Greg R

We process all 4 major cc's through Quickbooks (Interactive merchants I think). We do a good number of credit card transactions and deposits actually. Everythings going to plastic and it's only going to go more that way although we still get 75% or so paying by check.

Interesting stuff... can't say I've ever heard of it before. The "nasty smell" could pose a big issue though. Every so often I still get a customer sensative to smells call us up on Ready Seal wondering how long the odor is going to hang around. To introduce something worse would be trouble :)

We just cut ours down yesterday :) It's been a family thing for years to go out and pick a tree then fire up the bow saw

I've actually been working with samples of the sealer for last the few months. I did up 10 different samples in total... 5 with the sealit applied to them THEN stained several days later. The other 5 were just stained with the stain & sealer. I applied Ready Seal, Wolman F & P, Wolman Raincoat WB, TWP 101 Cedar to 4 and left the last clear. We'll see what they look like in the spring. Sealit claims the product will extend up to 300% longer than without the preseal. Weather and sun will tell the tale :) I like the idea if it's marketed correctly and yes it's easy to put down. I see it being beneficial to homeowners and an additional measure to protecting their wood but in no way could you market it for the asthetics of the product.

You can still seal with the Ready Seal.... the only problem is getting the wood dry enough :) We have 3 decks prepped that are a week old now. As soon as it warms up to the 50's again we're sealing them :) We may have to throw another coat on them come spring though depending on how much they absorb.

Everyone certainly should have goals within their business. We're pretty much in line with Shane with regard to the size of our business. We have 5 employees putting 3 crews in the field working ordinarily. 4 workers and 1 sales guy plus myself whereever I'm most needed. I typically try to keep busy with the scheduling, operations and estimates but when the big homes come about I end up in my work bibs for several weeks throught the season. Haven't found THE guy that I can trust to manage the project alone just yet. My goal is to grow the business much larger and branch out into surrounding areas as growth allows for it. Finding the help and the right people as usual has been the biggest challenge. Sales were good this year and fall has set us up real nice for spring of 2008 with about 2 to 3 months of work already on the table so next year should be great.

We used to use the terms "restoration & preservation" and it seemed people were a bit lost on the idea of what we actually did. Believe it or not I get better advertising results keeping it simple.... Deck Cleaning & Sealing The ol' KISS method I guess.

Not sure about wood tux but SOFT SCRUB with Bleach will pull Ready Seal out of white vinyl with a little elbow grease.

I believe Flood stopped making that all together didn't they? I'm certain I read or heard that somewhere.

Restoration $10,800.00 Material $1437.60 Deck $810.00 plus $4.25 per lin foot of rail. This would have been the initial bid. Guessing about $13,500 with the deck rails (if any). Depending on the time of the year and how busy we were I could see doing it in the $10k range. How long did it take you to complete that Scott? Looks like 4 maybe 5 days or so for a 2 man crew.

The house needs restripped. The streaks your seeing are not streaks but remaining finish. The contractor needs to allow for additional dwell and apply more stripper and should KEEP stripping until the surface is uniform. Then and only then brighten, buff, and borate. I WOULD NOT allow it to be sealed as it is. EDIT: Should probably read the whole thread first :)

The stuff is kind of interesting to me... I took a gallon of One-Time and poured some in a plastic pop bottle to set out in the sun and the stuff cured into a solid mass. I would imagine it's similar to that of Sealmaxx and Sealwise both of which are applying the Sealit product I believe. The product can be tinted but it doesn't change the fact that the deck is going to need to maintained for appearance purposes. Been toying with the product for about 2 months now just trying to figure it out to see if it actually does anything to PRESERVE the wood.

Werner Fiberglass ladders have held up well for me. 2-24's and a few smaller a frames. I went aluminum on a 40' and that thing is a bear to put up. Lose your balance while putting it up and that babies coming crashing down :)

No way..... to easy to get into this market and even easier to underbid. We have a guy that we met at the roundtable I held several years back and for the longest time we never even ran up against him. This year we have bid up against him a dozen or more times and his bids are coming in 30% or more under ours. His kids do the work - hence much less overhead so I guess he dont mind leaving money on the table. On the flipside though we have redone 4 jobs this year that were completed by them last year so I guess in time.... Greg

How far east Rob?? Were in Valpo

There's people in every market that will swallow the hook on an $800 housewash. It's just a matter of how many. Around here and appearantly in most areas you would be hard up for work trying to close those deals. I would say $300 to $350 as well on just the house.

Turbo Nozzle such as the Rotomax should do it I would think. Honestly cant say Ive ever tried it under water though :)

MEK ?? Nasty stuff! Oddly enough sometimes the first coat is a piece of cake compared to the under coatings. Usually due to poor adhesion :)

Insurance did come in pretty handy for once on the truck and equipment. Although it put us down a truck for about two weeks while pulling another together. Thats where it pays to have a really good insurance company :)

... :) Thanks Shane! .................. oh the memories. One of the guys left a stain soaked canvas tarp in the truck on a 90+ degree day. He parked it... I went riding my bike for about 3 hours and came back to the van blazing and the fire department. Linseed oil is not my friend :) Sadly I had another one burn 3 years ago. A squirrel made a nest behind the passenger side headlight next to the exhaust manifold. Looked pretty much the same when all was said and done. Thank god for insurance :)

Hey I didn't know they could do that :) Now where's the picture of my van from a couple years back.....

Our estimates have and will always be free in the counties in which we service. If it comes down to a deck or fence thats outside of those counties we pass on the offer. If its a home (log or siding) outside of our normal service area we charged a $250.00 consultation fee for the estimate which we at the time called home inspection. Basically I would drive out to the house and document area of concern with photos and a report in addition to providing our estimate for repair and refinishing. I guess it made customers feel that even if they were not going to have the work done they still got something for their money cause it worked. We dont travel those distances anymore though... Im a homebody :)

I wouldn't myself.... your creating alot more work by getting so complicated and if you would like to keep this customer for future work that's a whole heck of alot of cut in to have to do. If you account for the time involved financially so be it but from a business standpoint "we" want to make these easy to maintain when it comes to future maintenance. ....thats not easy to maintain :)

Click around on the links above the wood-solv info Celeste and you'll find the cleaners and prep chems as well. I've been told they have seminars every so often on the process to through some of thier distributors. Seems pretty straight forward though. Most people dread the mess of sanding so this may have some excellent potential. Nobody around here offers anything outside of the sandouts from what Ive seen.

Here ya go! Browse Catalog