whytewash

Just got to say your math is in question. $200 covers 400 SF of UCF-21 vs the one you mention at $150 covering 300 SF. So if you cover 1200 SF it costs $600 (3@200) for UCF-21 and the alternative costs $600 (4@150) so no difference in price for coverage. But if one performs better then that may be the difference.

I have dealt with this on several occasions. I assume your bid for cleaning using the on site water (whatever way that works out) is based on what you think it will take in man hours and overhead. No way you can haul water or pay for it for the same money and still be profitable. I have yet to call and find out the cost of a water truck on site. If I DID use one I think it would be additional work to contend with. So what it comes down to is that the homeowner association will come off much cheaper if they pay for the water that is ALREADY supplied to them than if you have to charge for the extra trouble of TRUCKING water in or using your resources to drive water back to the site. There really is no logical argument if the HOA wants the least overall cost (including any increases in water utility bills). Some options are to either note which homeowners water is used and the HOA can reimburse. Less desirable but an option I have considered is to make a manifold to connect to all of the units in a building (example 4 town homes in single structure). The last one I did where the HOA was picky we had to swap supply hose to each side of the duplexes as we worked along. I used an extra helper to keep up as we worked along. You may also check with your water utility as they may have a meter option that you can connect to hydrant. Of course you would still need to add that to total cost. I think my utility charges about $500 for the meter plus the water used. Hope that helps.

I was aware of this product some time ago but have never tried it. I work with a roofer at times and she said they used it in orlando and seemed to have some god results. She and I have discussed it recently and she is planning to do a test application. However I was in the local Ace Hardware today and they have it on the shelf. There was a 1 Gal jug priced at $35. it mixes at 5:1 and was to be used on overcast days to avoid evaporation. On a hot day in FL it would evaporate in no time. But how many cloudy days do you have? Also not to be used if rain is expected. Bottom line is that it would take a minimum of 6 gals undiluted I think and that is $210 in product alone. Assuming approx 2000 SF roof. AND if this cleaning is due to HOA notice this stuff is of little value as it takes 6 - 12 months to see results. AND suggests a retreat in about 2 months for stubborn stains AND you may want to retreat in 6 months BUT you should not apply more than 6 times a year. There is another product that was on the shelf as well that can go 9:1 but it has some warnings about plants, animals and children. It can not be any cheaper and seems much more labor intensive than just the standard chlorine/soap mixture. I would like to read the other thread but search "wet & forget" only yields this thread. Any other clues on the other thread content/subject?

When I started I was laying serpentine at the bottom of drive and working across in 6 foot strips up and back. That is how I was taught. It worked okay but I found it works better for me to pull the hose of one side of the drive in about half. I start at the bottom and go all the way to the top then turn away from my hose and go back to the bottom. I clean a strip across the top and the bottom to allow turning room. I also use the shortest hose possible for the drive. A 25 ft if I can get away with it. I leave the injector out and the surface cleaner will fly except for weighting it down with a hammer. Allows me to walk at a good pace, about as fast as mowing grass. Do the drive first then add my injector and additional hose to clean the rest of the house and apply my chlorine before getting to the house wash.

Not comparing my prices to oil companies. The point being that no matter what the commodity that has increased there is little chance that I can use the reasoning that I never paid that amount to magically make it less. Everyone is aware (or maybe not) that a dollar today is not the dollar 5, 10, 20 years ago. I pay higher prices for many things whether I like it or not. My income has to be based on my cost of living. As expenses rise I either have to be more efficient or raise my prices or a combination of those and provide value (which hopefully makes me competitive with the low baller).

