Henry B.

IF the guy is moving why does he want to spend the extra money in staining the deck with a high grade agent that the next person may hate. I'd chat with him and suggest he go with something nuetral like cedar tone or even clear. Why put out the extra cash and have the new owner be turned off by it? Most gray sealers are just going to look like a weathered deck. If he wants it grey tell him to use thompsons and it will turn grey in about 2-3 months..lol (that was a joke) I Never use thompsons.

That's cool. maybe you'll get the other complex once the other company finishes trashing it. What's the company in Frederick your helping? I heard there was another one starting up there. I only know of the guy I was helping and Liberty pressure wash. I didn't even know you guys worked in Frederick, I'd thought about working there but I've got too much work to the south of us to send a truck north.

Hey Tony, Have you ever taken a whiff of ABR X100? I think it's got a skunk extract in it..lol

Funny, I feel the same way about stripping stained decks as tony does about stripping painted ones..lol

I helped a local company bid on doing a whole complex in Frederick, MD the job was pretty big and we priced it at .65 cents a foot to clean and seal with olympic deck sealer. I can't remember the total price but I think it was around 17,000 or so. Someone else got the job at around .40 to clean and seal the decks.. LOL I told the guy I was helping that he was better off skipping the job this time, he will most likely get it next time when the other guy trashes the job. I can drop my prices and still make a profit more than most companies while still doing a great job but everyone has their limits and morals.

I posted this somewhere else too but I don't remember where..lol Make sure your tank is full, then dry the tank and use isopopal alchohol on the area first, let it dry then apply the letters. When the tank is filled it expands and that will pull the letters off.

Hey Brian, I've never heard of it either. I'd suggest you contact the manufacturer and ask them for it's basic makeup, an msds sheet and suggestions on where to buy it and how to strip it. Unknown products can be really tricky.

Hi Patrick I doubt you will get the job at that price. most property managers wouldnt want to pay that much. If you like, give me a call and I will try to help you out with the bid. I've only done about 15 jobs like that though and I'm in Maryland so prices could vary.

From the information you have listed about your machine and what you want to do you would be fine with just a pick up truck. You won't need a tank, reels or any of the extra stuff most of us have as you start up your company. Just a good set of ramps and your machine. I would carry a 50' length of garden hose in case they don't have on but that's about it. Just make sure you tell them to turn the water on before you go out to do the job. With a small machine like that you can store it in your garage in the winter as long as its heated so it won't freeze. If you have any other questions feel free to give me a call anytime, I would be happy to help you out and tell you other ways you can make some money.

I've had people ask me to do it but there's always a streak from where the ban boards run and it's usually not in very good shape anyway. Most builders choose the best side of the board to face up when installing the deck. I've had customers accuse me of doing it because the deck looked so clean but that's it.

I bought my rig from Tom Vogel and he set it up to have the unused water dump back into my tank, This way it can run all day and I don't have to worry about overheating the pump. When I'm using both guns I always start out with about 50 gallons of water in my tank so water flow isnt a problem. Actually, I always have at least 50-70 gallons in my tank.

Hey Bryan, I've never just replaced one board though. I usually have a minimum of $75, unless the customer supplies the lumber or something. Going to home depot for $40 just isnt worth it. The place is always full of homeowners and you have to dig through the lumber to find decent stock. I buy lumber from there in emergencies but I'd rather go to 84 lumber or another place that carries lumber.

I'd like to see a chat on hose washing also. As for the gutter cleaning chat, if anyone has questions about gutters let me know. I've been doing them for 15 years.

I just charge $5 per foot for lumber and labor unless it's something exotic. My pricing works out the same way but it's easy to run in your head when quoting a job. I don't like basing anything on hourly rates, most people would flip if they thought about what we charge an hour to do their decks. Put it right out there at 75 an hour to replace a couple boards and they either think your going to drag it out and charge more or your too expensive. I have them mark the boards "they" want replaced with an x and then just measure them out and right up a quick material list. I never decide for the client what boards they should replace I do suggest but its completly up to them.

