Barry M

MMI = me, myself, and I. Doesn't surprise me. But at least it's just initials and nobody knows what it means unlike 1234me. IF this is the same guy I'm thinking of, I've seen his ads in the JB dollar books and he advertises $99 dollar house washes, that's a disgrace I don't care who you are or what you say. It's bait and switch just to get the phone to ring, then chems and certain step cost more. It's dishonest, misconceiving, shady, and a disgrace to the industry but he doesn't care because it's all about him.

Quicky, you need to fill out your signature, it's required on this site. I'm wandering why, if your as established as you say you are, are you so worried about this one fly by night guy? I've been in that area of Mich and I've had a chance to work up there and these guys are a dime a dozen. Why would this one guy even bother you? If you've been in business since 1980 I would think you have a huge customer base of loyal customers. Newsflash....if you're loosing customers to this guy or because of something they read then they aren't loyal and that's your fault not anybody else's. I don't know if you are him or he is you and you're just trying to promote a pathetic looking website or what and I really don't care. But I'm pretty sure that 1234me guy is one of Jarrod's buddies ;) This guy is nobodies competitor and in fact he is his worst competitor. He has the word "ME" in his name for god's sake....me, me, me it's all about me. OMG give ME and break! He advertises prices and they are very low, he his a classic fly by night. Kevin how can you even commend this guy, he is a disgrace to the industry but I certainly wouldn't be threatened by him. If he only knew how much having those links on his site was actually hurting his sites rankings I guarantee he'd take them off....derrrr! I'm crossing the line, gotta go.

IMO it's a bad idea. It's not about you Rod, in the end the only perceptive that matters is the customers. Look at it this way. How would you feel if after visiting a department store you got a report card in the mail and learned you weren't the perfect customer? It would upset me and I wouldn't go back. There is no way I would say, oh well maybe I can be a better customer next time or gee maybe I could be a little more friendly to the sales staff. No no no way no how! I would never return there. There is no nice way to tell me I need to improve on this or that as a customer, screw you! I'm the customer and I'm giving you my hard earned money and that's all that should matter. If you think you would feel any different in this situation Rod, then maybe that's where our opinions vary on this whole topic. I know how I would feel and my rule is: if I don't like it when it happens to me, then don't do it to my customers. My second thought is, what usefull information would this give you about your customers? A survey is great and I highly recommend using one and to listen to your customers answers to help sculp your future business model. But what usefull information would a customer report card give you? First of all they aren't sending anything back to you, they are just recieving a grade on how they did as a customer. Basically a note whether or not you'll do business with them again (very arrogant IMO). If they do send anything back it probably won't be nice, maybe a phone call to tell you off. My point is what usefull information do you get back out of your customer to use to better your company?

I'm going to be washing a customers driveway, 2600 sq ft. I've done the drive before, normal tannin stains and irrigation rust stains, no problem. He is going to have me seal it this time after I wash it. After I surface clean it with a degreaser I will x-jet oxalic to get rid of the rust. My concern is after this I need to then etch the concrete with muriatic acid to prepare for the sealer, which will be applied the following day. Will muriatic react with the oxalic? I've never messed with muriatic and I don't know much about it. Does anyone have any tips or concerns I may need to be aware of? Where do I even get some? Thank you.

Yo Vicars Is that the OH State golfcart in your avatar? Did you ever sell that thing? I hope you got at least $1 for it. I should of bought it and drove it off a cliff....hehe....after I jumped off of course. How's biz down south?

I don't think playing for cash is legal. But for fun you bet I'm in. Click here to see the number one team :)

Yo Shane'o Colts vs. the Bleachin Texans on Sept 23 in your house.....GL buddy. Yeah! The pre season Colts just scored....:lgjump: Oh that's right I don't care about the pre season.

Colts lost all 4 pre-season games last year and won the Super Bowl. Pre-season is a joke if you ask me. I don't pay attention to it, it means nothing. Sorry about your Pa........aa..aat.....t..r..i.....ooo...tt......s (I have trouble saying the P word) last year.....hehehe I will say though that they will always have a place in my heart as being the losing team in that awesome playoff game last year, I was there and it still tears me up and gives me goose bumps. Go Colts!!!

LOL I bet that's a first. I once had a dog walk on my freshly stained deck a leave little paw prints. But your story tops that. Glad you made it back home Richard.

Don't know, never did it. That's why I contacted v-seal for some help. But not knowing what type of sealer was used I don't know where to start. I've only cleaned and sealed bare concrete. When I do figure it out, I will post it here and let you know.

Good info Cody. I'm going to be sealing another driveway as soon as the temps cool down a little, it's getting into the 90's everday. I'm going be using V-seal this time but there is some issues with what was previously used to seal the concrete. The HO isn't sure and neither I am. I emailed Keith at v-seal some pics and he wasn't sure either. So I'm in the dark about what to use to clean/strip the concrete with. He suggested I just clean it like normal and do a little test spot to see how it turns out. Water doesn't bead up on the concrete now but there is definitely some traces of old sealer. Here the pics what do you think? The concrete is wet in the second pic.

Congrats to you and the Mrs. Scott.

Hey Richard, I heard all about Bob's experience at the border. How are you going to smuggle simple cherry into Canada? What a pain dude I feel for you. That's a nice unit you got though, I helped throw it into Jarrod's garage and believe me I wanted to put it in the back of my van and head south. Good luck to you.

