PWI members, what say ye? What do you guys desire of us in the UAMCC?

[Rance]

I have learned alot about my Enviromental Responsibilities as a contractor through out this EPA discussion on the BB's the last few days and I want to thank everybody for their input. I have discovered that I was not being very respectful of the issues discussed. So I went to my local EPA office, introduced myself as a Power Wash CLEANING Contractor that has started a new CLEANING business in the area and wanted to get myself educated about the Regs and BMP's for my area. The guy was very helpful and seemed to have alot of respect for me during our 1hr of discussions. I have alot to learn about all of this stuff but I think I'm on the right track to building a good relationship with a good TRUST factor built in. I may be new with alot to learn but i feel that to build a successful business I need to be Enviromentally Responsible as a contractor. I am willing to do my part in this situation weather we start all over or what ever is decided. It's my livilyhood too! Hopefully I make all the right choices. I want build a good reputation with my local regulators and AHJ's to be able to work with them in the future for the good of the industry. So I'm all in 100%.

 

[Rance]

One more thing, I'm looking for a water reclaim system. Trying to get some work for a local quick stop gas station chain and WalMart.

 

[Ohio pressure wash]

I have learned alot about my Enviromental Responsibilities as a contractor through out this EPA discussion on the BB's the last few days and I want to thank everybody for their input. I have discovered that I was not being very respectful of the issues discussed. So I went to my local EPA office, introduced myself as a Power Wash CLEANING Contractor that has started a new CLEANING business in the area and wanted to get myself educated about the Regs and BMP's for my area. The guy was very helpful and seemed to have alot of respect for me during our 1hr of discussions. I have alot to learn about all of this stuff but I think I'm on the right track to building a good relationship with a good TRUST factor built in. I may be new with alot to learn but i feel that to build a successful business I need to be Enviromentally Responsible as a contractor. I am willing to do my part in this situation weather we start all over or what ever is decided. It's my livilyhood too! Hopefully I make all the right choices. I want build a good reputation with my local regulators and AHJ's to be able to work with them in the future for the good of the industry. So I'm all in 100%.

Your first mistake was going to the local EPA office. Imagine going to the police and asking them how much weed can a person have on him and not get arrested.

You are welcome to repeat the next mistake, I did as did many others. I was also fooled by the vendor motivated push for reclaim/compliance not unlike the woman from Houston. I also drank the koolaid.

I couldn't afford all the equipment so I took on a partner for the commercial side. I (we) even bought a used rig, from Houston (Doug can Verify that). We added a 24 HP gas reclaim to replace the electric sys, all new hoses, fittings....everything. The costs continued to spiral.

I built a website specifically for the business of EPA compliant pressure washing, ranked it up highly for the right keywords. I think I'm 3rd or 4th in the world for "EPA compliant mobile exterior cleaning" not to mention many other versions in the top 30. Locally, I dominate my city rankings for just about every related keyword you can think of.

Meantime....on the sales front, we could not get any work based on our very compliant and very expensive rig. I continued to divert all my commercial work from my existing business to the partnership. Unlike the woman in Houston, I did not blame my competition or call the EPA, police, mayor, etc. I blamed myself and the people pushing reclaim as the next big thing coming and the value of having it.

Eventually, the partnership fell apart...me owning the domain and losing half the income of about $15k in work, him owning the rig he never transferred into the business. Some of the problems were personal but some of it was the lack of customer interest.

Keep in mind....throughout this and even when 100% compliant with every gizzmo you can imagine, with oil skimming and filtration to 5 microns.....I never approached my local EPA.

I'm back to fire hose berms and sump pumps.....a few hundred dollars. I occasionally take on a commercial job but the economy has aggravated the lowballer situation. Last fall I lost a job for 28 gas stations (quarterly) to a guy that quoted $149 each. I'll wager every drop of his water goes down the drain and I could not care less and neither does the local AHJ's.

Here's my advice...

Talk to the guys here that understand the CWA...I'm talking contractors (not named John T).
Buy what you need to become compliant...minimally compliant is still compliant.
Grow into the gadgets and gizmos...let the work buy them.
There is a speed advantage for reclaim but you need a volume of work to justify it.
Never take on a partner.

 

[Tony Shelton]

Re: PWI members, what say ye?

Your first mistake was going to the local EPA office. Imagine going to the police and asking them how much weed can a person have on him and not get arrested.

You are welcome to repeat the next mistake, I did as did many others. I was also fooled by the vendor motivated push for reclaim/compliance not unlike the woman from Houston. I also drank the koolaid.

I couldn't afford all the equipment so I took on a partner for the commercial side. I (we) even bought a used rig, from Houston (Doug can Verify that). We added a 24 HP gas reclaim to replace the electric sys, all new hoses, fittings....everything. The costs continued to spiral.

I built a website specifically for the business of EPA compliant pressure washing, ranked it up highly for the right keywords. I think I'm 3rd or 4th in the world for "EPA compliant mobile exterior cleaning" not to mention many other versions in the top 30. Locally, I dominate my city rankings for just about every related keyword you can think of.

Meantime....on the sales front, we could not get any work based on our very compliant and very expensive rig. I continued to divert all my commercial work from my existing business to the partnership. Unlike the woman in Houston, I did not blame my competition or call the EPA, police, mayor, etc. I blamed myself and the people pushing reclaim as the next big thing coming and the value of having it.

Eventually, the partnership fell apart...me owning the domain and losing half the income of about $15k in work, him owning the rig he never transferred into the business. Some of the problems were personal but some of it was the lack of customer interest.

