Celeste

Ditto to what Lance said....no respect, no deals. We're all in business here to make a living doing what WE chose to do. Personally I never listed "sucking up" in our sales protocol. We are courteous, we are polite, well mannered, professional, etc...but butt kissers, nope, not a chance! Celeste

Nice tip Paul :)

Ace Cleaning in Washington, NC might be a good place for you - www.pitchwitch.com Glenn has always been good to us :) and he's just right around the corner from you! Celeste

Hi Vashti :) We do decorative resurfacing which can correct a myriad of "little accidents" that happen on driveways. If you simply want the driveway to look like it did prior to the cream coat being removed, your least expensive route may be to contact your local concrete company. If you want to go all out and make it strikingly beautiful, take a look at www.puretexture.com. There are installers all over and the office should be able to refer someone in your area. We travel, but it's not cheap :) Celeste

While we now exclusively downstream house, for throwing acid on new construction bricks - the x-jet is still the absolute shiznit! Jeff, Roger will be down next week again with both rigs - you guys should hook up so you can see how the whole thing works. Give you a good idea if you want to add/change/disregard, whatever :) I'm sure combined the two of you could see how many feet a 5.6 would downstream effectively (don't know if we keep 300 ft + readily available!) Celeste OH By the way - nice nice job Barry!

There are also companies that have leasing companies lined up for financing their rigs. Steve Rowlett immediately comes to mind, not sure about Don Phelps, Pressure Tek, or ACR. All have good rigs. Celeste

Why don't you just hire the guy and pay him $45 while you collect the rest of your charge? Celeste

Cabots & Sikkens SRD can also be purchased at better paint stores :) Celeste

That's somewhat of a large project for your first one....might want to bring in some experienced help! Folks with decks that big have paid WAAAAYYY more than $12K to have it built, most of our customers don't even blink at $2.00 a sq ft. Celeste

PVC PVC PVC - There are also face shields that work quite well. See www.teksupply.com for inexpensive pvc pants, jackets & bib overalls. We got our face shields at Lowe's. Celeste

Nice job Paul! Your stuff is quite beautiful and far from boring! (Good job on pic posting as well!) Celeste

We do have our share of immigrants here in NC - more legal than not, more from South America than Mexico. A lot of the construction companies are taking the approach that "If you don't show up for work on Monday, you needn't show up on Tuesday". There are plenty of unemployed folks around here that would be glad to take those jobs that these silly people are boycotting about. I also believe that all illegals should be deported. America being a melting pot is all well and good, so long as there is some sort of control over the spices being added :) Celeste

Found Power Wash of VA in Minnesota :) Celeste

Realizing that a screened porch doesn't get the same abuse as one with the exposure of a deck......Roger checked on our Ipe porch floor yesterday that was stained last October - looked as good yesterday as it did when we finished it so WTW holds beautifully thus far for 7 months on Ipe. The ipe tiles I did for the Home & Garden Show were wet when we applied WTW to them - couple of them are going to hang out in our yard with full sun to see how that goes :) Celeste

Here is some of Paul's beautiful work!

Tomato stakes are great for keeping plastic above the plants little tops, particularly if they are not strong like shrubbery. If the plantings are low, the stakes even keep the plastic high enough for them to breathe :) Celeste

Paul, if you want to send them to me, I'll resize and post them for you :) Celeste

How about Jordan? Oh, and as far as toys - buy them for Josh - she won't notice anything but the boxes for 1st first year or so :) Celeste

Largo MiTM Celeste

Hey Rick - Chin up Bubba - there's no accounting for other peoples tastes. His composite will need your attention before it's over with anyway :) Celeste

Way to go! Celeste

Hey guys - could everyone please put your signatures on per bbs instructions - real names somewhere too please :) See sticky's for signature rules! Thanks! Celeste

Woo Hoo - another one from NC! Welcome aboard - feel free to give us a shout anytime! Celeste

karlosdaze.....please review the rules of the bbs for instructions on how to construct your signature. Thanks, Celeste

I'll pipe in here from the wife's perspective - Roger (and I) started part-time as he was working a 2nd shift job with GE (almost 15 years) - good money, good benefits. 6 months in part-time, he walked away. Just quit - I nearly had a heart attack! 3 kids at home, 1 in college and 2 mortgages - I really wondered if we were going to be okay. I was working on a commission only job so no steady money there either. I will not say we didn't struggle somewhat, particularly through winter months, but if you position yourself with your marketing and do good work, when you're depositing those checks (actually let her do those deposits), she'll develop a pride that will turn into a strong support system. Try to get her to participate - design cards/flyers, write letters, do research - that was huge for me in getting me on board. Does your wife work? If not, "hire" her to do your bookkeeping, scheduling, take her on estimates. She's your partner in marriage, make her a partner in your business. There are quite a few husband/wife teams out there - Beth & Rod, me and Roger, Pam & Cujo to name a few. People like to see that also - gives them a warm fuzzy feeling during estimates :) My numbers are posted below if she ever needs or wants to call :) Celeste