Downstream on two Story homes

[onecallpowerw]

I dont know about you guys, but being fast is not the answer. It takes us approx 4 hrs to do a 2000-2500sf hse. We wash every vinly slat individually. From the top down. We chem from the bottom up and let dwell while we soap down another side. We also charge a little more than most. Our closest competitor will wash a home in less than two hrs and charge $195. We are almost double that but we also get on an average of two new calls a week from jobs we did the previous week. We explain our process and let them know we are just not the average splash & dash company that the would need to call back out next year. Do we offer a maintenance schedule for house washes ? No, but most of our customers call us back anyway. They know we do it right and we do it thorough.

Be careful not to set yourself up as a spash & dash, because they will remember you for it. Do you think the next door neighbor will say "Man, they were in and out of there in two hours" or do you want them to say " Those guys are good, they were there all day, they dont mess around" You be the judge.

In our area, almost always, there are 5 homes within eye distance of our house washes not to mention plenty of traffic.

Just my two cents.....

 

[oneness]

Originally posted by onecallpowerw
I dont know about you guys, but being fast is not the answer. It takes us approx 4 hrs to do a 2000-2500sf hse. We wash every vinly slat individually. From the top down. We chem from the bottom up and let dwell while we soap down another side. We also charge a little more than most. Our closest competitor will wash a home in less than two hrs and charge $195. We are almost double that but we also get on an average of two new calls a week from jobs we did the previous week. We explain our process and let them know we are just not the average splash & dash company that the would need to call back out next year. Do we offer a maintenance schedule for house washes ? No, but most of our customers call us back anyway. They know we do it right and we do it thorough.

Be careful not to set yourself up as a spash & dash, because they will remember you for it. Do you think the next door neighbor will say "Man, they were in and out of there in two hours" or do you want them to say " Those guys are good, they were there all day, they dont mess around" You be the judge.

In our area, almost always, there are 5 homes within eye distance of our house washes not to mention plenty of traffic.

Just my two cents.....

Maybe the customers in your area are just stupid? For a typical 2000 square foot house I'd never get anywhere close to $400.00 for a housewash. I'd be out of business charging that.

How do you mean you wash each slat individually? Do you hand wash the house?

Why would a neighbor say "these guys are good, they were there all day.."?? If I were watching you take all day to wash a house I'd say "man, those guys don't know what they're doing...they're taking all day."

I can guarantee you the houses I wash are clean when I leave. Even if the customer would pay $400.00 for me to spend all day there, I wouldn't do it. There's no need for it. I'd feel as though I were ripping my customers off.

Being fast IS the answer. I have very satisfied customers. I'm happy with the money I make, and I can sleep at night knowing I gave my customers the best value and quality for their money.

 

[onecallpowerw]

Sounds to me like you took it all too personal......

How long does your house wash last ? 1 year ? 2 years ? Let us know. It takes years for algea, mildew, mold to build up. If you have to service a property every year because of this, then your wash is not as effective as it should be.

How many times after you have washed a home and turn around and see the streaks from the weep holes still with dirt running from them ?

Do you really, and I mean really clean above the vents ?

Do you remove all of the algea off the concrete slab work also ?

Do you really get all the black soot off the white soffits ? I am talking from the very top down ?

Lets get real, can we.....

 

[Larry L.]

....being fast will only leave a stain in your underpants.

DeGraffreed do you up stream soap,if so I can tell you how to draw more out of the chemical tank if the mix isn't strong enough.You can downstream chlorine and upstream the soap at the same time.

 

[oneness]

Originally posted by onecallpowerw
Sounds to me like you took it all too personal......

NOPE.

How long does your house wash last ? 1 year ? 2 years ? Let us know. It takes years for algea, mildew, mold to build up. If you have to service a property every year because of this, then your wash is not as effective as it should be.

It is pretty clear you don't live in Florida! I've done housewashes on homes that were built less than a year before, and yet were covered in mold. I'd be curious to see where you got the crazy idea that it takes years for mold to build up. Basically what it appears you are suggesting is that I'm leaving a lot of live mold hidden somewhere on the siding???

