tropical wave

Is the web design software that is sold at electronic/computer stores worthwhile? Instead of struggling thru that, maybe a pro in the field of web design would be beneficial in achieving a professional website as opposed to me trying to do it myself...??? What could I expect to pay for a website to be designed, maintained etc...? I understand that it depends on things as how elaborate the site is etc, just looking for a ballpark figure... I don't know if they cost $100 or $10,000........

Do those flex wand extensions really stay bent under pressure? seems like as soon as you hit the trigger, that initial pressure burst would straighten it right out......????

We got caught in Florida during 2 of the 4 hurricanes this year...Frances really screwed us up while we were shopping for a house for my father... but one thing you Florida folks have down there, is that VIPER storm radar...that is cool ... we were stuck in Apollo Beach and they were doing a live feed from our hotel parking lot....guys were getting hammered reporting next to the bay.... anyway, that VIPER is neat, how it rotates 360 degrees on all axis... here's our "polar bear" loving the 15 inches from last week

Cujo, thanks for the prayers....we all can use them from time to time. we are trying to do this the RIGHT way....trying to be legit and covering all the bases. thats why I am here, listening, learning and dealing with many seasoned pro's that are willing to help out the folks that truly want to learn.

Pricing for the area is still getting me a little bit....Unless I call a company out to give me an estimate on my deck and fence, how do I know the market here? I mean the cost of living in Chicago is pretty high, almost the equal to NYC.. everything is grossly overpriced here...yet my supplies (sealer, chems etc) will cost me the same as they cost everybody else thats reading this...so, from what I have read thus far, is its easier to be a little high and adjust down then the other way around.... most wood I see here is unprotected or sealed by the homeowner with poor chems and whatever is on sale at the home depot... basically I'm saying I have no idea what the market will Behr (LOL, pun intended)

We are part timers.... part time but still professional.. We both have full time careers in Law Enforcement... minimum 48 hours a week with those jobs. The careers pay "most" of the bills, but 2 children in Catholic School, over priced property and taxes takes it's toll...but the health insurance, life insurance, pretty decent salary, job security and other benefits have allowed us to venture into this realm without breaking us...YET We both have about 8-10 years left before we can pack it in, collect a pension and move on... we will still be young enough to enjoy retirement and continue with this...all be it somewhere warmer. We're both getting tired of the current careers, with the police politics, dealing with the dregs of society, gloom and doom everyday..but financially we cant walk away...we will MAKE this work because we enjoy the work and its nice to meet people that like you for a change....no matter how good of a job we do on the full time jobs, most people we deal with still HATE us...LOL

I keep hearing about the coress wands, they sound sweet.....I have some kind of 24'...... blue fiberglass thing from higherpower....its not easy trying to put pressure (3000) or above up to 20' or so....hang on--- weeeeeeeeeeeee

People that cant drive, just cant drive....period The ear piece is a wonderful addition though...been using it for awhile now. I never thought Id like it, but it is wonderful......I just dont like to see the people in the grocery store talking on the phone with the ear piece...makes me think they're all talking to themselves. I did it tonight for about 30 seconds and felt like an idiot..... many professions require its people to multi-task while driving......lets see, yesterday we were running a surveillance on a crew of smugglers. talking to other team members on the nextel, using the hard mount radio in the car, reading the map, coffee between the legs, tuning in ESPN radio, trying to eat a sanedwhich...all the while dodging semi's at 90mph or running red lights.....but in Chicago, some of that driving is normal....

here in Chicago, the truck plate registration is about $95 per year, the trailer is $78.......we get hit with the "city sticker" every year which is another $95 per year, for each vehicle........and if you have a pick up of any kind or commercial plates, there are MANY roads your not allowed to drive on. Plus if your not actively working, we cant park a p/u on ANY street.....

thanks Reed and Rod........ nothing beats picking the brains of those who have so much experience.......well, one thing beats it, that's getting great answers to those ?'s...............

It is very VERY well thought out.....I really like the way the measurements for every piece of wood is on there... I can see a customer saying they have a 20X20 deck and thinking they only have 400 sq ft......but to see every post, rail, spindle, support, step, riser factored in, really puts it into perspective for the customer...... Reed, are you using wet on wet sealers or taking 2-3 days to seal? One more thing, even using a semi trans sealer, does 3 coats darken it to much to almost reasemble a solid by covering to much grain.....??? I would imagine not, and it may be a moronic question, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Hey guys, Those look GREAT........ Reed, I see you convert everything into sq feet...Do you do that for yourself to estimate the cost and/or is that mostly for the customer to have something on paper? Im sure you've been doing this long enough to pretty much "estimate" your price by looking at a project. Also, do you toss in the 20sq feet of lattice as its unreasonable to put it into the estimate? I also "assume" the 12.75 gallons of sealer is for 2 coats (Ready Seal) as if it was for 1 coat you'd only be getting about 90 sq ft per gallon...... 172 spindles---- ouch, and if I recall, you pretty much brush everything too.. Thanx again guys.......

Give Brian Belichek 2 weeks to prepare for a team, and its going to be pretty tough for the eagles to score a lot points. He puts together one heck of a defensive game plan. Love them or hate them, they shut down and destroyed the number 1 offense (manning and the Colts) and destroyed one of the best defenses last Sunday. Plus the Eagles just had another bad injury Sunday..... The 2 best teams in the NFL played last week, and Pitt got hammered..... Lay the points......N.E 34 - Philly 17..... Take it to the bank !!!

