Aaron Sullivan

currently i have a 2002 F-150, a 2001 F-250, and a 2000 E-150 cargo van. I have had troubles with the 250 since we bought it last year, the 150 is not needed except to have an emergency truck to pull our trailer, and the van is ok except it is getting up there in mileage (82k) and it is a bit beat up. so... Running the scenarios, I am thinking of trading all three in an buying a new'ish E-350 cargo van and a little ranger (or something similar.) The van to pull the trailer or run solo with a couple of portable machines. The small truck to run estimates, pick up supplies, etc... My question is this...can a E-350 pull a trailer and not ruin itself? I have heard both yes and no, but both can't give me any real reason for their answer. I am vehicle knowledge challenged, so any help would help. Thanks in advance,

why a 97?

i am getting pictures to post, but am so befuddled as to what has happened today at a housewash, that i must ask now. it is a two to three story, painted hardi-plank home. three sides of the house went great. we get to the last side and pre-rinse, apply house wash, let sit for 10 minutes or so, and rinse. as we rinse, the paint rinses off as well. not flaking, peeling, or shipping. rinsing! i checked all the chems to make sure a mistake wasn't made. all good. question my guys on what exactly they did. all is good. we have done 100's of houses and this has never happened. i took a rag with the house wash on it (not even diluted as the xjet would) and applied it to another section of the house. let it sit for several minutes and rinsed it off. nothing. the only think i can think is oxidation. i asked the customer and he said it was painted two years ago, and seven before that. it is the side that gets sun all day also. could this be the issue? could the painter not have prepped the house right? what liability should i take? i feel like it is kind of my fault, but it appears there is something else going on. any help would be greatly appreciated.

i certainly agree with what everyone has to say. sometimes i feel like a push over, and question whether i am taking to right road or the easy road. thank you everyone. the good news is that we wash houses for several painters. hopefully, i can get some help on this one. thanks again,

I am putting together a bid on ~76,250 square feet of cedar shake roofing, and I have some questions. 1. how would you bid this thing? honestly, we are moderately high on deck and fence projects, but we stay busy with homeowners that are ok with that pricing. commercial jobs are a different animal, and i feel like we are going to bid ourselves out of this thing if i go with those prices. my thoughts are to lower the initial price per square foot (mabye 5-10%), then charge that much for the first third, lower it another 10% for the second third, and another 10% for the last third. the only reason is because i see us getting faster and faster as the project goes. 2. how do i keep this thing from 'killing' my 'normal' business? my thoughts here are to work on this property three days a week (monday, tuesday and friday) and do normal (residential) jobs the other three (wednesday, thursday and saturday). i don't want to drag it out forever, but i don't want to shut the doors on my regular customers to get this done as quickly as humanly possible either. 3. is it ethical to ask for 'draws' on the project? and if so, how should i structure it? i cannot let this thing go to completion to collect one check. my business would literally die from lack of funds. i assume it wouldn't be abnormal to ask for draws from the total. e.g. ask for a draw for every 3-5 building completed (cleaned and stained.) i obviously don't want to discuss my pricing on here, but would be willing via email. please help me with any information you can. this is, by far, the largest job i have ever bid on. i feel very comfortable doing the work and it would be a big boost to my numbers this year, so i would like to get the job...just not at the expense of loosing tons of other work or loosing my a$$ on my pricing of this one. it seems like a fine line...where does it not become profitable enough to continue pursuing? thanks in advance for your help. if you would prefer to contact me by email, it is located below.

bump... well, not a lot of response to date, but... could i at least get an example of a detailed proposal for something like this. i have a proposal for wood restoration, but not for something of this magnitude. i would think it should cover more than just our process and our price. but what, i don't know... any help would be very appreciated. even if your proposal is for cleaning and staining several decks, or cleaning and sealing a lot of concrete or cleaning apartment buildings or townhomes...i don't care, i just need some ideas. so far, i plan on giving... 1. a proposal stating the process, i.e., low-pressure cleaning, involving stripping and oxalic. staining with readyseal and why we would prefer that product. and pluses for using it for maintenance reasons. 2. copy of bbb record 3. copy of insurance, gl and wc 4. anything else??? help, help, help...

sorry for the mis-title... how many structures? 31, not all the same square feet pitch of roofs? mansard style, practically vertical You say wash and strip. Strip what? nothing visual to strip, but i will probably lightly strip and oxalic are you sealing the shakes too? yes, probably use Natural Cedar Ready Seal as for my regulars, telling them 'i will get to you in a month or so,' won't cut it. i have to find a way to get them taken care of or not do this project. that is how strong i feel about them. i will have between 5-8 people to commit to it. i am purchasing a fourth machine this year also, so i feel like i have adequate resources. i envision it taking about a month and a half. i am not sure if they are ok with it yet. i plan on having a meeting with the person that called for the bid. or better yet, meet with the board. i like the idea about an upfront amount, i just worry about it shying them away from me. 'will he take the money and run?' type of thing. even though i would have been a couple of years ago, i am no longer intimidated by this type of work. i am actually excited about it! i pursued this type of work over the winter (thanks to jeff, the condo king) and this is my first big bid for the year. thank you for the help...keep it coming!

