C&S Property Services

Let me get this right? I will say first, I didnt have a clue who Peter King was. I was thinking Steven Kings brother. But anyhow, you go to meet with a congressman and you wear THAT SHIRT? LMAO...I am at a loss for words and you know that doesnt happen often! Anyhow, you have done a good deed for this industry. You have spent alot of hours volunteering whether it was for conventions or on BOD stuff. Finish this and take a break my friend. You will need it when your business takes off doing double what you do now. Focus on the good things though.

Ask for your check. Tell him you will turn it into your insurance. He will not want to deal with the adjuster. If its clear its not your fault that is. Also, I would make sure you have a clause in your contract that states you are not responsible for any pre-existing conditions.

Ran into close to that 2 times within the last month. We used to do gas stations (havent for like 5 years now). Apparently they are using landscapers to do the work. Around 12 noon the guy has a northstar trailer (prob 5gpm at most) and what looked like a 36" surface cleaner. I had to laugh not at the guy but how slow he was moving. And thinking to myself it will easily take 10 hours to this place. One of my employees was laughing and I asked him why. He said he never knew the comparison of our machines compared to some guy who does it on "just the weekends". Second story was Thursday night we did a huge shopping center and 2 "island" stores. We were waiting as the tanks were filling up and a truck pulls up. For the life of me I have never seen a powerwasher like this guy had. It had 2 small tank under the engine. Cold water only. He hooks up and starts going at it. We waited 45 minutes probably and went to finish a part of the center. As we were wrapping up the hoses an employee says man we are greatful for you. Confused I asked why he said that. He points and say look. That guy hasnt even moved off the corner yet. (I still have no idea what he was cleaning as we did it all already lol). But to get even funnier is that his "boss" who drove the truck was parked where the employee couldnt see. And he munching down on a hoagie...lol.

I finally got a minute to sit down. Thanks everyone for the calls and texts. Much appreciated. She already has dad wrapped. I'm a little nervous with her being 20 inches already she may be taller than me at age 1. LOL just kidding. Both mom and her are doing wonderful. Hopefully I can schedule a break sometime soon to spend some good quality time. Definately going to change things up for me. Again thanks all...

Tony, Certifications, I think, can be a good thing. LOok at it this way. I just start or want to start a PW business. I know NOTHING. How would I get out from being a hack? Easy solution...Certification. If you work for someone or do the free labor stuff then thats fine too. Certifications can make your business look better as well. You can send your employees to the classes and raise the bar a little bit for your company. Now, let me play devils advocate. Who says any one group or company can certify for powerwashing. Let me make this clear. If I put something out that we offer wood certifications and only show you how to redwoods how does that help the guy that really only gets to see Pine decks? Same thing with the environmental. When Scott Stone and I talked about putting stuff together I had no idea about dry wells. You guys may have them out west but we dont see them here. Or at least I havent. But if I was to offer an environmental cert how would it benefit the guy in Arizona with dry wells? It wouldnt. When I took the Environmental Cert from the PWNA it showed alot of different and cheap methods to be able to comply. But I dont remember talk about dry wells. But then that was back 5 or 6 years ago. So, IMO I think certifications are what you want them to be. They have benefits and downsides.

I can totally agree with what you just said Ron. This is way bigger than one person. Scott Stone and I tried to get something going for the ***** a while back and it was fun and very knowledgable not to talk just talk to someone who knows their stuff but someone who has different run off problems than we do. For instance I never really knew about the dry wells you all have in AZ. So how would I be able to write, speak or educate about them? I think we need contractors from every area to speak up. If this saga continues then it will effect all contractors. No doubt there.

Ron, Please do NOT insinuate that I was baiting Jackie. I was simply asking who was on the committee. If someone or anyone wants to speak about my business or the industry I work and it will effect my business in one way or another I want to know who it is. Thats why I was asking Jackie. I didnt know who was speaking for the PWNA, NOTHING MORE. I am tired of seeing one guy try to stand up to the EPA, MHIC, AARP or whatever and THINK FOR ONE MINUTE that will make a difference. It wont happen. WE need a group of intelligent SOB's that are not afraid to step forth. As for all the other stuff. I have been on the phone for hours yesterday and today talking with intelligent people about what my thoughts were.

Jackie, So Robert and Scott make up the whole committee? Sorry, without reading all the bylaws I want to make sure I understand correctly. Or does the whole BOD stand as committee members too?

Celeste, I hope you didnt take what I was saying the wrong way. Just putting my .02 cents in. I was just trying to tell Guy to not get all worked up over this. I think on one level this subject is getting bigger than it deserves and on another level if we got the right people in place (including attorneys) we would have changes made to help the contractor on a more reasonable level. Has anyone ever heard of the Fair Business Act? The state n which you live and even on a federal level can be sued by businesses. Do you think that would get some attention? Heck yeah it would. Not saying its the solution but it would perk up some ears. I do think there are alot of improvements for alot of areas regarding the CWA and recovery. One has no relation to the contractor. I had called about obtaining a NPDES permit to properly discharge the wastewater from a HUGE job we were doing. The person answering the phone knew nothing about how I could obtain one and then forwarded my call on to someone else. That person in turn tells me the State (we were working in) DOES NOT issue NPDES permits to power washing companies.

Guy, Relax a little buddy. Using the Ft Worth BMP's as a model isnt necessarily bad. And before you bite my head off let me ask you this. WHat does Houston have as a BMP? Wouldnt the FW one work better than what Houston has? I am not one to say that its the best and only one we should have. But if you are the Houston contractor right now I would think the FW BMP looks golden right about now right? I suggest everyone review it and look it from a business model. It can be and may need to be tweaked.