Dale, since this thread has been around for 13 months, could you PLEASE fire your sheet to us too???? thanks in advance...Mike n Lisa...TropicalWavePW@aol.com

I like to just break out the old police boots, havent been in uniform for over 7 years, so I can wreck em now since they are old.....Rocky Eliminators, leather with nylon on the sides...still waterproof after all these years.....a bit expensive, but the most comfy boots ever, and extremely lightweight...... lots of choices at www.galls.com, fire boots there too....

we are INC.......... we're both the Police and lawsuits fly around like crazy these days against cops, so our accountant (who is also in a police family) said to use the INC for just that purpose....If one of us gets sued working the law enforcement job, no punative damages get taken from the business, the "corporation" is safe.....In this type of business, Police, we have to keep our names out of anything that shows $$$$$$$$$. House, business etc etc etc Too many "ambulance chasers" out there to risk losing everything..... Mike & Lisa

We don't snow plow, we would like to get into it for sure (we are expecting up to 12-16 inches before its all said and done Sunday) but there a couple reasons we aren't going in that direction yet...1- the snow plowing business is sooooo cut throat up here, its unbelievable....2- we dont really have the $4,500 to toss at a blade right now...3- the regular "fulltime" job is pretty erratic as far as the hours go, so a large (or small) commercial contract would be a problem, couldn't just walk off the job when it started snowing to go plow....now if we could control when it snows and doesn't we'd be in business !!!!!!

You can also use the actual "numerical address" of the post office building itself and use the number of your box which you can add "number" "suite" etc. So instead of your address looking like: ABC Power Wash P.O. Box 321 anytown, IL. If you use the post offices address and your number, it would appear as such: ABC Power Wash 1000 Main St. #321 anytown, IL. Its still a P.O. Box, but gives the illusion of an office or "real" place of business if thats what you choose to do....... Something to think about...............................Mike H

chicago, IL....NW side, by O'Hare Airport

Tidy, Thats not a bad price for that truck.....before we found the dodge, we were just about ready to buy an older (89 chevy 1/2 ton 4x4 w/plow) for 5k, the milage was low and a dealership only used it to plow the lot during winter months.....the body was good but not great......the factors that helped us decide was 1: sometimes old trucks with low miles can be worse than high miles, just sitting around for 15 years rotting seals etc etc 2: was the truck used only for plowing snow for 15 years? low speed around the lot crashing into snowbanks for all those years. 3: was there some kid just beating on it all the time? 4: creature comforts- no a/c, power nothing, older ripped interior. 5: the looks, it "looked" like an older truck, faded red, silver bottom, few dents here and there, which was ok just decided we wanted to "look" as good as possible pulling our trailer with our company name on the truck. the dodge is big and pretty tough looking, black with the black magnetic signs makes it look like the lettering and logo are painted right on.......any rig will do and people shouldn't "judge a book by its cover" but I think "potential customers" do just that. Doing residential work in upscale neighborhoods, we like to believe that people, customers and their neighbors, would like to see what looks professional parked in front of their homes...........I understand the quality of work is what really matters, so don't tear me up, but in peoples minds, they do notice "appearance", IE: nice clothes (uniforms-company t-shirt, clean body, decent looking equipment) quick example- I had a plummer out to the house that was a friend of a friend. He pulled up in a beat to hell, old nasty station wagon (which looked like he also lived in) sloppy clothes etc etc.....did geat work, I'll give him that, and I would pass him onto others, but noooooo way would any of my neighbors called on him without knowing me.........that was a long .02 worth, so I'll call it my .04......................

I wish we could find pool chlorine here in bulk......Ace Hardware has gallon jugs for I think it was 3.99...........Walmart, Menards, etc only sells the crystals or powder.

We use a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 4WD which works well. Your on the right track, def need the V-8...lots of people use 6's to pull trailers, (boats, jetski's etc.) but the 8 is the way to go for the torque you need, especially if your moving water tanks around, (which we don't do).......The most reliable truck I've ever been associated with was Toyota.....had 3 throughout my days and never a problem. Just wasn't in the budget (too expensive, even used) when we started up this business. Toyota makes a V8...I had a V6 T100 that was fantastic but even one thats 5 years old will be pricey........ Don't be affraid of higher milage vehicles......a lemon is a lemon from the start, a reputable dealer (someone in the auto business you can trust, that is) or a private sale that keeps good records of maint........ Good Luck

Very interesting reading everyone.....Grew up in Connecticut, sprayed lawns for a Chem Lawn type company, our sales manager left the company to start a power wash company, so I also left to work for him and got my first taste of this business (and my my, how things have progressed since the 80's with new equipment and chems), U.S. Coast Guard Gunnersmate for 6 years, currently a police detective in a large Chicago suburb, detatched to the Gvmnt (DHS ICE) formerly known as U.S. Customs, working Federal narcotic and money laundering cases.

The little lady and I are geting this thing up and running part time, the weather in Chicago wont allow too much winter work in the house washing-wood restoration angles of the biz. We are both Police Officers in two different Chicago suburbs for over 10 years. I worked for a PW outfit in CT back in the mid 80's, before entering the military and enjoyed the work and the profits. We've got most of the equip to get rolling, just need to get some type of ideas on flyers, direct mailers etc. Before we know it, it'll be spring and we need to get selling. We just got our IRS papers, Chicago license etc, plus some fantastic signs for the truck and great t-shirts made up....at least we'll look good while cranking out the sales.............good luck to all, happy holidays. P.S. Not to change the subject, but if anybody wants to share a flyer for some ideas, that would be outstanding. These boards have been great and appreciate all the knowledge you folks toss out to us "newbies"....merry xmas Mike tropicalwavePW@aol.com

fall maint is all that is needed to prevent ice dams. cleaning out the gutters and removing the debris is all that is required. But if the downspouts are clogged, water will back up into the gutters then force its way up under the shingles then all heck'll break loose. gutter cleaning could be sold as an add on during the fall months in the chilly climates. water damage is a huge problem up here.