Paul B.

I like it also, however, that nail polish clashed with my bathing suit - didn't realize it until I got out to the sand bar (bars everywhere). John, My friend Jeff is the one behind bars usually. I'm the one with the bail money. Although bar pictures can help where all other memory cells have failed, they could be taken out of context and/or incriminating. My better half is a cheap drunk - 2 drinks and it's large ice waters the rest of the evening. She's also a cheap druggie - her recent trip to the ER and surgery had everyone concerned - with quarter the normal dosage of Versed it took them 3 and 5 hours respectively to wake her up. She broke 3 bones in her ankle (I didn't touch her, honest). In the ER the nurse told me that she would scream like crazy (when they re-set the bones), but with the Versed she would not remember the pain. 5 seconds after getting the 2.5ml dosage she was out like a light (they start kids at 10ml). She slept thru the re-setting (no pain, but I hope there is gain). She's got more hardware in her ankle now than our local hardware store (all non-magnetic, stainless). She's on a 6 week vacation now. As for vacations, they are always #1 priority. Work falls somewhere lower on the priority list. We work to live, not live to work! We also try to have investments worker harder than we do. With three behind us, we have at least 2 more before the end of the year. I hear Vegas calling - have to get some of the money back I left there in April. I may take a couple of customers with me this time.

Yes, "about:blank homepage" AND "any-find" Spy-Sweeper keeps them in check but none of the three (Spy-Sweeper, Norton or McAfee) can delete it.

Wolman percarb does a good job.Last year I picked up several cases at the end of the season for $2 per container. (I can't pass up a sale!)

Your business should always have an established minimum that you will take on a small job for. I take on small jobs because often they tend to lead to other jobs (be it from the same person or referrals). I have a $150 minimum for small jobs. Folks are told up front when they start out saying I have this small deck or small concrete patio that I need cleaned. 75% of the time they say it's too much for such a small job, but that's OK because I saved a trip (estimate). As for going rates in my area, most simple cleaning such as house siding, concrete and deck cleaning starts in the range of $45 per hour. That is companies with employees bill out at this hourly rate. It's a conservative city.

I pick Hawaii for you. Have we had any P/W's from Hawaii on here?

Most of the viruses I had were tracking software for advertisers but who knows. I don't keep personal finances on the computers such as account numbers, etc. it's too risky if the computer is also used on the internet. I need to be careful about internet purchases. I just ran a Norton update the day before I got the Trojan horse - this one seems very persistant. Actually, the Norton software recognized it butr could not delete it or control it. I added Spy Sweeper and that recognized 32 other items the Norton software didn't flag. Spy sweeper was able to delete everything except the last one. I was talking to a service tech and he recommended against more than one software last year when I had a problem but I tend to disagree with him now. I think you need several. His reasoning was that some of the software clashed. I needed to find a better service tech. Paul, Thanks for the web site info. I'll check them out and add them to my list of resources.

I've turned down several jobs last year and this year due to lack of access. You end up spending more time figuring out where to park and how to get the equipment and materials to the area than what it takes to do the job. Maybe someday I'll have to be less picky, but for now I leave the challanges to my competition.

EnviroSpec carries White-Ox for decks and White-Ox for concrete. They were selling $45 pounds for under $50. I don't remember the shipping cost, but it was reasonable.

Ron, Some places the driveway backs into 2 lane streets which eliminates parking on the street (...could always park in the neighbor's driveway). There are other customers that have extremely long driveways of several hundred feet. I have one customer who's driveway is over 1/4 mile long. We only park in the driveway when it's not practicle to park on the street.

There should be no concern using bleach on stained surfaces to remove mold and mildew. Water will only remove the newest layer and will actually promote the regrowth. You most likely removed more mold & mildew with pressure than water. I had the similar situations with EFC-38 - even with low concentrations it would strip stain off adjacent cedar siding or even 1 year old stain (granted that older stains will strip much easier). If in doubt, we use percarb without TSP.

Mike, I had a customer that just wanted me to quote washing the 2nd story siding along with the 2nd and 1st story gutters. He said he could wash the lower level himself. I quoted $20 more to do the entire house. He didn't understand why, until I explained that we have to get the lower portion wet also as we do the upper. In essence, my estimate was for the whole house and I added $20 for the stupid request.

