Jim Gamble

In California, My neighbor has a 2007 Ford International V-8 Diesel of which he bought brand new. Engine blew up also... twice, then the valves just after the 100k warranty, then the fuel pump and finally at 119,000 miles the torque converter in the transmission. Ford paid 1/2 of the trany work since he was just out of warranty at 119k. And the odd thing is that he only tows a 4,000 lbs trailer part time. Most are highway miles. I like the looks of a Ford, I really do. I was looking at the F 750 which does have the Dodge Diesel Cummings in them as an option. Great Trucks !

I would also do a detailed marketing analysis of your work area. If you are going into the commercial field, find out the going pricing, your competitors equipment and quality of work. Any short falls that your competitors may have. Try to find a niche. If you find that your potential customers only care about price, then research for a better product / service. You will find that this will be a very slow way to build your business, but you will get loyalty and be able to ask for a higher pricing Providing that you have proven your net worth to your customers. If you are going on pricing alone, then you may find yourself losing and picking up customers throughout every year that you are in business. To date, we have only lost 1 customer in 21 years of business. It was a Costco from 1991. They bought a pressure washer and do it themselves, and it shows. Since I do not do store fronts unless accompanied with a Garage Cleaning Contract, I have not pursued them as well as I should. Shoot, now that I am thinking about them, I just may clean them for free, just to say, I have never lost a customer in 21 years, but again, that is just a thought.... LOL

2500 psi is, in my opinion, a low pressure washer. 9 gpm is great for moving allot of debris. Great for rinsing or dislodging loose debris at 2,500 psi, of course 4,000 variable pressure would have more application options. Depending on where you are working, water reclamation may influence your GPM output. What are the strong points of this machine..... The boiler, then pump, then engine. Landa does make hefty oversize pumps, though I have seen them break under certain conditions. I think the real question here is what you plan on doing with your washer? Are you house washing? Roof Cleaning? KEC Cleaning? Fleet washing? Flat work? Garage Cleaning? These fields require different pressures and techniques. ( for example, I would not take a 2 GPM cold washer and try to clean a Parking Garage with it. There is other equipment better suited for this type of classification of work ) Though pressure washing equipment can accomplish more than one type of cleaning, most are best suited to clean for one specific type of classification. Your layout of your rig will determine that as well. So the first question I would ask myself ?..... What field do you want to apply yourself or pursue your business in? Then after answering that, I would find the right equipment to achieve the results you want while fitting in to your budget.

Diesels out last any gasoline engine as a rule. Diesels are also better built. They have to be for the high compression ratio's. Diesels also use less fuel per Hour. I had a 24 hp Briggs back in 1989. I blew the engine up in 40 hours ( 2 , 20hr days) Briggs told me that these air cooled engines was not designed to work in the summer months at 20 hr interval's. They needed a break. I switched to a Kubota 3 cyl water cooled. What an engine. I saved hundreds of dollars in fuel per month. The thing just ran and ran and is still running 14 years later according to the business I sold it to. Now we have 4 cyl 3.3 liters turbo diesels running our washer. The thing is as big as my V 8 gas engine in our SUV. We have 4 CYL diesels running our generators for the filters. Our Vacuum units are also a 4 cyl diesel 45 hp. Diesels are more reliable than gas or propane because diesel is a lubricant within the fuel. You are burning a refined oil. If the coldness is a problem, there are additives you can put with the fuel to thing the fuel. Shoot, some use a little bit of gas mixed in the tank. I AM NOT SAYING TO DO THIS. I was told this a long time ago. But I know diesels do not like the cold, this is true with any water cooled Gas or Diesel engine.

Now thats even more funnier :banana: Is funnier a word? Spell check says...... yes !

