Our Day In The Sun! :-(

[spraymasters]

Got that first taste of "failure" in my mouth this past weekend. Gloria and I bid a church when we first started out in the biz and we were hungry and learning. We did our normal $1.00 per linear foot and .10 on the concrete walkways etc. We also looked at some graffiti on a tennis court and backboard of the two basketball goals. We gave the church a 50% discount!

What were we thinking??? Anyway, do to this and that we just got to the job this past weekend and it was 85+ degrees! We had to haul water in due to they are on a well and did not have the water to give. So we hauled 100 gallons in the trailer and brought in 5 55gallon drums in the back of the truck. To make a very long story short...we spent a total of 8+ hours...buying a new hand water pump to pump the water out of the drums...had to run up town to buy more chems for the graffiti...ruined an expensive soft brush...several of the #$%^ brass quick connects got stuck on the wand...two 2 story high ends of the church were butted together with 3 feet separation so got a good drenching of chems all over me...had to move the rig several times...had to get more water in the barrels...my extension wand would not extend...it was hot as #$% and Gloria accidently shot me in the crotch with 130 degree water while I was trying to fix the extension wand...the church and concrete came out great but the graffiti was a bust...the backboards look worse now then they did before we touched them.
You know we figured how much we made on that job. With all of our expenses we both made $2.00 per hour.

Wanna know what is worse??? My wife was doing a yardsale down the road and made TWICE the money we will be putting in the bank and she sat under a shade tree all day!!!

Oh well, you gotta laugh

As they say

Have a great day!!!Dennis

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Living Life On the Edge Makes Us Dizzy...WE LOVE DIZZY!

Dennis A. Cormier and Gloria A. Wagner
North Georgia Spray Masters, Inc.
spraymasters@hotmail.com

 

[Dave Olson]

Hi Dennis,

Sorry to hear about your weekend!! These things will happen, even after you have been in business for awhile!

These are some of the reasons that I suggest that you(or anyone else for that matter)not jump into this business fulltime, until you have been kicked around like this a few times.

Dave Olson



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Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com

 

[Jim Bilyeu]

Hi Dennis,

Sorry about your week-end, but it could have been worst. About two years ago, we did a big log home in Colo. This job ran right at $148,000.00. Three weeks after finishing the job, I got a call from the owner telling me that his house was turning white. I flew back to Colo. to see what was going on and the owner was right. The sealer we applied was turning white. To make a long story short, it cost me over $80,000.00 to restrip and reseal that house. No, the manufacture would not stand behind their product. They would not even go to Colo. to look at the job, even though I had better than $60,000.00 of their product on the house. No, I did not put their product back on the house and No, I'll never use their products again. So, as I said, it could have been worst. Hope this makes you feel better. Have a great day.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare

 

[Rick T]

Accidently did you say???Chock one up for Gloria. Nice shot kid !!!
You two ought to stick to nudist colonies and leave the churches to others. Just my opinion. Have a nice day. Rick T.

 

[spraymasters]

Thanks for the advice Rick, we may just follow it next time. As far as the shot in the crotch with the 130 degree water; I was just doing my part to add a little humor to the situation. I was just as soaked with chems as Den was standing in that passageway, but fortunately, I didn't break out in a rash like he did.

Have a good one!!! Glo

 

[hotwaterwisard]

Did I read that right you used hand pumps to pump water? In 85deg heat? What a weekend. Do you ever use the fire hydrents for a water source?

 

[Expert]

Originally posted by Jim Bilyeu:
Hi Dennis,
Sorry about your week-end, but it could have been worst. About two years ago, we did a big log home in Colo. This job ran right at $148,000.00. Three weeks after finishing the job, I got a call from the owner telling me that his house was turning white. I flew back to Colo. to see what was going on and the owner was right. The sealer we applied was turning white. To make a long story short, it cost me over $80,000.00 to restrip and reseal that house. No, the manufacture would not stand behind their product. They would not even go to Colo. to look at the job, even though I had better than $60,000.00 of their product on the house. No, I did not put their product back on the house and No, I'll never use their products again. So, as I said, it could have been worst. Hope this makes you feel better. Have a great day.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare

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Do you have a best guess as to what triggered the color change? And, what company in the world wouldn't send an inspector? Classless act on their part !!


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Dave Simpson
"90% of Customer Problems Can be Preempted by Excellent Communication and Organization."

 

[spraymasters]

Ok all recovered now!~~~

:~~~
Thanks for everyone's response. Dave you are right. I think we should all get kicked around alittle for the experience. I look back on it now and say to myself......IT IS DONE!

Jim, MAN! You are exactly right. Looking at what you had to do does not compare with my little problems! I can't believe a rep from the sealer company did not come out to investigate. Especially after you spent so much with them. Well, like you I am sure, I stand behind what we do no matter what it takes.
Hey Hotwaterwiz,,,yep, used the ole hand pump to get the water from the 55 gal drums to my tank in the trailer. Getting water was no problem just transferring it from the drums to the 100 gal tank i have in the trailer was a real @#$%^...but had some help from Gloria's husband who is 6ft5 with strong arms!
Well, hope everyone is getting along in this fantastic weather! Work Work Work!!!

Dennis

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Living Life On the Edge Makes Us Dizzy...WE LOVE DIZZY!

Dennis A. Cormier and Gloria A. Wagner
North Georgia Spray Masters, Inc.
spraymasters@hotmail.com

 

[Jim Bilyeu]

Just to answer a couple of questions conserning my post. The size of the home was 36,000 sq. ft of living area. It's the biggest one we've done to date. I can't mention the company's name on any public forum due to pending legal action. ( Product liable suit ) I can tell you that it was a major manufacture of a water base acrilic.
When I first contacted the manufacture about the problem, they took the position of "application error" After they verified that I was a professional in this field, they came uo with the excuse of the Ph of the logs were wrong for thier product. They informed me that the Ph had to be 7 in order to apply their product. This was the wrong answer sence the Ph of lodge pole pine is only 5. We had samples of the product tested in a private lab and found that there was iron contamination in the product. That's where we stand at this time. Hope this has answered some of your questions.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare

 

[Mike@Everclear]

Jim,

Sounds like you have a strong case....I wish you the best of luck with it.



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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

 

[spraymasters]

Go for it Jim, might take awhile but on the other hand they may settle with you and you can recoop some of your loses. Good luck!
Dennis

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Living Life On the Edge Makes Us Dizzy...WE LOVE DIZZY!

Dennis A. Cormier and Gloria A. Wagner
North Georgia Spray Masters, Inc.
spraymasters@hotmail.com

 

[Glenn]

Jim,
Sound like you know your $^!%. Glad to have someone of your experience level on this board. Good luck on your case and I think you have handled the situation very professionally.
Glenn

 

[hotwaterwisard]

Some of my customers will not do a church. They feal guilty charging anything. They feal like they should donate their time for free. One good thing about that is a high dollar write off when tax time comes.