Scott Stone

Hijack... You are banished to the Hood rat forum.

Stop making generalizations and labels. :D

There are really very few people that label themselves. Usually people label others. The reason I used the labels I did was because it gives a general idea on perspective. I am someone that is very reflective on what I am doing, and constantly analyzing and reanalyzing my core beliefs, and trying to figure out how it is going to effect not only me, but my children, and grandchildren as well. I don't want missteps now to haunt my family for generations. I already see how things that were done when I was a kid have effected me, and some of them are not good. For instance Social Security started out as 1% in a trust fund. Now it is close to 15% and is put in the general fund, because President Johnson decided the money was needed to finance some projects. For what it is worth, when the Social Security laws were passed, the Roosevelt administration and Congress swore up and down that it would never be raised. Oops...

Or Nancy Pelosi...

That is an interesting call. There are a couple of scenarios. You could continue doing what you have been doing. Obviously, this is not especially good for you. I am of the mentality, I will just do it myself, and pay the price physically. I am not certain that you want to go there. If you are in the position to do it, I would raise my rates and go for the high end clientele, and just refer the jobs that don't pay to someone that you trust. You could always use the trusty line of "That is not in my service area" They don't need to know that your service area involves properties that will make bank every time you step on it. Since this is really a part time gig for you, I would think that this would be the most attractive option. BUT... DO not become so elitist that you think that everyone else is subpar. Define your niche and work it. You might even be happier hitting the small jobs than you would be doing the big jobs, because you don't like to be somewhere for more than a day.

IN all honesty, I think that the forum is more cohesive now than ever. Sure, we all have differing opinions on a lot of things. Sometimes, it even gets into heated discussions, but you really cannot grow and appreciate a person until you know how they feel about a subject. Just my opinion. One of my best friends I have ever had is the State president of the AFL-CIO and is about as far left leaning as a person could be, quite the opposite of me, but we understand each other, and why we each have our positions. It is really a curiosity to many.

I feel your pain on all levels. Especially the wedding ring one. I don't think my ring has been off my hand for nearly 20 years. My wife lost hers for ten years though, until I broke down and bought her a new ring. As for subs, yes, that is the way they are.

:D I thought you would like that... And I don't do religion threads, because you are all wrong, anyways.

Renews your confidence, doesn't it? Usually the best way to overcome a bully is to remain calm and not show your fear. This guy sounds like he was a bully that never grew up, at least emotionally.

Well, at least you finally admitted it.

Jeff, I cannot speak for Ron, and make no presumption. In fact, I am one of the ones that can tell Ron he is being an idiot, and there are times he is an idiot, and still get along with him at the end of the day. What is more amazing, is that so many are scared to death of the Ron Train, and yet, I manage to get along and talk with him, and he is in my market, and really, not that far from my area. In fact, I have guys that pass by his house and his office on a daily basis, and I am certain that he has guys pass just as close to my house. In my opinion, with the size of this industry, I am certain that there is more than enough room for two organizations. The problem with the *****, as contrived by the transition team, and Carlos is that so many things were promised, and so seldom delivered. I can give you a couple of examples. 1. Health insurance. Carlos touted it like it was a done deal. There only needed to be two contractors in a particular state that wanted health insurance, and it was a done deal. There was going to be a rep at the convention, and on and on and on. So, the way I see it now, there was no health insurance, and I am beginning to wonder if there ever was. He may have made a couple of preliminary calls, but nothing worked out. 2. Openness, remember that one? Carlos wanted to make sure that the ***** was absolutely going to be open. So, if it was so open, how did Carlos manage to not pay a lot of the bills for the convention, and to top it all, keep it secret. I am kind of wondering who paid the expenses of Carlos. I really don't care, because it wasn't my money, but I am certain that there are people that had a financial interest in the success of the Org that could probably ask the same question. 3. Environmental stance. Remember that call? It was when I was on the transtion team, and everyone was all over me about keeping the standards to a minimum. They were worried I was going to roll over, when I just wanted to work with the cities, particularly Charlotte, to make it workable for the contractor. I wasn't at that meeting, but I am pretty sure you were, tell me, were the rumors true that I heard? Did Carlos use that meeting to only promote the *****, and that he totally rolled over and wanted contractors to adopt every one of the super stringent guidelines for the Charlotte area? 4. How about the Finance committee? Ken was in charge, or was he? Then Michael, with his creative financing tips for a business or org. We wont go into his past, because that horse has been beat to death. Let's just agree that it was less than an intellectually honest decision to put him on the finance committee. Now we find out that, supposedly, they did not even know that they were on the finance committee? For you information, that is a flat out lie. Untruth, patent deception. Carlos and I talked about it at length, and he promised me multiple times that they did not have control of the checkbook, that he did, and that he did not expect either one of them to last on the transition team past december 2009. Well guess what... 5. The line that I was asked to leave the transition team. I have heard from someone I consider VERY reliable that he has heard it from at least four different people, you being one of them. You and I know that is an outright lie. When I resigned Carlos was both stunned and in tears. He knew the value of my name, which I find at the least humorous, and having me be on the transtion team. That is why he kept my assignments to a minimum. He did not want me to get over burdened and leave. Well, that did not work out so well. I left, and now the story is that I refused to do anything, and that I was culling information for Ron. I have a little tidbit for you, Ron was usually telling me what was going to happen before it did. Maybe he was pulling strings, or the person, or people pulling the strings, were telling Ron. Do you understand how silly I felt listening to Carlos go on his conference call dissertations, and hearing everything that I had heard Ron tell me a day or two previous? It was nuts. Sure I had no comments. I don't comment on anything, usually, unless I feel it is going to have an effect. That is five quick points. Do you want me to go deeper what the problems were with the transition team?