I would be a bit careful with a one for all rule when it comes to stains. For example, I would not apply a latex over a penetrating oil type finish like Ready Seal. Compatability from brand to brand is a large determiner of how long a finish will last when mixing and matching. If it's a solid, you should test to see if it's oil or water based (sodium hydroxide based stripper for oil based and solvent type stripper for water based stains.) Of course, as far as I'm concerned (call me old fashioned) but I consider all solid stain PAINT, regardless of what the manufacturer calls it. To me, stain is penetrating (I will accept penetrating with film forming as long as it's a semi).

It costs about $35 per gallon and coverage is about 100-150 sq ft per gallon.

HD-80 will kill SOME mold & mildew but the best bet is sodium hypochlorite for heavy accumulations. On the financial end, sodium hypochlorite is generally less expensive for this type of an application.

We are in a similar situation in the Cincinnati area (as Steve) with the majority of customers being unappreciative of high quality deck work. The quality is less important in majority of cases as the customer expects to spend that money every couple of years. The house cost and income seems irrelevant as I have presented estimates ranging from middle income to millionaires with similar unappreciative results. The exceptions are under 50% and they usually are a result of pre-screening and referrals. What I mean by pre-screening and referral is having another contractor provide you with information on customers personality and spending practices (inside information is most useful). I face companies every day that strip and stain for $0.50 per sq ft. The one day deck seems to be very popular around this area also. As I said, referrals are very helpful to get pricing up and finishing new decks helps to keep costs affordable to most customers. I work on overall averages for deck work so the high cost ones help out the lower end work. It helps when work is over abundant which provides ability to be selective. The other item that is helpful is when someone has had BAD experience with previous contractor. Pricing is relative to your business situation and IMHO some factors that contribute to business costs to consider are: - Are you an owner/operator with no employees or an owner/operator with employees. - Deck work is or isn't the only type of work your business offers - Does your business have enough work to stay busy? - Do you need more work to expand? - Is your business new and in need to establish customer base/recognition or are you already established? I can be very profitable on $0.50 per square foot for cleaning and brightening ONLY. One trip, low cost chemicals (less than $0.04 per sq ft). Stripping is another subject and the price is relative to the existing stain type (how hard is it to remove). The staining portion can also be more time consuming and costly depending on 1 person doing the work or more and how you apply (by hand, pump-up or sprayer, etc.).

Here is the scientific explaination of pH: pH is a unit of measure which describes the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14. The term pH is derived from "p", the mathematical symbol of the negative logarithm, and "H", the chemical symbol of Hydrogen. The formal definition of pH is the negative logarithm of the Hydrogen ion activity. pH provides the needed quantitative information by expressing the degree of the activity of an acid or base in terms of hydrogen ion activity. The pH value of a substance is directly related to the ratio of the hydrogen ion [H+] and the hydroxyl ion [OH-] concentrations. If the H+ concentration is greater than OH-, the material is acidic; i.e., the pH value is less than 7. If the OH- concentration is greater than H+, the material is basic, with a pH value greater than 7. If equal amounts of H+ and OH- ions are present, the material is neutral, with a pH of 7. Acids and bases have free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, respectively. Since the relationship between hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions in a given solution is constant for a given set of conditions, either one can be determined by knowing the other. Thus, pH is a measurement of both acidity and alkalinity, even though by definition it is a selective measurement of hydrogen ion activity. Since pH is a logarithmic function, a change of one pH unit represents a ten-fold change in hydrogen ion concentration. As for combining bleach and butyl based detergent: You should not have any problems. I would however consider liquid pool shock vs. outdoor bleach as it is stronger in concentration and should be less expensive. Test your detergent first and see what sudsing you get. If you don't feel it's enough, you can add liquid dish detergent.

This is not specific to TWP. The difference in color (even from can to can) can typically vary from a small to a large amount (even within the same batch). Most instructions on the containers will tell you to mix all batches together for one job so your color will be consistant.

