John T

Guy -I re-read the above a couple of times and it got me thinking that you would probably be the best person to answer this. When someone advertises "Free free free" in there way of promoting an event all the time.... What's the catch? Wants going in between those lines? If we go to an event like that are they really just trying to sell us something? Personally I am always Leary when someone says something is "Free free free". I'm sure you can understand that. It almost like saying "Call our company and we'll give you a free, yes that's right a free house wash"-- that says that there going to upsell everything to you & with that your going to get a free house wash. Just like the guys who sell $99 house washes. So what's the deal?

I may go anyway. I'll just skip the org sales pitch since I already rode that train in the past and had fun and since moved on. No biggie. Just not sure about the 5hr drive.

John Tornabene www.cleancounty.com is here

Yup I remember Ratt. I was more of an ACDC Van Halen type fan then heading towards New Wave music such as Generation X(Billy Idol fronted this band),Police,Clash and U2 to name a few. They were having a tribute to Lou Reed today @12:30 but I couldn't convince Kathy to go with me so we missed out. As for Patty Smith & her hairy armpits, the way she sang hers and Bruce Springsteen's song "Because the Night" is one of my all-time fav's.

Great tune Adrian. I dig the music. "I dig you" brother. Which instrument were you playing in there? You guys would have done well here if it was 30 yrs ago when the bars had bands jamming. In my area I seen these bands at some of my local bars and they were great to see up close and personal and to even drink with some of these cats back then was totally cool. The bands were Zebra, Twisted Sister, Rainbow w/deep purple guitarist Richie Blacmore(I went to school with the Drummer Rondinelli),The Ramones just to name a few. Heck me and my friends use to follow a band here called Vixen because the girls who followed that ban...... Well it was fun:)

LOL.. There's a full blown test coming up for a surpassed kid in school somewhere

Your looking to far into it. I'm sure there are plenty of events around that no one knows about or just aren't to public and they maybe excellent or flat out suck. I've been to plenty that weren't written up anywhere in the Industry mags and they were great.

The PWNA Convention was a success with over 150 signed up attendees from what I heard. There has been nothing but positive news coming out about this Convention which is always a good thing. One of the more amazing stories that happened there is about how a contractor for the first time in this Industry's history at any of these events had the extraordinarily great luck of receiving 2 free hot water skids. http://community.thegrimescene.com/topic/23745-2013-pwna-convention-history-was-made-read-below/ Now the PWNA has a job to do which is to try and top this yrs Convention which is going to take a strong commitment from their BOD's and committee personal to succeed in doing that with the guess being-- they will. Can't wait to read about what's in store for the 2014 PWNA Convention :)

This was written by Dan Galvin a past PWNA President and the writer of the "Success in Powerwashing" monthly articles. Two Free Hot Water Skids!!!! I just have to share this with you, it's one of those really cool stories. I wrote an article and sent it out back on September 20, 2013 titled, "Yes, It's Life Changing". Some of you looked at it and some may have just deleted it. I used the same article and re-purposed it for the PWNA to send out for the 2013 convention. (Which was awesome) The two articles are below for you to read, but fist I want to tell you what happened at the PWNA convention. Saturday, October 19, 2013 is a day he will never forget. Jared Greene is one of those people that was "NOT" going to come to the PWNA convention. He was fresh out of the US Army and new to the power washing industry. He didn't have the time, money, his wife was on duty (US Army) and no one was there to take care of their dog. There was one excuse after the other, but I finally talked him into coming and boy was he glad I did. Just remember - he was not going to come to the convention. On Saturday morning at the PWNA convention, John & Shelley Allison from Envirospec gave me the honor of introducing the First "Washin Warrior" - Staff Sargent Jared Greene. John & Shelley donated $1,000 in chemical plus some*supplies. To ensure his success in the industry, I donated my Success In House Washing manual, but the best thing was from John & Shelly and Steve & Lisa Tolley from Lorgo industries, they gave Jared a brand new Hot Water skid mounted pressure washer. WOW! This Hot Water Skid carries a retail sticker price of $9,000.00. It develops 4,100 PSI at 5.5 gallons of super hot water per minute. The total retail value of everything he received was around $20,000 plus. Talk about a day that change his life! But wait, there's more! Again, just remember - he was not going to come to the convention. I don't know what the odds are but I know Jared only had a couple of tickets to the PWNA skid giveaway. YES! He won the PWNA skid giveaway!!! He was leaving the PWNA convention with two hot water skids, chemicals, supplies and my marketing course with a total retail value of over $30,000 - Talk about a life changing! I received this text from Jared "My family's lives are literally changed forever." Now, imagine if Jared never came to the convention!!! all I can say is wow! Dan Galvin Success in Power Washing

You dawg Diamond Jim:) I never went to CBGB's but been to the Ritz back then a few times and seen some phenomenal bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads among others.. CBGB's was legendary but just never got around to going there. Now they've been closed for a few years and some of the legends that played there are dead and buried such as The Ramones and Lou Reed-- time flies.

