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Greg R

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Posts posted by Greg R

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Oh come on :) Where's the wood care spirit????? These jobs do really stink but there is a solution. You probably wont like it though.

    Best bet is to get as much of the loose and flaking off with the washers - let dry - than break out your Makita 9227C with a 8" disc and 80 grit paper. Yep - Sand the floor back to new.

    We turn them into Two-tones leaving the handrail white (or a color depicted by the homeowner) and stain the flooring and handrail cap in a semi trans. It's a customer for life when you do these and 2 guys on makitas can usually knock out a floor in a couple hours.

    We're charging on average $6 a square foot on the floor and $8.50 a linear foot on the railing. With the extra labor involved you really don't make a whole lot more money but as I said previously - you'll have a customer for life.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Yes it can take the finish off of those balasters - we did the interior of a 4200 sq ft all pine horse barn last year and learned the hard way. I tested the aluminum (w/ black powder coat) initially with stripper for fear of exactly that and it didn't seem to have any effect. Given the dwell however it started breaking down the finish. We then had to remove all the aluminum gates, fans and trim from the horse barn (what a pain!) in order to strip the interior down.

    Sodium hydroxide will actually disolve a chunk of aluminum entirely if given enough time so all I can say is use caution. It's hard to mask when using stripper since it pretty much disolves the glue on tapes as well. Thus far I really haven't found a good solution to doing these unfortunately. Also - if thats not enough the acid based brighters can etch the finish if left to long.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    I think the key with a DIY'er is they love it and they make time to do their projects. They spend the money on the right tools for the job.

    That is a RARE breed... I guarantee you MOST go to the home improvement stores to get their products for the deck. Good intentions or not it ends up being Thompsons or Olympic. Again all in the marketing. We all know its an inferior product yet they outsell Ready Seal or Woodtux probably 10,000 to 1.

    You have a unique customer if they are calling you for advice :)

  10. Posted · Report reply

    True and false, Greg. I think the keys are:

    1) Having a superior product. Sodium percarbonate is just one ingredient in the RAD cleaner. It hands down, 10 out of 10 times outperforms Wolman's or cheaper knock off formulas.

    2) Provide the customer with support. Handing a customer a package and saying "now go be a deck restoration professional" will yield lousy results.

    I guarantee you, Greg that what I am doing is VERY new. There is international buzz generated with the RAD line. Customer testimonials come in every day. I make sure the customer has an idea what he is doing. If you have any doubts of the abilities of a DIY'er check out the pics below. I was VERY impressed.

    Got these this morning. Anybody that has done a trellis knows this guy really did a nice job.

    Ken -

    I agree in the fact that Wolmans product is not up to par with others that are available however the strength of their product has some "risk based" blending to it Im sure. For several years I worked with the chemical companies that were blending the TimberPro line trying different variations and the results don't vary much in the "percarb" based formulas. I've used the ES products as well in comparison and been around the block on the surfactants, fillers, and additives. Bottom line is there's little to no difference in the results obtained from the various "commercial" products today. It all boils down to the marketing of the product. Any customer could obtain the results we get given a good product and patience however most will not desire too. It's one of those "dirty jobs" fortunately which keeps us all in business.

    I reiterate though - DIY products will never cost us business. Buying the product is the easy part.... using it correctly is a whole different ball game.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    True and false, Greg. I think the keys are:

    1) Having a superior product. Sodium percarbonate is just one ingredient in the RAD cleaner. It hands down, 10 out of 10 times outperforms Wolman's or cheaper knock off formulas.

    2) Provide the customer with support. Handing a customer a package and saying "now go be a deck restoration professional" will yield lousy results.

    I guarantee you, Greg that what I am doing is VERY new. There is international buzz generated with the RAD line. Customer testimonials come in every day. I make sure the customer has an idea what he is doing. If you have any doubts of the abilities of a DIY'er check out the pics below. I was VERY impressed.

