Jarrod

Rod, please call me tomorrow. You have no idea how much hate flows through my veins for my hack competition. I simply will not post my methods here for them to see. They don't even deserve the crumbs that fall from my table. BTW for third time - this is not for deck staining! For that I do use 2 man crews. Charlie - I did it for 2 years. And it lead me to change my method. Call me.

Percieved value is based on the final product, not how many people were involved. Besides, most people are not even home to watch "the show" anyways. I'm not a believer in window dressing. If people are trained properly, they will not need constant supervision, or someone "looking out for them." They should be able to perform quality work or they shouldn't work for you. The work won't be so "daunting" if it was performed as efficient as it can be - (method) Morale - My guys can't wait until deck season. In fact, they even recruited 3 of their friends to work for me this year. Would they do that if it our methods made every task a "daunting" one? Safety - In the very rare chance that you fall off of a ladder, the other guy isn't gonna catch you. Yeah, he can make a 911 call or whatever, but this is so rare. It doesn't happen enough to make it a good reason to have a 2 man crew. Heat - speaking very slowly - if it's hot, drink plenty of water, take it easy, and go home early or take the day off. You say "One man does one part another does the next." How about, 1 man does 1 deck, another does another deck.

This even works for 1 guy, 2 crews, muptiple crews, and so on. Why not do things more efficiently? Just think of the time, effort & money you'll save. Ken, I'm glad you were contacted. If you need me to grease the wheels again, just call me. It's always a pleasure doin' what I can for my friends. You have done so much for me and the industry. Jeff, I know what you're saying. People are so set in their ways! Stiff, brittle things break much easier than flexible things. BTW, 3500 psi is nowhere near enough to clean wood. You need at least 5,000,000 psi @ 1 gpm, 300 degree water and a turbo nozzle. How did you think I did this stuff so fast? Oops, I gave away my method.

THE "CUSTOMER FEELS BETTER WHEN HE SEES 2 PEOPLE ON THE JOB AS OPPOSED TO 1 PERSON ON THE JOB" EXCUSE - ARE YOU SERIOUS? WELL, LET'S JUST SEND 10 PEOPLE TO EACH JOB! THAT'LL REALLY MAKE THE CUST. FEEL SPECIAL! HECK, YOU MIGHT EVEN GET A CHRISTMAS CARD FROM THEM EVERY YEAR! OH JOY! JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS IS MAKING ME SO WARM & FUZZY, THAT I'M TURNING INTO A CARTOON! NOW FOR THE SERIOUS RESPONSE - I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES CUSTOMERS SAID TO ME "LAST TIME I HAD MY DECK STRIPPED, THERE WERE 2 GUYS HERE. IT TOOK THEM TWICE AS LONG AS YOUR 1 GUY. AND YOUR 1 GUY DID A MUCH BETTER JOB!" FACT - CUSTOMERS DON'T CARE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DOING THE JOB. WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT IS HOW IT LOOKS WHEN IT IS DONE! FACT - MOST OF THE TIME, THE CUSTOMER IS NOT EVEN HOME WHEN THE DECK IS STRIPPED OR STAINED ANYWAYS. ONCE AGAIN PEOPLE, YOU HAVE TO OPEN YOUR MIND IN ORDER TO ACCEPT THIS. PUT YOUR EGO AWAY FOR A MOMENT AND PLAY ALONG. YOU CAN DEVIL'S ADVOCATE ME TO DEATH ON THIS IF YOU WANT TO, BUT IN THE END YOU REALLY HAVE TO TRY IT. DON'T APPLY THIS TO YOUR BUSINESS UNTIL YOU CHANGE YOUR METHOD FIRST. IT ALL STARTS THERE. NO MATTER HOW YOU ARE SET UP, IT WILL COST YOU LESS THAN $100.00. WHAT DO YOU GOT TO LOOSE? CALL ME. I WILL NOT POST MY METHODS IN A PUBLIC PLACE LIKE THIS. I DON'T WANT THE LOCAL HACKS READING THEM. IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF, COME UP HERE AND WORK WITH ME FOR 1 DAY. I WILL SHOW YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T SAY THAT IT CAN'T BE DONE. I FLUSHED A PILE OF CAN'T DOWN THE TOILET THIS MORNING. THIS ISN'T A "WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU DOESN'T WORK FOR ME" THING EITHER. THAT IS A CLOSE MINDED STATEMENT MADE BY SOMEONE WHO IS AFRAID TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. YOU WANT TO GET REAL? THIS IS AS REAL AS IT GETS. BTW, I'M NOT TRYING TO COME OFF LIKE "HEY, MY METHOD IS BETTER THAN YOURS! HA HA HA!" i'M REALLY TRYING TO HELP THE INDUSTRY. CALL ME IF YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO BE MORE EFFICIANT. OTHERWISE, KEEP SENDING 2 GUYS TO DO A 1 MAN JOB. Please excuse the all caps, it was an accident. I wasn't watching the screen as I was typing and after 3 paragraphs, I noticed it. I aint erasing and starting over!

Tony, okay, fine. You do twenty, 2,000 sq ft decks per season. You also cover 6 states! I guess that pretty much speaks for itself. Be that as it may, 1 man can easily strip a 2,000 sq ft deck in no more than 5 hours. When I say 2,000 sq ft, I mean flooring & steps, I don't count spindles, rails, facia, posts, etc. Now, I'll address the "I'm lonely" excuse. GET A FREEKI'N IPOD!

I only have time to address the production excuse for now - The way I do things (and you can easily do it this way too) is a very easy way to do it. 1 guy can easily strip & brighten 3-5 decks per day. Three of my guys are skinny 150 - 165 lb. guys. They do it all spring and summer - & by themselves! They do 3 to 5 decks per day (depending on size). Tony mentioned 2,000 sq ft decks. Come on Tony, how many of those do you do per year? How many of those even exist?! Yes, we do a few per year, thats it. And guess what? One, skinny, 155 lb guy strips & brightens it! The way I have my trucks & equip set up, If I sent 2 guys to strip a deck, the 2nd guy would be standing around! Why don't I send him in a different truck to do 3 to 5 other decks? Now, that's production! If you're set up for a 2 man operation for deck stripping, you really need to reconfigure your set up! There is absolutely no reason to send 2 guys to strip a deck, unless it is a PITA deck on which have to use a Deckster (I hate that name BTW). One person mentioned sending a 2 man crew out to do 3 decks in a day. Why not send out 2 one man crews to strip 8 decks? And get this - in the same amount of time that it took one 2 man crew to strip 4 decks, two 1 man crews can strip 8 decks! Don't believe me? Try it! You are all frogetting 2 major factors here, travel time and an efficient 1 man set up in each vehicle. Let's hash this out b4 I address the next excuse. I have to go wash 50 trucks now. Within 2 weeks, that will also be a one man job! Please throw all of your doubts in the ring, I look foward to sending them all home cry'n to mamma! You guys that have met me know that I'm a sarcastic idiot, so for all of you that have not met me, please don't think I'm being pompous. I'm just trying to help my family (you guys):lgkick:

Thanx for the back up Rick. I'm also talking about deck stripping.

Once again, I'll clarify. I'm not just talking about you having a helper when you work. I'm also talking about you sending 2 guys to do a 1 man job.

I'll post all of my answers to all of your "excuses" later. I was waiting for one more "excuse" b4 I posted. Maybe it will come today. I wanted to address everything in one post. Remember, this is for deck washing, house washing, & pavers washing.

You'll see. Hint - cave - skyscraper wagon wheel - lo profile 22' mags horse & buggy - batmobile

Keep'em coming!

Actually, I never got any emails from you. OK, there it is. I just checked my home email account. I usually don't check that account. Sorry. Look for my response, as I just sent it. Again, sorry I missed your email. Give me a call.

Nice story Rob. Thanks for sharing.

This is getting good guys, keep'em coming. BTW, this is for house washing, deck restoration (washing), and brick pavers washing. I understand with roofs and KEC, you have to have 2 man crews.

so many idiots, so few cyber bullets!

Ken, I think for what you are doing, 3/4 ton or 1 ton vans will work fine.

That pretty much sums it up.

My NPR is nice and big, BUT VERY expensive to fix. If you're gonna get one, get one that's pretty new.

Too much typing here for me (I'm a hunt & peck guy) Ken, give me a call. I owe you a favor!

Very easy to strip.

Today I downstreamed my first moldy house. Usually I X-Jet but I wanna switch to ds’ing. My mix was 4 gal. Of 14% bleach, and 1 gallon of soap. It was 68 degrees today. I was a bit disappointed with the killing power of the mix. It didn’t seem to kill the mold nearly as easily as X-Jetting. The mold stayed green and was harder to rinse off. I think I waited 5 minutes b4 I rinsed. I never really timed the dwell time. For a 1700 sq. ft. house, I used about 2.5 gallons of mix. The house turned out fine, but I was expecting the mold to die a horrible death much faster & easier. How can I fix this? Is this normal? Thanks for the help.

E Plus rocks! You have to remember to pre-wet the windows, apply soap, rinse windows, then rinse siding and windows.

I'm not trying to hijack, but you guys who have helpers on house wash jobs got me wondering. One big reason for the x-jet is eliminating the need for a helper. The x-jet IS your helper. Everything we do is a one man show - except for fleet washing and deck staining. I'm just curious.

Philip, that is a good idea. 1 bucket per house. What's your mix for that black proportioner?

You are the 2nd person to tell me to soap 2 sidec b4 rinsing. Don M. was the 1st. That makes the most sense to me. I like multi tasking. Thanks for the help everyone. I just wanna get this down so I can show my guys how it's done.