jnoden

Last winter I had limited funds for marketing so I opened up the yellow pages and called some wed site designers to get an idea of the cost and see if they were interested in exchange of services. Struck up a deal and had a great web site up and running by spring time in return for cleaning and sealing a deck.

Man that looks good. What do you do with the railings?

This is all good to hear. As a sole proprietor everything has been simple. No WC needed, taxes are simple and I am at every job site making sure it is done right. I am in the same boat as you Anthony, I am turning myself in to a helper and letting my guy do most of the laboring. I will probably just help stain larger deck jobs. If everything is working out I will try to hire a PT helper and next season have another rig. I am thinking that three people can operate two rigs. One person is a floater and will probably just be assisting in staining and larger jobs. Having two rigs out there FT must be sweet.

Dan, Your right and I often wondered that as well. My suppier told me that it is actually 15% but who really knows. If I had a tester I would test it when I bough it and later if needed. Sometimes it seems like my mix is too strong and other times too weak. I know it has to do with the potency of the Chlorine. I was googling for a short time and found nothing except something that tests pools. I might look in to it a little more to see if it is feasible.

V-Seal makes a sealer called Luster Seal WB. As the names applies it leaves a nice luster on pavers (I used it for stamped concrete) and it lasts a very long time according to the tech I spoke with.

lol....thats pretty funny. I was hoping there would be a way to gauge its strength. For example if something calls for a gallon of bleach than how much is that of my 3 month old 12%. I will definately use the finger burning technique though. Maybe with time I will be able to tell its potency by how much it burns my skin. Im thinking that my 15 gallons will be worthless by next spring.

I hear what you are saying and agree with you whole heartedly. We all run our businesses a little differently with different results. I guess I couldnt say for sure that I would have taken the job unless I was in that position. I dont want to come off like I would sacrafice a good plubice image to make money. I was just saying that I probably would have been willing to accept the job with certain stipulations. I dont know where you are from but I think that if you can make a deck look good for the summer and allow it to turn gray over the winter and restore it again in the spring, you are still providing a quality service if that is what the customer is looking for and they are willing to pay for it. It isnt any more money out of the individual deck owners pocket and they see you there every spring to make their deck look like new again.

I wish I would get that offer for 11k to put clear on decks, it is easier to apply and maintain than tinted products. If after explaining the importance of tint in a wood sealer and the fact that it would turn gray they still wanted th clear, I would have signed them up for annual maintenance. I would have typed up a specific contract with a disclaimer about the wood turning gray and other stipulations. I have two customers who's decks I wash and seal with a clear every year. The clear I use has the very slightest of a tint to it though.

Another thing to look at is how much did you try to sell your service? There seems to be a fine line between giving the info that the customer needs and over selling your service. If you charge a considerable amount more than the previous bidder and you spent a good amount of time explaining your service and what you are going to do, you risk raising the customers expectations a little to high. Not that you delivered less than you promised but as you were talking their mental pic of their deck evolved in to a flawless piece of fine furniture. I try to give them what I call the mandatory basics (which covers a considerable amount) then ask what questions they have and spend more time on that. Ecspecially for jobs that are less then $500 where I would spend too much time talking during the estimate. I now count the time that I leave my house until I return for each estimate and add all these together with laboring time, equipment servicing time etc for total hrs at the end of the season. I am trying to find out what my real hourly wage is. I susspect it to be way less than I had originally thought.

Its not a big time saver Ken but I have used the sprayer for the floor. You need to bend over but you can spray an entire width of a board if you have the right setting. You need to make sure that the tube from the gun in to the can is facing forward. It is the best way to get between the boards without brushing. I lay it on fairly heavy then have my guy follow with a 4inch thick nap roller on a pole. works great.

I stripped a wood siding home last season that had several coats of stain on it. the thing I learned though was I should have charged twice the amount because I had to go over much of it twice and there was a considerable amount of sanding involved. Did you already deliver them an estimate? You can give me a call if you need help with something. I live in Marietta. (717) 808-6645.

I agree with you Jon and it is too bad that many employers do not think like you. I hear what you are saying about pre-employment screening and I agree with you but that is not quite what i was trying to get at. Usually raising the requirements or pre employment expectations for a labor job will only make the turnover rate worst. Raising the salaries will almost always make it better. I will also always try to hire the best canidate for the job but I bet you the person who has the diploma, great work history etc will not be back next year powerwashing, packing or doing the janitorial work. I have worked in factories for years and the owners do not even know the names of their employees let alone anything personal about them. They care about making profit not wether or not you as an employee can support your family. Its not just my experience either. It is the corporate mentality. These people account for over half the money made in this country. they generally drive the republican party (more so than not) and also have the money to make things happen politically to work in their favor.

