John T
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Posts posted by John T
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That is the order I remember, too. You forgot Daves Board. Once the vbb boards came out, it was done.Same order with Daves board as well. Scott wasn't it a black background with green writing?
Also does anyone remember Mike Hughes gutter source bulletin board? I gave him some interest free start up funds there which Mike being honorable gave it back 6 months later once the sight was running smoothly but Unfortunately it didn't last long...
And there was another one around then that was very shortly lived from I think his name was Rod from Lightening speed(this might be the wrong name cause I can never remember it) who came from Delco's bb.
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There's so many guys(which includes Gals always) who excel at certain aspects of this business.
You have Jim Foley,Rick Petry,Shane,Charlie Soden,Beth/Rod and a few others who excel at wood restoration.
You have Jim Gamble,Tom Daughtery,Paul L. and some others who excel at parking garage cleaning.
You have Michael Hinderliter who has excelled at fleet wash amongst his other business
You have numerous hood experts that are just to many to list.
Most of the above have a diversified business. One of the above Jim Gamble only does Parking garages. So he is known and advertises himself as a Parking garage cleaner. Michael H. Has numerous business with different names so has all bases covered.
But for most of the above how do you define your business. Do you accent you wood restoration side? How do you define your business??
I'm asking because we are very diversified. From parking garages to wood restoration.. So I define my business still by the the same term"Powerwashing".
How do you define yours??
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This will be our 18th yr in the Powerwashing business. Only 12 yrs left:)
How many yrs will this be for you now?
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Delco was the first bulletin board I found as well. Deck guide by Greg I use to read all the wood info I can get but never posted there that often. TGS was a godsend that put it all together for me from the basics, to events, to orgs to getting to know the most valuable thing here for me which was to find like minded people business people that share similar business interest.
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I remembered when Beth/Rod started TGS in Feb 2003(Ok I had to look up the month). A bunch of us who new Beth/Rod from other Internet sights came over here in Feb/03 as well. Who else is still here posting from the very first year of 03?
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Ok so just updating..went to buy the belt drive..turns out the on/off switch is busted so turn off i had to ground the wire..no big deal and i can fix it..however it didnt fit in my car(plus that mother was Heavy)...went to go see the direct drive...this crap had no wheels or handle..looks like it was bolted onto some spareetal he had laying around..no on/off switch..wanted 500 w/ no hose or wand...in the end i bought a machine off my buddy who just got out of the biz...13hp direct drive with cat pump on dewalt frame with 50' non marking hose and wand for $600...machine is barely used so i think i got a decent deal..and killed today at work..problem solved..thanks everyone for the helpGlad it worked out for ya.
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Here is where the 3 legged dog guy calls me a liar. I bought some chinaman chemcal from them. I was less than crap, totally worthless. They told me I was doing something wrong as no one else had problems with the chem. The claims they made when I bought the stuff was of nor more value than the chem. They said they would take the chem back if I did not like was not true. I also bought a plastic wand to apply hood cleaning chemical. At that time I was using Bonzai. Not bad, but the best available at the time. The chem would eat the o'rings and the plastic wand. But, I just kept extras of each. The last wand I bought leaked immediatly. The o'rings were missing. I contacted Envirospec and was told to contact the manufacturer of the wand. Since then, I have never bought from EnviroSpec. In a few days John will post here and call me a liar, saying I have never bought anything from them. It has been at least 12 years, but I do remember getting extremly poor service from them.Hey Doug I'm guessing your referring to John A. Because I would never call you a liar. The only chemical I ever bought from Envirospec was Restore because of a bleach issue this condo complex didn't want us to use so I submitted a bid with the Restore MSDS as part of that bid.
Chemicals I deal mostly local with but for machinery items such as tips,wands,burners etc. I buy mostly from EnviroSpec - Your Authority on High-Pressure Cleaning for years now.
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I just bought a couple of thousand $ in parts from EnviroSpec - Your Authority on High-Pressure Cleaning from hoses to gas tanks and numerous tips,connectors etc. I do all my ordering thru them online to get the 20% off and I also use their bonus bucks plan since I order from them alot.
When I have questions about a certain part like their blue diesel gas tanks I just bought I called and they got the answer for me..
As far as service goes they covered the warranties when I had things go bad but it I as far as them servicing machine I wouldn't know. I don't look in servicing machines from distributors that are a thousand miles away. The Internet has changed the way I buy just about everything for my business these days.
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Hey NewGuy it looks like you have a real uphill battle to get to where you want to go in this Industry....but..if your determined enough You'll get there. Your on the right track looking for a used Belt driven Powerwasher. There the best to have because there setup to have the pump turn around 1460 RPM's. The direct drive machines are the worst for a contractor because most small engines are running @3600 RPM's and in turn because the pump is hooked to the drive shaft it to will be going 3600 RPM's and they never last at that speed.
