Barry M

Rfitz, do you really spend 10% just on yellow pages? I'm not calling you a liar, it just seems high. I spend 10% on all my advertising combined (postcards, flyers, yellows, papers, everthing.)

Jeff, the meter will screw right on to the hydrant (tighten with a pipe wrench or a hyrant wrench). The outlet end of the meter is a 2" cam lock fitting. Tractor Supply or any farm store sells cheap 2" flexible hose with cam lock ends, normally sold in 25' sections. Use a pipe wrench or hydrant wrench to turn the hydrant on slowly, let it flush for awhile to get the rust out and then hook up your hose(s) and fill your tank. Personally I dont like the idea of downsizing to a garden hose and running it straight to your pwer. It's to easy to open the hydrant too far and release to much pressure. I've seen it blow hoses apart and crack fittings.

The odds are stacked against you, but anything is possible. Before starting any business, you need to have your personal finances in order and under control or it will be suicide. It will be very difficult to get started with no funds. There will be other equipment you have to have to get started besides just the unit (hoses, ladders, chemicals, etc) not to mention insurance and any licenses you might need in your state. Then you need funds to start advertising, $500 a week worth of work is not just going to coming knocking. Even if you print flyers and hang them on doors, it's still going to cost a little money and lots of time. I got started part time with $4,000 and that was the bare minumum, and I already had a truck. Most guys started up with more $ than that. I'm not trying to burst your bubble, but this isn't a get rich quick or make a living over night sorta thing. It takes time to get rolling and get customers. Now if you borrow some start up money and do some research on this board, I guess you could be going in a couple of weeks. It just sounds like your trying to go into something fast, full force, without much knowledge of what your doing. Slow down and think it through and come up with a business plan and do things right. Just my .02 cents.

I'm the ghost with the most, babe.

Now who ya gonna call?

Wow, nice strip job Jarrod. That looks like Behr sh*t that was on there. Of course I'm so new to decks that all failed sealers look the same to me. I know, I need to come up and see you in action. Hey thanks for giving the wife a pep talk on the phone a week or so ago. I haven't gotten her that excited about the biz since I started up. So what sealer are you going to use on that deck? Don't forget to post pics when your done. Nice job so far.

Why do they call it "taking a poop" when your actually leaving something?

A little slow here too. Last year when I was part time I had no work July and most of Aug. I know how you feel Full Blast, I was asking the same thing last year. Many told me it slows a bit in the summer when people are vacationing and it's so damn hot people don't want to go outside. Hang in there and keep chomping at the bit. Once the kiddies go back to school things will pick up again. Someday I hope to be like some others and have such a wave of work from the spring time that it carries me right through the summer.

What type of entity is your business? In your opinion what are the pros and cons of the different types? Has your buiness changed entity types since first starting out? I am leaning towards sole proprietorship because it is simple and requires less formal action to set up. Until I start to generate a lot of money my overall taxes may be less than if incorperated. I'm also not considered an employee of my business so I don't have to pay unemployment tax. Also I can shift funds in or out without much limitations. The major disadvantage is I am personally liable for any debts or taxes of the business or other claims, such as legal damages resulting from a lawsuit.

Make sure you don't cross streams while PWing. Congrats John, what chem would you use to do a paint prep? Do you have to etch with acid?

Pam and Cujo, get well soon you are in my prayers.

http://www.watercannon.com/ I believe they are in Orlando. Lots of equipment and good prices.

Congrats Jim, you won't regret it.

Is your chem hose in good condition, no holes or plugged up?

Some sort of weird fetish maybe.

Congrats on a good season so far Jarrod. My numbers are nowhere near yours, to be honest I'm getting a little down lately. It's still been a lot of hit and miss for my first full time season and if I wasn't doing some remodeling for a good friend on the side, I would be starving to death. I've learned that I can't just sit and wait on the phone to ring. I can only send out 1000 or so postcards at a time and I just haven't seen the return on them that others do. So I have to go out and find work and I'm not very good at it, it's a lot harder than I ever imagined. It really annoys me that when work is scarce I get a little depressed instead of motivated. The work I have done has been mostly housewashes, a few drives, and some commercial roofs, and no bites on wood resto yet.

Hello Lance, A remote controlled ball valve on your chem line......BRILLIANT!! Man I could use one of those. I too like to rinse or water plants with low pressure and can't because it draws chems, that or I have to walk to the trailer and shut it off manually.

Do you mean like etching concrete? This is done with muratic acid to prepare the concrete to be sealed. The muratic removes a microscopic layer of concrete and lets the sealer better adhere to the concrete. Etching windows by allowing chems to dry on them is another thing.

I have a couple of fresh oil stains to remove off of a customers driveway. The driveway is sealed, but I don't know with what product. Hopefully because it's sealed the stains come up easy, but if not what cleaner can I use on it and how much pressure can I apply without removing the sealer. I didn't promise them anything because I've never had much luck with oil stains on concrete. Thanks guys.

Thank you very much for your input Alan.

The info they have may be true if bleach were to be left on vinyl. But that's why we rinse, rinse, and rinse again. They have no info, that's their problem!

I was doing a house wash last year when a neighboor came over and wanted to know if I could wash the mildew off of the north side of their house. I charged them my $75 show up fee and was in and out of there in 20 minutes. Saturday I'm going to wash 5 small oil stains off of a driveway, they don't care if they come out completely or not and they don't care if I leave 5 clean spots but they don't want the whole drive done. Wham bam $75 mam, see ya.

Xylene is some mean stuff. I spilled some on some asphalt and last time I checked (after a few rains) it was still a soft mushy spot.

Nice job Brent, those gutters turned out nice what did you use on em?

I joined the board and started researching 4 months before establishing my business, so this board is where I learned everything I know. I couldn't image doing this alone, and I respect the veterans that didn't have this board when they first started. I do take the boards and all the wonderful info for granted sometimes, so I do think a huge thank you is in order. Thank you Beth and Rod for everything you do and to all those affiliated.