Barry M

Yes it is and it's still a great post. I was just chatting with Jrod yesterday about generating more work through the upcoming summer months. I'm reluctant to send out a bunch of postcards again because my last response was poor. I've been 7 days a week for 2 months but I'm pretty much all caught up. I have my advertising all planned out for the year but I always seem to detour from it a little. I'm grateful that I've kept great tracking records of all my past advertising and my ROI's. It's great to be able to look back a year ago and see what worked this time of year and what didn't. My main weakness isn't showing people the percieved value of doing business with me, my system weeds out the price shoppers pretty well, it's just getting the phone to ring more without taking out a loan for mailers. I've done well with repeat and referral business this year and my goal is in a few years to not have to advertise much at all and to stay busy servicing my customer base.

Put them dukes down boy...:)

You did nothing wrong other than probably under bid the job. That's how moss is, very different from black roof algae.

So far there is no way to get it off, if it isn't fresh, without risking damage to the vinyl. Some have tried 3500 psi and 200 degree water, scrubbing with a strong mix of tsp, or with an sos pad with some success. But again these methods all risk damaging the vinyl. After time the fungus will fall off on it's own but to prevent it from happening again tell the customer to get rid of all the old mulch and bring in new every year or go with rock. Some have also said that using wet wax in your house mix will prevent the spores from sticking to the siding but I haven't seen proof of this myself.

How'd the big job go today J?

Ding ding ding we have a winner folks. So funny because you are right, Jrod and I were just chatting yesterday about his supercharged HW, he doesn't mess around and he admits it, that's why we love him. How much do you want to bet that if Jrod ever started doing roofs he would somehow supercharge 12% to be 20% or stronger so he could do a roof in 20 minutes spraying it from the truck without even getting out : )

You failed to show the customer the VALUE of doing business with you and they had nothing else to base their buying decision on but price. That or you were in front of the wrong 'type' of customer to begin with, you have to weed out the price shoppers.

I like that but I would add....Take it or leave it I'm so busy it really doesn't matter to me so what is it, yes or no cause I gotta get going : ) Ken, how do you address buyers remorse? Is it something simple like "You won't be disappointed?" Or is it something more elaborate?

No catch phrases here because every customer and every sale is different, one or two phrases wouldn't work for me. I try to uncover any objections or concerns early in the presentation and then adjust my close by offering a solution to their concerns in the form of benefits to them. I am also extremely honest with people and don't feed them any B.S.

Full of hoses, buckets, gas can, and my tool box which is full of enough tools to build a house. I don't mind using the back of my truck along with stuff on the trailer, that's what a truck is for. I have a toolbox on the tongue of my trailer that is full of stuff too. Man I have a lot of crap : )

My next door neighbor wants me to do thier house when I have time. I have a bad feeling about it and keep avoiding it. Maybe it's the $7 his wife owes my wife for one of our kids school fund raisers from this winter.

I was sick of making someone else rich and with the amount of layoffs going on at the time, it seemed no job was safe and still isn't. Then I got laid off so I said see ya!! I remember posting about it cause I was a little freaked out, I knew I wanted to PW full time but it was a little sooner than I expected. Everyone was so supportive that it made me tear up reading their replies.....no joking. I feel very blessed now going into my second full time season. I was there once Mike, a lot of us were. Do what you know is right, set goals, be persistent and patient in acheiving those goals, believe in yourself and you will be successful.

Like Ken said a 10 works good and I also use an 8 for a little more pressure but still no furring or wood damage. A #8 puts out 1000 psi and of course less than that is hitting the deck if your wand is several inches away.

Mike if your unit is a 4gpm then a 0010 would rinse up high without drawing chems and a 4010 for rinsing low and wetting landscaping. Or you could just use the M5 like has been said.

Ken how could you say that? They are maintenance free.... ; )

How do the hi-lo nozzles work? I know you can adjust the pattern but how do you flip between drawing soap and not drawing soap?

Okay that's like the 50th time I've read someone using their xjet to rinse, I'm trying it next time. It's gotta beat changing between two different rinse nozzles.

Deal! But you owe me one.....lol The only sample I could get was a 5gallon jug and I had to pay the 55gallon drum price for it. I guess they don't believe in freebies to gain new customers. Oh well, if it works like JRod says it does then I figure it's worth it eeehh?

Ken, I have a 5er of Jarrod's stuff. I'll sell it to ya for 1meeeeeeelion dollars. : )

I use a 10' step ladder and a 16' telescoping pole with a brush on the end. Dip the brush, apply chems, scrub if needed, jump down and rinse with a 0 degree tip. I find this way to work best for me. I've tried pump up with extending wand and it's just too slow and a PITA. I've tried xjetting but too much chem was wasted spashing all over the place, and I still had to scrub sometimes so it was defeating the purpose.

This is the injector that I have. This latest addition to GP's chemical injector line is a new "Hi-Draw" model, capable of a 20%* draw rate. These injectors feature an operating pressure of 4,500 PSI and a temperature rating of 1900. Sized at 3/8 inch M X M, NPT, stainless steel orif You buy this, put a 3/8" QC on one end and a 3/8" plug on the other. It has an arrow on it indicating the direction of flow. It then plugs into the outlet side of your pump (where you normally plug in your pressure hose) and now your pressure hose plugs into the injector. The injector comes with a 1/4" chem hose that plugs into the barb on the bottom of the injector. You simply plop the other end of the chem hose into your mix could be a 15 gallon drum, a 5 gallon bucket, or a 1 gallon jug doesn't matter. Those that use a large tank for chems simply plumb the chem hose to the tank. Now when the pressure is dropped at your gun tip via the proper nozzle, chems will be drawn into the line and out the end of your gun. Sorry I don't have pics right now but I hope you can understand the concept. I know how it is to not understand something but believe me, it's really pretty simple once you understand.

They will deal with it, to the effect of NOT doing business with you. I agree with your beliefs Mike and if that spills over into my personality and who I am, that's great. But I don't agree with mixing that in with my advertising, it has no advantage and would only potentially cost me work. You don't need to hide anything from customers just don't put it in their face if it's not going to benefit you or them. It's like the whole merry xmas thing. It doesn't bother me to say that but on my xmas cards to my existing clients I went with the Happy Holidays theme, why offend someone with the xmas thing if it's not going to help my business. IMO don't mix religion and business, just stay nuetral on the subject and nobody will get offended. It's not like someone is going to get mad and not do business with you because you don't have a religious symbol on your advertising.

I used that mix when I xjetted but only 1 1/2 gallon soap, two gal 12% and the rest water. I think maybe you just need to apply chem faster sounds like your being too liberal with it.

You can if your stripper is strong enough to start with. DSing stripper is how Jarrod strips a deck in the time the rest of us are getting all our equipment out.

Did you add any water to your mix if so how much?