John T

Ok your dead.:D You sound highly motivated which is extremely important in this or any other business. Beth(Owner of this great bb) and Rod are a wife and husband team that does well. As for myself I do most of the physical work with one or 2 partimers working with me and my wife takes most of my calls and sets up estimates etc. So in a sense my business is becoming a husband and wife business more and more each year.

This may have been asked before but I can't remember the answer to it so here it goes. If 8oz of HD-80 to 1 gallon of water is the max. strength mix what happens if I put 16 oz of HD-80 per gallon of water in my x-jet bucket that shoots out 2-1. Does this mean my HD-80 will be hitting the object at full strength(8 oz/gal.) or is the 16oz of HD-80 going into my x-jet bucket makes no difference and Hence its hitting the object at Half strength(4oz) because of the 2-1 the x-jet is shooting out??? Another way of putting this if 8oz HD-80/gallon of water is the max strength then 16oz HD-80/gallon of water is no stronger and if this is true then my x-jet which is shooting out 2-1 is really only applying my mixture of HD-80 at half strength which is equal to 4oz of HD-80/gallon of water. Is that true??

Beth, I know you have plenty of experience from all ends of the spectrum in this field. I have never doubted that. The only thing that I was asking is have you used the x-jet for stripping wood. I understand completely the dangers of using HD-80 via x-jet,Flojet or most anyother way to apply it. The only thing I was questioning was the strength of HD-80 when mixed and used thru an x-jet. I hope you didn't take offense to anything that I was saying for that was not my intent. I know where still pals;) I now understand that you can't make HD-80 any stronger then the 8 oz per gallon of H20 which is the reason why I started this thread so I can hear this for sure from you very qualified people here. What are your thoughts about using the x-jet for stripping. Did you like the way it worked as far as keeping the wood soaked with the mixture?? This is the thing that I liked most about using the x-jet when doing this.

I have to admit since I started using the x-jet about a month ago to strip fences/decks I have been getting better results then using my flojets/surflo pumps and also getting the job done much faster. The reason is simple--------with the x-jet the surface getting stripped is flooded by the solution coming out of the x-jet compared to the solution coming out of the Flojet/surflo pumps where you have to keep going over with a mist of water to keep it activating which means lost time. I recommend for anyone that strips wood to try it. I did and I can't believe the results. The drawback to this is that BETH is saying that you can't increase the strength of the HD-80 to make it come out with max. strength threw the x-jet. This is where I would like to read MORGANS response to this not that I'm doubting BETH because I'm not. But with that being said I would be willing to bet that BETH has never x-jetted a deck to strip it. Like I said I haven't either Untill last month and I was SURPRISED at how good it worked. One more point. When I mixed the HD-80 at 16oz/gal. of H20 I due it with a drill. There is hardly any residue at the bottom of my pail by doing it like this. But since BETH is telling me that it makes no difference when I add 16oz to 8oz of HD-80 to increase its strength even though I am disapointed in hearing this I except it as truth untill someone can prove otherwise. BETH------is it possible to get the creator of HD-80 to respond to this post????

The only thing I'll add to this is that to make any real money in this or any other business is you have to have employees do the work. I have between 1 and 2 partimers working with me at times. When I work by myself I can generate anywhere between $40-$150hr. If I had to guess I would say my average is somwhere around $80-$90/hr. Take into mind that I Live in NY where the cost of living is one of the highest in the nation so the Hourly rate will be higher here also then most states. Now $80-$90hr seems nice but don't forget that the traveling between jobs and doing estimates I don't make any money so I am probably knocked down to about $60 or so and hour for an 8 hour day. Which isn't to bad but the draw back is I can't make much more then this on my own because I am about as fast and good as I'll ever be at Powerwashing/staining. This is why I have Commercial targets in my head so I can hire Employees so I can make more money then I can generate on my own. What saves me now is that I have another job on top of Powerwashing so I can stay at the size I am now and always do all right.....but who wants to do "Just all right"????????

How large of a water tank do you plan on getting into the Van?? I had a Van Set-up a couple of years ago but I blew up the tranny and sold off the Van as is.

I wear the goggles and mask when applying strippers and brightners. The one thing I have been doing alot of lately and with tremendous results is applying these chemicals with my x-jet. The reason I even tried this in the first place is because my Flojets have stopped working. They are always breaking down on me. I have become quite accurate using the x-jet and its much faster and puts down alot more chemical/water to keep the wood pretty moist. I am impressed with the results. I also giveMorgan from Paridise credit for giving me the idea to even try this. I am shocked on how much better the x-jet worked compared to the Flojets.

Can Commercial trucks(F-350 bucket truck & 3500 Dodge Dually Pickup) along with towing trailers aloud on the Garden State Parkway and other Parkways in New Jersey?? This is a definite NO NO in NY. I think I remember seeing trucks with trailers cruising the Garden State Parkway awhile back. Please let me know for sure without speculation(Guessing) because I just picked up a couple of Commercial accounts in NJ and I have to start them next week. Thanks

In NY(Long Island) the Parkways are restricted for commercial use. Never understood why this is except for maybe since our Parkways are pretty old the overpasses aren't high enough for them to allow some commercial vehicles to pass thru. Whats retarted is that you can't even have commercial plates on your vehicle if its on the parkway. No Commercial Period.