I have customers that try to 'beat me down' on occasion. I have learned to walk away. Even from some long term customers. The first one was hard to deal with but I knew it was right. As many have said it is not just having the equipment and the chemicals it is knowing how to use what and when. There are many jobs I can do without ever cranking my high pressure machine using the chem to properly clean. So why would a customer use me? Their time is more valuable for other things rather than the extra time required to DIY and risk damage from rookie mistakes. I bought an existing pressure washing business for several reasons but one of the most important was training. I missed out on many costly mistakes by learning from the previous owners. I have DIY information on my web site. I welcome any of my customers to rent a pressure washer and do the job on their own. I would take odds that I get a call to do the job next year if not to finish what they started. Hopefully they will not have damaged anything (using high pressure on a roof... yep a homeowner did that, break the seals on dual pane windows, blow out screens, mangle a toe rinsing it with the high pressure tip). One down side of taking over a business is that some clients have been grandfathered in at unrealistically low prices. The previous owner did not increase from the owner HE bought from. I wondered if some of the clients were just family or friends as it was just nowhere near even a market price. I went to a job, 4000 sq ft HEATED with a 3 car garage that was probably 800 sq ft minimum. My first time with this client but they had noted to my phone service that 'they always pay about $300' for the work. I got on site and there were 2 drives. An 8 space semi-circle in the front and a 10+ space winding drive to the back of the house. I could do one drive or the other in the price (which included a roof maintenance, house wash, patio, walkway; about 3-4 hours work minimum). I pulled off the job till I could clarify what was expected in the scope of work. The homeowner was expecting both drives for the price. I had other jobs that day so I moved on and contacted the client to clarify. They said that they had others interested in PW the property and would check around but had me send over an updated price. Based on my set prices the job should have been about $600 but I discounted some items to about $500. I did not hear back immediately but about 3 weeks later I got a call to come do the job for the new price. Reasonable customers will know that things do not cost what they used to. As a pressure washer my to immediate supplies, gas and chemicals have increased as much as 50 to 75 percent. The other items such as hoses, hardware and maintenance have also increased. My line is that I can not pull up to the gas station and tell them that I used to pay $2 a gallon for gas so roll the price back for me. I do not want to gouge anyone. I know I am not the cheapest and do not intend to be. Those guys are usually not professionals and just do it as a part time job without the same expenses as I have. They also have less experience. Pressure cleaning may not be 'rocket science' but we all know that every house can be different and experience, how to adapt to different conditions is required to be successful. This site helps educate but I would not let either a doctor or a mechanic provide service to me after just reading about how to do it on the internet and using me for their first practice run. Lastly, I had a client that made me realize best about charging appropriately. I quoted him a price that was low in my estimation but I was in a beat down phase and was tired of defending my regular pricing. He told me that was too low and the amount that he made the check out for was actually what I would have normally charged (no input from me). He remarked that I needed to charge adequately (with my business costs in mind) to stay in business and he liked my work. I have since told customers that if they value my work, calling a company they can count on to be here the next year (this company has been cleaning since 1993) that I need to charge appropriately. That is not a ticket for me to over charge. I think I offer value for my customers. I know I do a great job as testimonials bear out. I am not satisfied if I do NOT do above average work and I stand behind it by making it right if I have missed something. I know it could be a different situation for a start up but if you dig a hole by undercutting your service you will have a hard time of getting a good price out of those customers in the future when you realize what your expenses are (insurance, licensing, administrative services, etc.).

I run 8 GPM with a 65 gal tank and have relatively few problems. There are some areas of the Jax area that just have poor, poor water flow. Most of my jobs are from phone estimate so I do not get to consider the water flow before residential jobs. Commercial jobs I quote on inspection always include finding and testing the water supply. I have some sites that require about a 300 ft. hose run to the water supply. I have done jobs using well supply but almost all I have used have sand issues. Make sure you are running a filter on your supply feed to avoid pump damage.

I run a standard 2 nozzle surface cleaner. The previous owner of my business instructed me to use the surface cleaner with the injector in place to reduce the 'flying' of the cleaner. The more I thought about it I realized that I wanted it to run as fast as possible. I now run my surface cleaner on the shortest hose possible (50 or 100 foot usually) without the injector and then I place a small sledge on my deck with a little bungee but anything with weight will work. I can clean most surfaces at about the same speed as mowing grass. My machine is 8 gpm. I would be interested in the 4 nozzle cleaner mentioned in the thread.

