Henry B.

I'm telling you, good help is really hard to find. Some day's it seems like the 20-30 year olds in this area just don't want to work. They would rather have their parents pay the way for everything. Not everyone is like that but we sure have the majority!

Announcing the next Maryland Chapter Meeting on August 6th! LET'S MEET and have a BLAST !!! Our next meeting will be held on August 6th at 12 noon at the Rockville Izaak Walton League of America chapter house, located in Germantown, MD. Directions can be found here. If you know of any power washing contractors in the Maryland area invite them to come by forwarding this email to them! We will have appetizers, drinks, demonstrations, guest speakers and more! The meeting will be open to PWNA members with a small charge of $25.00 and non members for $35.00 to attend the meeting and cover the cost of your food, beverages and facility expenses. Let's get together and talk about what is in store for our businesses in Maryland and find out how we can all make more money! We will discuss: Creating a networking program in Maryland and surrounding areas for members. What is happening in PWNA and in the industry. Updating the PWNA website and a possible Maryland chapter website. A Technical Support program Advertising possibilities for the Maryland Chapter to promote it's members. The creation of the PWNA online Newsletter for our customers. Putting a signup area on our personal websites for the newsletter. PWNA recognition in our area, promoting our Chapter and it's members Clean Across America projects in Maryland. (If you need help finding a Clean Across America project in the Maryland area, please email me.) After the meeting we can use the Trap shooting range for a friendly shooting competition, prizes will be awarded after the competition. Bring your own ammunition and clay targets or pay as you shoot, all are welcome to enter the competition and win prizes! For regulations and specifications read the range rules. For those of you that have your own shotguns make sure they meet the range requirements. All fire arms must be kept unloaded and in cases at all times when off the range. If you would like to use one of my shotguns or have any questions, please contact me at 301-353-9234

The meeting will run from 12 noon until around 3pm. This is an informal meeting for everyone to network, learn new ideas, set up a referral network in the area and to promote the Maryland Chapter and the professional power washing companies in the area. Everyone is invited to attend!

I don't have any problem showing clients the type of equipment we use for cleaning. I've got pictures on my website and smaller rigs mounted in my vans for all to see. For a power washing company it's equipment is it's lively hood, why not show it off? I can understand not wanting to waste the gas but it sounds like this job is well worth the $20 in gas. Plus the guys your bidding against may be lowballers and comparing your equipment and prices to theirs may be the best move you can make to closing the sale at a better price for you!

We pay and pay and pay...... Most of my guys make $15 an hour plus benefits (health,dental ect.) We pay overtime as required by law. They also make commisions for any jobs they pick up 10% or 20% if they pick it up and do it while there. We award a prize for the person with the most commissions at the end of the month (worth about $25) Any emergency service calls they do at night and on weekends they get 50% of. They also have 5 paid holidays a year. It's really difficult to find good help in this area so when I find someone I really like I do everything I can to hang on to them. I usually average 10 people hired and fired to find one that I want to keep.

I'm thinking about the box trucks that U haul uses.... Low to the ground some of them have ramps or lifts also.

Hey Mike There is one thing though about using an x jet without a proportioner. You can vary the amount of water to change the strength of your mix but..... You have to carry that sucker around all the time. I use proportioners with 5 gallons of strait house wash.. no water at all. So I can carry one bucket around the house and do the entire thing. Sometimes I can use the same bucket for two houses... I'm using the same amount of chem you are but carrying around less weight and wasting less time mixing chemicals. Give the proportioners a shot, your might change your mind!

I've got a trailer and three vans with small units mounted in them including hose reels. I've been thinking about getting a step van, sprinter or a box truck I just haven't decided which one. I know Beth and others love the sprinters but, well, they just seem strange to me.. Some kinda hybrid box/van thing. I'm just tired of backing up a trailer or trying to figure out how to park one in a townhouse complex without blocking traffic or parking spaces. I could unhook it but I'm sick of that. I'm thinking box truck, maybe a 12' one but I'll let you know when I decide.

Hey Russ, Most of the distributors I used to get it from sell it in two pound bags, in a 6 gallon tub. These can be mixed up with 5 gallons of water then used.

