Celeste
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Posts posted by Celeste
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We have toyed with the idea of wearing uniforms (current dress is Levi's & logo'd t-shirt or golf shirt) but have found them to be a little pricey unless you get ALOT of them.
I found this website in a magazine and thought I would share in case anyone else might be interested.
http://www.usedworkclothing.com/
Celeste
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This is hilarious - we have three companies in North Carolina - Get these names:
"Scooperman"
"Charlotte Poop van Scoop"
"ScooperDude"
Can you actually imagine picking up sh*t all day. Gross.
If you blast dog poop from your back yard with an extension wand and zero degree tip, you might be a Pressure Washer......errrr, or would that be Pooper Washer???
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"I've lowballed myself on an occasion or two when things were slow. Better to make a little somthing to keep the business runing than to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs.Guilty here as well, as I indicated above. Sometimes the end result justifies the decrease, in which case, how can you possibly consider that low-balling? Maybe keeping the business running by doing a discount job (which by the way, I personally have decided to call it when you are a legitimate business person) will advance your company anyway. At that point, it's not "lowballing", it's advertisement.
Celeste
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So where is the "lowballer" threshhold? How much lower than you does a guy doing equal quality work have to be in order to be a lowballer?I think this is where the pain begins....when you have someone who is not full time but is a quality part-timer....they don't have to support their family with the pressure washing therefore, they can do good work, carry their insurance, use the proper stuff, yet do the occasional housewash for $75.00 and be tickled with the check.
So, I guess there is actually a dual definition of low-baller:
1) The useless intentional one (no insurance, splash & dash, for beer bucks kind) {Which incidentally causes business for us "serious" ones 'cause they leave a mess!}
2) The part timer unintentional ones that have no clue that they are eating into the supporting full timers market.....
Well, I guess the third kind may be what this post was actually getting at:
3) The newbie who will take anything to get their name out and gain experience on other's folks' property :)
Celeste
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We've been in business for just over a year now - the bbs were going strong when we started up and we researched on them prior to formally going into business.
I think that Tony has a valid question with "what exactly is a lowballer".
Roger & I have been very fortunate in that we walked into this business with clients. Roger quickly gained a reputation for knowing his business and getting the job done right (whether it be the first time or, as in our deck fiasco last summer - fixing the mfg failure). We always return phone calls, we never miss appointments, we don't overbook ourselves so that we have to decrease the level of service in order to complete everything. BUT - we have reduced our price once or twice to get a job. Not to the point that we lose money but been down there - however, we take into consideration the other "perks" of getting that job, ie, exposure on main roads, word of mouth, long term contracts. Our prices for those jobs may get us lumped in with the "lowballers" because we didn't make $1.65/sq ft for a deck stain.
A lowballer to me is one who does a $50 splash & dash housewash with dish soap & bleach, no insurance and if he sees the customer's number on his phone 2 days later, won't answer the call.
Is a lowballer one who doesn't feel like he can charge top dollar for a deck strip because he personally knows that he may not be up to par with the big boys because he's only done 2 decks in his whole career?
Maybe before we try to determine if everyone has been or needs to be a lowballer, we should clarify exactly what a lowballer is :)
Good question Tony,
Celeste
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That is hilarious!
Celeste
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$2M GCL, $1M for each vehicle, and Worker's comp
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Graham, North Carolina
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Let me add something to my post on sending gift certificates to our contractors - The clientele I am referring to are builders, resi clients and such......it is a BAAAAAAAD idea to send any type of "gratuity" to certain customers/managers, ie, Lowe's, Walmart, large restaurant chain types. I am sure that the veterans of the business know that this can cause you to lose your contract (Thanks Ron) but with so many new guys starting up and this being their first Christmas, I thought it would be worth mentioning. Be very very careful who you send gifts to! And if you're not sure, not sending is probably the erring on the better side of caution.
Celeste
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We use EacoChem products exclusively - their products have a better diversity, better results for us and lower cost as well.
Celeste
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We're sending cards to our favorite clients over the past year - some of our bigger contracts will receive small gift $25.00 certificates to Applebee's (we do monthly sidewalks for them in exchange for these - it works very well, no taxable income for us, no dollars out of their budget, only takes one hour per month) We're doing the DIY cards this year as well - putting a pic of the whole family next to our trucks with a little Happy SOMETHING from the family of Carolina ProWash on the front. We appreciate your business on the inside.