I know Tony used to have a job that required his undo attention on Broadway in San Francisco for many years, and from what was told to me, he was quit good at it.... You and the off Duty Fireman, imagine that.... are you sure you two didn't work there as a team players together? As Tony said, You missed a spot saving this morning.... LOL LOL LOL LOL Now thats funny

The SLX can deliver up to 730, 000 BTU's with 3/4 inch coils. I am surprised about all the issues for the unit. Landa makes a great product. The motor is only a problem if you can't get parts. Out here on the west coast this could be as much as a few weeks. However those coils are the best in the industry as far as I am concerned. You will find they heat the water very quietly and way more efficiently than a 1/2 or a 5/8 coil. Is the motor expensive to repair, I'm sure it is. But any diesel is better built, heavier duty, than the best gasoline engine. I would check the unit out though. It sounds like it had a ruff life.

Well Said

Well Tony, if we apply that concept to my field here in California......... well........OK I can accept that, .......with that being said and the examples you submitted I can see where we fit in.....Thanks Tony for Calling us a Lexus with a BMW design type of company LOL LOL LOL LOL Since we are years behind Ron's Nuclear Boilers, we are planing to buy the plans from Ron, just as Toyota did from GM and Ford for the Hybrids. Ron, how about $20 bucks....sounds good? LOL

well, you got me there Scott. However, just so that you now, last year for the first time since 1995 we had to pay over XX,XXX k to the feds. I just could not find enough legal right offs. I tried everything that was 100% legal. Just could not find it. This year because of the increased business, we may have to pay more. I hope not, we had allot of right offs. We was in constant contact with our CPA. this is one of the reasons for all the upgrades to the trucks and the trailers. However, I heard that you Scott did better than I when comparing how much we spent in taxes. PS, good to reply to ya in friendship. It feels good for a change.

What you forgot to mention is the the refineries here in our area get much more heftier fines than just a few warnings or fines of a few thousand. Everyone pays if you break the law. Being that you think like that, I can see why you would not want any police force, or any disabled people getting gov checks, or the arm services, or even the fire dept which we pay in our taxes and go for tens of years without using any of their services. Not street lights, nor streets or sidewalks.... gosh if every believed like you we would all live in caves. If thats the way it is in the hills of NC, don't bring it to the west coast. I like the 3 minute response time of my fire dept. the 5-7 average minutes or less response time from our police force. I got an idea EDITED BY ADMIN. Front Page in bold lettering that you do not follow the EPA guidelines and refuse to follow the instructions from any of the inspectors having to see if you are complying. Post it on your site that you disapprove and do not follow ANY requirements now or in the future for discharge. Inform your customers that if they hire you, they are agreeing that the EPA and their inspectors are full of it. Write in what you believe William. Go ahead, Advertise it on your site in bold lettering. I advertise all the time that we follow all requirements for EPA discharge since 1992. Funny how all of those who do not believe in these regulations always fall short of posting how they do not abide to following the law in bold lettering on the front page of their own website.... I always wonder why? Its your site, you can post anything you want. So let your customers know up front in what you believe in, don't be ashamed of it. It's you business. I am sure that any potential customers would love to read this on your site.

Never said Business has to pay, in fact they don't, if you read the thread BEFORE responding. But if I still had to pay for discharge, to dump etc, yea someone has to pay as you use their service. Someone has to pay me to clean. Someone has to pay you to clean. Actually I was talking about the Asian immigrants. ( A note, My wife is Asian and I am not prejudice against any race, but I am prejudice against the stupidity that one may have towards a race as a whole.) Several nationalities was flooding the market with cheap labor and did pose a real problem back in 1989. They just about cornered the market in their beat up Datsun's. They even got the government cleaning jobs for contractors. Back then, the Government did not ask for the sub contractors Insurance, workers comp, and even a business license if the jobs was under a certain dollar amount.

