Degraffreed

KC, What is your process in doing the deck. If you do not mind posting. DeGraffreed

Beth, Have you tried Limolene as a gutter cleaner? I used it for the past 6 months and I do agree with you, it is not the best housewash mix and it will haze windows if left on to long. Now what I may disagree with you is on the gutter cleaning. You have a considerable amount of experience than I but I have used it to clean gutter and it does that part well. I do not consider myself a chemist by no means, and can not add to why it cleans gutter but it does. DeGraffreed

Does anyone have a pic of a shutoff valve in thier supply tank the would not mind sharing.. I am looking at installing on in my 325 tank. Had a overflow last week in the trailer and looking to eliminate this ever happiening again. DeGraffreed

Ryan, What were you using before you purchased this equipment? Degraffreed

Beth, Rod, Do you do a variety of jobs in the three or four day periods. Such as decks staining and housewashing or is it all housewashing or all deck restoration? I would like to come up when you are doing deck work or a combination of the two in the month of April or May. Do you schedule out that far? If this would be fine all I need is about a weeks notice for Airfare. DeGraffreed

Forgive me for asking, "What are Stiles"? Is that another word for spindles? Degraff

Beth, Maybe you or some wood experts could help me out here. 1. When cleaning Pt wood about 3yrs old no sealer or paint. I use a percabonate cleaner by Epec. Wet deck down, apply cleaner with pump up sprayer let dwell 15-30 min, rinse, reapply 2nd coat as an additional brightner process, let dwell for 10 min, then final rinse. My question to all is this... I read this board daily and I see that in the wood restoration process after you clean wood then nuetralize it ... to help in the brightning process. Have I been cleaning decks wrong? I notice on a few occassions that the wood appears to be darker when cleaning it. Would applying a nuetralizing solution help with this situation? If so what would that process entail? Degraffreed

I would like to ask those who do this biz full time one question. If you saw a competitor pwer cleaning a house or commerical property and he or she is letting chems go down the storm drain. Do you drop the dime and notify the proper enforcement agency?. Reason I am asking this question is due to hearing other " Established" contract cleaners at a function say that they would drop the dime because the competitor is hurting their bottome line. To me, I think that every person has the right to start a business and learn as they go. Right. I would like to see what others would do. DeGraffreed

Carolina, I know an personal attack, when I read one and that was personal. Degraffreed

Desi. You will loose slight pressure but not more that 10-50 psi per 50' foot sections. It all depends on how much you add to the length. I run 150 ft and my psi on dropped about 10 psi. DeGraffreed

Cujo,, I do not know why you are so hostile in your comments towards me. Yes, I did attend the roundtable in Ga and I also met some other contractors here in the Dville area about a week ago and this is where the comment was made to turn in the HISPANIC POWERWASHERS that are coming in and lowballing the industry and making it hard for the other guys business. As we were eating we noticed two hispanic males cleaning a automotive shops parking lot and you could see the oil going blantantly going down the drain. I personally went outside and spoke to the two gentlemens that was cleaning the lot. Even though I could have talked the owner into letting me complete the task. I did not ask for the job. I mentioned to them the proper way that they could at least contain the oil runoff and keep it from going in the drain. They could speak slight English, but understood the importance of what I was sayin. Just like the info was passed on to me and my helper at the round table from you guys at the meeting. I wanted to help these gentlemen be compliant, so much to it that I GAVE them my oil absorbant boom at no charge. Hows that for helping your fellow competitor? I have no fear of You or Anyone else making a buck in this business and I do not care one ioioda, who get caught ither. The issues I have is other Pwers telling on each other to boost their bottom line. I never said it was you or anyone at the meeting. So you are way off the mark there. So before you get on this board and try to make a Turncoat or Benedict out of me, at least pick up the phone and discuss with me any concerns you have about any post I place. What make you think that I was refering to your event in Atlanta anyhow? I thought I was getting into a business that was supposed to " help each other" but It seems that there is some animocity constantly coming from you towards me. First it was the misunderstanding about the park cleanup or strip mall issue. You again came on the board to personally attacked me. I admantly apoligized for the misunderstanding on the board and at the meeting. I understand you have your opinions and you can say what you want but I too have mine. I thought the pwers was like a family but I guess I am the FOSTER child. No hard feelings from me though. I will continue to do what I do to help anyone that comes in my presence and I could care less if they make a buck legally or not. I am not going to be the DRAIN POLICE. P.S just so you know, I have purchased reclaim equiptment and additional berms to be compliant. I took so much good info from the meeting the last thing I want to do is bite the hands that fed me. Go Figure!!! DeGraffreed

