Degreasing Job I Wont Soon Forget

Videos
21

Good video. Thank you Sir.

2 Likes
22

Do we need a college?

1 Like
23

Lol. I enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks years ago. I should have my Doctorate. Yet, here I am.

6 Likes
24

thanks for posting this , not easy to do when things aren’t going the way you anticipated . I probably wouldn’t post . But man if you were in my area and I saw this video I would go over and help you out , no questions asked . Hope it all works out , Keep us posted

4 Likes
25

Definitely not a niche situation. I still do it a few times a year albeit on smaller projects, but the financial impact is less and less every year.

I think situations like these are necessary for business owners and important so long as you’re getting a little better every time. Without doing stuff like this, you’ll get stuck in your comfort zone. Now if Matt does another one similar you better believe that it will be much better or at least not as bad.

You have to bite off more than you can chew and find a way or make a way to chew it. It lets people know if they’re worth their salt as business owners.

In the future, sub half of it out to another contractor with more time and experience and watch them while they do their half. Copy what they do.

4 Likes
26

I have a bachelors. Spent 5 years in the navy and 3 years in college to get it. 6 years later I don’t use it.

Pressure washing college would probably be a waste of time and money for plenty of folks who don’t use their degree after they find out they hate their field of study. Lol

5 Likes
27

I’ve been on more than one staining or cleaning job I have kicked myself in butt for even bidding on. I like to think I am a little smarter now when I see one that has the potential to be that way so I always bid what I consider to be an outrageous number…I get about 80% of them. The consolation while I am grumbling about it is that I know that at least financially it is worth it.

8 Likes
28

Thanks for the call out, I did watch the video. My comments, in no particular order are:

  1. The larger the company, the less likely they are to custom blend something for you. However, most can do it if the batch size is decent. The 400 gallons described here would have been decent and most companies could have blended that for you Caustic and butyl degreasers are common and plentiful at most chemical companies.

  2. The amount of caustic in the formula…that was likely what caused your amazing results. I couldn’t tell if the drop down items were metal or concrete, but in either case what happened was you basically exfoliated them. People have been using caustic coil cleaners for years to get metal coils cleaned, the caustic basically strips the top layer off. Concrete, it’s a like dissolving like situation. Not that it was harmed, but its like taking off the top layer of skin, and concrete is an alkaline construct.

  3. Private labeling a hazardous material can be more complicated than you think. The 49CFR requires there to be an emergency hazmat number on every hazardous shipment. If you private label YOU are required to supply that. Where as if you buy the company’s label they have to supply that, usually they get with Infotrac or Chemtel, or other similar agency.

  4. I can’t stress this enough, there is likely a chemical company within 2 hours from your house that could have blended this item for you. If you called up and said “I want a heavy duty butyl and caustic degreaser and I’ll buy two totes worth”…yup, we would all do that for you. You could even bring in a sample of the national brand you like and it can be duplicated locally for you. Clorox wouldn’t do that but most chemical blending companies would.

  5. The thing with butyl/caustic cleaners is that once it removes dirt it usually either sinks to the bottom or the top of the solution. My point is, if you skim the chemical from the top or bottom where the contaminant isn’t then you could potentially re-use it. There is no way all the caustic and butyl are used up in that one pass through, so reclaiming might be a good thing.

Best of luck all!

17 Likes
29

Wow, thanks!

2 Likes
30

There’s classes out there people can take. If there was a designated school for people to go to it would probably ruin the industry. They’d start passing regulations, charge crazy prices, and eventually turn into something like osha. I never even graduated11th grade so I’m not really a fan of schools. Its a place where you go to conform. Or as Rick ( from Rick and Morty of course) would say. “Schools not a place for intelligent people.” No offense intended to all you scholars out there. I’m joking…albeit very serious.:grinning:

4 Likes
31

Sent you a PM.

2 Likes
32

You just quoted rick and Morty :joy: I love that show

1 Like
33

Yup I can’t stop watching it. To anybody reading this who doesn’t know of it…you’re missing out. Seriously.

2 Likes
34

Agreed. I wasn’t actually suggesting that there should be a college course for pressure washing, but that Matt probably didn’t have a choice and in the end had to learn through experience.

Aside from all the knowledge on this forum, there are going to be times when you just have to solve the problem on your own.

Matt couldn’t have known, or be prepared for this job, I don’t think. But, he will be an expert if he ever runs into this again.

2 Likes
35

This is gold! I personally thank you! And much respect to you! Great vid

2 Likes
36

This is so Timely. I’m currently in the process of submitting a proposal on a job just like this. It’s about 300,000 sqft. The pipes in the raptors looks just like that. I thought the pipes needed to be degreased until I ask to use their scissor lift to get up there to see the condition of the pipes. I was relieved to know that when I wipe the pipe with my finger it was nothing but dust dry dust. But when I make the contract I’m still going to add that if there are pipes that need to be degreased, it will be an added cost. Even though the pipe a wiped with my finger was just dust, I’m not sure if the entire plant is like that. The hardest thing right now is trying to figure the price to clean them. What was your quote for a job like that?

37

Hey. So I am wrapping this job today and intend on touching on several subjects. For now I will say this.

  1. The warehouse likely will have different issues in it throughout. Grease here, dust there. In my case one of the hidden issues is oxydation. To the Project Mgr., if it wipes off its dirt. Well after having to prove it will wipe off til steel is there, he understood. I was in contract to degrease, not remove oxydation. (Oxydation can be primed and painted).
  2. In your contract clarify the details. Pipes? No pipes?
  3. Sell the floor, rent ride on floor scrubber, hire guy to run it. It already got degreaser falling on it, gey paid for the floor and get twice the money out of your degreaser. These arent cheap. $600/day plus tax and delivery $75/each way so hurry up.
  4. Do a section. Actually clean it if you can. Take note of chemical quantities and time.
  5. I charged none of your business! Call me.
  6. Figure your operating and job specific costs. Get enough up front so you dont go belly up halfway in and get sued. Get progress payments. A job that size will require A LOT of degreaser. 50000 ft I used 400 gallons at $8.40 ea.

I hope this helps you. Really, feel free to call, if I can help I will.

15 Likes
38

Yes it does. Thanks

39

Hey guys, here is the update video. Sorry about the length. Hope its helpful to somebody in the future.

9 Likes
40

Good video!

2 Likes