Plant & Property Protection: What Patrick Clark Shows You on a Real Job Site
Most plant damage doesn't happen because somebody doesn't care. It happens because somebody didn't look first.
One of our Trusted Coaches, Patrick Clark (patclark.com), put together a short video that shows exactly that. It's called "Plant damage and how to prevent it!" and runs about 12 minutes. It's posted in the PressureWashingInstitute.org blogs here: Plant & Property Protection from Patrick Clark
Patrick doesn't stage this. He walks you through a job his crew did about a week before and shows you the burn.
The burn line on the grass
First thing you see is the edge of the lawn along a driveway. Patrick says they sprayed that driveway with about a 3 to 3.5% mix, and you can see the grass burned all the way around the edges.
That's the lesson right there. A flatwork mix that's doing its job on the concrete is still going to hurt the lawn if it sits on the edges. Pre-wet the turf and beds along the edges, keep them wet while you work, and rinse them good when you're done. Don't count on the customer's sprinklers to do it for you.
Find the downspouts before you clean the roof
This is the tip I want every roof cleaner to steal.
On this house the downspouts don't dump out where you can see them. They run underground and come up in the middle of the yard through a pop-up drain buried under the grass. You clean that roof, and your runoff goes straight into the lawn somewhere you weren't watching.
Here's what Patrick does about it:
The truck is part of protecting the property
Patrick also does a walk-around of one of his rigs, and it's not pretty. Trash in the bed, water keys getting corroded, chemical spilled, a brand new roll of caution tape getting wet and ruined, food sitting on the gear.
His point is simple. Clean the truck out every day, hang your hoses, and the next day's production goes faster. I'll add this: a sloppy truck is how chemical ends up somewhere it shouldn't be, on your gear, on the customer's driveway, on the car parked next to you.
Transferring chemical
He also shows his crew transferring SH (sodium hypochlorite) with a 12-volt transfer pump. The habits he points out:
Protect the relationship, not just the plants
The middle of the video is Patrick talking with a regional manager for a multi-family apartment company his crew cleans for. A few things worth hearing from the customer's side:
Patrick wraps up with a "soft wash ninja" tip: park smart. He parks between buildings near the water spigot so he can run hoses to two buildings at once. Less hose dragged across landscaping, less time on site.
My checklist
Here's the stuff that isn't in the video word for word but goes right along with it. Do this on every job:
Watch the whole thing
The video is short and you'll get more out of seeing that burn line than reading about it. Watch it above, on the PressureWashingInstitute.org blog page, or straight on YouTube, and go check out Patrick at patclark.com.
If you've got a plant damage story, good or bad, post it in the comments. We all learn from those.
— Ron Musgraves
Most plant damage doesn't happen because somebody doesn't care. It happens because somebody didn't look first.
One of our Trusted Coaches, Patrick Clark (patclark.com), put together a short video that shows exactly that. It's called "Plant damage and how to prevent it!" and runs about 12 minutes. It's posted in the PressureWashingInstitute.org blogs here: Plant & Property Protection from Patrick Clark
Patrick doesn't stage this. He walks you through a job his crew did about a week before and shows you the burn.
The burn line on the grass
First thing you see is the edge of the lawn along a driveway. Patrick says they sprayed that driveway with about a 3 to 3.5% mix, and you can see the grass burned all the way around the edges.
That's the lesson right there. A flatwork mix that's doing its job on the concrete is still going to hurt the lawn if it sits on the edges. Pre-wet the turf and beds along the edges, keep them wet while you work, and rinse them good when you're done. Don't count on the customer's sprinklers to do it for you.
Find the downspouts before you clean the roof
This is the tip I want every roof cleaner to steal.
On this house the downspouts don't dump out where you can see them. They run underground and come up in the middle of the yard through a pop-up drain buried under the grass. You clean that roof, and your runoff goes straight into the lawn somewhere you weren't watching.
Here's what Patrick does about it:
- Before you spray the roof, put a garden hose in the gutter with a gutter cane and flood it.
- Let it run about 5 to 10 minutes. You'll see water start coming out, in his case all the way out to the road.
- Now you know where that downspout drains, so your ground guy knows where to be wetting and rinsing.
- Do it zone by zone. On this house two gutters fed one outlet in the middle of the yard, which made that zone one. Then you move to zone two and do it again.
The truck is part of protecting the property
Patrick also does a walk-around of one of his rigs, and it's not pretty. Trash in the bed, water keys getting corroded, chemical spilled, a brand new roll of caution tape getting wet and ruined, food sitting on the gear.
His point is simple. Clean the truck out every day, hang your hoses, and the next day's production goes faster. I'll add this: a sloppy truck is how chemical ends up somewhere it shouldn't be, on your gear, on the customer's driveway, on the car parked next to you.
Transferring chemical
He also shows his crew transferring SH (sodium hypochlorite) with a 12-volt transfer pump. The habits he points out:
- Watch your tank level the whole time you're filling, and be standing there to shut it off before it gets to the top.
- Have water ready so you can rinse the pump out when you're done.
- If you spill on the tailgate, neutralize it.
- Put caution tape around your fill station.
Protect the relationship, not just the plants
The middle of the video is Patrick talking with a regional manager for a multi-family apartment company his crew cleans for. A few things worth hearing from the customer's side:
- He talks about soft washing not damaging their property the way straight pressure washing can, and that's how they sold it to their owner.
- They're on a deep-clean schedule of about every 3 to 5 years depending on location, with maintenance in between.
- He likes how fast and non-disruptive the crew is. Multiple trucks, get in, get out. It's people's homes.
- And here's the big one: make the on-site property manager happy. They're the ones living with that property day in and day out after you leave. If that property manager isn't singing your praises, you're not coming back.
Patrick wraps up with a "soft wash ninja" tip: park smart. He parks between buildings near the water spigot so he can run hoses to two buildings at once. Less hose dragged across landscaping, less time on site.
My checklist
Here's the stuff that isn't in the video word for word but goes right along with it. Do this on every job:
- Walk the property before you unload anything. Look at plants, lawn edges, drains, downspouts, and what's downhill from where you're spraying.
- Take photos of anything that's already damaged (cracked windows, peeling paint, dead plants, broken light fixtures) and point it out to the customer before you start.
- Pre-wet plants and lawn, keep them wet, and rinse after.
- Cover or protect what can get hurt: outlets, light fixtures, electrical boxes, and anything you're not sure about. Ask about cars and get them moved if they're close.
- Watch your drift and your runoff. Wind changes during the day, and water always goes downhill.
- Rinse windows, doors, and painted surfaces you may have hit with overspray.
- Do a final walk before you leave.
Watch the whole thing
The video is short and you'll get more out of seeing that burn line than reading about it. Watch it above, on the PressureWashingInstitute.org blog page, or straight on YouTube, and go check out Patrick at patclark.com.
If you've got a plant damage story, good or bad, post it in the comments. We all learn from those.
— Ron Musgraves