Celeste
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Artificial trees are looking more and more like the real thing these days. We bought ours three years ago - I know I prefer spending the $75+ on stuff for the kids to go UNDER the tree rather than having dried up pine needles under there. (Mind you, growing up I SWORE I would never have a "fake" tree!)
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Celeste,That's a scam that's been around for quite awhile. Ignore it and don't send them anything.
I figured as much so I have not sent anything to them, nor have I reactivated my account (which is a pain in the butt since I am an E-Bay addict). It just rattles my cage that it can appear so legit.
Lawrence, didn't mean to rain on your parade :)
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We have made it a company policy NEVER to send a single person somewhere where even a 4 ft ladder may be used unless there are others on the work site. Our goofy helper was out in the boonies taping plastic - seemed harmless enough to send him alone and - you guessed it - he toppled over, two rungs from the ground. He wasn't really hurt but the point is, there was no one around so it could have been much worse if he was higher on the ladder, etc...
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Lawrence,
I've been deluged with emails from Paypal recently about someone trying to use my account so they need me to resend my credit card info. I'm fairly sure it's not paypal sending them since I've deactivated the account. It may be a viable option to offer, however, I'd check very closely into their policies on what information they get from you, ie, bank account numbers!
Just a thought, albeit not a really good one.
Celeste
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Thank you for that Thanksgiving giggle!!!!
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Well, I guess I missed the post that made reference to "trailer trash"......let me make an observation on that one.......IT'S A SOUTHERN THING......I'm pretty sure that "manufactured housing" up north is vastly different than "trailers" down here. We have trailers here that folks have lived in for the past 40 years....since they pulled them into N.C. with their bondo encrusted picky up trucks. It's sad, but true and still a southern thing.
No offense intended.
Celeste
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Oh that's disgusting......it's been below freezing at night here for a week although it tried to warm up for a few hours today. Everybody has the sniffles already and we haven't even gotten started with the true winter weather yet. (Plus it's dark all the time now). Grrrrrrr or should I say, Brrrrrrr?
Celeste
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Jon and family are in our prayers for a complete and speedy recovery!
Roger & Celeste
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I hate it too. Between it and the cold it kills the possible work hours we have. This is a real pain for new construction flat work. Can't start before 8:00 for us and need a temp of 35 or higher.Start at 8:00 because you don't want to be the one trade on site that is ticking off the neighbors, and 35 degrees because we do the homes the day before the walk through, finish one at 4:30 or 5:00 and the temp drops, the liability for a slip or fall the next morning is too great.
JD
Oh how I know this world!!!!!!
Celeste
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How big of an area are you talking about?
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Lack of water pressure primarily, but we have some pretty pathetic parks here that have limited water supplies as well.
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I hate it!!!! It's dark when you get up to start your work day at daylight and then it's dark before you get home good. It's bad for moods, causes depression and it's colder more. We can't get nearly as much done.....it's kind of rude to be cranking up the machine at 7:00 am in a neighborhood but it's the only way to get everything done in a day anymore. I hate it!!!!
Done ranting :)
Celeste
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Something else to consider in mobile home parks (at least we have to watch out here) - some don't have squat for water & you might have to haul your own. I'm with Ryan though about the parks liking the HO's to keep their spots nice - You could offer a "special" for booking within one particular day or week (or however long you want to be in the area) - will cut down enough on travel time to save you whatever you might cut off the price to get bulk houses.
Celeste
what happened?
in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Posted · Report reply
HOLD UP ON STRIPPING!!!!!!!!!!
We had the same experience this past summer....same product, same color, same nasty chicken pox looking stuff everywhere. We had the Sherwin Williams rep come out....they said the product failed!!!!!!!
Next step, after you pick up replacement stain (yes, the same stuff you used) and some more mildewcide to put down. We washed the deck with (ACK!) bleach, let dwell a few minutes, scrubbed with a brush where it was tough (the woman had let this go on for 3 months before she called us back). We sprayed the mildewcide on and left. After the standard drying time, one coat of stain was applied (to which we added some more mildew additive).
Bottom line is that I think that Deckscapes had some bad mildewcide and there is a failure problem. The Sherwin Williams rep also told us that the deck was going to be prone because of the trees & water behind the house (the reason for all the mildewcide).
Sorry this got so wordy - if you have any questions, give us a call but YOU DON"T NEED TO STRIP THE DECK!
Celeste
See other thread with this issue:
http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2390