Wash On Wheels

Car Washing At Auto Dealers - Before The Snowstorm??

Editor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:15:33 +0000

Winter musings of a car washing company

A big storm is headed for Denver. A snowstorm with blizzard conditions – 12”-20” of snow, 20+ mph winds, hazardous roads and fools in rear-wheel-drive sports cars. The temperatures will be in the 20’s, but the windchill will be in the low single digits. I’m sure some adventurous and clueless newbie from California will get their SUV stuck and loose a digit or two to frostbite. Only the advances of society make a storm like the one that’s coming seem like an inconvenience rather than a dangerous and deadly natural phenomenon.

Cleaning Cars After A Snowstorm

However, society has its sway on our perceptions. Instead of having to secure our shelter and stockpile food and wood like the early Colorado settlers did, we wonder if we’ll be able to make our miles-long commute from our warm and insulated homes, in our warm and sealed vehicles, to our warm and sheltered workplaces in the morning.

I wouldn’t have considered the impact of societal progress on our human interaction with nature to begin with if I hadn’t been happy about the request of several of our car dealerships for car washing before the storm arrives. Their concern is one we have been trying to express to our clients for years. The dirt on their cars will be covered by the snow and when their employees use snow rakes to clear the snow off, the cars will be scratched.

If our car washing service is done before the snow buries them, then it will just be fluffy snow sliding off shiny paint rather than dirty, gritty snow. We’ve dealt with this for many years. We often get calls for scratches on the hoods, roofs and trunks right after our first car washing service after a snowstorm. Many dealers assume we caused the fine scratches with a dirty chamois during car washing. But when we demonstrate the pattern our crews use to chamois versus the marks made by a snow rake, they quickly see their lot techs caused the scratches.

It’s good these clients called for car washing before the storm.

Car Washing At Auto Dealers

But whether or not they do, its never good to use a snow rake to clear snow completely off a car. It’s alright to use the snow rake to clear all but the bottom layer of snow off. This can be tricky and should only be done by someone who cares enough to pay attention to each swipe of the rake. The scratches caused by snow rakes are usually very fine and probably won’t be noticeable on used vehicles.

But they will show up on new cars. Unfortunately, the scratches can even show up if heavy snow slides off a car. The weight of the snow does the same damage as the motion of the snow rake. This is why it’s best to clear all but the bottom ½”-1” of snow off the cars so the sliding snow doesn’t scratch the cars.

Its good to know some of the information we’ve tried to get our car washing clients to act on is finally making difference. Its also an interesting example of how much different our concerns are now compared to our ancestors just a few generations ago.

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Pressure Washing Stains On A New Driveway

Editor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:06:53 +0000

We specialize in pressure washing driveways to clean hydraulic, grease and oil, and other stains.

Most of the driveway pressure washing we’ve done has been for building material supply companies and roofing companies that have caused a hydraulic or engine oil stain on the driveway of their customer.

Oil Stains On Brand New Driveway

We recently went to a home in Highlands Ranch where a roofing company had done some work and had left a few small oil stains on the new driveway. When they called us to pressure wash the oil stains on the driveway for them, they didn’t mention the driveway was new. Fortunately, the crew we sent to do the job was fairly new to flatwork and we sent a manager to meet them on the job.

When our manager arrived, he realized right away there was a problem.

Sometimes new concrete has a curing agent applied to help strengthen the concrete. This is much more common in the winter (like this job) when cold temperatures can effect the curing process. This curing agent is usually much whiter than untreated new concrete and this was the case with this driveway.

Pressure washing stains from a driveway with a curing agent on it is rarely a good idea.

As the stain is washed away, the curing agent is also washed away. If this is done too soon after the concrete is laid, the curing agent will not have done its job. Also, since the curing agent is much whiter than the concrete, the entire concrete pad has to be cleaned in order to give it a uniform appearance – which takes much more time and money.

In this particular situation, the homeowner wasn’t available so the decision was left to the roofing company whether or not to pressure wash. They decided to wait until they had better information before pressure washing. Since we’re not a professional concrete company, we stopped before we could cause a potential loss to our client – or the homeowner. We’ll wait to see what the homeowner decides after talking to their concrete company.

We didn’t make any money on this pressure washing job.

But by being aware of the conditions of the surface we were going to clean, we potentially saved our customer from turning the small problem of tiny oil stains into a much bigger problem of damaged concrete.

Out clients call us for pressure washing stains because we know how to treat any stain, we can control the waste water with EPA water recovery, and we can deal with sometimes irate homeowners.

They know they can count on us to deal with each situation in their best interests – not ours.

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Training New Pressure Washing Drivers

Editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:06:47 +0000

The pressure washing business can be hard on our employees – especially in the winter.

Pressure Washing Clients Have Different Needs

The hours can vary widely from early mornings to late starts to overnight work. Weather can keep us from working for many days at a time and then we’ll get a warm up and have to put in long hours for days at a time to make up for what was lost.

