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blackjack21

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Posts posted by blackjack21

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Thank you all for the replies.

    Micah, sounds like you only have one tank that you use. I was told by the guy who sold the system to me that all I would nee is one tank on a handcart. When I got to the water place (siemans) they told me I need three: a carbon tank, a cation tank and a anion tank. A hundred bucks a piece and a hundred lbs each.

    Do you know if the is one tank that will do the job and also last a little while?

    thx

    blackjack

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I just bought a water fed pole system from this guy. He told me all i had to do was hook up a tank and cleaning would be a snap. I went to the place to get the di tank and theres 3 tanks I gotta get that weigh 100 lbs a piece. This wasn't what i signed up for. I called him and he told me the only tank I need, the one he used, was the carbon tank. Anyone know about the water fed pole systems and if what he's telling me is true?

    Blackjack

    jacksonville fl

  6. Posted · Report reply

    I have a few brochers from the gentleman u speak of.... When i was a sales rep for a paver manufacture here in south florida. Here is the only prob i see that u may want to think about... Like HMSGA you can get alot out of one gallon spefically when spraying 1000+ squar feet is i think a BIT over i would say more like 500 sq ft is what i get from a 1 gall. But, if i tell a customer that with THIS sealer i guarentee your not going to get mold or mildew for up to 10 years, believe me people remember. The coatings in my opinion not act in the same way on a porous material such as concrete or pavers. Mold WILL find its way onto anything that is slightly damp with little light and the little cracks in pavers and concrete will give i\mold that enviroment regardless of what you use. You can check out my web site for more info or if you have any question..www.sflasealcoating.com All we do is Sealcoat. my .02

    COdy

    Cody,

    I agree. Algae grows on anything pretty much. His claim is that the sealer fills the pours. He says that any algae that grows, say on a tile roof, will be washed off with rain.

    I will be in Boca towards Christmas. I'd love to hook up and check out your operatrion. I am definately interested in learning more about coatings. Thanks for the reply. Give me a call.

    Blackjack

    904-994-0045

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Patrick

    I am interested in extra income if this stuff does what he says it will. I had a couple of $1500 roof cleaning jobs that I let him tag along on and they turned into $15,000 jobs (literally). He sealed the roof, pavers, pool decks.

    He offers a ten year warrantee on the roof. Anyway, once it's on there it aint comin off unless it's sandblasted (supposedly).

    He mixes two products together, they get real hot, then he adds a third and applies it with a paint sprayer or bug sprayer.

    The flashpoint is 46.9 F. The Hazard Technical Name is: Methoxysilane/methanol.

    I believe there is two different products; one of them is more shiny giving it that wet look. I think the same stuff thats applied to ac units is also applied to concrete.

    It's the $200 a gallon stuff. Also, they don't sell to the general public. You have to be a licensed applicater.

    I really appreciate your input on this. I posted a few things on a few sites a few times regarding sealers and got minimal input.

    I'd like to check out your site too.

    Blackjack

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Low (initial) capital investment does two things. One, it allows non-business people to enter the market and drive down pricing. On the other hand it lowers amortized equipment costs. Also keep in mind a two-man crew can do 2-3 jobs per day bringing overhead percentages down.

    Here is an example of a typical deck job 500 s/f of floor measurement. Cost to customer $1,100:

    Billable man hours: 14 (Seven hours total project time)

    Labor cost per hr with workman's comp, disability insurance, health insurance and comp time: $23 (x 14= $322)

    Fuel: $5

    Chemical: $35

    Sealer: $150

    Expenses such as legal, accounting, liability insurance, marketing etc: $75 per job

    Equipment depreciation: $15 per job

    Total costs: $602.00

    Now take into consideration there are guys on this board will charge $600 total for that job. They don't have the labor tab I do. They also will still be a one-man show ten years from now owning a job versus owning a business. No thank you.

