John T

I have my inlaws hanging out at my house for the weekend and Sunday my family and some friends are coming by to hang out by my pool. The water is cranked up to 88 degrees so we can just float around and drink beer in the floating cooler I have in the pool.. By the time this weekend is over I should look like a bloated float:) So what's your plans for this weekend(hopefully you don't have to work)?

Where in the middle of doing a night work month long town job that is all flatwork. Because of that it leaves us only Fr. & Sa. To catch up on our other work. Last Friday we did a Condo complex gutter clean out job. I have the same 5 guys that I'm using for this town job to do this job as well. There were tons of gutters and the pay Was $3500. We've done this Condo in the past but it's usually done once a yr. This time we haven't done it in over 2 yrs. So now the problem. Between 2 hurricanes that came thru our area since it was last cleaned (Irene & Sandy) and all the rain we were having here you would think that maybe they would be cleared out some... But noooooooooo. Some of these gutters were growing small trees out of them and the gunk build up in all of them were at the top. Total disaster. Since I just raised there price 10% from the last time we did it and I never went there to check on there condition this is where you can get a beating like I did for not looking at the job first. End result--- 2 days of 12 hrs each(including traveling) for 5 guys to clean these gutters. When tax time rolls around I'll be lucky if I break even on this job. Can't win them all. This one I sure didn't.

Test test test.

There starting to post pics of the PWRA Convention on the PWRA bulletin board. Looks like one of the biggest shows this Industry has had in yrs!!! Anyone who's there who would also like to post about it here for others to see..please do. Oh yea, pop in some pictures if you can as well-- very cool:)

WOW.. Amazing!! First PWRA Convention and you guys crushed it with a Grand Slam Home Run:) Those are the biggest numbers for an Industry Powerwashing contractor event in almost a decade. You said you were going to get some large number for this Convention Thad and you guys sure did... Nice Job!!!!

Great post Allison!!!!!!!!!!! The chatter on the Net about the PWRA's first Convention was that it was a "Bigtime" success. All the people worked together in there to make it a success from what I'm hearing. Great to see this can be done where Powerwashing contractors can support each other completely. 1st class and professional all the way:)

It seems I never really get away from the physical end of my business. My wife runs all of the office end. We have Employee's but yet I always find myself doing physical labor--- its probably what I do best anyway. Every day I tinker and fix equipment. The picture below is more my speed as far as doing the actual cleanings. I also do once in awhile go out at night to do some commercial flatwork myself because of scheduling conflicts. So how about you 50+ in age business people out there. What's your "Physical end" of your business are you doing such as cleanings etc.

Lol.. If I work 10 minutes with my guys I'm worn out..lol I need at this stage of the game to be able to work at my own speed which is sloowwwwww but cautious which is why I excel now at fixing my machines...at my own speed.

Your a lucky man Timbo. It's reasons like this that sent my wife and I to NOLA the last 2 yrs. These guys "Are" most definitely the real deal by doing for others.

Since the PWRA's first Convention is coming to a close lets hear some "Thoughts" on how it went. Off the bat and knowing from experience, I bet to start off April Dodson, Kurt Kempton & Thad's sessions were the "Bomb":) Let's hear some honest opinions on what you thought and who stuck out in your mind that you can take for your business to do even better---Like getting to that "Next" level.

Can't wait to see some more pictures.

Kurt Kempton is one of the best speakers in the Industry. Totally entertaining as well.

I love Florida. I have family their including my parents who own a winter home there. My goal is to do the same. One of the good things about Florida is the rainfall that can help big time in roof cleaning. But it can cause mayhem. Sinkholes are a scary thing. http://weather.aol.com/2013/08/13/why-is-florida-prone-to-sinkholes/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D357426

That's pretty much their strategy. They demo the Cyclone all over he place. I can't remember who actually owns the Cyclone but the company is worth something like 700 million dollars if not more. They also sell sweepers,scrubbers etc.

I forget the height of it. It's around 6'3"...somewhere about that and this Cyclone can be used for many different types of large flatwork cleaning jobs such as parking garages. It's a complete closed loop system and "Supposedly" can run 8 hrs continuously before you have to drain all the dirty water out of it and refill it with fresh water. I tried this machine in Vegas and it worked pretty good and if it can do all they claim it can, for some it maybe worth the Investment but it sure ain't cheap-- aprox $125,000

That's the newest Cyclone that has air condition in it....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh No I don't own one but driving an aircondition vehicle for powerwashing--- Yea I could do that:)

Some people just love being out in the field.. I always did. Reason why I chose this business is because I never wanted to be a "Desk Monkey". Thumbs up for your Dad!!

I love where I live on Long Island NY. 2 miles from the beach and 15 miles from the Ocean. 1 Hour from the Hamptons and NY City as well. I hate what I pay to live here but on the Powerwashing end the Money is pretty good. My goal is to be able to snow bird with another home in Florida. Wishful thinking but my parents do that and I have other family members who do the same. I love Florida. Been to Disney world in 1970 when they first opened and I always loved the weather and the ocean. My grand parents moved for their last 30 yrs to Clearwater Florida and now my Grandmother is back at 98. My goal is to have some kind of residence there. How about you? Where do you live and where do you want to live?

I love Disney World in Florida. Took may family there a few times over the yrs. We also when I was a kid went there when they first open.... Just a great place to visit and at least for kids they'll never forget it. I heard the Disney cruises are awesome as well---My kids kids(When they have them) will have find out about that one:)

For years I never did and I had all kinds of problems not doing that. From leaves falling into the stacks to continuous rain pouring in their I had many problems with past burners so now we cover them when not in use. The drawback is a couple of times the guys used the burners and realize a few minutes later the stack covers were still on--my luck.. But they still get covered all the time when not in use. Do you guys have stack caps for your burners?

It's pretty easy to set up Joel. 1 hose from the bypass side of the unloader to the feed tank & you'll be good to go.

I like enclosed trailers as well and did have at one time a Landa hot water skid inside of one. Once I started doing Parking garages a few yrs back it was no longer an option for me to have my burners in an enclosed trailer since height is an issue in the garages.

What do you guys/gals think about doing a contest every now and then to give away used equipment? I just did this twice on Mike's bb(of course I still have to mail out the used equipment to the winners there). Instead of having this stuff sit on our shelves maybe we can give some of this stuff away here to someone who may have a use for these things. What do you guys think here? Do you find it sleazy to give away used things to our fellow contractors?

I removed this post. I just got a phone call from a good friend in this Industry who advised me to remove it. Thought it would help guys out in this Industry to be careful but apparently now I have the usual 3-4 guys directing people to this post for the sole reason to attack my character. I did this to show I make mistakes and I'm sorry to the ones who could learn from my mistakes. I am not perfect like these few like to tell others they are. Lesson learned which is the reason I love TGS. I still learn from bb's like this all the time.

So how does a dodging pit bull compare to an actual bull coming at you full speed ahead to gore the heck out of ya?? This Question Rob by far is the only question you and you only can answer in this Industry. Your by far the bravest guy I know who can deal with something like this without a firearm at your side.