Most of our staff has been with us for a few years, many for five or more. But some have joined us more recently. One of our drivers started just a few weeks ago. She has learned a lot, but there’s been a few mishaps. We do our best to train our drivers to get the job done and we usually send new employees with experienced ones to help with the training.

We also try to keep up-to-date information on the paperwork we send out with our drivers. This would work great except every driver gets used to taking care of their accounts a certain way and doesn’t always read the notes. Even new pressure washing drivers sometimes get overconfident about how to take care of accounts and miss special instructions.

Our newest driver was sent to take care of a truck washing account early last Thursday. The account is only 6 trucks but they’re not always parked right next to each other. Our driver didn’t understand the instructions and only washed 3 units. We had to send them back the next day and meet our quality manager to take care of the other three units.

It was another learning experience for our new pressure washing driver.

Even though it required an explanation and apology to our customer, it was a good reminder for everyone to make sure the instructions are accurate and our pressure washing drivers pay attention to them.

But it’s the details that keep us head and shoulders above our competition. Having managers to follow up and make sure our pressure washing and truck washing clients are taken care of is one of the many things that keeps our clients happy with our service.

Every company makes mistakes. It’s how you deal with those mistakes that makes the difference.

And with our pressure washing guarantee, our clients know they never have to pay for our mistakes.

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Graffiti Removal Is Way Too Unpredictable To Bid In Advance

Editor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:31:10 +0000

The Orange County Register ran an article on January 27, 2012 about the graffiti removal contract and problems with the contractor who won the bid.

ANAHEIM – The graffiti removal company hired by the city in September has given notice that it wishes to discontinue the year-long contract. Click here to read the rest of the article.

Our response on graffiti removal is posted below.

One of the problems with bidding contracts like this is knowing how long it will take to get things done. If the amount of work increases due to more than expected graffiti, the company will either lose money or not meet the standards of the contract.

Our company, Wash On Wheels – http/www.washonwheels.net- has removed graffiti in Denver, Colorado for many years.But we only charge graffiti removal by the hour, or for each specific job after we have inspected it. The amount needed for time and materials varies widely depending on the size of the tag, what kind of paint, ink, or whatever they used, and the surface it’s on.

Trying to bid for everything in the future with so many variables is too big a gamble.

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Pressure Washing At The Last Minute - Really??

Editor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:00:48 +0000

C’mon People, we can handle the last minute stuff, but that doesn’t make it fun – especially when our pressure wash crews have already worked for 12 hours.

We pride ourselves on being able to respond quickly to emergency spills and other similar jobs.

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We know *stuff* happens at unfortunate times and often that *stuff* is a surprise and can’t be controlled. So we do our best to have a spare truck ready to go at any time to take care of whatever might happen at the last minute that has to be pressure washed right away.

However, when we get a call from someone who’s had a problem for some time but calls us at the last minute, we tend to hesitate. People who know an inspection is coming and wait until the day before to schedule cleaning up their messy kitchen or greasy heavy equipment or whatever don’t really inspire confidence in us to do business with.

So if you have a mess that needs pressure washed, call us. TODAY. Don’t wait till you’re in a position that you have to call us on a Thursday to get it cleaned up on Friday. Just because we can handle the last minute stuff doesn’t mean it’s fun. And if our guys have already been on the clock for 12 hours, they’re not too excited about getting more hours that day. We’re flexible, but your best bet to get a pressure washing project done is to give us as much notice as possible.

But if you have a legitimate last minute job (crap, the grease trap overflowed into the parking lot two hours before dinner service!) give us a call and we’ll make it our business to get you back in business.

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Raising Pressure Washing Quality Without Raising Prices

Editor — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:37:42 +0000

Wash On Wheels washes hundreds of trucks & trailers every week

Some of our truck wash clients and a few of our car wash clients know we raised our price last fall. After a review of each of our accounts and the time involved in taking care of them, we realized we had several accounts we were losing money on. We know the economy isn’t at it’s best right now and we have to make some profit on each account to insure our future.

But raising the price on these clients doesn’t mean we are making a larger profit. These accounts were at a price level established years ago that was below what we currently charge. And our expenses – especially our cost of fuel – has risen dramatically in the last few years.

Now our pricing is standardized for all our clients. In fact, because the economy is a difficult one right now, we’ve made an effort to make sure all our clients are getting the most for their money. There was no way we could lower our prices, but on many of our accounts we pushed our crews to get a higher level of quality in their pressure washing.

It is important to us to make sure our clients are happy with our pressure washing quality.

Wash On Wheels Washes Thousands of Auto Dealers Cars Every Week

That level of quality is how we’ve stayed in business since 1985. While we can’t afford to lower our prices, neither can we afford to loose clients even when the profit margin is minimal. So we have spent more time with our crews making sure they understand the level of quality they need to produce at our truck washing accounts.

So, although we did raise our price on a few of our clients, we also raised the quality for many of our clients without raising their price. We believe this is the best way to treat our clients in this economy without cutting too deeply into anyone’s bottom line.