sorry i just now saw this. i would be happy to show you around for a day or so. we too are in nashville, but wouldn't mind you coming with me or one of my crews. call me on my mobile if you are interested. 615.416.5582

what would a press like that cost? and the new fittings? i would love to have one, but i am sure it is costly. as of now, we will fix a hose twice before tossing and replacing. i have seen the 'in the field' repair kits also. anyone using these? we do 80% or more residential work, but go through two to three hoses per machine a year. seems above average per the comments here, but we baby them as much as can be babied.

we have a minimum of $150 for any job. so it is usually $150 for that side, or $225 for the whole house. (pending those are the real numbers) or i will take the amount for that side and add $100 for trip and time. more often then not, we get the entire job. i believe most people think washing a house involves ladders, brushes, etc... which translates into a lot of labor which equalls a lot of $$$. they think one side will cost a couple of hundred dollars plus, so when they hear the actual price they are pleased. i have learned not to get aggravated with anyone because they typically just don't know or are trying to save money. it's the ones that hire us and tell us what to do and how to do our job that gripe me!

....and yes, i vote.

although i hate to enter political or religious conversations, here we go... on the contrary, i believe the democratic party is so smug about Bush and his two terms, that they think they can put anyone into office. (just look at the candidates) all of this without addressing american's biggest concerns. they are running against Bush and the Republicans instead of running with their own (and America's) ideas to make a real, positive change in office. i am not dumb enough to think that it will be an easy race, but i think democrates are kidding themselves with the 'leaders' they have put out to run. republicans will need a little 'luck' with the image that Bush has put out (with the added help of the liberal media), but it WILL NOT be a landslide by any means.

again, to make it easier for my guys, i usually just have them use the same concentration for any application. my guys cost me ~$20-$25 hour, the bottle of product doesn't. if they are goofing around for a half hour trying to figure out a better mixture so they don't have to use as much product, they are costing me more than just using more product. now, if i was doing it, or you are doing it yourself, then the bottle has directions that apply to each application. or, you could experiment in the field. hope that helps.

we were fortunate enough to test the new stripper/cleaners that sunbrite came out with last year. we liked them all, but pretty much just use the 'rip it' product. it strips everything really well, including acrylics. it is probably overkill on some projects, but it is just easier to have one product on hand instead of three for different scenarios. make sure you are using the 'wood britener' (their spelling, not mine) after stripping/cleaning. you probably already know, you just didn't mention it.

i have a deck to do a proposal on and the customer says the wood is 'palupa.' one, i don't know if i am spelling it right because i can't google it, and two if it is a type of wood, what is it? it appears very dense, like ipe, and i am not sure i have to know what it is to work with it. but, if it is a super dense wood like ipe, i would like to be upfront with the customer on longevity of stains on the surfaces. thanks in advance,

could you be more specific? my understanding is ipe technically does not need 'treating' as nothing will penetrate the surface. but some customers prefer cleaning and tinting. do you do it yearly? do you try to talk them into a yearly cleaning instead? do you charge the same as a normal strip and stain? some more information would be appreciated. thanks,

how do you maintain them?

we won a bid on a new 4 story condominium complex. we were to clean all the breezeways of drywall mud, paint, etc... well...we started on the fourth floor and ten minutes in water was leaking down the wall of the third floor. now, we covered our 'a$$' by having a signed agreement on this, and the contractor is completely cool considering his tenant tore him a new one. anyways, i have been racking my brain for a month and today thought about soda or sand blasting. would this work for this application? i have never used blasting of any type. so, if it would work, where would i get the equipment? thanks, aaron sullivan

we use a product called guttercare. we are very, very happy with it. we have installed a few that we check on every year. a few are going on three years and are still in great shape. it is a GREAT product! email me or check out there website GutterCare - Worry Free Gutter System

we are currently working on a tennis club property restoring two large decks. the manager, today, added the surrouding aggregate as well. we have ran into a stain that runs the length of a section and it appears to be from rain/irrigation runoff. it is green, gritty and pretty thick. hot water won't get it off at all. i am assuming it is fertilizer?! i am not totally sure, but i need to know how to remove it as they want the area sealed as well. thanks in advance, aaron sulllivan alpine pressure washing nashville, tn

no pics as of yet, but someone must know what i am talking about. COME ON, HELP ME!!!!!!!! PLEASE!

anyone???

ok, you aren't going to hurt my feelings here, but i want to know what ya'll would have charged for this job. i got hungup on when i gave her the prices for this project. i feel like they are very fair prices, but you never know your customer. anyways, here is what it was... a deck, one half story off the ground, easy access all the way around...1800 sq ft of floor and 270 linear feet of your typical railing. a house, one story on two sides (138 linear feet) and one and a half on the other two (62 linear feet). overall on this project is about 1820 square feet. i bid the following... deck - clean, strip and stain with ready seal - $2565 house - clean, strip and stain with ready seal - $3640 let me know what ya'll think. thanks, aaron

i did the estimate in person. gave her the proposal over the phone. i know, it should have been in person, but it took two weeks to get it going and like i said previously, she was the mother of a great contractor we do business for. oh well!