I also seen this before and now I got it wrong again for the second time. I counted the f's when I read it and then counted them again backwards thru the sentence and both times I got 3. Nothing like screwing something up twice:eek:

Welcome back Chuck. I here you about these long working hours. I just put up a post about a week ago about Job Burnout which I'm having. The money has been great but I am burnt/Fried big time. Just when I thought I could be slowing up soon I get a phone call today from this property management company I deal with about going into Jersey and doing a bunch of stores out there on a Monthly bases on top of what I do here. Just when I was getting out for a short break(Winter) they pull me right back in.;)

Those are 2 rock solid guys in this industry and from two different continents. How great is that!!! Good Job Beth in bringing these two to Moderate here. Welcome aboard fellows. :cheers:

I went thru 2 flojet pumps this week. The first one wasn't sucking up the chemicals so I took off the hoses to it to see if there was a clog which there wasn't. It seemed to have lost its prime and it just wouldn't suck. So I bought another one from Northern and had it shipped second day because I needed it for another job. In between I used the x-jet but I still would rather have my Flojets for distributing Strippers. So what happens?? The new Flojet got the same problem as the first one after only 4 hrs of use. I was pissed. Even though I bought the extended warranty for this new Flojet I would still rather fix it myself so It can be used immediately. Does anyone know how to fix these pumps so they can suck again?? Is there a manual I could buy that explains how to fix them and where can you buy parts for these pumps?? Thanks

I'll drink to that.:cheers:

Hello Reed. Welcome aboard.

Tony, Amen Brother. What drives you is also what drives me. When I knew I wanted to buy the Buick GN I worked for weeks with no rest. I have my wife's 40th coming up in 2 weeks and I am working like crazy to pay for the big bash. Also I plan on going to Disney in February/March and that is driving me. I'll let you in on a little secret. I recently purchased a list of all the Property management companies thru the state of NY. This list has Phone #'s, Addresses etc. and the purchase price was not cheap. I will aggressively solicite them for potential commercial work. If this pans out even alittle bit it could pay big dividens. I may even give out a ton of info on how to get this list for different states and pass this info over to guys like yourself.

I have a guy thats been with me for 7 yrs. He powerwashers on the weekends and also a couple of nights a month doing commercial. My other helper lasted 3 yrs but his work schedule with me was getting to sporadic where he would have one excuse after another why he can't work today etc. so I canned him last month. What I will do is hopefully build up my commercial end and get out of the residential all together that way I can always have steady help but untill then I'm not yet sure of the direction I am going except to keep working........

My big guy (30") is heavy. I would guess that it weighs at least 50 lbs and its awkward to lift. The 27" Hydrotek has to be at least 20+lbs lighter and much easier to use. My hot water machines are just about 5gpm each. If you have at least 6gpm then I would say the 30" is good but for my size machines the 27" works best.

So how did your date go Rob??:D A good tune for this date would be Ozzy Ozbourne's tune "Bark at the Moon".

Exactly. Its called the law of averages. I fall into the category of refusing to fail. The only problem that I may have if someone wants to call it a problem is when I find something that I like I stick with it. The draw back to this is I won't look into other opportunities as hard as I should because I devote all my time in what I like. What this means is that I could be missing out on something possibly very profitable because of my Tunnel vision here. So the point I'm making is that its great to do what you like and make $$$$ doing it but always keep your eyes opened to other great opportunties that my come your way and if it means to leave your business that could be the way to go.

Everett is 100% right. It comes down to the Individual. Some people just refuse to fail no matter what the circumstances are such as weather, Lowballers etc. I am part time but I am having by far my best year. I never Powerwashed so much in my life for one season and I think the rain had alot to do with it because of the tremendous amount of Mold that is growing on peoples house,decks etc. because of it. As far as going fulltime in this Business to be Honest next year I may make more Powerwashing then I do with my fulltime job which pays pretty good...Which leaves me with this Question. Would I still be considered a part timer here???

Yes the X-jet can shoot out Chemicals to water 1-1 Where as the other one the best it can do is shoot out 1 part Chemical to 7 parts water so another words 1(Chemical) to 7(water). I need the stonger on which is the x-jet because I usually shoot out around 4-1 with my mixes. I hope this makes it clearer.

The important thing to me is what is the best chemical to water ratio you can recieve with each?? I have both also and if I remember the x-jet you can go almost 1-1 and the other is more like 7-1. I think I bought the other one at Envirospec for about $40.

I feel like saying what a shame but that doesn't seem to be the right words because I'm sure he will do well at what he knows best which appears to be selling cars. He will be missed. It just goes to show you that its not as easy as some people think to make it in this business. Physical Labor is rewarding but very taxing on the body which makes it seem like it not worth it at times....Untill you count the $$$$$

Mid life crisis toy I just bought this labor day weekend. 1987 Buick Grand national. ITs in great shape and has most of the options. The engine has alot of miles but when I get time I will rebuild it and chrome it out. ahhhh the joys of working 70+ hours a week. http://performance-auto-group.com/images/eBay/Stock-0031/Large/Stock-0031-b001.jpg