Scott Stone

I went on Thursday. Took all the kids, a couple of neighbors and I think that there was a homeless guy in there somewhere... OH wait, that was me meeting up with them after working. It was pretty good, definitely a bit different flavor and obviously a different director. All in all, pretty good, though,

Bill Gates was a billionaire, but he also profited off of the experience of others. If you remember he convinced some poor sap to sell him al the rights for the DOS operating system, so that he could resell licenses for it to IBM. Ollie is trying to profit off the ideas of others. Ollie, I have been in this business for about 18 years. I have managed to have a modicum of success, and a bit of luck that has propelled me to greater heights. I have found that if you see a successful business, that you do not need to reinvent the wheel. You are far better off duplicating a solid business model. There are some things that can be made cheaper and more efficiently at home. You can easily use a ball valve as a trigger for your wand, but it is not reallly safe, or OSHA approved, yet that is just what one of the largest contractors uses with their hundreds of crews. I would not do it, because I value the health and life of my employees more than that. And I certainly value my life more than that. Now, for what it is worth a cheap X-Jet can be made. You just need a T two nozzles and a hose barb. Put one of the nozzles on the inside of the T, so that when water blows through it creates a low pressure area in the center of the t and then put the other nozzle facing the same direction on the other side of the T. Put the hose barb on the side and you have an x-jet. The effectiveness will probably not be as high as the real deal, and quite honestly, by the time you make it and buy the parts, etc, you will probably have more time and money in it than it would have cost to buy it in the first place. Of course that is just my rookie opinion.

Yeah, that was for Ron. His son was occupied with his girlfriend one time and ran his old truck into a telephone pole. OOPS!!!

Just don't let your son drive it...

Yes it was my mechanics truck. I still wish I had it... and the contract it was for.

Oh shoot, I was thinking that it was just a dream. Never mind. They are very nice trucks. I had an f-550 for a while, and it seemed to get me about 10-12 MPG around town pulling a trailer. My guys loved it. I would have kept it except it was a purpose built truck and the accoutn I bought it for lied to me, and dried up. It will turn far tighter than your f-250.

So Alan, do you enjoy being a troll??? Stick with the F-250. They are intimidating enough for most people.

I take channel locks and run them around the male shoulder. It works great, except it wears out the teeth on the channel locks.

What Alan said. That is by far the best way to do it. I also lay my hose out in a serpentine way in about 15 to 20 foot sections, so that I am only pulling a small section, instead of all the hose.

Financially, it is smarter to buy a used vehicle. Personally, I prefer to buy new. I also run the vehicles until they have 180k on them, and run them hard. Then at 180k it is retired, but that is usually only 4 years. Just the way I do things. But then, I also put custom wheels and high end toolboxes in them, and do other things to make the truck what I want it to be.

There is a national company that specializes in renting to businesses. It is called Capps, but I do not think that they are in your area. Sorry,

*sniff* you make me so proud. There is a truck rental company that is set up so that you can use their pickups to tow a trailer. Most rental companies frown on towing.

I don't care what you say, even for the desert, that is way ugly.

The Bosun's chairs is illegal in some states. Those guys have a lot of something. I am not sure that it is brains. I have always wondered though, They are wearing hard hats. I wonder if they are effective if you fall 20 stories or so?

I am curious about any of you that are interested in Government contracting. I have a few questions for you 1. How hard are government contracts to acquire? 2. How hard are they to maintain? 3. How do they pay?

Hey, I have had days, and weeks and months like that. Only difference is that my truck is full size, so that there is more room for crap.

You just dont know any better.

100k??? I can't figure out what to do with $100. But I might send my kids to school

Most government purchasing offices have a website where solicitations are posted. You can look them up there for free. You can also check with your local chamber of commerce to see if they have a program for you to receive solicitations. That way is a lot cheaper than $40 a month. I think I pay about $10.

First of all, I do mostly cities, counties, and state work. I have not made a run at the Fed's, yet. I have bid on a couple of federal projects, but have not yet been successful. The only one that requires a D&B number is, usually, the Fed's. As for being low bid, it is...sort of. If you want to do a lot of personal sales to get that first contract, that is not the way that it works.

I guess I need to help this out a little bit. I do a lot of government contracting. I am attempting to help anyone that wants to learn how to go through the bid process to acquire work.

It all depends. How many, how long do you think that they will take, and how much do you want to make? I have gotten anywhere from $20 to $50 for the exact same trucks, just depneds on how many there are. I know longer will wash for $20, but the $50 is still out there.

I started out detailing. It is not my main focus anymore, just an interesting sideline. Though you might be able to do some pressure washign with the machine you described, in all reality, it will probably give up the ghost shortly. I would do my best to save my money, and buy a nice hotwater unit. I am partial to the Delco units, but others like the Hydroteks and Landas. Then you will get to see how broad your horizons can be.

How come I covet the cleanliness of this van??? And how everyting is so well thought out??? Dang, time to go beat myself with a wet noodle.

This is what you need. GEMTOP Manufacturing - Steel Tough Truck Tops It is room enough to put your stuff, you can get it up to 24 inches above the cab, and it keeps all the mean and nastys out of the cab, like chemicals and such. The topper will run you about $1500 plus a pickup. If you want to conserve a little money, then you could buy a good used pickup, and it would still fall under the HOA Nazi guidelines.