Jackie, Could you tell everyone who is on the Environmental committee and possibly give their background? This may ease some people's minds. Especially since it is such a big issue and involving ALL contractors.

Has anyone else had any problems with the spray bars breaking easily on the big guy? We have broke one at the reducer and on two of them we stripped out the nozzles...

Chris, I bought mine from Tom Vogel. They are around the 700 mark I think. Call to make sure on that though. I love them other then for the size. Thats the reason we went with the big guy. But if you put 8gpm tips on them you dont have any worries other than holding on. And they are basically indestructable. I have never worried about employees breaking them. Like I said before, other then the swivel (seals) going bad after lots of hours I have never had anything break on them. Maybe thats my disaapointment with the big guy is that I was so used to the sidewinder being so dependable with employees.

I am wondering if the bar itself was just made cheaply or we got defective bars. I couldnt be happier with the machine itself. But when it shuts us down or costs money every time we use it basically makes me wonder. I have 3 sidewinders and one hydrotek (with reclaim) and at most had to replace the swivel after hundreds of hours of usage. Thanks guys for your answers...

Greg, Yeah I would not have a problem with that but mine are less than a year old and one was first time using it. The stripping out of the tips w once my fault but the other there wasnt anything there. And the reducer breaking has me boggled as it looks like something held the bar as it was trying to spin. Again there was nothing there on the concrete to do such a thing. This just has me really boggled. And I am wondering about having bars fabricated to fit the big guy that will withstand more than the factory ones.

We have 2 of them. They are nice. Only thing I would change right away is the size of the water tank. Go bigger. Not too bad on pricing unless it has many hours on it...

Jim, Who made any derogatory remarks? You put yourself out there and people called you on it. You say one thing and when I said something different (and correct) you turn it around and say you are joking. Thats not too professional now is it? Like I said from the beginning you may know a little and thats ok. But stop making it seem like you have this huge ego because you spent 90k on some trailer that you can sit in your truck and do all the work by remote control. Its getting old. I see your blogs and comments everywhere and quite frankly you are not always on the mark with your writing. I dont know you area and quite frankly will never come to CA to wash anything. But I dont get on here telling all these contractors I know CA laws because I put this on my trailer or I called someone. Or I know how to get around the laws. We all know how to get around certain laws. Just stop fabricating your stories and twisting them to suit your needs at the time and you will less frowned upon and probably welcome back to more BBS'. I feel like I am talking to my daughter on how to do things and not lie. Thats bad man.

No...he was joking then. LOL.

Jim, Why does it seem like you are being very defensive? You wrote your words not Scott. This is what I was trying to explain to you. Not everyone likes hearing how much money YOU spend. You can have your 90k trailer that reclaims and plays music for your guys who wear astronaut suits and I can use my kiddie pool and sump pump (just kidding) and we can still do the job correctly. If we both are capable of doing the job right you are no better than me. Maybe if I spent 90k on a trailer I can get your .28 per sq ft? I know my customers here would laugh at me if I handed them a proposal for that. And you can put your sales pitch in there it really doesnt matter. Like I said I know my customers. A wise man once told me these words....When your ego is bigger than your words, its time to cash out.

Jim, I will say that around 20 years ago I used to have 2 show trucks that were lowriders. There was a company that sold neon lights for vehicles that were also LEGAL. However, ask me how many times my friends and I were pulled over for them. At least once a weekend. It came down to what the police determined the lights to be. To put it simple, you dont see any neon on vehicles anymore. Call it a phase or call it police justice it is what it is. So if you think DODGE is going to stand behind you because some residential community called the police for loud vehicles GOOD LUCK. I just went thru this a couple months ago when we got shut down working past a curfew. I explained my rights to the police (working in a res/comm area) and I was correct but they still shut us down. But there are laws. And thats from working. You will be fined. Besides that, now you are jumping from telling us what YOU HAVE to what the newer version is. I am sorry I guess I dont get it when you jump from this to that. And when someone points out a difference you say you are joking.

Jim, Ok so you were kidding about the 10 yr mark. This is just what you think not the truth. Remember someone on here might actually believe your words. As for jake brakes, good luck with them. I will tell you whether you have a "batman" switch and can convert your whole rig into a volkswagon or not if you get stopped and have them (per lets say a DOT inspection) you will get fined no matter what. You can muffle the noise or not I dont think they are going to care.

Jim, Out of curiousity how do you get a guarantee that you will meet any future Smog Reg? Thats interesting to me as things change yearly. Almost sounds like you are flashing cash to someone. Otherwise I would think that you are just kidding about being able to meet requirements for the next 10 years. On another note, good luck with the jake brakes. They are not allowed in alot of towns anymore. Signs are posted quite often noting that no jake brakes are allowed. Did you get something saying you can drive them anyhow or are they just not that worried about noise in CA?

Jeez...Lets see. We are still working on the 40 degree days. We are working on other jobs on the other days. We have revamped our whole business model. We have a ton of new marketing going out. We have a few NEW books to read this winter. We are setting up our trailer units to be more productive. We are buying a new truck and trailer for the coming year. We have remodeled the office. We have three rooms to paint. and MOST importantly... We are expecting (and preparing) for a new lil girl on April 25th

I agree Jim. We have already started a budget per job for gas to reach 5$/ gallon. You have to remember that on the commercial side diesel will always (most likely) be more expensive. So if gas is 4$ then diesel will be 4$ something per gallon. We try to budget a little bit more so we can still perform the same quality service as always on any job without the worry of going broke because some moron is Washington cant get the cohona's to put a stop to the non-sense.

Happy Birthday Robert! Hoping you have a great day sir.