How do you post pics on this site. I do have pic of the PP in operation. Just not familiar on how to post it here. Degraffreed

To those of you that clean using a two man crew. I just purchased a second unit for my biz. It is a 2400 3.0 gpm cold unit. I bought unit to assit me in cleaning driveway and flat work. This way I could also continue cleaning with the surface cleaner and my helper could be rinsing as I proceed forward. My question for anyone who utilize two unit in the housewashing process. Would you try and explain what your process is? I am thinking this, Use my xjet and my hot water unit to apply housewash mix and start to spray house, let dwell for 2-5 min then have my helper take the second unit and rinse off as I am continuing to apply cleaning chems around the rest of the property. I think this should cut my cleaning time from 2.5 hour to 1.5 hours. This decrease is in time only and not decreasing the quality of the work. Any suggestions or is this as plain as it goes. I also bought a Y valve for the spigot and extra 100 supply hose for the new unit. So that the new unit will have a water supply also. Other than having extra hose on the property now. I think this is a winner situation, Right? DeGraffreed

Thanks, Beth for the encouraging words. We did the two man crew today and it was a little hectic but I just have to fine tune our setup. DeGraffreed

Hello to all, I like to take this time out and again thank all the vets, who help me with the professional responses. Let me tell you guys what happened today. Myself and my help went to the residence in a prominant area. We pulled up and set up everything, ladder second unit powerwasher, water supply etc. We pulled out the Purple Power that I bought the night before, after reading all the past post about PP. We then poured about 16 oz in a white five gallon bucket inside the trailer. We did not want the customers to see what product we are using. I then had my helper test a small section, maybe 6 ft and clean one area, dwell then rinsed off. And my response was HELL YEAH, we have something to celabrate here. Man If I could post the pictures of the home, you could see for yourself. This stuff is the BOMB. I could only get it in the gallons size from Autozone. The clerk said that they did not have it in other sizes. Not here comes the good part. As I was cleaning the home, there were get this, ten cars pulled up to the house and stood and watch the process on how we brighten all the white trim, gutters and cleaned the mildew off the house, I had to spend at least 1 hour talking to potential customers on how they had other Pw come and charge them 180-250 and the house did not come close to what the result on this house were. Spent about three house on house, 18X40 driveway, and rear patio. We were test our time on this residence, but that went south once we had the crowd gather. I am not bragging here But we did 15 estimate in the subdivison and sealed the deal for 13. I thank this board again, Aplus, Ryan and Squirt you guy are great and I look forward to Anyone that using GZ, not knocking it, But Man that PP in now in my arsenal. DeGraffreed

Ryan, do you use hot water when cleaning the gutters or can you get the same cleaning result with cold water unit? Also your post along with Squirtgun varies in dwell time. Ex 30sec, 2-5 min. Is it safe to apply PP along the entire gutter with about 2 min before rinsing off. Since I did not have a chance to test dwell time today. I do not have much time in the a.m before the job to conduct my own dwell test. I am concerned with the PP taking the paint off the customers gutters since this would be the first time using PP. DeGraffreed Degraffreed

My thoughts exactly. I also see it as taking food, beer money or whatever, from an individual and if your good at what you do then the competitor will eventually fade out of the biz or get caught and fined his way out of it. I will continue to " Do Me ", and make my biz successful on my own terms. Degraffreed