That Powerwasher your looking at on craigs list your $500 offer is about right. He might meet you in the middle @$600. Since you have no working machine right now I would consider buying that PW for no more then $600 because you need to be up and running. Make sure obviously it runs smooth and the pump has consistent pressure.
Also do searches here to read about how to do what ever type projects your looking to take on. Also read about Powerwashing machines here as well.
Lastly what's your story? If it's to personal I completely understand you staying mum on the question. The only reason I'm asking is maybe we can also help you with some more direction. A few months ago a guy came on here who ask alot of questions and then told a little about himself. His timing was right and we were able to direct him over to EnviroSpec - Your Authority on High-Pressure Cleaning where the owner John Allison and his wife Shelly had a program to get vets started called Washin for Warriors- with a free machine and some other items. Probably totaled over $5000 of equipment/chemicals this man received. Today he's out there scratching out a living for himself and his family.... So you never know.
Best of luck and keep us posted.
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Ok Clarky you should know. I'm closing my business season by hiring Anya to take care of my web stuff. You are one of the first guys I will be doing business with next year. We need shirt,hats,sweatshirts,maybe jackets and business cards as well. Expect a call in January. Happy holidays by the way.
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I use my Droid phone almost as much as my I-pad when I go to these bb's. I go to the forum and just hit new post which works fast enough but it looks like there I should probably try the Tapatalk from what you guys are saying.
As for Internet usage on my Droid I'm grandfathered in to have unlimited usage there.. Sometimes it's not to bad to be "Grandfathered" anything well except for maybe getting old-DOH!!
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I have Tapatalk on my I-pad which I'm on now but it doesn't seem any better then safari which I'm on thru my I-pad.
I hear Tapatalk is great so what am I doing wrong or missing here?
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These are dangerous times. Security measures always need to be in place to protect people and especially children who are so vulnerable. Makes me think of the Oklahoma federal building bombing done by since executed Timothy McVay. I'll never forget that fireman holding that lifeless kid in his arms.
As bad as these shootings are and there very bad... The past shouldn't be forgotten and security measures should be a major priority here... What stops the next person from coming into a Bldg or a school for that matter strapped with a Bomb or worse yet knowing how to do chemical warfare(the most lethal with minimum manpower needed)??
Another one of those human faults thats very hard to predict or even stop it when others will be made to feel like there losing there freedoms.
The only thing I can add is Safety has to be made a top priority over just about everything. To figure how to do that the think tanks better get started cause these shootings are becoming more and more prevalent.....and then you have a....Timothy McVay type person sitting and waiting for his moment.
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Take plenty of before and after of your work especially the roof shots. Guys in Florida can make a good living just doing roofs alone where here you have to diversify.--Good luck.
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Hey David if you can snap a picture it always better for some to look at it also help give some advise on it.
What we have done is clean painted houses that have the green algae on the paint(not in the paint because like Rod says it pretty much a different animal) with a house wash mixture.
It's either going to be an easy and home run of a job or it can be a nightmare if it's the paint itself. Try a test spot and do this. Wet the spot first. Then splash some bleach mixed with water and a soap so it sticks to the house a little bit. Do this away from the sun. Let the chemical sit on the house for about 10 minutes and then hose it off. If it comes out clean then your pretty much good to go.
Then if it works you can pick a side of the house away from the sun and rinse it good including the landscaping. Then bottom up spray your house soap mixture on that side of the house. Then rinse the windows with water and the landscaping again. In 10 minutes aprox from when you put the soap on now rinse top down to clean it off. Then do each side like that and work away from the Sun as much as possible. Do not let soap dry on windows or house siding.
You should be good to go like this but can't say for sure because I can't see the painted surface but your test spot should give you alot of insight.
Lastly especially with Vinyl houses, you can on your own do 2 sides if the house at a time when you get the hang of it. You start by wetting both sides then rinse landscaping then put soap on side 1 then side 2 bottom up. Rinse windows and landscaping again then go to side 1 and powerwash(really power rinse) top down and rinse landscaping at bottom then go to side 2 and do the same. Then side 3 & be careful with side 4 if it's facing the sun, but by keeping things wet you'll be a speed demon with excellent results before you know it.
p/s- it took me 5 yrs to learn this back in the day when I met the Beth & Rods thru the net and then when thy started The Grime Scene - Pressure Wash Welcome to The Grime Scene Before them it was pressure and never knew about soaps,strippers etc etc etc.
Good luck
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Coffee and iPad every morning ,like now! Can you smell the croissants burning and smoke alarm going off!!!!!!! The wife just killed my trip to Oven's of France a wonderful bakery..lol..I love it... At least your allowed to bring the I-pad to the dinner table.
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I had a longer better answer above but I lost half of it.Wood care takes a big commitment and the learning curve is on going. Still after over 15 years I'm still learning and developing new sealers and processes. I research history and historic wood restoration /preservation . I want to know how those ships didn't leak crossing the pond!