    Got these this morning. Anybody that has done a trellis knows this guy really did a nice job.

    Ken -

    I agree in the fact that Wolmans product is not up to par with others that are available however the strength of their product has some "risk based" blending to it Im sure. For several years I worked with the chemical companies that were blending the TimberPro line trying different variations and the results don't vary much in the "percarb" based formulas. I've used the ES products as well in comparison and been around the block on the surfactants, fillers, and additives. Bottom line is there's little to no difference in the results obtained from the various "commercial" products today. It all boils down to the marketing of the product. Any customer could obtain the results we get given a good product and patience however most will not desire too. It's one of those "dirty jobs" fortunately which keeps us all in business.

    I reiterate though - DIY products will never cost us business. Buying the product is the easy part.... using it correctly is a whole different ball game.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Our business comes from people who don't have the time or even more the desire to do this work themselves. Wolman has been selling percarb based cleaners and oxalic brighteners to the public for years - this concept isn't remotely new. They've just added to the available products. At one point I was selling direct the the public with the TimberPro products as well and those buying were going to do their own deck if it meant just pressure washing it. This opinion DIY attitude usually changes after the first or second time though :)

  17. Posted · Report reply

    I'm interested in your theory.....let's put it on hold for a couple days. In the meantime, I'll be arming myself with information to battle you WoodTux Bandits. It's about time someone puts an end to this film-forming nonsense, and I intend for that person to be me [twirling six-shooters]:) I'm actually gonna be outa town till Friday/Sat. so I'm gonna have to sober up Diamond Jim for some action.:)

    I Gotcher' back Jon :) I see a dual comin'

  18. Posted · Report reply

    You pretty much have to weigh out what works for you. If I was only doing a couple decks a month I don't think I would be ordering in ANY finish - just using a good product available locally. There's really only 2 main reasons I use Ready Seal

    1. Ease of application and repair (should it rain!)

    ~ Fixing Wolman, Cabot or many others after a rain can turn into a strip job! Not to mention there's virtually no concern with overapplying or laps.

    2. It's not readily available to the homeowner

    ~ 2 benefits here - one obviousely so they can't just run out and buy it but also it throws a little credibility to our service in that we're using something thats unique and perceived as a greater value.

    Prep the job right and heck.... CWF will give you 2 years! I just won't envy you when it comes time for maintenance :)

    Greg

  20. Posted · Report reply

    PITA, no matter how you slice it. Hope you charged accordingly$$$.

    Yes sir..... I agree! Everything has a price though :)

    We ordinarily will bid it for a strip down and sand out. Not for the fact that we necessarily want to do it by any means....

    ...but its a customer that will call you back every 2 years for the recoat and in the longrun its easier on us. My goal is to make maintenance easy for customers AND myself. I nor my guys look forward to putting down latex EVER :)

  22. Posted · Report reply

    We on average add 30% to the bid for any 2nd story decks requiring scaffolding or an extention ladder. We've never done a third or higher (thank god!). Your production slows big time so you have to justify the time. Scaffolding will keep you moving pretty quickly though. We just did a second story deck that was 12' in the air over a concrete pad and once the rolling scaffold is setup (20 minutes up - 20 minutes down) its as easy as a ground level deck.

    Greg

  25. Posted · Report reply

    My fear of hiring employees is how can you find an intelegent, hard worker and not simply loose them because they learn the trade and start their own gig. It would seem to me that the best case senerio is to find an honest, hard working individual that's smart, but not to smart. Anyone know anybody like that? I guess there are people out their who have plenty of smarts, and common sense, but have no desire to own their own business, just work and collect a pay check.

    You could make them sign a non-compete agreement. It won't stand up to the courts in many states however most of your employees won't know that. I was a little concerned about that when my guys just showed up out of the blue wanting to work. Fortunately while they are outstanding workers I dont think they could sell ice to a man in hell :)

    Greg

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