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Barry M

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Posts posted by Barry M

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Jeff trying buying two 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood and rip them in half long ways so you end up with 4 2x8 sheets and then play leap frog with them as your moving the lift. I realize that takes a lot of time but it will keep from rutting the grass and from breaking shallow utilities. Only 6" deep? A lawn dart could of hit that.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I agree with many statements in that article, thank you for posting that. I see you've really been doing some good research Bob. I often go to the library and read articles in Pyschology Today Magazine. Learning about human behavior is an advantage in marketing to people.

    The fact is people do not care about your company or your service, and they don't want to read about it on a postcard or flyer. What they do care about is themselves and their problems.

    Here are two examples of describing a product.

    Example 1

    "Over one thousand photovoltaic cells turn light into electricity in this unit."

    Example2

    "This solar heating system can save you $188 per month based upon your current use of energy."

    See how the second example is about whoever is reading it by referring to "you". That will suck them right into the rest of the ad much better than the first example. Another good tactic is to ask a question which hits upon a problem they may have. Like "Do you have black streaks on your roof?" And then give them the solution to the problem.

    View things thru your prospects eyes and watch your profits rise.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    If your targeting the right audience, price is only about 8% of the decision in buying a service or product.

    What people really buy

    They buy benefits

    They buy promises you make

    They buy your credibility

    They buy solutions to their problems

    They buy you and your employees

    They buy other people's opinion of your biz

    They buy your guarantee

    They buy expectations

    They buy believable claims

    They buy hope

    Confidence in your business is the number 1 determinant in influencing sales.

    Quality in your product or service is number 2.

    If people are buying strictly on price I move on, because they aren't going to be loyal to my company anyway. They are price shoppers and probably found my company in the yellow pages and want something for nothing. I do not target these kind of people, they are not my customers.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    There's nothing like waking up on a Saturday, sitting down at the computer with a 'Hooters' cup full of coffee and reading one of Jeff's big ass speaches. Jeff, your speaches always inspire me because it's all from the heart. Sometimes when I read your speaches I'll express certain words louder and with a deep voice and stand up and start yelling like a motivational speaker would. My wife thinks I'm nuts but it's all in fun, but I tell her that will be me someday I just have to keep after it and not give up. Thanks for sharing all your experience for us to learn from.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    I started last last year part time with $4,000. I bought a 4gpm cold belt driven unit, good hoses, a couple wands, an x-jet, some used ladders, a phone line, biz cards, insurance and saved a little for making flyers to mail out. I believe that's about the bare minimum you could start with and still look professional.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Steve you do see some on the trellis they told me not to worry about it they are wood and they are going to paint them.

    Jeff acutually I'm 2 hours north of Indy so I'm really lucky to have nice weather, they were amazed especially that it only took several minutes.

    Jarrod never tried iron out, I've just always used ox.

    Richard It's iron and it is pretty common for people who are on wells, not so much city water. One contractor told me the only way to get rid of it is to drill a new well and look for some cleaner water. Most people I know on wells have filters on their faucets or buy bottled water.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    I'm going into my second year part time and I'm still working out of the truck. I think it's time to set up a trailer. I too would like to get into more commercial work, It's not hard to see that's where the $$$$$$$$ is. But I will still target residential and I want to pick up more work in that area too.

    So for biz

    tailer set up

    more work in commercial and res.

    Personal

    I want to PW fulltime and make a living

    and I just want me and my family to be happy

  19. Posted · Report reply

    What would you like to see happen in our industry in 2006?

    What are you willing to do to help?

    What can the rest of us do to help?

    I would like to see Lowes and Home Depot stop selling those cheap powerwashers to Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner and stop telling them "You can do it, we can help".

    Really though, you ask a good question Mike. I would just like to see the general public view powerwashing as more of a trade that involves training, knowledge and skill. I just want the customer to be more educated, and I'm going to do my best in my area to do educate them. It would be nice if the PWNA or another organization would print up some really nice brochures geared towards educating the public about powerwashing and then make them available for contractors to buy. I think a brochure like this from a reputable organization would mean more than if a single biz owner like me would have some made up.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Is 12% Bleach what most people refer to as Chlorine, will it burn or melt vinyl siding or vinyl windows if left on for to long, who is the best distributor.

    Thanks

    We are always glad to help you with any questions, but if you want to speed up your research time you can use the search button to find some of your answers, I use it all the time.

    Lance, I live an hour south of Michigan and I run into mold and mildew on houses and roofs all the time. It gets pretty hot and humid here in the spring and summer months. I love those mornings when I walk outside and I can already feel the stickiness in the air............not.

    Jarrod, do you use a lot of pressure when cleaning mold and mildew without chlorine? I use 12% in my house wash and the green just melts off, rinse and go baby.

  21. Posted · Report reply

    Hey Jeff or others, I have a driveway to do this spring that has tannin stains and irrigation rust stains, do you think I would have to wash it twice, once with chlorine for the tannin stains and then again with oxalic? If I remember right these two chems are dangerous when mixed.

    Also Jeff did I understand you right in an earlier post, you PW the sidewalk with surface cleaner and then apply the oxalic?

    Didn't mean to steal your post Richard.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I prefer Gutter Shock...in my experience, it works better, though as mentioned, you DO have to be careful with how strong you use it, and on cheaper gutters/fascia.

    It's not all that expensive when you consider how far it goes. It DOES work, though as you mentioned, some gutters will never come clean, but that's usually because either they've been re-painted with the wrong paint, or they're cheap and you can't get them clean without removing paint. I'd say you NEED a product like GS, zap, or castrol superclean...This is the type of thing that many pressurewashers don't know about, so they don't bother getting the stripes off the gutters. It is an area that can set apart a newer company from the rest.

    I knew I would start something when I posted gutter shock is overated! I also knew Mike would be the first to chime in...lol

    Sometimes I like to stir the pot a little. I take back my comment on it being overated, that was dumb to say seeing I've never used it. I do know that just getting started part-time last year I couldn't afford it compared to purple power at the local Walmart. Mike has told me before that if I wanted better results I had to pay a higher price for the good stuff. I will probably try it out this year and when I have questions about it I know Mike will be my go to guy.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    I was disappointed with the reach of the X-Jet (M5). On the top 3 feet or so of the peak of a 2 story house the stream broke up into a fine mist. Covering this area with mist meant dumping tons of chem on the lower portions of the house which did not need it. Worst of all the peak did not look as good as the rest of the house. Any tips on getting just a little more reach out of an X-Jet? Also any tips on slowing down the draw on the X-jet? I went through chems way too fast. I know some of you use the proportioners but most don’t seem to like them.

    Patrick, I use a 4 foot wand with the x-jet and have no problem with two story houses. If there is a high dormer or a basement walkout in back that makes it almost 3 stories I'll climb up on an 8' step ladder and x-jet will reach, no prob.

    You do have to move at a steady pace while soaping up a house with the x-jet. I start on one end of the house, I make sure my chem hose is tied off to the bucket and that I have plenty of untangled chem hose laid out and that nothing is in my way and once I here those chems shoot out the x-jet I start moving. Sometimes I go so fast that I'll come back the opposite way even faster and hit it all again. I've never missed a spot like someone else posted, you can plainly see the soap on the house and you would no if you missed a spot. On a good sized house I might use 2 five gallon buckets of house wash, and 2/3 of a bucket is water anyway so I'm really not using that much chemical. I never tried to downstream so I won't bash it.

    Some gutters never come completely clean. In my opinion Gutter Zap is overated. It's also too expensive when you are first starting out. Just my .02 cents.

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