Greg R

I would second Dultmeier.... we use the 3/8" blue rubber hose they sell. It's like $150 for a 500' roll or so if I recall.

Yep... and I wouldn't work without it. Too many people out there looking for a winning lottery ticket. If your solo your not required to in Indiana but if you have employees your risking everything you've worked for by not having it.

These shows are easily our BEST return on investment around here. I can spend $8K on doing home shows and pull $150K in work out of them over the season. It's a no brainer. The shows do wear on ya but in that case you may consider finding some happy clam to represent you at the shows and work them. I had to use my lead guy last year on one show and even he pulled some nice leads for us and he's definately an "in the field" guy. I paid him $10 per confirmed lead (meaning we set an appointment for a estimate) and he came back with twenty something leads for the day by himself. Big $$$ to be made in my experience.

My issue exactly.... if your costs have increased pass it on to the consumer. If they've decreased I would hope they would also pass it onto the consumer. Unfortunately 08's crazy supply and demand and speculation issues have instilled fuel and material surcharges too many of the products we use daily. The odd thing is now that things have pulled back SUBSTANTIALLY and are far lower than operating costs from previous years the surcharges still seem to be in place. Yes...I completely understand that in many markets revenues are not what they were but geez. Our chem supplier for example still charges us a fuel surcharge equiv to the peak of oil in 08' even though the fuel costs are half what they were.

My biggest piece of advice is to work he crowd. We exhibit in about 7 shows a year and year after year I find it amazing that the people working the booth just sit there watching people walk by. We pull well over 300 estimates out of the spring shows every year because we force feed and engage the crowds. Last year we had 3 guys (including myself) manning one show and I can remember the guy across the way just shaking his head as we pulled in 13 estimates in about 5 minutes. After seeing that he stood at the edge of his booth and started working it :) Then the vendors complain about the results the show had and they cannot figure out why! Good Luck!

Yea no kidding.... thats a 18% jump

I read somewhere that they are anticipating 3000 mall closures over the near future due to business closures. THATS ALOT! I assume they are talking about mini malls, strip malls, etc..

You guys are just wierd over there Ken :D

I second the snow removal if your area supports it. Our trucks bill around a $100 an hour with salt sales here and this has been a great season so far with about 50" + of snow already. I would have to suggest getting commercial clients though... residentials are hit and miss and start to complain when the snow don't stop falling. Commercial has to have the service done :)

Only about 3 columns here and most is in healthcare. Companies are in layoff mode unfortunately with not many looking to hire.

It used to be I needed my motocross and more recently snowmobile time. It was always refreshing to get out there with some buddies and forget about things for a day. Over the last two years we seem to have dropped the ball though. One sold his bike, another works too much, and my brother lost interest so I literally haven't even started my bike in a year and a half I bet. Snowmobiling is becoming more of the same now it seems... especially with us plowing snow again. Time for a new hobby I guess :)

Snow plowing and Salting. Commercial accounts can be some nice money. We just got back into it again this year after about 10 years and the demand is still there even with all the lawn care companies. Closed 4 more commercial accounts today and I've had calls left and right for areas that I would rather not service (too far). Outside of that we do around 220 decks a year and about 15 home restorations plus some pressure wash work here and there. Leaving for florida in 8 days so winter is also for vacations :) Taking the kids to disney to see it all done up for Christmas.

Snow plowing and Salting for us this winter ... something to do and some pretty decent coin for doing it.

Cha-ching :)

not a one :) We live on a quiet little 7 house street that nobody knows about. We used to have one kid that came for the first 2 years but now nobody but my wife and I have kids on our street

If you ask me McCain avoids questions as much as he can. He spends the majority of the debate trying to discredit Obama. It drove me nuts watching McCain try and answer any questions because it always started with "Well Senator Obama... "

I can't wait to see that circus act :)

Wow... Im not pro republican or democrat but I'm shocked by how many want McCain in office :lgbonk: based on this poll. I vote for who I feel is the best choice... Obama by a landslide IMO!

Here's a deck we just finished. The builder completed construction in the Spring and told the homeowner he seals decks all the time. In fact he has a couple guys that does nothing but :) They called a week later in horror after the builder applied 2 or 3 coats of this Behr crap :) We stripped it down and brought her back to new then sealed with Sierra Rustic :) Its a 50/50 mix of sierra redwood and rustic brown. Cool color and it goes much better with the brick and landscape.

I would note on the estimate Barry that the plants need cut back before you arrive or you will have to do it at so much per hour :)

Finding a relatively good guy, teaching him how to do everything and having him leave unannounced to go try and start his own thing :lgangry: Then finding out when your vendors call asking if the guy works for you cause he's been calling them to get prices on products. Just had it happen this week and I'm still very p*ssed. Outside of that the weather is a big PITA...

A little under 5 Gallons Beth. The deck was 868 Sq ft with 54' of rail. This was stripped and buffed out but still fairly new cedar (3 months). I want to try this color on some older pine to see what we get next.

Exterior Urethane???? That sounds baaadddd....

Definately tough to judge off of just pics especially when you can't see it all. What were your sq ft numbers on that job Matt? The house alone looks pretty large :)

Not much to go off of dimensionally but I'm going to call it in the $4200 range. Looking at this house pic I can see about 22' of the deck width so it all depends where it ends :)