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Water Recovery Issues At The National Western Stock Show | EPA water recovery

Editor — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:58:11 +0000

National Western Stock Show parade on 17th Street in downtown Denver

For the past few years, one of our clients has had five or six vehicles on display at the annual National Western Stock Show. About half way through the stock show they have us pressure wash the cars to clean all the dust that builds up on them from the show. We haven’t had any problems the past few years, but this year we were stopped by the building managers.

The management at the show stopped us because they were told they needed EPA water recovery for any water generated by pressure washing. When they found out we were washing cars on their property, they stopped us.

Since we were only using water to rinse, then chamois the cars dry and there were no storm drains the water could get to, we have never worried about EPA water recovery in this situation. We use less than two gallons of water per car, so there isn’t enough water to recover!

We are fully aware of all the EPA water recovery regulations and we are pro-active about acting on those regulations. We thought we were fine washing these few cars at the stock show location, but the management there had been instructed not to allow any water generated by pressure washing to go down the storm drain.

When you think about the environment of the stock show, it makes sense. They have a lot of livestock that carry dust and hair and who knows what from wherever they came. And they generate a large volume of “fertilizer”. None of this would be acceptable to enter the storm drains.

If we had known EPA water recovery was going to be required we would have sent a crew with a recovery unit.

This is a good illustration of the increasing enforcement of the EPA water recovery laws. Areas we’ve never had to recover before now have to be reconsidered – and we always err on the side of caution. When there’s any doubt, we send a recovery unit. We do a lot of EPA water recovery, probably more than anyone else in Colorado. And it’s important to us to work closely with the authorities.

But EPA water recovery isn’t free.

It takes more time and equipment to do it the right way. In this case, it would have been an extra $40. So this client chose not to wash and since they had so few cars to be washed, it made sense for them. The dust wouldn’t make enough difference for the last couple of days of the stock show to justify the expense.

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Special Truck Wash To Prep A Church Bus For Sale

Editor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:53:45 +0000

Selling Your Church Bus?

Image via Wikipedia

Most of the truck wash jobs we do are for freight companies or distributors that deliver the goods they produce. We have furniture companies, medical equipment supply companies, building material supply companies, post offices, water suppliers, package delivery companies and many others. Most of these companies want their trucks washed to maintain a clean image for their customers and safety for their drivers.

We recently got a small truck washing job for a church bus because they were getting ready to sell it. This comes up every once in a while when one of our regular clients is going to sell one of their units and wants a special truck wash.

We offer many different levels of truck washing, including interiors. We can take it all the way to detailing for show prep if you want.

So if you need any kind of special truck wash to prep your vehicle for sale, show, inspection, or whatever. Give us a call at 303-937-7181 or email us at info@washonwheels.net. We’ll take care of it for you.

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Pressure Washing A Concrete Spill At a New Home

Editor — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:56:21 +0000

Most building material supply companies call us to pressure wash when a hydraulic hose breaks on one of their trucks during a delivery and they leave a large hydraulic spill on a customer’s street or driveway. We recently had a change of pace when one of our clients that does concrete had an accident between their truck and the pumper truck.

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Unfortunately, the day the concrete spill happened was just after a snow storm. The day was nice, but the ground was covered with snow and ice. There was no way to clean up the mess until it all melted, so they waited until it looked like it was going to clear up before they called to set up pressure washing with us.

Fortunately, because the spilled concrete stayed wet from all the thawing snow and ice, it never had a chance to harden and was fairly easy to pressure wash. When our truck showed up there was still some ice on the area that needed to be cleaned, so they had to shovel the area clear of ice before starting to wash. They also had to clear an area to set up water recovery. It was important in this situation to recover the wash water, even if it wasn’t going to reach a storm drain, because they didn’t want the concrete in the wash water running down the street and drying out, leaving a concrete haze everywhere.

We were able to show up right when our customer needed and take care of a mess without creating a bigger mess. And because the concrete company worked with us on how to handle the situation, they were able to avoid a bigger, more expensive situation by working with us to get the job done right the first time.

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Hollywood Producer Asks For Pressure Washing Magic

Editor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:36:12 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The name ‘Hollywood’ conjures up different images for different people. Most people think of the place in California where movies are made.

But Hollywood’s magic can happen anywhere. Many movies are made in multiple locations around the world.

We recently had a request for pressure washing in Leadville, CO.

This Hollywood producer was shooting a commercial of a tractor-trailer going down the highway with snowy mountain peaks in the background.

Colorado Mountains In Winter

He said he likes filming at high altitude because the air is so crystal clear. Unfortunately, the two days they were shooting, the high temperatures for the day were well below freezing.

We had no problem getting our pressure wash truck to the set without freezing our equipment. We do it all the time in Colorado’s winter weather. But that tractor-trailer would have frozen instantly when we pressure washed it!

If they had given us a little more notice, we could have made arrangements for getting the equipment clean using other methods.

Trying to get rush jobs done in the winter is a challenge. But getting last minute work done is our specialty and if there’s a way to do it, we will make it

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Car Washing At Auto Dealers - Before The Snowstorm??

Winter musings of a car washing company

It’s good these clients called for car washing before the storm.

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