John T

Between my two trucks and a Van I'm paying over $4000 for insurance. Then between my wifes car and my pickup truck there is another $2500/yr. Then advertising cost another $10,000 etc.etc...it never ends. The hole in the wallet just grows and grows. On that Cleaner Times Cover there's about a 1000psi of water hitting that roof because no chemicals at all where allowed to be used. THis was there requirement and because of this that roof was a real PITA...Not Fun!!! Plus I think the Temperature that day was 95+. Somebody had to do it....

I had an open and an enclosed trailer which I recently sold. My new set-up is in a 24ft box truck. So far so good. It nice not having to tow something for a change but like Mike said above, the Box Truck is costing me $1800/yr to insure which is not cheap.

Scott, Have a happy b-day and many many more....

Becareful how you handle this. I would suggest that you call that guy and let him know that you will be back to touch up that spot. In the future becareful where you go to solicit business. On my "Other" Job I'm in an area that is extremely wealthy and there are rules there that are enforced and one of them is soliciting. You are not allowed to do it and not knowing the town ordinances will not help you from getting out of a ticket. These rules are in place because because the very rich are paranoid and who could blame them. This is one of the ways that there houses are scoped out to possibly be burglarized.

I have in my garage an 87 Buick Grand National which was the last year this car was made. You can see it hiding in the garage in this picture.

Beth your thinking is very similiar to mine which is probably the reason why we get along so well. I always like to debate as long as it is friendly. I learn a ton from debating because believe me I never proclaimed that I had all the answers. I do feel as Henry does to correct a wrong statement about the PWNA and I think we have earned the right to do so as we would with our own businesses. What I'm reading into this is that Most bb'errs don't want to hear the PWNA BOD opinions and what where thinking. What they do want to hear is the facts and nothing else. Ok thats fair. Believe me my goal is to never hurt the PWNA in any way shape or form and maybe with me expressing my opinions I'm not doing good for my fellow PWNA members. This is why I hate politics but on the other side of the coin when in a position of leadership alot of times you have to keep your opinions to yourself because you have to take into consideration how others feel alot more then if you weren't in a leadership position. So I will try my best in the future to pass on the facts and not offer to many opinions...Who ever said a BOD position was easy:lgkeyboar

I can say I agree with everything Henry has just posted and this is coming from not as a PWNA BOD but as a member of an org. and it could be any org. for that matter. I suggest that anyone that is following this thread to re-read Henry's last few post. Henry is at the very top in donating a ton of his valuable time towards making the PWNA a better org. You can never find enough volunteers and I for a second can't even pretend to think that I can donate nearly the amount of time that Henry and some others do. I'm not making excuses here but I do what I can. Now if these where Paid BOD positions there would be people lining up at the door to get in and if this ORG. ever gets to be all that it can be then I would be one of the very first ones to suggest that the BOD's get paid. Volunteering is one thing but being paid for what you do then the stakes go way way up. There is an open BOD position available and I would suggest that anyone who is a PWNA member who has an interest in trying to get the PWNA to be what they want it to be then they should call the PWNA headquarters to have there name brought up to the nominating committee which last year I was on.

On some issues I can speak for the Org. and on other issues I'll speak on what my opinion is such as this. I never for a second think that non PWNA members are not legit because we all know that is just not true..but what I do think is that me having my lic/ins. and being a PWNA member is avenue's that help legitimize my company. This works for me and I stand behind it and this is what the Org. does for me which is what the title of this thread is.

I don't agree with what Henry is saying here. I do believe that an Org. that requires proof of your Lic/ins. is another form of legitimacy. Legit means what makes one true, lawful. A license and definitely insurance is a way of showing people that you are legit. As Scott says he is not referring to the PWNA org. but Org's in general. I can only answer what the PWNA org. does to explain myself because that is the org. that I belong to. The PWNA org's requirement of its members is to show that they are legit so with this being the rules then its easy to see how being a PWNA member is an avenue to see if someone is legit. Henry and I are both PWNA BOD's and we all have opinions and also difference of opinions as we are having here. No problem with that because we all learn from eachother. So in a nutshell I believe being a member of this valuable org. is one of the ways of showing legitimacy for my company and this is what I market it as.

Legitimacy by documentation. THe more you have the better it is for your company. My answer is the same as James Foley and for the $195/yr it cost me to be a PWNA member I'll be making more than that an hour when I clean my next bldg. As Jackie Gleason use to say.."Just a mere bag of shells"..

Russ, Thanks for the info. I have two more questions. 1- Where do you buy this and 2-Why is it that you can just use exhaust pipes to vent out an engine and you don't need a draft diverder or is that what the muffler does??

Russ do you have any pictures of what this draft diverter looks like and where can I purchase one--------------Thanks

I'm just about done with my dream rig and I have pipes bending also. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My Burners are going to run on Propane which is much cleaner then diesel so I'm hoping I don't get this problem. I'll post pictures when I get a chance down the road.

I say raise your prices a little to offset the gas cost. Another option would be to scale down a little and sell the gas guzzlers and get a more economical vehicle........ On a postive note gas is starting to come back down some. It has dropped another 20 cents a gallon in the past few weeks....and my prices will not decrease so thats more money in my pocket......

