Palmetto Home and Deck

I vote yes.... Right after Hurricane Hugo hit South Carolina, hundreds if not thousands of people saw it as an opportunity to flock to the stricken areas claiming they were contractors and could help rebuild their homes, paint, build decks, cut trees, and you name it, they said they could do it. The vast majority of these people had no experience what so ever, but were only after making a buck as people were in a hurry to try to get their lives back and often paid these people up front deposits only to never see the so called contractor again. The state could do little because these people were not on record anywhere as being a contractor. Many others got rim shod work done that was essentially a waste of time and money and had to be torn down and done over. Again the so called contractors were not on any record and could not be found. There were good contractors that come to help, however, at the time there was no way any home owner could tell the difference between the legitimate ones and the hacks except by trusting the word of the contractor. That is pretty much when SC to protect the residents, started requiring that contractors be licensed. They had to have two years experience in what ever field they claimed they provided and had to have at least five references. Now in SC any job such as painting, roofing, carpentry, floor covering, etc over $200.00 requires that the contractor have a valid contractor's or specialty contractor's license. There is an inconsistency in the law though. If a contractor is hired to paint $200 worth of trim on a house, he has to be licensed while anyone one can go out and buy a pressure washer and take on a $20,000 apartment cleaning job. I see damage caused by inexperienced and uncaring pressure washing contractors all the time. Many of them are no different than the vultures that descended on SC after Hugo. I think SC overlooked pressure washing as a business or an industry in itself and I for one would like for it to be added to the list that requires licensing to help protect the unsuspecting citizenry.

Olympus makes a great camera for this. It is the Stylus. Shock proof from a drop of 6' onto concrete, can stack 165 pounds on top of it, although I don't know why you would ever do that, and water proof to 35'. I have one and it takes great pictures.

Do you have a sign on your truck that says " Will Work for Food" ? :D

Last spring I was having trouble starting my lawn mower when my neighbor pulled up on his shiny new John Deere riding lawn mower and asked me how much I would charge him to clean his house. I took one look at my lawn mower, that I was about ready to run over with my truck, then took a look at his new John Deere and told him I would trade a house wash for some grass cutting. He said DEAL! I didn't have to cut my grass the rest of the year.

I want it....

Rick, Sounds like what you are talking about could work for you if you are pulling your pressure washer around with you even though it seems like it would add a lot of weight to move around with a full pail. Most of our rigs are mounted on trailers and have our hoses on hose reels. I have 200' of hose on my reel and another 100' in the trailer. The x-jet pulls easily through 50' of hose.

I don't know why, but a lot of people around here have gotten the idea that hydraulic fluid make a good deck sealer. A friend of mine works at an automotive parts store and claims he sells more hydraulic fluid to people that say they are going to seal their decks with it than to people that use it in hydraulic equipment. I saw a guy leaving Sam's Club one day with four 5 gallon pails of it and was sure he was not going to be putting it in a backhoe. I have seen it on a lot of boat docks around here too. When you are on the lake you can smell that stuff for two hundred yards away. Can you imagine having your deck right next to your house smelling like a mechanic's shop? The hydraulic fluid always leaches out of the wood when it rains or gets wet, it collects dirt like crazy, turns the wood black, the wood gets so hot in the sun you can't walk on it barefooted. Go figure. I guess in one way they are right. I don't think the wood will ever rot, but good lord what have they done to their wood?

Man, send that rain to the Upstate of South Carolina. We are still in our drought situation where water use restrictions are keeping us from washing in a lot of areas. The lake come up a bit this winter, but with the lake being low so at this time of year it doesn't look good for pressure washing this summer. The economy is hurting us here too. Clemson University has given all staff and faculty five days off without pay and a lot of administrative staff have lost their jobs all together. The public schools gave their teachers and staff seven days off without pay. My neighbor lost his job in November. He found a new job in December and worked two weeks before that company went out of business. As bad as it is here I am also feeling the affects of the economy from other parts of the country as well. Some people call this area the next Florida. With so many beautiful lakes and mountain views in the Upstate a lot of people are retiring here or building second homes in this area instead of going to Florida. I drove through sub-division the other day on Lake Keowee with many of these homes and I would guess 25% of them had for sale signs in front of them. I also saw a lot of homes under various stages of construction that had just been abandoned. With all of this I have really been hit hard too. I am struggling to stay afloat myself. I'm down to eating beans and rice three night a week. I take a sandwich for lunch now instead of eating out. When I go to work and for some reason I don't take my lunch the Dollar Menu at McDonalds has become my friend. This year I was going to get a new hot water skid, but I think I can make it another season or two with what I have. As bad as all of this sounds, I know there will a lot of work out there eventually for any contractor that can survive. I am going to get my website up like I want it this spring and I am already working on doing a lot more direct marketing. I have installed a larger water tank in my trailer so I can haul my own water into the water use restriction areas if I have to this season. Yes, we are in tough times right now and it is hard to find work. I may not be one of the survivors that gets through the situation our economy is in right now, but I will not go down without a fight.