We normally apply oxalix to a dry concrete surface because when you apply it to a wet surface it becomes diluted. On concrete, in most cases you need to most concentrated form to remove rust. In case of wood brightening, you have more latitude (meaning it will work in highly diluted form) it may take a little bit longer.

You need to establish a minimum price for yourself. What is smallest paying job that you will leave the driveway for and still make money after you calculate your overhead and expenses and add profit. You've most likely spent at least a half hour to an hour and will spend another half to an hour getting to the job site and back. Once you add you cost of fuel and chemicals and $0.375 per mile for driving you'll find that your minimum will be over $100. 250 LF x $0.35 = $87.50 unless you expect more work, referrals, need the exposure or just need practice, you will most likely lose money at that price. Our minimum started at $135 and is now $150, but rarely do I take on a job at that cost unless it's for the elderly, other work is expected, doing other work nearby. My minimum is established on the initial call, so most of the time I don't even go out on an estimate and waste the customer's and my time. To give you an example: I had a call from a lady that had a 16 x 24 ft concrete pad in the back of her condo that she needed cleaned. I offered some other options to her but she accepted the $150 minimum over the phone. I fit the job in between 2 other jobs near by. The work was done in 15 minutes (plus prep and load time). I gave the OK to seal the surface with some left over V-Seal (less than 2 gallons) and the customer was very very happy. Door to door the job was less than 1 hour. The "EXTRA" paid off in the long run, as she has provided several referrals.

I would only knock on peoples doors that had given me business or referrals. But seriously... Some basics to generating business: - Eat, drink and sleep marketing and sales. - Learn about marketing, sales and advertising. - Use many marketing techniques and keep track of what works when. - Have a good budget for marketing and advertising. - Have many business cards, post cards and flyers printed and mail them out repeatedly to the same potentials. - Start slow and focus on high quality - this will lead to many referrals. - Understand your customers and what they value (for example, a lot of folks in my area place low value on house siding cleaning, which makes pricing and speedy work critical). - Always have business cards with you and hand them out to everyone and I mean everyone that comes close to you. - Network with other contractors that can send you referrals. - Get your name out there as many ways as you can (legally) - newspaper ads, street signs, vehicle lettering, flyers, business cards, home and garden shows, etc. - Know your product, services and competition. - Organize good presentation of your services. - Offer rewards for referrals.

Butyl based detergents work very well for cleaning house siding and will accept bleach/pool shock as long as you pre-mix only a 1 or MAYBE 2 day supply. You should always have a chemical MSDS sheet and keep it with you in your vehicle. It helps if to know the ingredients that may be dangerous and will also aid doctors in an ER if you get some in your eye. The level of danger can help you decide if you want to use the chemical or not; what personal protection needs to be worn (gloves, long sleeve shirt, respirator, goggles, hat, etc.). MSDS (both familiarization and having on job site) hard copies are required by law if you have any employees (be it temp., permanent or sub-contractors).

Mail flyers and post cards - you are not really saving a lot (if any) by driving or walking around and placing them on peoples property. Sometimes flyers and post cards work, while other times they do not. My experience has been that with flyers and postcards you need to mail several times (3, 4 or as many as 6 to 7) before you get decent results. Sometimes they don't pay attention and pitch it, while other times their need is not there until later. At times they may not need the service but their friends and relatives will. The key is to have your name branded in their minds. I've gotten results 2-3 years after mailing flyers with business cards inserted. When mailing flyers, I place them in envelopes and place a business card inside. You can also mail the very thin magnetic business cards and stay at $0.37.

Also with cleaning you do not need to neutralize or most often brighten as you do when stripping.

Prosoco's EK Restoration Cleaner will remove lime and calcium runs along with paint oxidization streaks. It's a jell that can be applied with a paint roller. Gets very good coverage as long as you follow directions (such as pre-wetting the brick and allowing enough dwell time, etc.). Please leave the turbo in the tool box on this job.

Gutter Shock and Gutter Zap both contain 1% or less Sodium Hydroxide. AllBrite sold by SunBrite Supplies is a Butyl based cleaner that does not contain Sodium Hydroxide. The cost is about $23 for 5 gallons (plus S&H).