Cummins is the manufacturer of the diesel engine Dodge uses. The engine used in the medium duty fords, and in the dodge pickups has a lot of different programming in them.

Tony, you are absolutely right. Licensing does not provide even a small bit of protection. It also does not mean that one person, or another is more qualified to do a particular task. It does offer a source of recourse, since the licensing agency should have names, addresses, etc on file. They even require a bond in Arizona for contractors that, if a customer decides that a project was not completed as expected, and after a protest to the licensing agency, they can use to correct what ever was done poorly. You will note that it is not just one person deciding what is correct or not. That is why I am not opposed to licensing. It galls me that a landscaper can go out and bid $25 a piece to wash down fuel islands, because they have no clue what they are doing, other than spraying water.

You will note that licensing is not a be all, end all point. I know, and you know, that just because a person is licensed does not mean they are competent at what they are licensed for. I can even prove it, go down on the strip and watch the drivers. There are bad contractors, and licensees out there. There are good ones, too. I would be willing to bet that there are a higher percentage of good licensees than there are good unlicensed contractors, or scab (I AM NOT USING THIS IN THE UNION SENSE, I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR UNIONS) contractors. As for the city getting ripped off, I would love to know the whole story, because I would bet that there is more that is not being said about it, to you, or to the papers, mainly because they do check references, and do not pay any money until work is complete.

Industries that have benefited from government licensing: Medical, including Doctors and Nurses Engineering Accounting Construction Teaching Police (Yes, a police officer does need to be certified, and that certification is a license, at least in Arizona.) What the government license does is set a standard of knowledge. They want to make sure that you know basic business principles, and basic operation principles. A license is not a be all end all type of thing. But it does slow down entry into an industry of people that have not actually made an effort to know what can, and cannot be done. Would you want to live in a house, when you did not know anything else about the electrician, that was wired by an unlicensed electrician? I don't think I would. Sure pressure washing is not that technical of an industry. I understand that, but, it is an industry, that many of us make a decent living at, and it is really hard when the playing field is not level because your competition is using a HD pressure washer and shop vac, trying to clean a parking garage. How many times have you heard, "how come you can;t clean it for 2 cents a square foot? The last guy did, too bad he is out of business.

Since when have you paid taxes on your full income?

You realize Ron that I have totally dissected that piece you loaned me to reverse engineer it? You are also never getting the original back. I am amazed at how the "Hot" water cleans, without a heater, like we are used to.

I am with Russ. The seals are shot. Really, they are a wear item. Just plan on it, they are not that hard to do, unless you are Gene...

The past couple of months have been huge. April appears to be lighter, but that could change. May and June are both slammed. My guys are happy. I have started turning them loose more on their own, and doing what I do best. I love sleep.

I don't see a problem with that deck...Of course, I have never seen a deck in Arizona, so that could be part of the problem.

A republican congress.

Finally, a well earned semi retirement. I am having trouble keeping up with the name, though. Not that it matters, whatever the name, the boys in Ft. Worth will be my first call for equipment. Just don't change the phone number. I have it memorized.

I have had employees that my wife begged me to find a reason to get rid of, I always ride it out, unless they are just irreparably stupid. Usually the ones that think at the start they are going to be able to tell me what to do turn out to be some of the best employees. I figure it is because I am consistent and predictable, and make their job easier. What have I fired employees for? How about taking a nap, at his home, four hours every night on an eight hour shift? Maybe trying to wash a stadium starting at the bottom, and moving up? How about trying to save money, by not using hot water to clean a parking garage? Tacoing a trailer rim, because he was texting while driving? How about getting lippy, because I got mad because he left mud 6 inches deep on a dump truck, and considered it clean? Stupid employee tricks drive me nuts.

No Jim, it had nothing to do with what you wrote in the article. It had to do with your posts that you got banned. By the way, I did not ban you. Someone else did. In fact, I wanted to make sure it was not personal, so I stayed out of it. That is the beauty of having other people that you can let handle things. As for Russ' past, there are a lot of people in this industry that have a past. You might be really, really surprised who they are. I challenge you to show me one time when I have been inconsistent or lied. You can't because I have not.