Gosh, that reminded me of the time when I was still doing bridge construction. I was building a new bridge over Clemson Blvd. in Anderson, SC. I was operating a track hoe excavating out for one of the bridge foundations that was going in right beside the highway. I knew there was a 36" water line between where I was digging and the highway and the blueprints showed a 6" water line coming off of it behind me and safely out of the excavation site. I was noticing roots and some tree stumps in the dirt I was pulling out when I felt the bucket hit something solid. Thinking I had dug into a larger stump I rolled the bucket up using the back of the bucket as leverage when I felt the object give. In a nanosecond a geyser of water shot about twenty feet into the air and quickly flooded the hole I had excavated. The 6" water line had been mismarked and the plans. The water continued out into Clemson Blvd. and shut traffic down and neighboring business's parking lots were flooded. Channel Four News was located just down the street and a news crew just walked up and filmed the whole fiasco with live coverage. It was hard to believe that much water could come from just a 6" water line. I would hate to think about hitting a 66" one.

I checked all three although I like cocoa straight. I also like coffee with a little Kahlua or with Bailey's Irish Cream.:cheers:

I like to put on my hiking shoes, grab my camera and hike the beautiful trails we have in SC and NC in search of waterfalls.

Hey, does anyone know if there is medical forum out there. If so, Louis might be over there giving medical advice. Oh, wait a minute...that advice may not really be coming from him because he doesn't know anything about medicine and couldn't tell you if that thermometer goes in his mouth or his butt. It's actually what some ancient witch doctor told him and Louis just put it on a website and is trying to pass himself of as an MD. I'm sorry...that was mean, but I feel better now. It's been a rough day. I'm going to miss Louis when he is gone.:sinister:

I Want Your Opinion! Views: 388 Posted By louis georges Thanks, I couldn't agree more! Thanks, I couldn't agree more! I Want Your Opinion! Posted By louis georges Why can't I do both? Why can't I do both? I Want Your Opinion! Posted By louis georges Wow I didn't know it was that far off! My... Wow I didn't know it was that far off! My apologies... To be completely honest I didn't write that book. It's an old friend who is in his late 50's. He kept telling me about all the money he... I Want Your Opinion! Posted By louis georges I Want Your Opinion! I got in a debate with someone on a forum about how to do a good job pressure washing. You can see the thread here, it starts at post #32.... 9½ hours to do a house wash? Posted By louis georges You guys are right, its just a general rule to... You guys are right, its just a general rule to make it easy on yourself. If the chlorine is still good after 30 days good but if you're having a hard time then get fresh chlorine. My point is... Hardiplank Posted By louis georges That's what I do too. Test the distance of... That's what I do too. Test the distance of your nozzle on a small hidden corner of the house to be sure. 9½ hours to do a house wash? Posted By louis georges Instead of bleach I use chlorine, it's much... Instead of bleach I use chlorine, it's much stronger! Also never use chlorine that's over 30 days old because it lost all it's strength. Poll: What kind of residential pressure washing are you doing? Posted By louis georges I did all of the above. I did all of the above. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Something still seem fishy about this poster. Aside from this post, louis georges has been posting on here all month giving advice like he is an expert and telling us he has been washing for 15 years. He replies to post saying I do this or I use that (like "Instead of bleach I use chlorine, it's much stronger!"). I hate to think about the damage that may have been done to our industry and to people's personal property with the kind of miss information being given to an unsuspecting public under the pretence that it was coming from a pressure washing professional. Only after everyone here nailed him on the information he was giving, did he back step and say he really doesn't know a thing about pressure washing and came here to learn. Also, after his poll that proved him 100% wrong on almost every question does he claim to have taken his (or some body's) website down. What makes this so bad is anytime anyone comes here and says they are new to pressure washing and want to learn, almost every experienced person on TGS is willing to jump in and share their wealth of knowledge, experience and information with them. There is never any need to lie or pretend to be anything other than what you are on here. I'm with MudDuck in that I think something else is going on here that is not fully understood yet. If MudDuck and I are wrong then louis georges may need the kind of professional help that he won't find on a pressure washing site.

Oh no Matt! I just saw on youtube they passed an ordinance in the town and now they are going to have to tear it down.

:bday: Happy Birthday Ron :bday: I always enjoy your your post. I also like to see what time of day you post them. One question....do you ever sleep? lol I was great meeting you at the Myrtle Beach Round Table. Hope your birthday was a great one and that you have many more...