plainpainter

William - my 20hp honda powerplant hums along like a B-19 Bomber Blub blub blub blub.

Boom - you're all dead, I detonated a long ago left nuclear warhead, the island is toast and so are you!

That's the limitation of Google for the time being when it comes to contractors without a real store front - but your contact information is available at least.

It doesn't seal the top, it seals deep inside - it would prevent the wood from taking moisture from below in the first place. It's not a surface treatment, I have used a similar product, you can apply coat after coat after coat on new pressure treated - and it sucks it all up.

I am going to scan mine and make a bunch of stickers and put it on my van. Of course I will blow up the size, so folks can take pictures while driving next to me on the highway.

Just Creto DPS the cr@p out of it.

Yeah, I'd like to know too - that babe has been missing from my 'repertoire' of vehicles for some time now. How else do you think I got my immigrant crews through the border?

I would broaden #3 to just be 'service' - where expediency is just a subset of under the whole service umbrella.

You're wrong Fenner - I only staged my drowning, so as not to reveal the submarine I had waiting for me on the ocean bottom. The plot thickens....

Forget the show, isn't it enough that we survived '09?

I was gambling in the back of my mind that my 28 footer would make it to the gutter line on the back of this home I did yesterday - just barely made it, and only because of the stabilizer holding it further away from the wall so I could more comfortably get around the gutter. Right now I am doing all these gutter cleanings by myself. As a small company I never stocked ladders bigger than a 28 footer other than a 40 footer. A forty footer is a very inefficient tool to use if not needed for maximum heights - but with a helper it negates the absolute need for 32 and 36 foot ladders, when there is a need for it. And I hate owning extra ladders. As well, since I am cleaning gutters by myself - I can't easily get a forty footer up by myself - it becomes a game changer if I need ladders bigger than 28 feet, and so far I have been just passing when they get really high. I don't feel like investing $300 for another ladder I won't need more than twice a year.

That's why I'll never move away from the coast.

Even though I am of italian descent, my grandparents come from southern Italy. I went to Italy when I was 14 years old - and I have to tell you from my experiences - Italians are the biggest A$$HOLES on the face of the planet. That poor girl got SCREWED SCREWED SCREWED! Don't get me wrong, I love the country, the history, the fine food, the beautiful women, but man If there was ever an anti-american sentiment crazy mafioso place, it's Italy.

Only 50-75 SF per gallon?!?!??! Yikes!

So how do you plan for next year? What kinds of decisions, goals, interpretations do you make and how do you make 'em? Or do you just sort of go with the flow and try a few things here and there ad hoc? How do you plan to grow, or do you not really make those decisions? I'll admit I've been 'winging' it for 5 years now - but this winter I will sit down and look at the past 3 seasons data on how much business I did and where I got it. The sort of decisions I will be making is where to expand my marketing and by how much I am willing to invest. I am going to resist much of all print media advertizing for a while, until I feel comfortable I have a bigger budget to afford it. I'll sit down and systemize a plan for consistent marketing for every job I go to. I think I will want to appropriate perhaps another 2k next year and backwards engineer what that will afford and just stick with that. But I will still be 'winging' it on several fronts. I still don't have confidence that a 10k budget in marketing will produce any meaningful returns. I think it's easy to 'throw' money away, not all marketing is effective. So it's a slow and steady pace to find what works and what doesn't

Looks awesome, Jon, quick couple of questions for ya. Now since you have had some maintenance work experience with woodtux - what are your thoughts on the product? Do see yourself continuing to use woodtux for future newer projects? How old was this job at the time you re-sealed it? And did you sand the boards down before or after the efc-38 cleaning? I really like the look how it came out. Wish I was there - must be nice.

You see, Mr. Fenner, I told you my customers are freaking poor!!!@@@!! This is probably considered a shed in your area!

Is that what steroids do to the testes? Makes 'em harder?

Jon - got a pic of me on up in the air painting on my pump-jacks staging - you wanna use that next for your avatar?

Do I amuse you Fife-Man?

I hate you Jon.

Scott - I was never a thin guy, my nephew who is a senior in high school is ridiculously thin, very strong, fit, was on the football team - he can't run nearly as fast as I can.

I think Cabots SPF is a harder strip than Behr. Sherin Williams oil based deckscapes is another favorite of mine.

Why do you ask? When I was in grade school and jr. high - I beat all the track records for the 50 yard and 100 yard dash. Even to this day - I can catch up to my nephews trying to ride their bikes away from me, even after giving them a head start - and I mean 16 and 17 year old boys.

No no no Jon, Chris is in Hanover - I am in Andover. Sounds similar I know.