Larry, Good information. I never saw the stats on this but it defiantely makes sense. Get people off their ass and working and the country is going to be a better place. Welfare is needed but lets motivate people to work by making it worth it. Jobs that pay more than $9.00hr around here (Lancaster, PA) have an extensive screening process. You must have a very good work history, usually you need work related experience, HS diploma, no criminal background, a drivers license, it usually helps if you are white etc. Im not saying that employers need to change their screening process but I know that many companies ask for too much to pay so little. Jon, I agree with what you are saying about no matter how much you raise min wage they will never afford a house. Thats acceptable. I think they should be able to afford rent, food, utilities, childrens needs etc. It is not just part timers and teenagers running the low pay jobs. Who works these jobs while kids are at school? Walmart, fast food, gas stations, packing Plants, restaurants, Lube shops etc etc. There are the jobs that only pay a little more than min wage but not enough (around$8/hr): landscaping, factories, warehouses etc. The reason that min wage is not raised is because the profit margin for those who make millions will be less. If i were to hire two FT guys for my business I would give them the opportunity to earn $14-$15/ hr gross by the middle of the season and I might just make a little bit less. I would not raise my prices but I would find a way to work more efficiently. The owners of corps that hire hundreds or thousands will make subsantially less and this is why min wage has not yet been raised.

QUOTE; And if you think you are worth $7 per hour but aren't being paid that amount, then you aren't worth it. There is always someone who will come along and do your same work. Perhaps you are overqualified for the position you're at and should move along. I'm all for a free and open market where the individual makes himself or herself. I'm not for rich or poor, big or small.... I"m for the individual, and I believe that everyone is where they are because they allow themselves to be there. Whatever political party you think that makes me, then put me there. That was the founding attitude of our country and things were going just fine until "they" started to destroy the individual and lump folks into classes. I guess we can just agree to disagree. People would rather live on our welfare system and support their illegimate children than work for minimum wage or even $7/hr. Why would someone want to pay $5/hr for daycare to work for $7/hr? Maybe if they also didnt need to buy the children food, pay for housing and utilities etc. People that run our country have money and that is why your opinions will stay popular. Your analogy of allowance is poor. If your child was using the money to make a living than it would be more acurate and yes I would give them a raise so that they can survive. So would you. I dont even know you Ryan but I know you were born in to more opportunities than many others. I being raised in a trailer with an alcohloic mom dropped out of high school as a druggy only to return and graduate at 20, attend community college to prove myself enough to attend Penn State, obtain a B.S degree and work as a FT probation officer senior while running a very succesful business that I knew nothing about before starting it up. Yes it happens and I think I could easily say that If I can rise above and do it than everyone has the same opportunity. I will not say that though. I know otherwise. You never will.

Its quite a cliche. Just because i am democrat does not mean I want to give handouts to people who can work but do not want to work. I Like how republicans simplify everything. I think that its much more than what you are thinking. Give my kids a 50% raise!? Where did this come from? It has nothing to do with raising minimum wage a little. I am lucky that I can afford to give my son an allowance when he gets older. He will have many more opportuntiies than other kids. Rasing minimum wage does not effect just the recipient but can effect the entire family. Thats ok though. They will get by with what they have. Of course crime and delinquency among other things statistically rises as the lower soci-economic class is afforded less. The more separation there is between economic classes in this country the more problems we will face. Its a fact.

Im not sure what you mean by mandatory raises for employees. I understand what you are saying about earning raises. It is completely different than raising min wage. The vast majority of felons and exfelons are not vilolent or sexual offenders and are not what Im talking about. Im not trying to protect rapists and pedophiles. (ofcourse though that is how democrats are viewed). Improve job skills? there isnt room for every great bagger to become a manager of a store. Come on, everyone knows someone who started from nothing and become something great. Do you know anyone who cant even get a job as a bagger but could be great if given the chance? Work with me for one week and you would be whistling a different tune. We live cushioned lives. I dont apply pitty. On the surface it is exactly how you, Rush Limbaugh, and my inlaws see things. That is what you know as reality. I just see things a little differently. Remember only 80 years ago we had slavery. It was a normal view point at the time. Its difficult to understand anything that you are not a part of. In the future we will look back on this time as being overly conservative and ignorant. No disrespect meant to anyone who is republican.