Everyone has their own methods. Personally, I have one big 8gpm machine that uses two guns at 4gpm each. I use chemicals to do a lot of the work and use my machine for rinsing mostly. 8gpm rinses pretty quick and as Ritz said, the faster the job gets done the less water your going to leave. With two guns running I can clean a deck or anything else in half the time of any company in the area I know of. That means I can get more done in a day and lower my prices if I want. I got the machine new last year and I just made my last payment on it to pay it off. 4 years ahead of the bank loan schedule. When I first got it I had to wonder, how could I spend that much on a power washer? Now, I'm thinking WHY did I wait so long to get it?

Here in Maryland we seem to have a lot of alluminum siding. I get calls to clean it all the time and regardless of its age I tell them all the same thing. I can do a chemical wash on it to remove mildew and bird droppings and other light surface dirt but I will not use pressure on the siding. I tell them if they want to get it really clean with no stains they should replace it with vinyl siding. Alluminum siding can never look brand new again once it's aged. I've had a few people contact me after the chose another company to power wash the siding and they removed the "powder" off the siding and wanted me to fix it. The only thing I could do was explain once again, that's why I told them they could only do a chemical wash on the siding. If your careful you can get the surface dirt and mildew off the house without causing any damage but it takes LOTS of experiance not to trash it.

Double gun rigs are pretty sweet too.

I used to use ABR products quite a bit but the smell killed my wife. What do they make it out of skunks? lol I also had a problem getting it from more than one source. If he was sold out I'd have to wait for another shipment and that's just not an option for me with the weather being the way it is. Now I don't use any product that I can't get from at least three sources, it's not worth the headaches or the possibility of prices rising at the whim of my distributer. That's what happened with my ABR rep. As for applying sealer on wet wood, I'm not intersted either until it's been proven for a few years. Most customers would just think were trying to rush things even if it says it on the can. Why even take the risk of putting that thought of mistrust or rushing a job into their heads? I don't even believe the product will work as well when applied to wet wood so how could I convince my clients? I'll wait a few years and see what happens, I'm in no rush.

Hi Beth, Thanks for posting the project... I hope a lot of companies decide to get involved in this. It can help out a lot of people and also give us an opportunity to get the PWNA name out to the clients we work for. Maybe we will even get a chance to show proper pressure washing techniques to some people during this.

Just imagine, some guy in egypt gets a big box that arrives at the door. Opens up the box and wonders..... What the heck is this thing? LOL Henry

If you have any questions feel free to give me a call on my cell phone, I would be happy to chat with you and give you some free advice. I also offer to let guys like yourself go out and work with my crews for a day and see how we do things to pick up tips and ideas... Henry 240 274 0300

Hi Jack, I've had a similiar problem with one of mine but it only happened a few times. I just check it carefully to make sure the pins have popped out all the way now and everything works fine.

You may be able to clean the siding and then get some paint from someone that sells siding in your area to match the existing color. If not, try getting a sample and get some paint from duron for alluminum siding. Contact the homeowner immediatly when something like this happens. Let them know what happened and that you will take care of it so they won't have to worry about it. If nothing else, hire a siding company to replace the damaged siding. Waiting for a lawyer to call you is crazy. You need to act quickly to solve this problem before it becomes a huge issue. The customer may be upset but if you take the initiative and fix the problem you will come out looking like a saint instead of someone who ruined their siding.

I could be wrong but If I recall correctly OSHA may have a footwear requirement. That may be just for working on roofs but I know they would have a fit if you wore sandals while power washing or going on ladders. Personally, I wear rubber boots to keep my feet dry. I used to use tennis shoes but having wet feet all day just stinks..lol

Congradulations John! I joined the ranks of grandfatherhood myself about 5 months ago. It's kinda nice to hand them over to someone else when their dirty...LOL