Your short thought is better then my novelistic approach...maybe is should go to twitter so I can't "thumb"so many letters:) but that would make me a twit then...K bad joke...boooooo
Seriously real cool thought diamond J(DJ).
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Introduce your self and tell us a little about yourself. If you have an established business tell us about it. If your ambition is to get into this type of business then tell us about that.
I'll start since I started this thread.
My name is John Tornabene and its almost 18 yrs now I've been in this business Clean County Powerwashing - Serving Long Island - NY - NJ - PA - CT we specialize in residential and commercial work which consist of House washing,Wood restoration all the way to Cleaning store fronts,Buildings and parking garages.
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I'm here pretty much daily at least once a day to check in.
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I'm in total agreement with all the above. There are a "Flood" of companies here where I live that spring up every year. There's mutltiple social sites such as Facebook,Twitter,Myspace etc. that thin out what was on these bb's.....but if you look closely there are upwards to 2000 lurkers and members that come here daily alone.
So what do you do? Its a tough call because we all can become spread thin by getting to involved with so many different sites. I don't have facebook(I hate it but I am going to have to cave in there soon for my website to rank better) and personally I like going to 4 Industry bulletin boards every day. Besides the show Boardwalk with my homeboy Steve Buscemi(Ex firefighter company 55) and the show Shameless with William Macy I hardly ever watch TV. I spend 2-3 hrs a day on these bulletin boards because I like them.
So what do we do here? Start threads. Challenge the lurkers to get involved. Next thing you know more of them start posting. Then eventually some of the "Oldtimers" come back because they see the activity.
Promote the heck out of Roundtables,orgs,stains,strippers(That don't dance),idea's, etc here on TGS or whatever sites you like to go to.
This is a good thread Rick. Your are a wood specialist as Diamond Jim and Rod above are. You guys have helped more people then you can possibly imagined. The proof is in the pudding which are in the numbers below the TGS forum which are closing in on 2000 daily.
You started this thread so I'll start one here on Garage cleaning that we've been doing the last bunch of years. If Time allows I'll put the Ruth movie review and some pics there for some people that may be interested.
Start good threads. They'll come back or at the very least some of those lurkers will start to become posters. Become "Proactive" and the Charlie Sodens(He does do excellent work and is very passionate about it for sure) start to appear. Competition is always out there but ones who do good work and are passionate about it the better the competition is the higher this industry get's elevated. Since there are so many hacks out there it best to network with the pro's like we do here on TGS.
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Excellent advise Rick!!
I am going to consider what you said. I did wish I bought yrs ago at the Jersey shore when houses could have been had in the 130g range in the early to mid 90's then the prices exploded. My wifes family have been going there for probably over 80yrs if not longer. Generations of the Downes & the Boyd's have vacation there.
Myself going for 20 yrs now since I first got married to Kathy has made me love "the shore".Even thru storms, to me there is nothing like either being on the Ocean or a block or 2 from it. The draw for the tranquility of the ocean air and surroundings is where anywhere in the world I want to be which was the main reason I joined the Navy from 82-86.
Like many we were devistated seeing our memories of the fun times at the Jersey shore getting washed away in the hurricane... One way or another.. We'll be back and maybe I get lucky and find a place that I can afford to possibly fix it up and vaca again at "the jersey shore" to continue on our enjoyable family life experiences.
Storm or no storm-We will be back.
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Hey John,Yeah, there's a lot more room up here. Can run the dogs off lead from the house. Little traffic on country roads. Not many people. A slower pace and lifestyle. Doesn't feel or look like most of NJ.
We did take a big hit from Sandy on my wife's family home down in Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ. It's now a question of a major renovation, demolish and build new, or just sell as is. All tough choices.
Does insurance cover any of that? We vacation every yr down by seaside heights and those area's got devistated as well. I always wanted to buy a house down there but every yr we rented pretty much up. I still want to buy there one day but this storm has me rethinking all that.
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Nice area Rick. Looks like a great place to enjoy some cold Hineys and soak in the "Country" lifestyle. I bet your neighbors have no idea that the "Bleach Bandit" has arrived :cool-new::cool-new::cool-new:
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Hey Mordy--Your area got hit pretty hard from Hurricane Sandy. We go to Lavalette every summer and rent a house on or by the water right down the road from the Seaside Boardwalk that got blasted. It was heartbreaking to see what happened.
That area besides all the devastation they have to deal with, there going to need some serious Powerwashing to be done. If you have a decent Powerwasher especially a hot water Powerwasher there should be a ton of work in there.
How do you define your business?
in The Club House
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I consider you a parking garage expert but above that you excel in transportation maintenance specialist which is the major part of you company. So I guess your in the luxury position of picking one. The thing is Scott guys can toot there own horn and say they specialize in multiple types of cleaning like we do but if there is one aspect of your business that shine above all which part are your best at ?