Keep in mind....throughout this and even when 100% compliant with every gizzmo you can imagine, with oil skimming and filtration to 5 microns.....I never approached my local EPA.

I'm back to fire hose berms and sump pumps.....a few hundred dollars. I occasionally take on a commercial job but the economy has aggravated the lowballer situation. Last fall I lost a job for 28 gas stations (quarterly) to a guy that quoted $149 each. I'll wager every drop of his water goes down the drain and I could not care less and neither does the local AHJ's.

Here's my advice...

Talk to the guys here that understand the CWA...I'm talking contractors (not named John T).
Buy what you need to become compliant...minimally compliant is still compliant.
Grow into the gadgets and gizmos...let the work buy them.
There is a speed advantage for reclaim but you need a volume of work to justify it.
Never take on a partner.

That is all great advice.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[outdoorprowash]

Re: PWI members, what say ye?

Good Post. I say rebuild. The Uamcc is it's own entity and should be a reflection of the leadership and members currently in place. That's the whole reason for saving and reviving the Uamcc any way. Right?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Clean County PW]

I have learned alot about my Enviromental Responsibilities as a contractor through out this EPA discussion on the BB's the last few days and I want to thank everybody for their input. I have discovered that I was not being very respectful of the issues discussed. So I went to my local EPA office, introduced myself as a Power Wash CLEANING Contractor that has started a new CLEANING business in the area and wanted to get myself educated about the Regs and BMP's for my area. The guy was very helpful and seemed to have alot of respect for me during our 1hr of discussions. I have alot to learn about all of this stuff but I think I'm on the right track to building a good relationship with a good TRUST factor built in. I may be new with alot to learn but i feel that to build a successful business I need to be Enviromentally Responsible as a contractor. I am willing to do my part in this situation weather we start all over or what ever is decided. It's my livilyhood too! Hopefully I make all the right choices. I want build a good reputation with my local regulators and AHJ's to be able to work with them in the future for the good of the industry. So I'm all in 100%.

Hey Rance -- I lost a $115,000(by the time I paid off my loan) on a franchise business that involved reclaiming and flocculents. I am not an advocate on reclaiming. I don't reclaim anything but I am dealing with issues with parking garages and sludge containment. We clean with high pressure and hi volumes of water so we bring up tons of sludge from the concrete surface that will clog most drains that are in use within the parking garages.

I think you getting the most knowledge is important. That way your covered if a problem occurs.

Best of luck always from one contractor to another.

 

[Ron Musgraves]

The Wheel was Never Invented and the Danger of no Follow through is how We got to Houston, see we cant Blame Robert because theres no reason for follow through. Once Equipment Sold its move on time. The program is Incomplete, this is why we have all the failed Places PWNA BMP went.

The List is Growing Longer and now Ft worth

I voted in a moment of weakness before I understood that my vote would show up. I really shouldn't have voted since it's not my livelihood that's being affected by any of this, and if there's a way to remove my vote, I'd prefer that.

While I have my own opinions about this whole situation, I plan to keep them to myself! However, I will say that I selected "Do you want us to try to build on Robert's foundation?" for two reasons:
1. Completely reinventing the wheel seems like a longer, less productive process than taking what is out there and reworking it.
2. Synergy, i.e., the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (Specifically "combined effort being greater than parts: the working together of two or more people, organizations, or things, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities")
IF there was a way for both organizations to work together, I believe more could be achieved than if two separate groups of passionate, intelligent, opinionated individuals continue to battle one another.

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Another Testament of LOST revenue

Hey Rance -- I lost a $115,000(by the time I paid off my loan) on a franchise business that involved reclaiming and flocculents. I am not an advocate on reclaiming. I don't reclaim anything but I am dealing with issues with parking garages and sludge containment. We clean with high pressure and hi volumes of water so we bring up tons of sludge from the concrete surface that will clog most drains that are in use within the parking garages.

I think you getting the most knowledge is important. That way your covered if a problem occurs.

Best of luck always from one contractor to another.

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Bringing her Back Up

The poll above is multiple choice. You may choose more than one.

This is a public poll to make sure the results aren't stacked with a bunch of fake users.




After two weeks, hundreds of posts and 16000 views it is apparent that Robert and the PWNA are again unfazed by any dissatisfaction in his BMP's and the manner he is presenting them to regulators.

I've asked him over and over again WHY he added the previously unheard of "hot water is the same as so@p" and he has given me no answer other than a few instances where 110 degree water isn't supposed to go into the storm drain, based on the old fact that factories used to dump millions of gallons of elevated temp water directly into lakes and streams.

I've asked him twice now if there is anything he would change on the BMP's or the Presentation of his bmps (presenting us as polluters) and again he has failed to provide a written answer, leaving us to the obvious answer that is "there is nothing that needs to change".

Regardless of what his motives are (I suppose they could be as pure as the driven snow), we need to make some decisions here.

What do we want to do at this point? Robert keeps bringing up the fact that we shouldn't try to build a new foundation.

Well, gentlemen, if we had an oak tree and wanted an apple tree, we could pin apples to it till we are blue in the face and they would all fall off and rot because the foundation of that tree is an oak. The only way to get an apple tree is to get rid of the oak and plant an apple tree.

Is that what we need to do?

The PWNA is going to keep their course. They've made it clear by their silence that they are behind Robert 100%.

What do you guys desire of us in the UAMCC?

Do you want us to start rebuilding the reputation of our industry from scratch?

Do you want us to move forward and actively approach the regulators as Robert has been doing or

Do you want us to sit back, prepare our defense and only approach in areas where and when we are needed?

Or do you want us to try to build on Robert's foundation?

Or do you want us to leave it alone and let Robert handle it?