To all, I agree with Micheal. Each and everytime I have a call to do a estimate. I do the following, trim Mustache and trim goattee, put on my best white shirt with company logo imprinted, clean truck and hook up trailer and make sure it is cleaned also. Reason being. You have about 10 seconds or less to make the first impression to the potential customer. Never a second chance. I pull up to the customers house slowly and park. Wait about 30 seconds before I exit the truck, this give you time to compose yourself and to prepare for all questions that you may think the customer is going to ask. I always greet the customer with a handshake and a business card as I am introducing myself. Then have the customer walk with me around the perimeter of the property and have them tell me what they would like to see and then I go into the sale. I point out the gutters that have the black streaks on them and tell them that I can get that almost if not just as white as the day they was installed. I then show them what there neighbors gutters look like as a comparison to a before and after cleaning. I explain the entire process of how we do the Exterior cleaning. I let them know that this business is more that just spraying water and leaving" the splash and dash" method. We use industrial cleaning solutions and sometime I will tell the the exact brand, Ie d-limolene or quickclean. This lets the customer know that we are not just spraying water and bleach and leaving. I also explain to the the downside of what the Splash and Dash contractor does and the potential for them not cleaning the gables, due to not having the right equiptment to clean that high. I pull my enclosed trailer to show that We are not your average $99.00 contractor with a hd machine and a bunch of hose hanging off working for beer money. I am here to provide you the customer a quality service and my Reputation is left on every property I do. If I do crappy work, you the customer will tell everyone you know and this is my business and I want to have your repeat business. So it is in my intrest to provide you the best quality I can. I let them know my price include the gutter and front walkway. Splash and Dash or the 99.00 guy will not even attempt to clean the gutters. First of all his machine will not reach that high and all he may have in his cleaning Arsenal is bleach and bleach does not take off the streak therefore he cleans on the siding. He may not even clean the sidewalk due to him not wanting to have "Wand" the walkway because it will take him all day. I think you have to make the customer feel comfortable with you and you professionlism. I close about 85% of my estimates. I tell the customer that I am not in business to do free work just as they get up and go to there jobs for a salary and this seems to always keep my phone ringing. I am sorry for such a long post. But this may help someone out here. Degraffreed.

Beth, What kind of berms do you utilize? I am currently looking at some Flexible berms and the cost is $600.00 for 10'. I think that is a little costly. I read post where some where using Pool hose and sand. My thinking is this. Since the pool hose is rounded and does not sit flush on the ground wouldn't this let water " seep " through? Wally World have a 30" section for $26.00. I think this would be a cheap tryout and would save ton of money. Is anyone else using the pool hose method and how is it working for you? I would like to try this by the weekend. So a quick response is needed.

Thanks Beth, You such a sweetheart and your responses are alway Quick... You are the Man....Woman. You know what I mean. Degraffreed

Russell, Do you have a "Wood Care " how to book or manual for the newbie looking to get into the deck side of the business? I have lost six deck staining and fence jobs this week due to not having the knowledge to perform the task in a professional manner. I could easily buy some stain and place inside a pump up sprayer an attempt to do a good job. I want to know the ins and outs of wood restoration first. Call me silly but I believe in doing quality work and will not attempt it untill I have the know how. I will past the money up for now... But my day will come. I contacted Sunbrite today and they have a manual for $ 100.00. I think I will take them up on it. They also have a $1500.00 week class for wood restoration. Seems a little steep for me at this time. I am hoping someone answer my call for on the job training close to Atlanta. Degraffreed 678-480-0123

Beth, Where can I get this Citralic blend? Do your store send out sample pack? I am looking to do a 2700 sq ft fence job next week. I want to try it on my own deck first. What would the amount of Citralic needed to complete a job of this size? DeGraffreed

Beth, That is the step I am missing. Applying the acid step. What would you suggest out of the three. (Citralic) might be your choice according to the past post? Is the acid in a liquid state or powder? How is it applied? Downstream, xjet or pump up sprayer. I do not have a shur flow setup yet. How long is the dwell time on the citralic com. DeGrafreed

Hey, I listen to Ballads... Usher, Beyonce, Fantasia. I like to be in a mellow smooth mood before I do my jobs. No Rap music at all. I bet a majority of you guys and gals here may not heard of these singers but.... oh well. DeGraffreed

Pam, Got any deck work coming up soon..? DeGraffreed 678-480-0123