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C&S Property Services

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Posts posted by C&S Property Services

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Marco,

    It really depends on your machine and the water source. If you have a dependable water source then you wont need to transport much water. If you have a bigger (8gpm machine) then you will need more water, etc...

    If you have a machine thats less then 5gpm then you can probably hook directly up to a house. But you will be much longer doing the jobs.

    Be careful of houses on wells.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Dan,

    First bit would be to check the water source during your estimate. You can use a 5 gallon bucket if you have too. Time it and see how much is there in a minute.

    Secondly, if you know you are going to a well. I would go ahead and fill your tank at least 2/3 and charge accordingly. I explain this ahead of time to customers and write it also on the contract so no one is confused of the extra charge. We have had certain jobs where we had to just stop and wait for the tank to fill up because we ran out even after all that. So it does happen just not often enough.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Was just thinking about how many go without accidents. For myself, being in this industry for right at 10 years I will say a few of mine.

    Doing a deck once and got too close to the steps and down 10 steps I went on my keister. Funny part was I was sore but not hurt. The customer came out to see the job and asked what was all over my back (deck stripper and stain). He was an insurance company owner so you can guess I didnt want to tell the truth but I did and we both actually laughed at it.

    Now this one was a classic. Couple years back the filter and line from the tanks to the machine iced up. I figured no problem this will be easy. The only problem I had was that the ice was so bad I couldnt get the filter off. Out comes the blowtorch. It works so dont laugh yet. Just be safe with what you are doing. So I got the metal strainer free of ice but being in a rush just grabbed the metal strainer with my hand. 2nd degree burns will make you realize that isnt ice anymore its heat...LOL.

    Yes I laugh at these and hopefully no one has horror stories. But these are fun to share in my opinion.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I love the responses. Thanks to everyone. To be honest this is going to be my wifes business. So I dont want to dump alot in right away but we already have been having a substantial amount of interests and several contracts written up and we dont have all the i's dotted and t's crossed if you know what I mean. I was kind of figuring it may be easier to get several trucks up and running (thru leasing) vs trying to go get a loan and buy them.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks Beth. I was planning on that.

    Thanks Alexy. Thats what we did so far.

    I should have been more specific but my question isnt as directed towards equipment as it was towards vehicles. We are looking at buying two new trucks and thats where my question came from. Would it be more of a headache for leasing the trucks?

  15. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    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...

  19. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  21. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    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.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    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.

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