If we have the same mentality from Licensing to Insurance, then why do we all advertise that we have insurance or that we are even bonded? why do we have to have Insurance mettle in our business? Why do we even have to have it? If I make a claim, they always double or triple my premiums getting more than what they paid out for the original claim. Could it be that the public demands it? Could it be that we as contractors want to imply that we are responsible. responsible meaning that we could not get insured (or Licensed ) if we had too many claims. Same with Insurance or Licensing? If you are against licensing, then you have to be against Insurance. Just think if your policy has the clause against water damage. You think you are being covered by paying thousands of dollars throughout the year only to find out you are not because to paragraph 905, sub section 3, line 389 where it clearly states in legalese.

OK, here is a thought.... could having a license the same thing as having Insurance or being Bonded? You pay and pay every month only to find out that your insurance does not cover water damage. This is a true thing. I suggest everyone check you Liability Insurance. Most have a clause against any water damage that you may create as a result from you cleaning by means of pressure washing. However, it does cover you if your truck accidentally hits their entrance doorways, but not the trailer. LOL LOL

I know I am going to be attacked here with this.... been sitting on the fence watching.... But I have seen government get involved with Garage Cleaning. For years, I was against it. Went to meetings, called everybody etc. Finally I submitted. Now, because of their involvement, their inspectors, their permit process ( Which I hate the paper work ), I find myself seeing only contractors bidding on jobs. The days of seeing immigrants in old Toyota trucks with shabby pressure washers going door to door, or in my case, business to business, is non existent. They all went to other states or work for lic contractors I guess. But they are not bidding on contracts. Prices have gone up by 1,000 percent in the garage cleaning field since 1989 when the immigrants was in full force pressure washing everything for gas money. Do I support Government, yes IF I get representation for that requirement. If it is just a way for them to make some money and do nothing for it, then why pay? Here in Calif. some counties, actually stop requiring that a fee is necessary for the permit process. Why? because now the inspectors ( With the exception of 4 ) are on contract. Their pay comes from the fines of pressure washers, business, general public dumping illegally. This makes them accountable for their salary. Every two years, if they are not justified, they are let go. The result is a very active enforcement which has stood up in a court of law. For my industry, this has justified the use of reclamation. The public is well aware of this and asks..." Are you licensed, have the permits, but most of all.... where is the water going to when you are done? All because of the permit process.

We are over 80% booked for the next few years.

Last year, I invited 3 lucky *** members to come out and attend our Annual Round Table, free of charge . The costs for this 2 day event came in at XX,XXX. It included a 2 day 50 ft sailing yacht with crew, a luxury suite at AT&T Ball Park with all the beer and food one could drink or eat. Shoot, some even got to meet Willie Mays !!! This year we are seeing about Hot Air balloons for our event with limousine service to some of the most prestige wineries in the Napa Valley. Re: I invited 3 to our Annual Round Table.... Here we go..... __________________ Crystal Cleaning Company LLC 925-756-0888 When I refer to the EPA, I am talking about my local environmental authorities When I refer to an experience, it is an experience I have had in California Parking Garage Cleaning experts Your local authorities and regulations maybe different Thank you for your understanding in this matter

Time to go home....

Willie Mays

Now thats funny !!!

Likewise here. We are bless to be booked over 80% for the next 5 years. Going strong for 21 years in Parking Garage Cleaning!

A few days ago, Ron pulled back up a thread "Parking Garage Cleaning videos California Pressure washing" at ***. This thread has our videos for garage cleaning in the thread. Since Ron's action on this thread, a few members have ask questions about Parking Garage Cleaning filtration units which some contractors currently use and freely talk about in open forum as having problems with their design. However, when the questions got serious, no one has respond or attempted to answered those questions for the last two weeks. So the question was asked again.... but still no answer. Everyone must be working which is GREAT !!!!! I completely understand. HOWEVER, I MUST take a moment and Thank Ron. My site, which averages 130+ hits a day, got an extra 200 hits on top of the 130. I know this is only temporary, but it is nice to be pulling in over 300 hits a day from your site even if it is only for a few weeks. When I tracked it back, most of those 1 - 200+ hits came from *** at one time or another. Again, Thanks Ron for the ratings !!!