I always follow up on our estimates. We usually call the owner the next day to make sure they recieved the estimate (some companies steal them and put theirs in instead) and to see if they have any questions about the estimate. We answer their questions and explain our procedures, then tell them to give us a call if they have any other questions or want the work done. That' it, then we just wait for them to call and book the job.

I skipped out on the midnight "party" and went in to Borders and got out 4 reserved copies the next day. It only took about 10 minutes.

I've got a rig set up like your talking about and it's really not any harder than anything else. I've got a seperate reel for my hose though, it's not rolled up with the high pressure line. As far as the chem ratio goes, sorry I've never run the stats on it. I just "know" the right mix for what I'm doing. Most of the time I just use it for doing roof cleaning so I'm using strait 15% bleach and pump it up to my x jet. I have a ball valve on that line to cut off the bleach and one on my high pressure line that I can use to cut back the water volume and change my ratio on the fly using the two ball valves. It works great for me!! I did a $1,000 roof cleaning job in 3 hours today.

I've run across quite a few jobs that I wanted nothing to do with in the past. I actually found two more yesterday, one was a 3 brand solid stained cedar deck with lattice, enclosed porch and all kinds of detailed trim work. LOTS of stripping and sanding but due to the trim work it would have to be hand sanded, not with a sander...

Hey seth, You can get a new lance in lowes or home depot around here. There's also a place called Gaithersburg Pump supply right next to 370 that carries them. Give me a call sometime, it's always nice to meet a new power washer in the area and if you get a chance, check out the Maryland PWNA chapter meeting on the 8th of August, give me a call and I'll give you the details.

I don't, but I'd rather deal with stripping the job instead of seeing some hack destroy it.

See this post I made.. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?p=35871#post35871

Isn't it amazing what turbo tips can do to a stained deck? That's what they used to remove the exhisting stain... I think f-18 or hd-80 would have worked better. I'm already working with the owner, consumer affairs, Maryland Home Improvement commssion and BBB to see if they can get their money back. I gave them an estimate to repair the damages to this deck and another. My original price for doing this job would have been 2,000 which was less than they paid!! Now it's going to cost them considerably more.

Shame on you Beth!!..LOL I'm just kidding. I went out to a house yesterday to give them an estimate for doing their deck. Unfortuanetly someone else had got there first, cleaned the deck and stained it.. I'll post the pics of the job they recieved.... Apparently they were experts at cleaning concrete also...

Hey Beth, Remember when we had the hail storms here a few years ago? I have never seen so many siding replacement companies converge on one area before in my life.. Jeesh, it was like turning on the lights in a $10 a night hotel and watching the cockroaches run!! LOL

Another Kudos for Sunbrite... I called up Pete on Thursday to ask him about the deckster. I had a hose blow out in use and I called him about ordering a replacement hose for it. He told me it may have been a bad hose and they would send me a brand new one at no charge... I didn't even ask for a new one, it was just offered. I wish they were a bit closer I'd move my shop right next door!... lol

I've got two setups like Don has listed except I'm using the pump that the deckster system. One is in one of my vans with two 15 gallon tanks for spraying sealers or stripper/brightner. The other is mounted on my rig with two 45 gallon tanks. Both have about 200' of hose and both will pump up to about 3 stories if assisted with an xjet.

I'd also join PWNA and take one of their certification courses, take about a week and spend it with someone that's been in the biz for 10 years or so and see how they do things.

Real estate agents are not allowed to take kick backs like this.

Drill mixer here also...

Hi Chris, John is correct and there was actually quite a bit of discussion about your posts. Unfortuanetly there just isn't enough time to spread out all of the classes during such a short period of time. I will say that even if you were only able to make one class, it would be well worth your time and money. Just because you can't make all the classes does not mean that you can't get a HUGE jump in experience and knowledge from the others that are attending the event. All of the people I spoke with and still chat with have told me they learned a great deal from me and many others they met at the convention. See, it's not all about the classes for some of us. It's about the networking and meeting people that will help you advance your business much faster than you could ever do on your own. Meeting with others and finding out how they do things and why gives you the opportunity to learn from the past mistakes of others saving you lots of lost money and time. I consider the conventions to be a constant on-going class and it pays off very well.