    Worse yet are lowballers who might charge $400 for that job. Their expenses are $5 worth of bleach and $110 in sealer.. no insurance, splash and dash. If they do seven jobs per month they make a couple grand. Not bad for working 14 half days with no education and total investment of maybe $700 for a Home Cheapo machine, some brushes and a pump up sprayer. Meanwhile customer gets a half assed job and by the time word gets out that this guy is an idiot he has already moved on to his next hair brained adventure. The following year I get that customer and have to explain to him why my cost is nearly TRIPLE what the last guy charged. Nevermind that his work looked like crap and he is nowhere to be found.

    Now for any homeowner reading this and thinking.. $500 "profit" for a day isn't bad. With rain days and winter weather one may do 115 of these per year. Woohoo, a pre-tax profit of $57,500. Call the travel agent! If I couldn't blend my margins with higher priced work I would be out of this business in a minute.

    I am falling out of my chair. THAT....was some good comedy. Especially the part about the idiot moving on to his next "hair brained adventure. So true, so true, so true.

    Blackjack21

  11. Posted · Report reply

    It's in the mix. We have products that give us results quickly so that the wash goes fast. Plus, we have a method to our madness and after doing literally hundreds of pieces of furniture, you come up with a method that helps you to get done quicker. I understand the lack of space may have impeded your progress.

    Rod!~

    Beth/Rod

    Do you always sand furniture like that before you seal it? What would you charge (here in US) for a job like the one Roger did. I put out a flyer that had some before and after teak pics on it and I've been getting spuratic wood cleaning jobs. I mostly do houses and roofs though. I tell people the teak in the pics is wet and that they'll need to stain afterwords if they want to keep it looking that deep wood color. I usually refer them to readyseal.

    Any advice on how to clean (i use bleach), wether to sand, how much to charge (i know demographics is always an issue) etc...

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Celeste,James

    Thanks for the replies. Can you elaborate please. Can anyone out there tell me anything about the validity of sealers? I have talked to everyone including 2 chemists and a biologist. No one can give me a straight answer.

    I had a guy from reliance tell me that 2 years, maybe 2 and 1/2 is what you can expect from any sealer. If thats the case then whats the point. Might as well just clean it.

    One chemist that I talked to told me that it's possible that the technology has advanced to that point. It's "possible".

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Anyone ever heard of Adsil? I have a guy trying to get me to use his sealer that he claims will resist mold,algae for 10 years. He used to work for Adsil (www.adsil.com) and claims the stuff was developed for the tiles on the space shuttle. He claims to have sealed the bathrooms at the football stadium here in Jax and a litany of other big clients. If you thought other stuff was expensive, put your seatbelt on. This Sh!@# costs $160 for ONE gallon.

    I wouldn't have thought anyone would buy it. I let him tag along w me a couple of days and he sold 3 jobs, one of them a $10,000 roof/paver job. Now i'm backing him off in fear that he will sell more jobs and this stuff will be another hoax. Anyone ever heard of SMT technologies or Adsil? This stuff has got to be bs right?

    blackjack21

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Dilution 50/50. Application-downstreaming. Siding-stucco painted a yellowish brown color, not dirty at all. There was no soap in the mix and the house was rinsed thouroughly. I'll work on some pics tommorrow. Do you guys think I can just reclean this, I'm a little stressed. Update you tommorrow. Thanks as always.

    Blackjack

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Hi All,

    There are different types of swivels used in hose reels. (the L shaped thing you thread your hose into). You need to check if they are full flow. Any pressure wash application requires full flow, no restriction. Coxreels uses full flow on all reels regardless of intended application.