I'm sure most everybody is having a good year and for the ones that aren't keep hammering away because there is a pot of $$$$ at the end of the rainbow. I've been extremely busy and loving every minute of it. I still read as much as I can here at Beth's/Rods bb which as usual is at the top of the game but I haven't had much time to post. Just a fast note I'm on the PWNA Convention committee and where in the process of hammering out the details for next years Convention in Memphis. Things are looking good and I will post some more when I have some more info to report. Ok time to go to sleep because tomorrow is another big day...because my 4 yr old graduates...pre-school and then its off to Powerwashing land.

What Everett is saying I can see it...to a point. On the PWNA BOD I believe Myself and Henry hold the Powerwashing bb's to a higher esteem then the others(Henry if I'm wrong then please accept my apologies) I guess some of the negativity from the past has altered some of the people's views about these bb's and I can't say that I blame them in doing so. Still I do feel that if the bb's are adminstered as well as this bb is here then they are a great source to make connections and friends in this industry. Before I ever visited a bb lets say around 1998 I didn't KNOW the following: 1-Other contractors that do this business. 2- The use of chemicals in this field. 3- The PWNA 4- The different types of equipment thats out there. 5-What others use in this field etc.etc.etc. I do feel as Everett does that the bb's of yesteryear where a little better because there where alot less crap going around and there where more reputable members posting.....This is most likely because the bb's where at there infant stages and most didn't want to rock the boat so to speak. BUT as in everything else the bb's will and do evolve. Along the way the kinks have to be worked and reworked as Beth/Rod have done here numerous times which is once again why there bb gets so much traffic. This is the modern world and communication has evolved 100 fold such as a bb. I can type a post like this and there could be over a 1000 views on it where as a phone conversation there is usually only you and the caller. Still the rank and file on communication will be as it has been for many years with face to face being the best then phone/Conference calls next and the bb's being further down the list....BUT..For mass communication the bb's can be at or near the top of the list and this my bb friends is something that must be Harvest...and this is why I feel that bb's can play a greater role then they ever have done in the past....and this is the difference from my opinion that most others on the PWNA BOD.

Hey Glock40, Where's your union to help you in your time of need?? Were you still on probation?? If so then they can pretty much lay you off for anything which I always thought was a quirk in the system. I knew of a guy way back when who was skiing on his time off and he broke his leg....so what did the job do??? Lay him off because he was still a probie....... Now you can build up your contractor end with nothing holding you back. Best of luck........

I had scheduled for this week a $5500 bldg. Cleaning job and a $810 house (with 2 decks) cleaning job for this week. Both of these customers called in the beginning of the week to reschedule these jobs for next spring. OUCH........... I was able to reschedule another job for tomorrow(Thursday) but thats it for the week. I have 4 other jobs that are sceduled for the next few weeks with one of these being a bldg. and another is a house stripping and sealing job(I'll try to post pictures on that one if I remember). I could not move up these jobs so that leaves me this week to tinker with my new equipment and of course work my "Other" boring job. This is when I'm happy that I do have that other job because I would be in complete panick mode if I had no work scheduled for just about a week. This must be tough when this happens to the fulltimers who I'm sure most know how to save for times like this. Ok back out to my Yard to modify a few items. I just needed to vent alittle.......

This was my kids toy area which I moved and I'm still working on finishing up a retainer wall to keep the rocks in there new toy area. Now this is my new Toy Area :) Some of the items here will most likely be sold in the near future such as My Van, The Powerwasher in it and the gooseneck trailer without the equipment which will go inside my box truck. I hope my neighbors don't complain but if they do I will have to go rent a yard. I'm already going to clean my next door neighbors house to keep her happy..Hopefully the rest of my neighbors don't ask:)

Russell, How long can you store a mixed container of HD-80 for?? I know Citralic is considered safer then Oxalic but would you consider it better.........

Does anyone know what the rule is as far as carrying fuel in an enclosed Box Truck or trailer?? Is it even allowed and if so is there a cutoff on how much you can carry?? The reason I'm asking is because I have a 35 gallon diesel fuel tank along with 3-5gallon gas tanks that I would like to store in there. Thanks

Matt, Great info!! Thanks a ton!! My diesel Powerwasher has a seperate 35 Gallon diesel fuel tank that will be at least 10' from the powerwasher. This will be filled when the truck is filled. I rather not tap into the truck gas tanks if I don't have to an according to what Matt posted I should have no problem storing the diesel gas tank inside the box truck. After speaking to Ron M. today I think I will carry the 5 gal. gas cans on the outside of the box truck to be on the safe side. I will also be carrying 124 gallons of LP on the outside of the truck....I just hope I or one of my workers never get into an accident with this truck set-up because it will be like the finally on July 4th......

Does anyone know how to tap into a truck fuel tank to feed my diesel powerwasher?? Also do I need a pump to make this work since the fuel tank is lower then the Powerwasher so gravity fed is not an option. Thanks

Yea my wife isn't so Keen on what I did to the side of my house. You should see what I did to my neighbors tree's that were overhanging on my property. I cut them into a straight line so nothing overhangs over my equipment. I should take a picture of this if I can remember. It looks neat and she was cool about it. I'm hooking her up with Powerwashing her house, Installing Gutterfilter for her free of charge and I'm also going to pay for a garden on her property that will block alot of my trucks....and no I'm not having an affair with this woman in case anyones wondering. I will say that she's and excellent neighbor who keeps to herself and bothers no one. My kind of neighbor. As for the energy my Doctor diagnosed me as being a somewhat Insomniac and I know take Ambian when I need to sleep and that stuff works great. Also $$$$ is great energizer:)

Here's another angle of my new yard. I may put in two 10 ft gates to enclose it when I'm done for the day.