John T
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Posts posted by John T
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EClean is keeping track of the 2014 event that are worth attending. Mark your calendars for next year and also stay connected with this Indsutry through eClean mag.
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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.
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Take her up on the offer so she's locked in. It's smart business all the way around.
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Very cool. Thanks Tracy.. The PWNA's 2014 Convention is definitely on my list for next year..
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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.
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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.
Beth n Rod reacted to this -
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.
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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!
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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).We do cleanings at 3 places as a donation, all are 501c and they just give a donation letter to us. No big deal either way since 2 are churches and the last is service organization that does some really great things for people with almost nothing.
I have never asked for publicity nor do I want it. We had a local company do a septic tank pumping for a church and got written up as a "thank you" by a local paper. They were inundated for weeks with other churches and non-profits calling to see if they would donate a pumping to them.
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.
cleanhoods reacted to this -
Yes that would make for a good article. It's in the heart that counts.That topic would make a good article in a trade magazine. Do you know someone who could write that up?
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.
cleanhoods reacted to this -
Ideally, people will just give back out of the goodness of their hearts. And if the press picks it up, all the better. But, I guess even if you're only doing the good thing for the free publicity, at least something good is being done for someone else -- which is better than nothing being done at all.
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.
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Here's that picture I left out of my post above
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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.Pick up a gallon and try it on some scrap lumber.
My thoughts? Acrylics are not bad.....in some cases.
Beth
I wonder if anyone here on TGS uses "wet on wet" stains and if they recommend them or not.
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Tough call to make. Scott has a big business so he probably goes through so much hose that for his business it's cost effective to fix the damaged hoses.
In our case we only employ a few workers. We have a tight "little" business. I have had hoses repaired by my local distributor and I also have the screw on fittings we have used. I've been hit in the head, hand and other body parts from the fixed hoses blowing apart and so have my guys since they now do the physical work. The danger factor for my small company is just not worth it for us to "fix" broken hoses.
So what we do now is I stock pile new hoses late in the year for the tax write-offs and we use them during the next year. Safety issues are my biggest concern and us fixing hoses is just not worth the risk.
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What's your thoughts Beth on using a stain product over wet wood? I can say this, because of the VOC's the stain of the major brands suck here now. My company moves further away from Staining projects (We only stained 2 houses this year down from 6 last year) every year. Maybe these products are the future. What's your thoughts?John - that's not a hard strip. I know the chemist....
****HINT****
It's the same chemist that developed Wood Tux Wet for Russell Cissell.
Beth
p.s. yes that basically means it IS Wood Tux Wet.....
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Kind of reminds me of that Ron Marshall from the old days on PWN
Yup-- I wouldn't be surpassed there one in the same. Even under a false name that one Ron Marshall found himself banned for 10 yrs on PWN. That was funny.
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Good riddance !!He's gone now.
Beth
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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!!"
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Great work as usual Shane. I like that deck design.
The only problem that guy would have is if he saw me hacking away and sending golf balls like missiles towards his house. I wonder of his family hits the deck every time they here the number 4 even if it's on TV?
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My company has been very fortunate to have had a couple of past cover stories in both eClean magazine http://www.ecleanmag.com/ and The Cleaner Times http://www.cleanertimes.com/. I have the utmost respect for these Industry type magazines who go out of their way to promote us and sometimes tell our stories.I feel blessed to have been able to do 2 volunteer jobs which these magazines thought were news worthy. The first one was the PWNA "Clean Across America job" that consisted of many cleanings across the country such as a Ronald McDonald house and people in need houses that were cleaned. These were done by many different contractors. In my case along with 12 other contractors we decided to give back to our "American" pastime which is baseball. That's how I ended up on the cover Cleaning the roof of the baseball hall of fame stadium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubleday_FieldThe other story that's close to my heart is the Babe Ruth Cleaning that was put on the Cover of eCleans magazine. I am so indebted to Allison Hester who understood the passion I felt. This story is far from over and I hope one day to have Allison Hester finish this story. You just never know when your time comes and these Industry type magazines want you to tell your story so others can benefit from them.Embrace your Industry magazines because they do embrace us.*****My pictures are re-sized but I cant post them here :upset:
C&S Property Services reacted to this -
Found out today that the NAVY unfortunately has put a HOLD on Madison being accepted in due to the GOVT SHUTDOWN going on. The civilians that process the paper work are not working.......a little frustrated about this and so is she.
That sucks-- From one squid to another Madison will be a great asset to the USN in whatever capacity she's looking to go into.
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It won't last long.
You would hope this to be true but this one there is a huge problem and both side are to blame. One side won't budge(Democrats) & the other side is holding them hostage over it(Republicans). I could see this lasting a few weeks which will cost us in the end billions if not more. One way or another where going to pay.
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Rick Springfield
Is that when he was a daytime soap actor..lol
Lou died.
in The Club House
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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.