    Regarding the wrap or unwrap when using hose

    reels new hose grows substantially when first pressurized. If it was wrapped around a body it would expand away from the person as suggested, but in the case of hose reels there are discs at both sides of the reel forcing the hose to stay constrained within the reel dimension itself, forcing the expansion inward against the drum. So always pressurize new hose off the reel only the first time it is used. After that it becomes a question of wrap, if the wrap is too tight or messy(criss crossed or tangled) this can create small areas of increased pressure on the barrel of the reel causing a crimp or denting of the barrel. If properly wrapped the reel will absorb all pressure and work just fine with hose on it. The last reason to unwind all hose is for flow. Going around and around is harder than straight. We have recently announced a new brawny option for our reels designed to protect against all the factors that could cause damage to the barrel or discs, including mis-use.

    Rod, on our reels we have an adjustable tension brake that can be used to lock the hose at any length when under pressure. The locking pin is inserted in the disc only when not in use to prevent the hose from off spooling when going from job to job. If you use the pin to hold a pressurized hose at a locked length you will experience either broken pins or rounded out holes. Maybe it's time to try one of ours?

    Thanks for the clarification. I was getting confused for a minute. Awhile back I had a steel eagle hose reel that got completely crushed when I used it w the hose partialy wrapped. I've unreeled em all the way ever since. Maybe I can stop wasting time doing that now.

    Thanks,

    Blackjack

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Did some windows yesterday and a couple of them were some sort of plexiglass or something. Washed with the usual vinegar, soap and water mix. When I was done I wiped the plexi windows w a paper towel and it left a permanent smudge mark. It looked like it was scratching the plexi or something. The glass windows were fine. All windows have tint on them.Please help thanks.

    Blackjack

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks, Ken. I got a few more bites in the auto section too. I kind of diverted my thinking from polishing compounds when I tried my Jewelers rouge and it did'nt work. Enviroscam has some glass de etch that is basically the same thing. I'll try the glass compounds. Thanks.

    Dan,

    Enviroscam? Are you referring to Envirospec? I have seen a lot of negative comments about this co. I've never shopped there and now I'm hesitant; why the bad rap?

    Blackjack

  21. Posted · Report reply

    Of course not. Will I say no to someone that wants to pay $150 for just having one side cleaned? Every day of the week. I don't presume to tell the customer what they should and shouldn't have in concrete terms. My insinuation is, you sell them on the whole house wash. My minimum for a HW is $350. I do like others mentioned and let the customer know that my price would be for the whole house (better be a smaller one for $350) or just one side. If there is other work included and I think the rest of the house would not detract from my other work, I might consider it.

    It is far from arrogant to set a standard of work and stick to it. I tell people right off the bat that I do a job one way and that is the right way. Maybe I am arrogant to think I can set the term "right way". I can live with that.

    Ken,

    I've seen many of your posts and I can say that I definately put stock in anything you say. Now check this out. I have a neighborhood here where 150 residents got notices about their roofs. Some of the people definately do not need the whole roof cleaned. I mean some of them literally have just a few dark spots on there roof; the association is making them get it done. I feel guilty persuading them to clean the roof. There is a feeding frenzy of lowballers cruising the neighborhood like vultures every day. I bet some of the guys who are charging $200 to "clean the whole roof" are actually just spot cleaning. It's ironic that this is going on now after this post went up. I have a few people who want to work out group deals but they all want partial cleaning.

    I'll stop blathering. What would you do? How would you seperate yourself from the vultures?

    Blackjack

  22. Posted · Report reply

    My friend (sitting in front of me at the moment), who I affectionately call "know it all Nix" claims that pressure treated wood never goes bad and doesn't need to be treated (sealed/stained). I don't know but I think he's wrong ; at least I know I don't know all the answers.

    Can some wood guys chime in here pleeeeease. Also, do you guys mostly stain rather than seal?

    Blackjack

  25. Posted · Report reply

    Did you wet the brick first? You should always wet a masonry substrate before applying acid. You are on the right track at Aldon. Also look at Eaco Chem.

    I wet the brick when I cleaned it first, but then I let it dry before I applied the chems thinking the wet brick would weaken the effect of the chems. I wiil wet it from now on I bet; thanks.

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