tightened those best I can but with the skirt dragging one of them always spins loose. Is there anything you can recommend to keep them in one place?

Usually around 14 man hours per house with the breaks we take. If I could get 200 houses a year I wouldn't do anything else at all. I get 2 maybe 3 houses a month through the contractor I work for. I tried to sell exterior cleaning but the have an in-house guy that does it all for an hourly wage so I can't compete with the price.

Get in contact with general contractors in your area. They will probably have you send a letter or fax to the office letting them know what type of cleaning you are capable of doing and also that you are interested in making bids on their post construction cleanup jobs. If you don't know the good general contractors in your area swing by a construction site and talk to the boss there. They know all the major contractin companies in the area.

I had one job where a man wanted his siding cleaned and it didn't need it at all. I explained to him that actually washing the siding would produce no results at all and it would not be worth spending money. He told me he was getting ready for his retirement party and people he worked with that had never seen his home before would be over and he just wanted it looking the best possible. I did look over the whole house though and suggest that I clean out his gutters since you could see the debris over the top, clean the exterior of his gutters, install some gutter-guards to keep the leaves out, clean his carport, his cement slab patio, walkway, and driveway to improve the appearance of the house, but not touch the already clean siding. He hired me to do those things and thanked me for my honesty about his siding. Since then he has already sent me 3 referrals. I don't like trying to take advantage of people but the way I see it is if they want cleaning done and they want to spend money then you should find something that really needs to be cleaned for them and they will appreciate it even more.

Well the size of the houses I am not sure of it varies really. The houses I clean are all around $300k and up so $600 isn't much for the contracting company to spend. I started out doing them for around $400/house and I've done such a good job on them that the company just calls me and says they've got a house for me. The ladies they had cleaning them before always had to be called back out to finish the job or correct something that was done below par. They have yet to have to call me out to a house after I have finished it. I also am a lot more professional than the ladies that have done this for them in the past and am easier to work with. I don't mind that the checks don't come until 2-3 weeks after I am done with the house because I understand that is how their company works. These other ladies would raise hell about waiting and were just a burden to work with. Nick told me that I am a heaven sent to work with therefore $600/house is our agreed upon price. As for my crew it consists of my girlfriend and I. She is a clean freak on the inside of a house so she does an excellent job at an astounding pace. I mostly take care of the windows on the outside and any work she asks me to handle. Sometimes we go back for a 2nd day of work but it isn't much more than a few hours. God Bless America... Ain't it great...

Would you recommend one of those pw from HD or Lowe's???

got pictures of it?

Ummmm... Diluted Hydrofloric Acid maybe?

I think if they tipped you then you did a good job in their opinion. Hopefully you were happy with the outcome yourself. A little thing I like to do is about 2 weeks after I did a job for someone I send them a thank you letter and a short survey that asks them to rate my performance, professionalism, and overall satisfatction with the job. I do this for me to learn from and to make sure they are happy with me. Oh and I always take tips and I donate them to my favorite charity. (Which is usually the lunch foundation)

OK so I've decided I play in the arcade too much so here is the challenge... I am done playing in the arcade for a while... It is 12:40 Eastern time where I am at... How long will it take everyone to beat all of my top scores... The clock is ticking... good luck...

So I clicked on the arcade button tonight and it said my account didnt have access to that part of the server. Is that a joke by one of you people in charge or is the server just sick of me winning?

I knew that...

ok don't give me the invite that's fine... Can you tell me what's so special about them anyways that I would want one?

What's so special about GMail anyways?

Invites for what? Is someone having a party? I want to come e-mail me...

We're like an exclusive club or something...

"Any time I need something done though I work with him on it so that one day I can do it myself." I got that...

I have a friend that is very mechincally inclined. He fixes any problems I have with my pressure washer, my lawn mower, my truck, etc etc. He can fix just about anything mechanical. Anything I need fixed only costs me parts and a case of beer or a dinner somewhere or something along those lines. Any time I need something done though I work with him on it so that one day I can do it myself. He is a professional but he is a friend too so I get a great deal.

Ok from all the boards I have read I have decided that a hot water unit is totally necessary. So I need advice from everyone on what type of hot water units would be best for me to get. I run a 2600 psi/2.5 gpm cold water machine and am thinking about getting a hot box that I can use with my unit. What type of hot box is the best kerosine or diesel? What type of power source do I need to run one of these? Am I going to need new pressure washing hose because my water will be heated now? Will I need to by a new gun for the hot water? I have never used hot water before so I am completely clueless on the requirements for using it. I need to price all the equipment I need to set up a hot water unit so that I can present it to my loan officer and some outside investors that are thinking about backing me up in my venture to professional pressure washing. I don't know what else I need to know but anything you want to tell me will probably help me. Thank you.

I might be wrong but I do believe the idea that was given to you was $1/lft/floor it shouldn't be $2/lft unless you are cleaning both floors. Try $1/lft for the second if that is all you have to clean. If you use the X-jet that should be a fair price since there isn't any ladder work involved. It will cut your bids in half but you will prbably get a lot more work. Remember to offer window cleaning if they tell you that they want their siding cleaned only. Tell them you will clean the second story windows (I hope you have a ladder)for a small charge. I do 2nd floor windows for $8/piece regardless of size up to 8lf or more, then they cost $10 or $11 depending on what part of my area I am working in. I do first floor windows for $5/each and $7 or $8/each for large windows, since I don't have any ladder work. It only takes maybe 3 minutes to setup clean and move the ladder to the next window, so it works out well since most of the time people would like their windows clean on the second floor since they have no way to get to them normally. I like to keep it under $1/lf but not far under. $.97 and $.99 have been proven to be deal getter prices, just under a buck. That's why cars are sold for $18,999.00 instead of $19,000. It's a phsychologicl sales point. It also doesn't cut much into profit though $.97/lf compared to $1.00/lft. $1.00 every 33ft, no biggie, but then you sell them on window-washing, because they think they are getting some sort of deal on the siding work. (My fiance is majoring in psychology and she just took a psychology of advertising class, where they discuss what makes the consumer think they are getting a deal.) I'm not a used car salesman though I'm not trying to rip them off it's just a selling point I have found that works quite well.

Ok deal... New PW it is... I found a 4gpm/3700psi machine with adjustable psi that I am going to get... now considering I will have a new machine what info can I get about the water heater?