Henry B.

We aren't running a two wand machine, we send out two cold water units with the guys. Like you said, it's alot easier when a cold unit breaks down to pull another one and sign it out. Not to mention the fact, that we wouldn't want the crews thinking about hot water on wood. Not a good thing. Softens it too much, and you can cuase alot of damage easily. Our setup is similar to yours Tony. Beth & Rod I know of a couple companies in the area that use hot water for cleaning decks. They say they only use it at 120 degrees so it will clean easier with less pressure but not hot enough to cause damage. I've tried it on my deck also but I usually just use cold water myself I never saw the advantage it using extra fuel and risking damage. It does clean faster but not by much. As for my rig being too small it works perfectly for the work that I do and I have tried using two machines at customers homes but even using two different hose bibs you just can't get enough water on some homes unless of course your using a 3gpm unit.

For cleaning those curbs you can get double headed turbo wands from northern tool. Or just make your own. They easily double the speed of what you can wash. I use them on basement steps and stuff also with a 6' extension wand so I don't get covered in mud..

I power wash everything from 4 story buildings down to the inside of pools... I have pw empty ponds, driveways and probably the strangest things would be a parking garage and the inside of a grocery store. I've even quoted power washing at Regan National airport but I decided I didn't want the job so i just priced it high. Occasionally I run across someone that I really don't want to work for becouse the job will tie me up too much or the customer is just not someone I like so I refer them to other companies. I usually refer all my stripping jobs to see dirt run actually.. LOL I know Rod and Beth make good money on them and they like the extra work I just hate spending the time on stripping. Power washing has very few limits its all about experiance and learning to try new things. I'm a VERY good salesman so that's one of my biggest advantages. I don't try to sell the customer on the best most expensive products I just look at the home and figure out what it is that they are looking for then I convince them its their idea to hire me since "I" can make their home the best it can be. I don't bother with lowballing things or trying to get the highest price I can. I think that's where most companies make mistakes. As far as I know beth and rod charge about the same as I do depending on the sealer being used. Sure I might have been able to get another 25 bucks for doing the job but I would rather give a lower price for doing the house then add in other things like the walks, patios and other items. Plus, I have a two gun unit so I can get the job done twice as fast as anyone around here so even if I am a little cheaper on some things the speed in which I can do it makes up for that easily. I also have 3 small pull arounds if I need them.

I thought that this year was awesome. Of course I have had a hard time sealing decks as quickly as I would like to but every other company in the area has the same problems. I have been in business for 15 years now and this has probably been one of the best year I have ever had. The constant rain is causing houses to mildew all over the place so I just started concentrating on house washing more than usual. Of course I just rigged up this real sweet double gun trailer unit with a couple x jets and my own modifications and it just kicks butt. Here is a link to my equipment. http://www.henryshousework.com/html/power_washing_equipment.html

My Distributer gave me one of those comparable x jet tips and I used to drag around a bucket with it then I started hooking up my downstreamer at the machine and just stick on the fake x jet tip. It still pulls the chemical at the same rate and I dont have to carry any damn buckets now..lol Then when I'm done putting on my chem I just switch tips and rinse. I have also made my own chem tip out of two male qd's and I just plug that into my gun and it shoots about 35' and pulls chemical. It is also excellent for rinsing things off really quickly. Henry I asked Espec if I could mix as I needed and they said of course, just divide the proportions up, if 35LBS of dry makes a 55 gal drum then I think 10 OZ should make up a 5 gal pail ? I use it like that and premix 24 hours ahead of time, I find the Emuls plus needs a while to all disentegrate, otherwise you will still have powder in your bucket, I got my downstreamer from Delco, and I have a 5.5 GPM machine, and it drains that bucket of chems in 5 minutes, that should be plenty to wash with, I also find using a 0040 tip gets farther distance than the Xjet and I dont have to carry another hose and a bucket of chems with me to wash a house with, I tried both ways and didnt see any difference in cleaning results using the xjet,

Looks like you got it down to A science Henry. Sounds like a pretty good technique. How long would a 1.5 gallon container of cleaner last You? One tank like this would last me for a couple of houses usually. I think my cost averaged out to $3 in materials for each house, after I bought the startup equipment. Once you get the scrubber pad wet, you just have to keep it damp. I used the hammer holder to hang my squeeges in so I could keep my hands free.

I used to do window cleaning when I first started out in business about 13 years ago. Here is what I found to be the fastest and easiest way. Buy yourself a garden sprayer 1.5 gallon or so pump up sprayer. Buy some ammonia and mix about 20% ammonia 60% water 15% vinegar and a couple drops of dish soap. Mix this up and dump it into the sprayer. Get yourself a hammer holder for your belt. and an industrial sized razor blade scraper with long handle and 4" blade. Buy about 4 different sized squeeges. one 18", one 9" and one 6" or whatever size most moulion windows are in your area. Your also going to want one of those rug like covered scrubby things. These can be found in most commercial cleaning supply stores. Okay, here is how I used to do it. I would take my sprayer and soak down the inside of the windows (paint covered window) let it sit for about 15 seconds then take your scraper on edge, and cut along the window edge to seperate paint on window frame from paint on glass. Then just slide your razor blade about scooping up the rest of the soft paint. Then I would use 1 towel and run one finger down the side of the window and the top. (finger in towel) Then I would start squeeqing from the top left acrossed working my way down each sweep acrossed. Then with finger in towel again, I would run around all the edges of the window and wipe my towel acrossed the sill. That's it. I used to be able to do a window in about 35 seconds. <G> My fastest recorded speed for a window inside, outside and both sides of the storm windows, take apart and re-install was 3 minutes and 25 seconds. <G> Yeh, I'm bragging!! Henry :p