Someone ask a question on a different bb what stain some of us would recommend for IPE. I remember Jake Clark telling me at the Albany event this past year that his stain also does very well on IPE. So I did a search to support my answer on that bb and low an behold I find out from the searches that Armstrong Clark Stain does indeed hold up well with IPE. This site for example ranks his stain #1 http://www.deckstainhelp.com/tag/ipe-stain-review/ Not only does Armstrong Clark stain look beautiful on Cedar (we did one house this year and a couple of decks with Armstrong Clark Amber stain that looked awesome when completed) it ranks very well on IPE. Very impressive indeed!

Lou Reed was awesome. True Long Island and worldwide legend who influenced many especially as the lead singer of the Velvet Underground. I had a few of his "cassete tapes" from the mid 70's to the mid 80's. I only wish I seen him at the CBGB's back in the 70's. I was lucky enough to see the Ramones 4-5 times back then but never the legend-- Lou Reed.

She offered it. Maybe take much less but make it non refundable. Nothing like a customer canceling right before you are to start that job when you booked her a half year out. Also considering she was talked out of doing it this year it would be a double wammy.

Take her up on the offer so she's locked in. It's smart business all the way around.

Very cool. Thanks Tracy.. The PWNA's 2014 Convention is definitely on my list for next year..

Tracy-- do you have any pics you want to share? I heard the PWNA convention went well. I hope to see you at next years show.

We stained a house here a couple of years ago right before Thanksgiving. The home owner was happy as heck we got it done in time for his relatives who came out to his house for the holiday. My family was happy as heck because we had a nice winter vacation because of it.... It was a win win. Risky of course but that's business. That house still looks good today.

I never turn away work if it can still be done. Some people just want to get there decks and houses done this time of year which is kind of crazy but if there willing to pay for it we go out and do it as long as the weather cooperates.

Don't you just love new products that come out that promise to be the next new great product? Here's a product that's probably relatively new http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4988fdd4d20cc18d4a1c81c3c&id=6dc955de73&e=15e811908c Look how Unbelievable it is. Just what your customers will think when they see you staining over their "wet" deck-- "Unbelievable!!"

Lol.. That is the drawback to doing good deeds. The "human greed" factor can kick in. They see you doing a good deed and now they want you to do it for there organization as well(draining). I noticed this years ago when we have donated money for some charities. Alot of them come back every year asking for more. My attitude with that was to just ignore them and to donate when we can. Because of these over aggressive sales people once again who look to get you to give, give and give some more that's the greed factor. They work on your guilt as well. Personally I just block them out and give when I can. Also over the years I looked into certain groups to see what % of your donation actually goes to the ones in need. The surprising factor is some are less then 5% of your donation goes to where you intended it to go. The other 95% goes to the "fat cats" wallets such as paying the chair millions and his BODs hundreds of thousands. When we find that out we no longer if ever donate to those groups. Charity is complex. In our Vegas event because I know a couple of people who are directly involved with certain charities we were able to get our donation thru 100% which is rare.

Yes that would make for a good article. It's in the heart that counts. It's great that there are awards for contractors of the year, vendors of the year along with many other industry type awards. People win contest/prizes all the time. That's all good. Personally I like charity stories better then how people cleaned something which I enjoy as well. If contractors can get recognized for doing good deeds that's great. Many contractors like to stay quite in the charities there involved in and I completely respect that. Who wouldn't? If people are motivated to do charity work because they have a shot to be recognized or get some great publicity as well once again the ones who win here regardless are the ones who are on the receiving end of these contractors/vendors good deeds. The goal should always be to help someone or something out one way or another and to not pass judgement on what was the motivating factor of the ones who did the charity/volunteer work to begin with IMO.

That's exactly how I look at it. The ones who should benefit no matter what people's intentions are(as longs as it's not criminal in nature) should be the ones who are getting the free cleanings even if it's giving back to this Country, your church or whatever establishment,individuals or whomever you choose to give back to.

Here's that picture I left out of my post above

You know Rob these things cross my mind continuously. I could post or talk for hours on giving back because you can never put a price on that because its priceless. Look at the thousands of jobs you did in your years powerwashing and which ones stick out. I bet the ones are when you did something special for someone somewhere. In this case you gave back to this Country. Today or at least the other day the Lincoln Memorial was closed to the veterans who put there lives on the line for this country only to be told they can't view the Lincoln Memorial because of the Gov't shutdown. At least you as a Powerwasher gave back here in yrs past and thats not forgotten. Heck right next to my desk I keep what I consider Important Cleaner Times Magazine cover stories that were impacting to me and yours is right here--- Being a Veteran myself(Navy) and one who loves his Country and history, what you guys did that day I wish I could have been there.

I have a problem thinking that "wet on wet" would do a quality job. The way wood could hold more water in some areas more then others makes me think that applying this stain in a more saturated area such as where the deck maybe shady would cause an uneven finish.I wonder if anyone here on TGS uses "wet on wet" stains and if they recommend them or not.