Dave Olson

Thanks for your kind words Steve. Over all of the years I've never really thought of it as being First Class. It's just the way I've chosen to do business. Yes I've spent a lot of money on equipment, but on the other side of the coin it lasts a long time. Our Red truck that we use the most only has about 85,000 miles on it and we've had it in service for 6-1/2 years. This truck has a lot of life left in it!;) Dave Olson

Inside of our White truck. There have been times that the entire floor area on the right side has been full of equipment and/or supplies for jobs that we have done. Dave Olson

Hello scoffman, I purchased this GMC 6500 Series new 5 years ago for about $30,000 (including the Govenor). Don't need a CDL to drive it. We haul 1000 gallons of water with room for a lot of other supplies and equipment. Both of our trucks have heavy front axles (11,000 pounds) so we can put our water tanks in the front of the box. I will post another picture of the inside so you can see what I'm talking about. It has an 18 foot box that I bought used for $2,000. Chassis has a 454 Gas engine. 5 speed transmission with a 2 speed rearend. We don't pass up to many gas stations :arg: since it only gets about 5 mpg! I was told that the increased cost of a diesel compared to gas that you needed to put on at least 30,000 miles per year to justify the extra cost of a diesel engine purchase and repairs. Dave Olson

Hello John T, There is a large contractor in Canada that is union. Doug Latimer. If you are going to Dallas, I’m sure he will be there. His company makes the Latimat. We were forced to pay prevailing wages when we do state work. We were instructed to pay construction laborer scale. It is currently $30.79 per hour. Have some jobs that I need 4 guys to complete! Add another 25% for payroll taxes, etc. my labor cost is $154 per hour! They did not require us to join any union. Dave Olson

Hello Jon, The tractor on the far left of the last photo that I posted is the one your thinking about. Actually we had tractors simular to all of these. Here is another photo loaded and ready to go to a local show last spring. The red one in front is the one that started all of this about 18 months ago! :rolleyes: White truck pulls em just fine. Good advertising at the show too! Dave Olson

Here are 4 of them at a show last summer. These old pieces of iron bring back memories of when I was a kid on the farm! :) Long time ago!;) The little gray one is the oldest built in 1930, neat little tractor. Dave Olson

The little car never has been used much. Here it is in the shop with my latest interest (old farm tractors).

Here it is runnin 6000 rpm, 130 mph. Guy said it was puttin 234 hp to the ground. 350, 4 spd, double pumper carb, headers, 4" pipes!

Hello stoppie101, In my Avatar is a picture of a plastic car that my wife and I have owned since 1985. I don't have the talent to work on it, but it sure is fun drive it around. I took it to a all Corvette show when it was 25 years old. We put it on a dyno. Here is a picture of it going up. That old guy on the left is me!:o Dave Olson

Hello Mark, Another manufacture you may want to consider is Whitco. http://www.whitcoinc.com/ We bought a stand alone 980,000 Btu boiler from them several years ago. It has been doing a great job for us. Here is a picture of it showing how we vent through the roof of our truck. This is a 12" stack. Dave Olson

Hello Melissa, Glad to see you back! Yes we went to the show in Nashville a couple times. Huge show for the really Big ticket stuff. What type of pump are you guys using and want a spare of? Do you guys do that much water pick-up to need a Vac-Truck? Dave Olson

Here are a couple more things to add to this list. Fire Extinguishers – We carry one in the cab, crew cab, and in the back of our trucks. First Aid Kits – We have them in the shop, office, and on each truck. Dave Olson

Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks for the card Paul B. really neat! Dave Olson

Here is a picture of the gloves that we have used for many years. They are made by Memphis. It has a 14" gaulant and we turn it up so liquids don't run down your arm. They are PVC with a jersey lining inside. We launder them several times before they get tossed out. By them by the case less. I should add these gloves have a sandy finish (less slip) on the fingers, etc. The white one on the left is worn it you want an additional layer to protect from heat or cold. Kinda tight fit thou! Dave Olson

Hello Jon, This may be what Beth was referring too. There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, ‘You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.’ A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, share words of praise and always want to open their hearts to us.

Thanks Melissa, Been quite some time since I heard/read that one. But its really good stuff. I've copied and pasted it so I could print it out. Gonna put a copy in all of the paycheck envelopes this week. Thanks again Melissa Dave Olson

Take a moment, click on the link, sit back, listen and read. http://www.pathways-to-peace.com/popframeset.html

Paul B, What extra paperwork and expense? I have always been an S Corp and don't really know anything different! Dave Olson

Hello Melissa, When I saw some of your other posts I thought maybe it was you guys from several years ago. Yes, I remember talking with John about one of your old trucks that you had traded in. Good to see you folks back on the BBS's again! Dave Olson

Hello John T, Since you already have the unit, maybe you should consider getting a stand alone boiler (hotbox) then you could run hot! Dave Olson

Hello John T, Short answer. No! Dave Olson

Rob, I've never had a 4-5 gpm machine. With our equipment if we want less volume we just put in a smaller tip. Rick, The more you put down, the more you pick up. Somethings like fleet washing you will loose about 50% with blow-off & evaporation. But still the more you use the more you will need to deal with. The 100,000 sq. ft. floor that I posted about earlier was all inside so we had to pick up a very high percentage of what we put down and with both truck running we were putting down around 16 gpm! Dave Olson

Will take awhile to load with a dial up, but worth the wait. http://www.pressaprint.com/som/wesupportU2.htm

I've never done a time study. Would be almost impossible to do in the field. One more thing about higher volume. It will also damage things faster!:mad: Gotta know what you are doing or be working on a surface that you cannot hurt! Rob, if you want to feel and see the difference come on up and I show you what our equipment can do. Might help you decide on what to buy for your operation. Dave Olson

Mike is right! High volume is hard to hang on too. When my guys use a single wand to move alot of trash, or just do cleaning much faster they will run a 2510 tip at 3000 psi. They complain how much it hurts and I remind them they could use a smaller tip (lower volume) and spend a little more time, they just smile and tell me "Yeh Dave but this does it better and faster!" :) When we need to run long periods with our blaster (10 gpm @ 8-10,000 psi) we always try to have at least a 2-3 man crew so they can switch off every 15 minutes or so. Dave Olson