Practically New Rig For Sale

Bob,

Be sure to snap some pics of this masterpiece for us to see when its finished...........

Let me know if you need help getting them online.
 
Mr. Alan:

I'm expecting delivery of Delco's Vacuum Sludge System with a Vacu-Boom attachment today or tomorrow. Below I've copied an e-mail I sent to Robert and PWNA that explains what I went through to get a new business license. At the bottom of the the email I included the one I sent to my local water district. Maybe it's contents can be used as a template for other PW'er's in getting their licenses.

Robert and PWNA:

I'm copying Nancy Shaver of Cleaner Times because she asked for feedback from the convention and this is in addition to what I already shared with her.

The e-mail below was built with the knowledge I acquired from the Environment class at Las Vegas. It was sent to my home town's water guru who is facing unknown terrors in his new responsibilities concerning clean water. His first reaction to my business license application was to simply deny it outright. I left him a message and sent him the email below. He was new enough and caring enough to respond to my call (even before he saw the email) and to give me a chance to sell him. I shared all that was in the e-mail. He said that though I did impress him with my knowledge, he was still concerned with actual follow through on my part (and still is). I gave him my word that, until he says I do not have to do it anymore, I will notify him before hand of the time and location of every job I schedule in his district. I further offered to put his name and number in my mobile signage, kind of like those "How's My Driving? ..." stickers some trucking companies put on their rigs.

He felt comfortable with my knowledge, attitude, and sincerity so he presented my case to his boss, and they approved my license. And his boss did not even require me to put their names on my signage :)

So, here's a note about the effectiveness of your training and how well I was prepared by it to succeed in getting a very difficult new business license.

Wish me the luck of honest, smart, and hard work.

Bob Mueller
Bob Mueller's Pressure Washing Service (set for operational start on May 5th)
525 Airport Blvd #54
Watsonville, CA 95076
831-724-1035


----- Original Message -----
From: bobmueller.1
To: jcrowley@ci.watsonville.ca.us
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 1:17 PM
Subject: Clean Waste Water BMP for Bob Mueller's Pressure Washing Service


Mr. Crowley:

I am a new coastal resident who is a refugee from Silly Valley computer corporations. I am starting a sole proprietorship mobile pressure washing business in which I will be the owner/operator and I will have no employees. My business will be exterior cosmetic cleaning.

I am very conscious and concerned about clean water issues and want to comply with the letter and the spirit of all waste water regulations. To that end, I just got certified in environmentally responsible pressure washing ( http://www.pwna.org/documents/Environmental Candidate's Guide.pdf ) by the Power Washers of North America trade association ( http://www.pwna.org/ ). The founder of this organization, Robert Hinderliter ( robert@dcs1.com ), was the teacher of the course. He is man of integrity and is very active with many municipalities nationwide in environmental issues as they relate to pressure washing.

I plan to pressure wash the buildings and flat surfaces of local and non-so-local homes and businesses with as cool a water temperature as necessary to do the job to my customers' specs. If I use any cleaners at all, they will be both non-toxic and biodegradable. I understand that absolutely no waste water is to get into storm drains. To this end, I am about to purchase the waste water retrieval system described in the URL's below.

http://pressurewash.com/catalog/pro...id=66&osCsid=0a1e1874fbcdfe9baeed5c9ee4f60881

I will be using the vacu-boom attachment and oil filtering boom just as they are pictured at the above URL.

Here is an informal version of my Best Management Practices.

For cleaning areas surrounded by landscaping, I will simply let the non-toxic, biodegradable runoff be absorbed into the ground. I can not have any hazardous runoff both for environment concerns and customer satisfaction.

For cleaning any areas where runoff will reach only black top or concrete covered surfaces such as commercial storefronts, sidewalks, and parking lots, my process will be:
1. Use oil and grease absorbent materials (kitty litter) if necessary, then sweep the whole surface. All sweeping debris will then be put into landfill bound trash containers.
2. Pressure wash the surface and use the waste water retrieval system described above and discharge the oil and sludge filtered runoff into the sanitary sewer.

If any more formal information about my processes are required I will provide whatever is necessary. The runoff volume from my one person operation seems like it will be low and I will always manage it responsibly.

I want to be a good business citizen for the Central Coast Area and any timely guidance you can give me for getting my business license approved would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time and your vocation.

