mdspowerwashing

I'm currently 22, graduated from High school in 2002. Worked for an outdoor recreation place(atv's,snowmobiles,motorcylces,trailers) for 4 past years. Quit that job this september to go full time into pressure washing. I had been part-time pressure washing since last summer. My boss at my previous job was very easy going, and I was able to call the shots when I came in, when I would work, so it was fairly easy at first to keep everything going. What pushed me over the edge, to go full time into powerwashing was obtaining a $40,000 contract to was 140 townhomes and 165 condominiums, along with all the other pressure washing jobs. I havn't looked back since. I've been doing very well my first year full time. I have to thank this board, and the members who have helped me with my questions, and the countless messages I read to help me get here. Currently, with the season pretty much over, I am taking a real estate license school. I should have my real estate salesperson license by the week of Christmas if everything goes as planned. I will still be powerwashing, but I am going to become a realtor. Some other jobs I have had are: worked with grandfather doing masonry work for 2 years, worked at ski resort for 1 season, and worked at school bus trasportation company for a summer season. Not a job really, but I do buy and sell atv's,snowmobiles,dirt bikes, travel trailer to make extra income. I will find things that people are selling cheap, or I can obtain cheap, then fix if needed, and resell for more money. Seems to work good when things are slow.

If you get a "big" job that is 65 miles away or more, and requires more than week to finish, would you drive each day, or stay at a hotel?

Hi, I was just wondering, What is the average amount of miles/minutes/hours you drive to a customer? I know there are some "high profit" jobs we may all go well out of our territory for, but what I'm trying to gather is just what most people drive. I personally started out driving around an hour to get most my jobs. I'm located in the Lehigh Valley(Eastern PA), and was travelling south to my jobs. I guess at that time I was just happy to be getting calls and get jobs. Most those jobs came through Service Magic. It was an inconvienience to give estimates in person with that type of job, although I did get many jobs, just by asking the customer questions to get a feel for the job. I did very well doing that, and yes, I did have some jobs I got to that I was misled the dimentions of a deck. In that case, I just told the customer, they understood, and agreed to my price. Generally, now I will stay with in 25 miles or so(45 min), unless I am slow, in which case I will go about an hour(job must be over $300). I have cut back my lead prefrence through service magic, to fit my needs also. It should be interesting to see what most people are driving to get to there jobs.

Just wondering what the biggest job anyone has done to date. This questions can be taken differently, but basically, the largest job you remember doing. How long did the job take? Good/bad money? How did the job go? Issues(stuff breaking)? I guess the reason I'm asking is because I'm placing a bid on doing 140 townhomes and 166 condos for a Homeowner/condominium assocciation. Total of 306 units. Has anyone here completed a job of this magnitude? I'm giving the property manager my bid on Friday, and I'm confident I will get the job. I've talked to several people about this job, and have recieved very valuable information on avoiding potential problems. I'll keep everyone posted if I do land this job, It will definitly be the largest scale job I'll ever have done! It definitly would be awesome to have in my portfolio too!

James, I believe you are closer to 3 hours away from Philly, and about 1.5 hours away from Walnutport. The job payed just under $1000. The job went well overall, with a few set backs. Ken, I would be more than happy to give a hand. Currently, I have several bids out, and just a couple house washes scheduled in early August. I did a demo/test cleaning at a BMW dealership this evening. I am going out tommorow to meet with someone from a homeowners association. They are looking to have someone wash all the townhouses/condos (304 total). I'm really hoping to lock in this deal. It would keep me busy for a month or two straight! I'll let you know how it goes. It definitly would be a big break for me though. The association has other locations, which I might be able to get if I get this job. I think I'm going to offer a free house wash for them to show my quality of work. Ken, call me or email me when you get more info on the job, I'm very interested, and the drive is not bad for me, I just take the turnpike south for little over an hour.

