plainpainter

I'd die without my 35 gallon buffer - even decent water supply has air and surges. I'll make sure to test the water supply while doing an estimate.

We were all robbed....

Wow Charlie - I don't know if I could even type if this happened to me! Hang in there fellow woodie! I was at a crossroads with vehicles when I crashed my neon - it opened the oppurtunity for getting my truck. Hopefully something really good comes of this!

My house has like 5-6 gpm. 7 is considered high end in my area- the next street over has about 1-2 gpm, they're still on an old water line - yet their neighbors across are on a new water line. I ran into homes that my 2.7gpm machine would cavitate on sometimes. One lady - I emptied my 35 gallon buffer with my 4gpm machine - and had to wait 15 minutes for it to fill back up! Other homes - because I use one of those toilet floats - water finds cracks and geysers out of my tank. Like I said all variable.

home water supply is so variable - I have run into many homes that you can cavitate a 4gpm pump

This is the kind of behavior I have to put up with my competition. We bid the same jobs - I am much more expensive, and they wonder why I win the job? Anyways good reason not to have a beautiful new truck - thank god the past three days have been dark and rainy so the egg stains didn't stay. I downstreamed a week old left over bleach/S.C. solution added some car soap and brushed my van with a green nylon truck Brush Bob sold me. Looks good as ne...eh used!

LOL - when are people going to connect the 'dots'? The reason painters are driving such POS's is because they aren't getting paid well enough. But then again Michael K. says there are only cheap customers if you agree to work for a cheap price - and to a large degree I agree with him. So why is it that painters are such enablers with such low self esteem issues as a whole? Pressure washing is a new industry - but the way some guys here make comments about - doing the customer 'right' - I ain't out to make a 'killing' - and other mindless comments, it seems the low self esteem is running through this industry as well. That's why I joined the ***** - with more professionalism the industry commands more respect - and respect is commensurate with compensation. That's what so many guys don't understand - there is a direct correlation with respect and pay. And if homeowners don't pay you much - it's because they think you are garbage. You can rationalize that anything is easy to do - and that's the trap guys fall into when they hear homeowners comment about they could buy a washer from home depot and do it for the same price. These comments are irrelevent - we price our trade by the overhead we carry and all our licensing and insurance fees - what lowe's charges for a pos p.w. has no bearing on how we should be pricing.

LOL - if you think I am going to F' around with Hydrofluoric acid - you're crazy! I'll get new wheels for $70/ea before I do that.

After the cleaning process.....

I get on average it seems roughly a hundred unique visitors/month to my website and the upper limit of visits is like 10/day - not necessarily 'unique'. Just curious how this ranks with some of you other guys. I did go on a painting estimate the other day - where the lady was like - I never heard of you anywhere, but I saw you online. That was a good feeling

10 years of website presence - Rod must really love you Beth! With just the initial success I have had this Spring so far after putting it online in December. I can't imagine what it will be like in 10 years! And where do you find women that will actually run half your business???? Is this like a Maryland phenomena?

I'm sure I would, Chris. On the other hand I am only really interested in local searches - I can only wash locally.

How do you measure conversion, Ken? Are you saying you sign up 150 customers a month off your website?

Couldn't you make critique with any step of the sales process? Like a nice truck, nice equipment, etc?

Don't want to get off topic - but has anyone ever used a percarb cleaner that didn't damage the underlying stain yet cleaned up mildew in the instance of a 'maintenance' wash a year after initial staining?

From what I remember, percarbs physically expand as it absorbs moisture during storage. So if you meter by either volume or weight - you will be under estimating the actual amount of product needed. But the bond are still there waiting to be released when mixed with water.

Snakes coming out the foundation.....? Man - not only would I run, I'd move back to the northeast - in the inimitable words of Indiana Jones - I hate snakes! Do you charge these folks 'hazard' pay?

What disturbs me the most, is that these folks live day in and day out with Rocky right underneath the floorboards? Is he like their unofficial pet?

Don't tell me you are afraid of Rocky Raccoon?

These boards are infamous for guys trying to out do each other when it comes to equipment, trucks, rigs, etc. The thing you have to remember is the bottom line why you are doing this to begin with. Before you get jealous with the guy with the 11gpm 1700psi two man skid - there are all sorts of factors you have to weigh. What's your average water source? Can you compensate with a large water tank, e.g. 225, 325, or 525 gallon tanks. And what kind of equipment do you need to haul that kind of water. And even if you could get by on a house wash - what if you had 5 in a row with anemic water supplies what then? I am washing homes with 13 hp machine right now - and when the muni supply is good, i.e. 6-7 gpm's. I can't put a dent in my 35 gallon buffer tank. But when muni is like a mild supply in the range of 3-4 gpm's, even my 13hp machine starts to really drain the tank after a mid-size house wash. And lately my hands are starting to hurt - I have a 5.5gpm machine - I wonder what that would do to my hands. And there are guys with 8 gpm's. Bottom line you don't need loads of equipment to do some serious work - my setup is laughable, yet I easily make $1,500/day off my own back when I am booked. But it is marketing and advertizing and selling that got me to that point.

it's died off lately for me

Don't overthink the equipment - just go wash with the 13hp powerplant you have now. your psi doesn't register 3700 probably because the unloader isn't turned all the way in - or you need your pump repacked. Either way who cares - 3100psi is way more than you will ever need - and no machine will sustain 3700psi even in perfect condition while the trigger is deployed, that's only when you aren't spraying. Think less about equipment and more about sales. I have a similar machine and I have a 5.5gpm machine - still haven't used the 5.5 after two years of owning it.

I guess you're not William - he talks numbers like that all the time.

Well if William was reading this - he'd say 4 hours times $40 - and charge the homeowner $160. hee hee

Once you really get professional - 5.5gpms is the perfect match between ease of quick rinse - logistics of water supply issues - balanced with size of buffer tanks. I read alot of guys talk about how great their 8-10 gpm machines are - then you find out they're only making $110/h.w. - and got a crew of 5 to pay each week, you can understand why they're after the holy grail of 18 minute house washes. Like I said pick yourself up a 13hp 4gpm machine - you'll be happy.