Oxfordlawn

I just voted and it says they are now ahead by 3.4 percent

surprisingly not yet...I am in a major retirement community area that has to be LOADED with disabled vets...just waiting for that first one.

Just signed up to offer lawn care and house washing --- had no trouble with the application.

Thanks Ron, I am a member of that forum as well and will repost this question there--but will also answer it here. I do see many of the same faces/names on the 2 sites as I am always watching and reading the forums and trying to learn from others. All the Pressure washing sites and forums I feel have been a great source of knowledge and info..and have reduced my learning curve and potential mistakes--but not eliminated them LOL.. By trade I had been an auto mechanic for 25 years, owned my own gas station/repair shop in bergen county NJ for the last 12 of those 25, then decided I didnt like the way the auto repair business was heading so we decided to sell everything and move to Florida. In Florida I started a lawn care business and have been doing that for about 3 years now, and there is as much work for that as you want in my area so thats an easy self running business. Last year at this time when lawns slow down and I had some free time, I decided to get into house washing as an add on to my lawn care business. This too has grown as I am fortunate to live in an area of major growth and belief in that your house has to be washed twice a year. Although the price per house is very low, the quantitiy is high, the working area is all within a 10 square mile radius of house after house after house. GReat area to work! Now to the present. Again its slowing a bit so I have some time to devote to another business aspect I have been thinking about and looking into. I am interested in possibly purchasing a larger trailer rig with hot water, seperate water and chem tanks, possibly reclaim unit..just stepping it up in size and quality for commercial properties. I live inbetween 2 fairly large city areas of central Florida, Ocala and Leesburg. My hometown area is growing like wildfire with mall after mall and lots of individual commercial buildings and big lot stores as well...so the clientel is here. My question is how to get in touch with the people who make the decisions on who gets hired to clean all these properties. Property management companies--how do you know who runs which shopping center. Big box stores, is it site by site or...? gas stations and fast food do you go in and ask for the manager? All along my business owner career, I have found most people will talk with you if approached in the right manner. I want to talk with these people to find things out like how often and how much. I am trying to figure if stepping up in price and size of equipment can be offset by the price and quantity of work I could get. I am keeping in mind that this is Florida I am working in and it does not nearly pull in the same price per job as most of you are getting so I really want to get some numbers before making any purchases. And to get these numbers I need to talk with the people who sign the checks. whew---hope that helps :)

I would like to revive this thread...as I came to ask the same question and saw this. I have my residential lawn and yard work under control and on auto pilot. I have started house washing about a year ago and its going steady as well but continually growing, but not at where i want it yet. I have been looking at and pricing larger rigs with larger capabilities some with reclaim units, some without. So my question is, how to make the contacts for commercial properties. Are property managing companies the ones to contact?? or at gas stations and fast food places do you go for the general manager type person? Home Depots, Lowes, Publix...so on. Just looking on getting the ball rolling on trying to make some contacts and find out the availability of work--so any suggestions on where to start? I understand this is going to be varied for different situations but, how have you all started finding the right contact people?? Thanks--TOM

Not sure if this is similiar but I will throw it out there.. Previously I owned an auto repair shop and did a lot of contract work for the US Post Office--a couple hundered trucks worth, all under 3 year contract terms. Now I dont know if it was called "prevailing wage" but at the back of the contract it had all the wages listed paid to all the vehicle maintenance facility employees and I was supposed to match the mechanics wages for my mechanics UNLESS I DID 51% OF THE WORK MYSELF. So naturally I did, prove I wasnt and still got to pay my mechanics their regular wages. Is there some type of similiar clause in the contract mentioned for the Coast Guard. I know this is an out of date post but maybe this will help someone in the future.

Thanks for the replies. Thats the exact info I was looking for. Which is why I have learned to ask on these boards. Thousands of years of combined knowledge...someone always has the answers that get the job done right, in a cost effective and safe manner. Thank you:beerchug:

Pharmco Labs makes it..I have seen it mentioned here on these forums before but I feel it just a rebranded box of Oxalic or something else. Thought this would be a quick one but any help would be great. It works well and I would buy more if necessary but I am trying to watch my monies spent on chemicals, and this one isn't the cheapest. The website for the product follows and I hope this isn't against some rules. White Ox - Well Water Rust Remover

no one? or am I asking a dishonest question here?

I purchased some White Ox rust stain remover to try it out, and it seems to work well for what I needed. Some of the houses I was washing had sprinkler water stains on them and some other unknown stains and I am easily able to remove them by spraying the White Ox, hitting with a brush and then rinsing immediately. Anyways, I am just about out of the White Ox, it was pretty pricey and am wondering if anyone knows if its just Oxalic acid being sold under a different name. I tried to find a MSDS sheet for the White Ox but couldn't. Anyone know ???

looks as if you may be in my area...Im near The Villages--Lady lake--Leesburg(north) and Wildwood

yeah i here you on that. Im just buying the stuff to use as a upsell when washing a house. I have tried lots of different methods and the windows never come up perfect or completely spotfree around the edges. Luckijly 99% of the houses in my area are 1 story and being 6' 5" I can reach just about everything without a ladder so its quick and easy. I ended up doing a lot of looking, pricing and reading on different sites and came up with what I feel is a pretty complete set up for any home situation I would come across. I am listing what I ordered, and if there is something I may want to add on or forgot, please let me know. OK i bought the rectangular Pulex bucket with the drain and lid, Pulex holster , unger 10" Monsoon scrubber, Unger 14" swivel monsoon scrubber, Vileda 6", 12", 18" swivel stainless squeegees(extra rubbers for all) , Ettore 4" scraper and extra blades, pack of surgical towels and Unger soap tablets(to try). Anything else??? I wish I could buy some practice or experience LOL I guess my house will have some clean windows soon--won't my wife be happy.

As long as you have a downstreaming setup, this in my opinion is the way to go. the x-jet is a good unit...it just sucked moving the pail around and I used alot more chemical with the x-jet.

I can honestly say no...mine sit in the quick connect of my gun and wands nice and snugly. I can turn them when not in use but they stay where they are put. I would think if the time comes and it start to move and twist...a simple o-ring replacement in the quick connect would be the fix.

I am just passing this great information along to you and you will never look back. I also have the newer x-jet but no almosr never use it anymore. Call Bob at Pressure Tek and tell him you want the 4 nozzle holder setup and 4 nozzles for washing houses. He will ask you about your washer specs. and set you up with this nozzle holder. What it is is 4 quick connects welded together in a row, then they put in 4 nozzles---2 are for soaping high and low areas, and the other 2 are for rinsing...again high and low areas. All you do is move the holder in the quick connect at the end of your gun...I hardly ever use a wand anymore. I didn't mention but this is assuming you have a downstreamer setup. I promise you will love it and save sooooo much time...and it is all for under $30.