More Photos. 1. Left Side After 2. Right Side After

More photos. 1. Brightened with Citralic 2. One stained, one not stained 3. Close up

I wrapped up this job Friday. The job was posted in the help wanted/job leads forum from Ken Fenner. The job consisted of power washing 8 small cedar shake roofs atop 8 stone towers. I decided to use wood tux wet, as the job is a little over an hour away from me. This was my first time using wood tux wet, and I have mixed opinions about the product. My first call to order the product was through ESI, I called and could not get a answer of when my order might possibly ship to me, so I decided not to order through ESI. I then called Sunbrite Supply of Georgia, and placed my order online (over $500) and recieved free shipping. Everything I ordered came, except the wood-tux wet. I waited a couple days, figuring ups would bring it in a day or two. After a couple days, I called Sunbrite asking when/where the wood tux I ordered was, and they told me I wasn't getting it, because they were having problems recieving it from ESI. The person at Sunbrite was very nice to me, and explained everything, and went on to refund my money. He told me they are done selling wood tux and any of ESI products. Well anyway, this whole episode just trying to get wood tux delayed the job, and I ended up buying a 5 gal pail through Ken. Thanks Ken for all your help with this job! I washed the roofs using efc-38, then brightened with citralic, then stained with wood tux wet, tinted a little darker. Overall, I think the job went well, took a little longer than expected, got chased away by thunderstorms. Wood tux is definitly a different product to use. I brushed most of the job. Wood tux wet goes on as a mustard color, then changes to the actual color. I am used to applying Ready Seal, so this was totally different. I used aprox 3-4 gallons of stain on this job, and went through 350 gallons of water while pressure washing. Tell me what you think of the results. Again, I have to thank Ken, not only for giving me the job, but for selling me a pail of wood tux from his own inventory, dropping the pail off at the job, and helping me with tinting the stain and any other questions I had. Thanks Ken.

I think the stain is from when the rain hits the clay type of mud/dirt near the house and splashes back at the house. I've been doing a couple stucco homes lately with the same problem. I've tried oxylic acid, with a strong mix with no luck. The only chemical I found to work is a product I buy locally called con-strip. It is a hydrochloric acid mix. It is available through ACR products out of wind gap, pa. His phone number is 610-392-1899. Ask for Tom, and tell him Matt for MDS Power Washing sent you. That is the only product I have used sucessfully, and I have tried other products. I mixed the con-strip(hydrochloric acid) 50/50 with water, and used a pump up sprayer. Let the acid stay on about 1-2 minutes, then rinse off using <800psi. The customers house I did today was overwhelmed with the results. Just make sure you have eye/skin/resparator protection with this product.

Hi, I currently have a full time job and do pressure washing part time. I would really like to do pressure washing full time. I've been using service magic to get most my jobs, and it kinda works. I probably land about 20-30% of the lead I recieve. I know I need to advetise more, too get more jobs. I have a yellow page ad in 2 seperate areas, 1 book is already out(serves maybe 80,000 people) and the other book comes out May 10th or so, and serves maybe 400,000 people or so. I have not recieved one call from the first yellow page book which came out in January. What do you guys suggest I do to generate some jobs? I have enough money to advertise, as I have been doing at least 2-4 jobs a week, but currently, I only have 1 deck job in progress, and 1 house wash left to do. I'm thinking of either advertising in the local newspaper, or sending out a brochure/mailer, or maybe both. I know some things work for some people in some areas, and don't work for other people. I'd just love to be pressure washing every day! Please give me some advise! Thanks in adance.

Hi, I was just looking to see what type of pressure washer you guys use - Portable pressure washer , Trailer mounted rig, Box van/ truck mounted, or other. I have a trailer mounted rig (delco 5.5gpm hot water) with 525 gallon tank, and I also have a portable 13hp 4gpm cold machine. I've been thinking lately, I do mostly house washing and decks, I usually pull my 18 foot pressure washing trailer. For most, if not all my jobs, I could just use the portable 13hp pressure washer. Do most you guys have trailer rigs, or just use a portable pressure washer? I'm actually thinking of just selling the whole trailer mounted rig, and keeping my portable 13hp 4gpm machine, x jet, nozzles, wand, chemicals, ladder and just using it. Its kind of a pain to lug around a 18 foot trailer and back into some tight places, not to mention the extra wear on the truck, and decreased fuel milage. What do you guys think? Sell it or keep it? I know its nice to have 5.5gpm and the hot water, but I just don't seem to do a lot of concrete cleaning where I need the hot water. Thanks, Matt

Hi, I'm just getting into the power washing business. I have a 5gpm, 3000 psi unit. I'm looking at either buying a X-jet or M-jet nozzle. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of each? Will the m-jet still shoot the chemicals up high like the x-jet? Which one do most you guys prefer? Or should I buy both? Thanks, Matt