Robert G. Mueller
Bob Mueller's Pressure Washing Service
525 Airport Blvd #54
Watsonville, CA 95076
ofc: 831-724-1035
cell: 408-712-5377
 
Mike:

The Lord has sent me a helper for building an enclosure around the trailer that should be safe from curious hands, notable for marketing purposes (made of bamboo:), and still give me a complete accessibility. We're going to make that happen this week and, for sure, I will post some pictures. I think I have figured out the posting process. Thanks for your interest and I'm very grateful to this BBS.

One thing I plan to do before I start soliciting business in my areas is to go to each existing service and ask them to give me a list of companies and residences with whom they have established washing contracts. I will then refrain from active marketing for those unless their customers come to me. In this way I hope to form a cooperative of all pressure washing services around my area. They can take work I cannot and vice versa. I'd rather have my competition covering my back than trying to put a knife in it :) I'm sure this won't work with all competitors but at least I know that I gave it an honest and professional shot.

We'll talk again soon. Bob
 
I would not do that. You might get shot or worse. I am certain that you will not get a copy of who their customers are.

Scott Stone
 
I agree with Scott. Not only might you get shot, you will severely damage any chance at cooperation between yourself and other contractors in your area. An established contractor is going to assume that you are only after his client list, and will look at any further efforts at cooperation on your part with suspicion.
 
GOOD POINT! I would not have thought of that angle but it certainly makes sense. Thanks for saving me on this. So, should I just go about soliciting my own without regard? Should I make contact with any existing PW'rs or just mind and grow my own business? Any experienced suggestions would be welcome.
Bob
 
Bob,

I say solicit without regard! They would! Business is business. Just make sure you do quality work, at proper prices................no lowballing. That should earn you the respect of others.

As time goes on, you will meet your competitors one by one. Cross those bridges when you come to them, rather then forcing the issue.
 
Bob,
Not overly familiar with Delco's vacuum, but know it will work with 20' of vacuboom tube if you so desire.
I also agree that going to your competition is not a very good idea. Just get your pricing in order, and go to town. If they did give you a list, and then their customer comes to you on their own, they will not believe it.
 
Alan:

Yeah, I've got the Vacu-boom coming, too. I will refrain from my previous naive plan.

I got a side email from a nick who sells a covered rig with a water softener. Though my budget is mostly blown now, it does seem that running softened water through a machine would extend machine life. Any experience with soft water in PW'ing?
 
Bob

There's alot of words on the various bbs about softened water but to cut to the chase, softened water makes cleaning easier, PERIOD. Especially the stuff I clean. If you're washing fleets and you wanna get fancy, you might want to give dionized water a try as well.

My opinion only but I've proven it to myself over and over again.

If you care to email me I'll give you more details since I've already bored everybody to tears around here about soft water lol.
 
I agree with Chuck...

and I've been running soft water for about a year and a half (Chuck helped me set it up), and I can notice the difference when I'm not using the softener.

If you're going to be running soft water through a coil, there are some things you might want to consider to eleminate, or at least lessen, potential coil problems.

I rarely use 100% soft water. I add 20 - 25% hard water to keep it at 3 - 4 grains hardness (in my area). This seems to keep the water from attacking the scale in the coil. I haven't seen any black or brown water since I started doing this. I also upstream a little soap through the coil (almost every day) and leave it overnight.

I keep antifreeze in my float tank and load the coil with it at night, if I know I won't be using the machine the next day. Here's why: I left soft water in my coil and went on a 5 day trip last year. When I got home and started the machine, all I got was black water. I had to de-scale the coil, twice. Not fun, time consuming, and hard on the pump. Also, I had to run the machine for a long time, @ 200 degrees, until the water cleared up (after de-scaling).

After reading a post (last year) about a guy who was using DI water and having coil problems, I decided to pump DI water through a cold water machine only. Just a safety precaution on my part. I'd like to plumb my HW machine so that I can bypass the coil and run DI water, but that's a post in itself.

I don't combine DI with soft water. This advise comes from my DI water supplier. I don't understand the logic, but he claims that running soft water through the DI tank will cause the tank to depleat faster. Somebody else also mentioned that the purity of the water (soft and de-ironized) would attack the scale in the coil much more agressively.

Almost everything mentioned above comes from guys with 25+ years experience and seems to be working nicely. So, if your experience differs, don't be offended.
 
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