With a 4gpm you don't want to go any bigger than a 20" cleaner. Or else you have to walk incredibley slooooow. Are you using any chems? Using a good soap and chlorine if there is mold/mildew will also help. Following up with oxalic will brighten the concrete and it will look better once it dries. All these things combined will help. The stripes are simply caused because you aren't getting the concrete as clean as it could be on the first swipe (too fast, no chems, etc). Then when you take another pass your overlapping a little and hitting part of the concrete again. So where you've cleaned the concrete twice is where the stripes occur. So the trick is to get all the concrete as clean as possible with the first swipe, then you'll have no stripes. That's why going slower, using better chems, and or using hot water helps.

Great question. I have done that several times. Every time I get this horrible guilty feeling. So I've learned that when I get this feeling while I'm doing the job I will take the time to do it right no matter what. Whether it's that one little spot at the peak of a dormer or scrubbing a hard to reach gutter a little more. I try to not think it's taking me too long or that I'm being anal but rather that I am helping my clients and they are well worth the extra mile. I have the above and beyond attitude and have started giving people MORE than expected and WOWing them, it leads to more referrals and repeat work for sure.

Almost looks like the algae is dead because it has that cloudy look to it rather than streaks (a before pic would help) but it looks like it just needs rinsed. A few rains would take care of that for you. If you've already tried rinsing then I'd re-coat the roof with love again. How fresh was your chlorine? I've used chlorine only 1.5 months old that just wouldn't do the job on a roof.

Thanks Don, Actually I just copy and paste what Ken says and then add my sig. ; )

LOL! That's pretty good Russ. I get a lot of those wives.

*Ding ding ding*....We have a winner! James that is a great testimonial that customer loyalty is priceless.

Stephen, Your right, in conjuction with a good mailing list, this is probably the most effective method of advertising besides word of mouth. I am a big advocate of targeted mailers but I'm finding out that when supplemented with other types of media it becomes even more effective. Ken has posted about it many times. Think about it like this, lets say someone see's your small ad in the newspaper and doesn't think much of it. Then they see your lettered truck in their neighborhood, they may think they've seen you before but that's about it. Then their kid plays a little league game against a team sponsored by your company, okay now they know they've seen you before. NOW they get your PC in the mail and they are sure they've seen you around. Whether it be consciously or unconsciously somehow they feel comfortable with your company. It's a whole "well I've seen them around and my neighbors have used them" sorta thing. Now compare the last senario with them just getting your PC out of the blue having never seen you before. You'll get a much better return when you hit em with a jab, uppercut, and then the big roundhouse. Just my 2 pennies : )

Adrian It's at this point that some would throw in the flag and make up their mind that advertising in the paper sucks and doesn't work. That would be like the FAA giving up on flying and saying that it doesn't work because of an isolated airplane crash. It sounds ludicrous but companies make this premature assumption about certain media all the time. When in fact what bombed was the ad itself. Media like the paper and YP's obviously hit a large audience and aren't going to be targeted to just YOUR potential customers like a mailing list and PC's would. So your ad has to weed out the price shoppers. What does your ad look like? Does it give the perception of value? Is it different from all the other ads? Most important does it prequalify prospects to do busy with you? IMO the problem with most ads in this type of media is that the ad is trying to sell a service directly. What I mean is it's not giving anymore information, it just says this is who we are, this is what we do, now give us a call and hire us. That's too direct! Remember you want your customers to say, "I would be a fool not to do business with this company." Don't try to make your ad sell a service but rather make the ad sell information. For instance: call for a free consumer awareness guide or call a prerecorded message to learn what consumers need to know about pressure washing. I have an ad in the service directory of the local paper under 'roof cleaning'. The headline reads: "The Truth About Roof Algae" sub headline reads: "How Low Pressre Roof Cleaning Can Save You Thousands" visit (roof website) for more info. Then my guarantee, my toll free number, and my logo at the bottom. That's it, it's more like I'm selling a web address than power washing services like my competitor is. They go to the site and see a headline that reads, "What Most Roofing Contractors Don't Want You To Know" and the copy educates them about roof algae bla bla bla. Quess what? After they read that info they say, "I would be a fool not to hire this company." It's a very non threatening approach. You aren't just walking up to them, getting in their face and saying HEY! How about you do business with me? Your handing them FREE information and prequalifing them at the same time. As they visit my site they begin to see the value and not the price. Or if their price shoppers they figure I'm going to be too much and they leave. Have you ever seen that Sleep Number Matress commercial? They don't try to sell you a matress, the give you a number to call for a FREE no obligation information kit. It works and is very effective. Hope this helps.

Adrian Instead of giving methods of pulling weeds, I'd like to back up a little and attack the root of the problem. What media or advertising efforts are the majority of the price shoppers coming from?

Jeff As much gas as you probably go through, it would seem like all those can's would be a time consuming PITA. Have you ever thought about have a bulk tank on the trailer? You wouldn't have to make so many gas station trips if you had a 100 gallon tank on board or any size for that matter. You could have it wired to the trailer plug so it would be an electric pump just like at the gas station. You could put a pad lock on the nozzle and the fill lid so you don't get ripped off. Put a long feed hose on it and you could easily fill up your units. You could even pull your other rig's up next to that one and fill them up. Just a thought : )

Welcome to the club, slow here and everyone else I've talked to has slowed also. It sucks man, in reality the resi work in my area is mid April to mid June and Sept, that's it 3 months. At least I'm a little more prepared than last year, I knew it was coming this time around. I'm currently searching hard for some bread and butter accounts because trying to make a living doing only resi isn't a smart move, not in my area anyway.

There's only two ways to apply stripper: Downstreaming or the slow way. :lgwave: