Thad

I'm leaning in the same direction (somewhere in FL), but I will have to start from scratch since I don't have the scratch to buy an established business.

OK, wife says get off the Grime Scene because it's time to leave for vacation. We're going to Orlando and Tampa, so if any of you guys down there are spraying and a big homely-looking guy in a maroon minivan jumps out and starts helping don't be alarmed. It's just me!

No, East NOLA is still pretty much deserted. It's like driving through a ghost town. Slidell got hit very hard by a 20 foot storm surge. Almost everything between Old Town and the Lake is still in bad shape. Whole neighborhoods and shopping centers off of Ponchartrain were slammed and are still deserted. A lot of people that I have talked to are moving out. There are a lot of houses that people came back and started rebuilding and then just abandoned. Mandeville/ Covington didn't get any flooding, just wind damage, but it is waaaaay overcrowded now. A lot of people from south of the Lake (including about 13 billion St. Bernarders) moved over here. We went from around 200,000 to over 300,000 almost overnight. The infrastructure is screaming. Florida is looking better and better. :) I just need to figure out which part I would like the best and could do the most business in.

Why, is that wrong? You've never been to Louisiana, have you?

It's kinda like a customer asking, "Can I just borrow your setup and wash my house myself?"

OK, I looked on their website and there is one in Covington. Now I have to give it a try.

I want to go even farther south, in case this 'global warming' stuff doesn't work out. Just trying to decide between Costa Rica and Florida. :lgsideway

I would rack my brain all weekend trying to come up with a polite way to ask her if her supergenius friends had any suggestions as to how you should clean bricks. Toothbrush and vinegar, maybe?

I thought that everybody in FL had to have it. What did I miss?

Ron is being helpful, but you might want to reread his post. He has info on *** if you want to search for it. The link is in his sig.

You accidentally killed some baby birds. I saved two today. I'll loan you some of my good karma. Life evens out. :) I thought of this thread when I got ready to start shooting the back of today's house and noticed two fledglings scurrying around under the bushes. I stopped the job, *finally* caught them and put them in an empty cardboard box. I called my wife to see if she knew anything about baby birds and she reminded me that The Wild Bird Center was only a couple of miles away. I took them over there and they said that they would get them to an expert and make sure that they were OK! :lgangel:

Thanks for the offer, but I kinda like wearing shorts 11 months out of the year. You can keep the cold, wet stuff.

If you go to an expensive lobster buffet while on vacation and think, "Man, one of these Orlando guys needs to bid on this sidewalk!", you might be a PWer. Or at least know a few.

Around here it is white powder that comes in little plastic bags or vials. I never heard of anyone 'plowing' it, but then I'm not up on all the new slang.

Lots of potential- and I'm sick of Katrinaville- but I think I'm allergic to Central Florida. I had one of the worst sinus headaches of my life until I got back to the Panhandle on my way back to Louisiana. The water is unbelievably terrible, too. I can't believe that you even need chlorine in that stuff to destroy any organic matter that it comes into contact with. ;) The weather was nice, though. Beautiful, dry heat. It reminded me of the desert. Soooo much more comfortable than trying to breathe the humid gunk we have in LA.

Really. I hardly ever remember my dreams but last night I had the craziest dream. Maybe it was because I've had a bad case of summer flu and took a ton of medicine over the last four days, I don't know. Anyway, the dream was that I had a whole subdivision of houses to wash in one day. I had 8 or 10 guys on the job and we had to get it done or else. I don't know what 'else' was. The guys just happened to look like the cast of Band of Brothers. Note to self- don't watch more than 3 episodes of Band of Brothers before bedtime, either. Anyway, we washed and washed but could never get the first house finished. It was driving me crazy- this house just never ended. Then I woke up. Well, my wife woke me up. Why do women make such a big production of midnight bathroom calls? Note to self- remember to turn on the light, announce that I am going to the bathroom, and announce that I am back from the bathroom when I am done if I ever have to get up in the middle of the night. Which I don't. But I'm gonna just out of principle. OK, it's hard to keep me up, so I'm right back to sleep. Right back at the same house. With the guys from Easy Company. And we still can't get this house finished. We're washing and washing and I'm looking at all the other houses that have to be washed today. They guys are yelling, "What do we do? We can't get it all washed..." and I'm seriously stressing out. Thank GOD my wife has to go again! Respite from this nightmare! I tell myself, "Dude, this is one messed up dream. Dream about something else when you fall back asleep. Seriously." So I fall back asleep and *tah-da!* no more pressure washing, no more Band of Brothers. It was great! Until I realize that I'm back in high school except for some reason my mother is there with me and the halls are full of old ladies in nursing home beds yelling at me to change their Depends. I tear down the hall, knocking beds everywhere and my Mom is yelling, "Look, he wants to help! I'm so proud!" and I'm just trying to find any way out of there I can. I end up in sporting goods store with a killer saltwater fishing department, so everything turns out OK, but... I am *never* sleeping again. Seriously.

Rodnreel.com makes me cry. I haven't fished since Katrina. :lgsick:

A guy that I know whose dance studio was destroyed decided to get in the roofing business to rake in some quick bucks after Katrina. No, he has no roofing experience- He's a dancer. But how hard can it be, right? You just get contracts, hire a bunch of illegal aliens to do the job, and collect big payola. It all worked fine until he pulled up at the first job and his guys had completely ripped off the roof of the house next door! He couldn't even blame it on his guys and say that they misunderstood because he grew up in Mexico and speakes Spanish better than English. He was really dancing when the homeowners got home! :lgsideway

The sad truth is that I doubt the contractor cares at all. The building owner made him hire me because the building had to be gutted after Katrina and he wants the new tile protected. The retail chain that leases the building gets minimal maintenance from a lowballer that I know very well, so I won't be back. The good part of it is that the owner of the building likes me, likes my work, likes the fact that I *always* deliver when I say I will, and owns about 47 million properties. I want to keep him happy! :lgmoneyey Most of his buildings are in the NOLA area but this one was in Biloxi, MS. On the first little job I did for him we butted heads a little, but I stood my ground in a polite way and he has been sending me more and more work as time goes on. My wife says that he likes the fact that I stand up to him even though he's made of green paper. ;) When I talked to him he said to bill for the labor, cc him the invoice, and if the contractor balks he'll pay me directly. The amount that I'm charging for extra labor is very minimal compared to the overall cost of the renovation ($300K) but if you do something for free once you'll have to do it for free every time.

Thanks. It took me 7 1/2 hours with two helpers.

I'm tired and posted it in the wrong forum. Could someone move it, please?

It was just over the counter stuff. Mainly antihistamine (chlor-whatever) but I think that maybe the new PE decongestants don't agree with me. I think I'm going to have to hook up with a meth dealer. Not to buy meth but to score some good old fashioned pseudoephedrine before he cooks it. Only meth dealers can get it anymore it seems. :soapbox: I bought some Sudafed a while back at Target- well, I attempted to buy some Sudafed. They asked for my license and then refused to sell it to me. "I'm sorry, sir, but you bought some 3 weeks ago at our other store and you can only buy it once a month." I told her that I have 5 people at my house with allergies. She said, "Well, I don't want to tell you how to get around the law, but (whispers) you could get your wife to come in and get some." Ta-dah! Now I'm the criminal! With a runny nose and a sinus headache! :lgsick:

It's 100% true. I clean a lot of windows and I have a lot of people who get really upset when I show them that the fog on their windows is in between the panes due to the jackleg that they let PRESSURE wash their house. Rinse the windows with a soap tip or a garden hose. It takes more time, but you won't have to buy any expensive thermal pane windows.

And if you're like me if you wait 10 minutes you won't have to go anymore- you'll sweat it out!

Start drinking lots of fluids *waaaaaaaaay* before you start feeling thirsty.