How many times after you have washed a home and turn around and see the streaks from the weep holes still with dirt running from them ?

I don't wash a lot of vinyl, and of course, yes, I've seen dirt running out of the weep holes. You're telling me you clean all the dirt from behind the vinyl???? Heh...Hope not...if so, mold on the OUTSIDE will be the least of your problems.

Do you really, and I mean really clean above the vents ?

Which vents are you referring to?

Do you remove all of the algea off the concrete slab work also ?

Of course. Not doing so would be like not cleaning the gutters while washing the house. It is incomplete.

Do you really get all the black soot off the white soffits ? I am talking from the very top down ?

Soffit is flat, and horizontal. Thus, the top is on the inside of the eaves, and thus pretty damned difficult to clean. I do clean the exterior of the soffit, however. I don't get black soot though. Usually mold, mildew, or black stains from the roof runoff at the edge of the soffit where it meets the fascia. Are you calling something else "soffit" ?

Lets get real, can we.....

As real as you want to get. See, you're making some assumptions about how I do my work. You're assuming that because I can get a house done faster then I'm doing a half assed job. In that, you're wrong. You can clean a house ( and I mean clean, not just wash) in 2 hours or less. Any time you're in the area, I'd be happy to show you how.

 

[onecallpowerw]

See, there ya go again....taking it personal. I in no way are saying you do a crappy job. I would have to see your work for that. Anyway, it would not take a rocket scientist such as yourself to figure out we do not clean behind the vinly. This would be impossible. But we do make sure we do not have any run forever weep holes leaving streaks as we leave the site. I have been on homes that the weep holes continually spit out garbage for up to 1/2 hour. How do you handle this ? About the vents, of course I mean the gable vents that let the air flow through the attic. Most washers that I have had to clean after, generally leave these 1/2 done. It seems as if it is just a pain in the a** for them to make sure these are as spotless as the rest of the home. The question on how many years until the next wash is a general question. If you have to visit the same property in 12 months then maybe your chems may be wrong for your environment.

Why are you taking this personal ? These questions/post are directed toward everyone, not just you oneness.....

 

[Larry L.]

Think his stinger has been hanging out for a few weeks now,he is number one,nobody tells him what,when and where to do it.

 

[oneness]

Originally posted by onecallpowerw
See, there ya go again....taking it personal.
Why are you taking this personal ? These questions/post are directed toward everyone, not just you oneness.....

Sorry, I assumed that since the first sentence in your post was directed at me taking it personal, then the remainder of your questions we directed at me rather than everyone in general. My apologies.

My point about mold coming back is that it doesn't matter what you're using, unless it is some sort of mold inhibitor that bonds to the surface, the mold is going to come back. How quickly depends on what type of siding, how much tree canopy there is, what type of landscaping surrounds the house, etc. When I leave, there is no mold left on the house. If mold comes back in a year, or in 5 years, it has nothing to do with my chems. It has to do with the environment around the house, and the house itself.

Sorry for the confusion about the gable vents...we don't have a lot of those here. Most roofs have ridge or roof vents. I rarely have to deal with the gable vents, but when I do, yes, they're clean from top to bottom.

How I deal with weep holes, when I do have the problem of them weeping, is to go back over the house with a very very low pressure rinse (often with no nozzle in the gun at all, since they're usually shoulder height or lower) a short time later. Every once in a while I get one that just won't stop weeping dirt no matter how you rinse it. With those, I let them dry and then wipe with a damp cloth. If they're to high to reach by hand, I use a damp rag on a pole.

 

[Larry L.]

Onecall I have a lady friend that lives in Fl,she has her house,roof and snuff done not less then twice a year,thoooose type houses will be easier to clean with less chemicals.Our area doesn't get the mold that Fl. gets or La.,as you say a house around here will last a few years before the mold comes back.After a few years of mold slowing growing back the house has gotten dirtier with a soot buildup in most cases.This is the reason alot of those 1 and 1 1/2 hours guys cann't understand why it takes us longer to wash,clean a house and ask for more money.