I am in N FL. My avg charge for pool deck is $30 - $40 but by sq ft I would go at least 10 cents and more if really dirty. I do not have hot water at all and have never needed for surface work (helps with gum). I do not pre treat with chlorine usually - post treat with chlorine to continue the whiten/brighten. May use chlorine if extreme mold. For equipment you want at least 5 GPM and 8 GPM is better. PSI will be at 3500 or more. Note if surface is painted. Some pool decks have been painted and that will come off with surfa0e cleaner. Also note the plastic cover can get sucked up nto the surface cleaner and break. They cost about $30 to replace

I bid on a job to clean the exterior of a cold storage. Not aesthetic as much as FDA I think, removing algae/moss/mildew from drain outflows and where metal walls meet foundation. One area I need to clean is where the refrigeration equipment is and it uses ammonia. I got a whiff as we walked through the inspection. I KNOW that I can not mix ammonia and chlorine without serious risk. If I am smelling it I must assume that there is potential that the two chemicals may mix even if the ammonia is only vapor. Does that sound correct? Anyone have any feedback, suggestions, experience? I would plan to use a pump up and apply chlorine to specific spots. The thickness of the algae/moss will require pressure to remove anyway but the chlorine should make the process easier. Any input is appreciated. Joe

I do not have it and will not get it as long as I am the sole employee. I can not sue myself and am not sure how I would make a claim against my corporation. What I do have is an exemption for from Florida that I had to PAY for even though I could not possibly benefit from WC. I have had one client ask for proof of WC and that is why I applied for the exemption. I am also insured but as I understand it that does not absolve the home owner nor business of liability if I am injured on their property. I never realized this as a home owner but that is what I understand from my insurance agent. If I am in the dark regarding the WC issue for an owner/operator with an S-Corp I am open for suggestions. joe

Hey Lance, can you point me to where you are getting your? I am at the beach but work in Mandarin quite a bit. My most convenient source is an Ace Hdw and they are $1.79. I use the rarely as the Pinch-A-Penny on Atlantic near me is about $1.42 a gal. I met another beaches PW who mentioned a place in Mandarin but could not remember what it was. Anyway, if you don't mind passing along you can email or call me at 904-316-3063. thx, joe

Many changes along the way. I once planned to go into the ministry as missionary and then youth work. Did not take the ministry path to youth work but got into recreation in GA after leaving seminary in TX. After working with county recreation I worked with Boys & Girls Club in GA for 11 years becoming the Exec Director before leaving (politics on my board). My hobby had been computers so I eventually got in with a 'small' family owned company (I had Macintosh experience and they were all Macs) I learned on the job as I had no formal education, just a knack for it. I spent 7 years there unitl I saw things differently than the boss and became vocal. Parted ways last March and I was considering my options and decided to look into starting a business. My first option was something web related, design, hosting possibly. That was too much like I had been doing and was not sure I could deal with the creative differences (or lack of) when dealing with clients. I came back home to FL for a vacation while out of work and realized I should move back here. I came across a business model and was looking to purchase an existing business as a springboard. Somehow in the process of trying to get a business broker to represent me in the transaction I came across this existing PW business. It all sounded good so I shifted gears. I have been working it since June and so far it has been great. Wish I had been doing this years ago. Love the physical outdoor work, money is not too bad and love living back in FL at the beach. I have not had to fall back on anything yet as the winter has approached (as busy the past two weeks as the summer thankfully) but will be doing some computer consulting and have kept contacts open for some web development. I have a long time web site related to flats fishing (flatsfisher.com) that I really should do something with. As soon as things are back into a routine I hope to start fishing again and get my site current. That is about all there is I think.

One other note on backing up - and you must do that as a minimum - get a copy off site. If you have your backup in the same place as the original data you are only slightly better off than not backing up at all. If there is a fire, storm, theft or other disaster you will still lose all your valuable information. Now, as I speak I have most of my data locally (thump on my head). However, I have some of my most important data stored on remote web site. There are secure options to do at least that. However anything more than several hundred megabytes is hard to manage that way. Former computer guy who had to maintain data for my company (among other things). Hope that the data recovery works - if they did any install or attempts themselves some data could have been overwritten or key portions of files damaged enough that they will not be useful.

I am with Cingular and had been mostly happy with my Motorala 550 (? think that was it) but the earpiece volume over time went and it was unbearable. I looked at Razr but went with the Blackberry. Never thought I would ever use one of those. Even though I am a former computer guy they always seemed geeky even to me. I have the 8700c which has a very high speed internet connection. It has been a great business tool. Google Maps, reverse phone look up, Tax Assessor records for getting sq ft on quotes and can even read Grime Scene. Geeky but have had it since June and have had no problems. It is BT but I continue to hold out on using the headset - that looks goofy to me (but your mileage may vary).