I never liked labels and while i was young I tried to be neither Democratic or Republican. As I grew older though I realized that I was Democratic like it or not. I am for the working man. I have also worked in the social services field for years and I know that social programs are needed. Republicans complain about welfare, have a get tough on crime attitude and really think that everyone has the same opportunities to suceed in life. My inlaws who I love dearly are conservative republicans. I try to stay open minded and they are intelligent people but they only know from their own experiences. They are racist and dont even realize it. They think that a bull dozer should knock down all the houses in the bad part of the city and rebuild nicer homes. They dont understand that the people that live in these ugly homes are the people that work for $8hr and help to produce everything that we buy as consumers. Thats why there is such thing as a $.99 menu at BK and it is how we can pay so little for the things that we buy at Walmart. "Give felons more time in prison". Great Idea, than when they do get out they have learned in prison how to be a better criminal, have no place to live and no job skills. That is why the national recidivism rate is already over 70%. Prison doesnt work. I know what works but republicans would rather spend $25k a year for each inmate than look in to a more proactive indirect approach. "Support Our Troops". Who was the genious republican that invented this bumper sticker. I support our troops 100%. I do not support the cause. We are spending billions to create more terrorists. period. "Stem Cell research is amoral". Your religious beliefs are not a good reason to stop funding something that WILL BE THE BIGGEST MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH EVER. Researchers need a new line of cells to work with. The outcome several years from now will be more than anyone could have ever imagined. Including myself. Pleas raise minimum wage. Nobody can afford to work for $5.25per hour. You cant even live off $7/hr. When you raise it it will in effect raise the salaries of many jobs that curretnly pay $8-$10 hr. The wealthy will make a little less but our country will flourish. People will want to get off welfare and unemployment. "Bush is a genius". Thats right, nobody has ever said that.

That spray gun works fantastic for spraying wtw on verticals. For that price I might need to get another one here soon. There is much less over spray and with WTW being so thick and sticky it sprays well and cleans up a lot easier than than my deckster. I washed and sealed a 16x12 deck with wtw in 4.5 hrs yesterday right before a seroius storm came through.

Oh and I need to say that the customers were ecstatic about how their WTW deck came out. Even I was like wow. They had their neighbors over admiring it with them when I was leaving.

I had the same dilema last year when my wife was preagnant. We stayed at historic Saint Michals in MD. It is an old bay town with lots of little shops (my wife likes that). The coolest part about it though was they had a pregnancey package at the B&B we stayed at. It included a 1 hr massage for both of us. Hers was tailored for preagnant women. We had a jucuzzi in our room and aroma thereapy and movies for parents that are expecting, There was a neat horse and carrige ride through the town and the driver explained the history of it and told interesting stories along the way. Good Dining. We rented bicycles. My wife still talks about how enjoyable it was for her. Makes up for the PIA I was for the rest of her preagnancy. May be a little far for you but maybe they have something similar to this closer to you. Here is the link. It is called the bundle of joy package. http://www.fivegables.com/summer_specials.htm

Shane, do you use those pads on the railing also? I might need to give them a try. Curreently I use a 4in 3/4in nap roller for the spindles and floor when i cant spray.

I would really look forward to doing a job like that. Beautiful. Got to love an easy railing like that. I would just spray and wipe off the Iron spindles as I go. I sometimes struggle estimating multiple jobs like that at a residence because you want to discount it a little for the size of the job yet you want to make a good hourly rate. I would probably be around 3k. $2950.00 looks better. 2 days work with my helper.

I tried doing a search for IPE and I think that the word is too small and yields no results. This has happended on several ocassions with other searches in the past with short words. Is there a way to make short words searchable? I also wanted to ask your opinion or anyone who has sealed IPE. I know that it is very hard and does not absorb stain well and in return may need to be sealed more often than other woods. I am going to recommend either Aussie Timber Oil or WTW. I have used wtw several times but not the timber oil and this would be my first time wrking with IPE. Is it ok to recommend either of these sealers? Thanks Again!

I got the IPE job and they want to go with WTW. This is a new house and the builders recently put down Wolmans EHT. It looks like crap. It was never powerwashed and you can see brush strokes and uneven appearence all over the place. I will be using F18 MAX. Has anyone stripped this stuff before? I have a feeling that it is going to be tough to strip.

I agree with you Dan. I charge seperate for the decking (includes skirting and post) and the railing. I also seperate the cost for stripping vs sealing. Steps are an extra charge and 2nd story decks have a surcharge between $40 and $80. Sealer is figured seperately depending on what the customer wants. Everybody seems to figure their estimates differently. When contractors post on this thread that they charge so much per sq ft, is that the flooring sq ft just added to the sq ft of the railing (height times length) and does that include the sealer?