That every reason is why it is hard to give someone a price on the board,they are either getting rich or going broke at those prices.

 

[klean_freak]

OK i was not paying attention
But im awake now
I totally AGREE with ONENESS not on the personal not but the house wash lasting 2 years in FL H##L no.
while your making 400$ off one house in 2 years we are making 3 and 4 hundred a year doing the house on a quarterly bases, called monthly maintenance fee.
so if you think about it if you have 100 customers paying you 20$ a month.
Now your 100 customers profit you 40,000$ in 2 years while ours profit us 48,000 in 2 years not to mention the concrete drives or whatever else you can get them on a semi yearly bases and it is STEADY money once you have them paying you a certain amount every month.
NOW THIS WAS JUST AN EXAMPLE.

SO let the picking begin......

 

[degraffreed]

Guys, Wheewwww. Man did I open up a can of A** chewing. Guys I just wanted to find out how to continue to do a great housewash and complete it in a timely manner. I clean everything from the facia, gutters, to the soffit. When I hear of gents performing it in under two hours, I was kind of puzzeled. I did not mean to spark a all out piss off. I want those who feel they have to be negative in there response to to a prozac and chill out. We are all in this together and my father once told me if you do not have anything good to say to your fellow man than do not say nothing at all.

Sometimes just reading these post remindes me off how kids act when no parents are around. Come on gents cut out the all the

HATETORADE.

Degraffreed.

P.S thanks for all the gent you were postive in there response. This on how we newbies become better, By asking question.

 

[steelman39]

xjet

Can someone post a picture of an xjet showing the way it hooks up to the pw and explain exactly how it works and the connections,etc.

Thanks

 

[oneness]

Here's two pictures from the Xjet manufacturer's homepage. The first is a picture of the Xjet. There is the Xjet itself, some hose with a shutoff valve and a strainer, and there is a screw-in wide angle tip to give you a wider, softer spray for close-in work. There is also a bag of various colored plastic inserts (proportioners) that allow you to adjust the draw rate. Most folks don't bother with these, they just adjust the strength of their mix instead.

The 2nd pic is with the Xjet attached to a gun. I stick it in the end of my lance, rather than removing the lance and attaching to the gun as shown in the picture.

When you attach to the gun, stick the hose in the bucket of chems, and pull the trigger, the Xjet draws chems through the hose and injects them into the stream passing through the end of the gun. Depending on the gpm of your machine, you can get anywhere between 0.8:1 and 2.4:1

On my machine (5.6gpm) I get 2.2:1

There is also a new version of the Xjet called the M5...does the same thing except allows you to adjust the spray pattern without any added attachments.

 

[steelman39]

Thanks Mike

 

[steelman39]

I bought a cheap downstream injector just to see how I liked it and cant seem to get it to work on low pressure or high pressure. Its attached between the gun and the lance. Any ideas?

 

[Larry L.]

One step at a time,,

Do you have it on bacxkwards?

Is the psi dropping enough?

How are you turning the downstreamer on/off?

What size psi hose are using?

and why between gun and lance?

 

[klean_freak]

Cheap O

Any who like larry said is the pressure dropping enough cause a chem injector is nothing more than a small ball valve and if the pressure is not dropped enough it will not suck the ball down to inject your chems.
now with it being on the end of your gun it may not have the pressure drop it needs.
it is not an x jet.

put it before your hoses.
and put it before your gun cause your gun is throwing out what ever pressure your set up for so you will not see a pressure drop if it is only 3 feet after the fact.

do you understand??????????

 

[steelman39]

Thanks. If I dont understand, I'll ask more questions. Thats what this forum is for aint it????????????

 

[Larry L.]

Thats what its for

 

[klean_freak]

Yup

No problem and good luck.
Yes ask as many questions as you like I DO.