if you had to pick 3 things to warn a new wdr guy about what would they be?

Ron Werner

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I don't know as much about WD any more. I can tell you the reasons I stopped doing it and started referring other companies.
1. Equipment - I only had a couple fans and a dehum and a normal moisture meter
2. COnstruction knowledge - need to be able to rip apart walls, the baseboard of cabinets, etc.
3. 24 hr on call
4. Just me.

I took a class with Steve Swan and at that time I was doing small WD jobs. But being as I work by myself and lacked the equipment, and the fact that I only got a few calls a year, I was sitting there in class thinking "I missed that on the last job, I missed that, I didn't even think to do that!" I found I was forgetting what I learned by the time I would get the next call. Plus with all the mold issues that were starting, I just didn't want to deal with the liability. Easier to refer it to "specialists" that do that work all week long.
 

Desk Jockey

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Ron its like anything else the more you do it the easier it. You would have made an excellent water tech, your attention for detail and care a concern for doing things right. Yes the hours suck and that's what keeps most out of this business.
 
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davegillfishing

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I have a good start on equip for med jobs I think
2-2800 lgr dehus and 8 blowers and access to 10 more. After the first loss I will buy 10 more fans or so

I need meters now. That's on the now list
 

Mikey P

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Dave

what does the insurance to be a WD hack in Florida cost you per year?

Out here it runs $15,000, needless to say....

I'll stick to being a half ass stone hack for those chips.
 

Mikey P

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dude


why the fook did you not BUY A DAMN BOX VAN??????????????
what possible WD equipment can you fit in that stupid soccer van?


you're too thick headed to be a good fisherman.

I have my doubts.
 

davegillfishing

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Why wouldn't I be for real? Never said I was going to do 10 jobs a month. I plan on starting slow and working my way into it. I have a very clear plan in place.

Think about it. Did Chavez restoration start with 30 dehus or 1? I have access to as much equipment as I want. If push came to shove I can have whatever I need in a matter of a day but that's not my plan.

I will be happy to do 3-4 a month MAX to start out for a while.

Mike I didn't buy a box because I'm not positive I want a box yet. I can clean the shit out of carpet with the rig I bought and can have a box truck pretty fast if business and desire dictates it. All I have to do is get to the job suck the water while my helper brings the scoped equipment in the trailer to the job and we set it.
Ten when time to pick up we bring said trailer back to the job and and pick it up and take the van and keep cleaning carpet and making money.

If that becomes a pain in the ass I will have a box truck pretty soon after
 

Mardie

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Are you a water restoration company?

No. But i do know enough to know how little i know and it sounds to me like you know even less.
I do very small water jobs that fall into my lap from people that i work for.I do not look for it or even mention that i do this to anyone. But i do realy like it.
The way i do it is rent air movers and dehumidifiers when needed.I do own a $4000. ozone type machine which i use regularly for odour jobs .I do know that without the proper speacialty equipment and proffesional training that i would very easily get myself into a lot of trouble real fast.
This industry requires a lot of overhead that is sitting a lot. Feast and famine.
 

davegillfishing

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I have been doing flood work for years on a small scale. I am big on education but from many sources. In my opinion that's the only way to truly be educated. Many sources of info. The biggest problem people have in life is being scared to ask questions to ether learn something or confirm that you are doing things the right way.
I don't care if someone thinks I asked a easy or stupid question because at one point the people that think that I asked a stupid question had to ask that very question to learn.

I know quite a bit more than you would think but like I stated. I want to learn from the best and not just one of the best. So along with the CLASSES I will be taking I will also be asking questions on several boards and reading many books and mag articles to gain more and confirm existing knowledge.

I have built a pretty stable and successful business so far and pray if I stick to my plan will be triple in size in 2 years. That outs me in a over million dollar company started from scratch in less than 10 years in the worse economy in history. Not too bad if I can pull it off and still go fishing 2-3 times a week

Fingers crossed
 

tmdry

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The money in mitigation is in your air movers and dehus being "rented" on the job. If you rent them from a local rental place, you won't make that much money on a loss, unless you're doing all after hours work, tear outs, etc.

For instance, a typical daily rental for a centrifugal air mover is $25/day, Xactimate pays $26/day and $30/day for an axial. For dehus (LGR's only), it'll be in the $70-130/day range depending on your area/size of dehu. Most rental places rent a 120-135 pint (example Drieaz LGR 2000/Phoenix Max 200) for $75-100/day. So as you can see, air movers will make you $ while @ the job site.

On a small job say 10 fans:

if you rent them you'd make $1-5/day x 3 days (average), that's $30-150 (not including your gas and time to pick and drop them off).
If you own them you'd make $26/day x 3 days (average), that's $780 or ($900 for axials).

Buy air movers, rent dehu's if needed. Air movers make you easy $.

Btw used equipment pays the same as new. - Richard Chavez
 
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davegillfishing

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That's it!! The 2 big dehus I just bought will be fine for a while but the fans I need to stock pile the crap out of. I plan to buy 10 at a time after every loss till I can stack them to the ceiling lol

I have helped enough companies around me that I can borrow as much equipment as I need for as long as indeed no problem so I can slowly build my inventory without touching my normal operating cash flow. Just using the extra money from resto jobs

I love 1/2 price used equipment!!
 

tmdry

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I also have a good friend that has about 60-80 fans that I can use if he's not using all of them. The only thing is that I have to get a hold of him, than drive to his storage, pick the units up (sometimes get a trailer), most of his equipment is dirty with drywall and all kinds of other crap. I keep everything clean and organized, and hate dirty fans, to me that's a big deal in the clients home since they'll be starring at it when you're not there. I still get the units if I have to, but I also buy used as the $ comes in.

I really like axials (force 9's and phoenix focus), high cfms, very low amp draw 2.5 on high, stackable, hour meter, gfi, daisy chain, and they look great. I just got 2 semi new ones (Focus) tonight on eBay for $200 a piece ($410 new). I like buying things new, but for me the bank only allows used for now, so that's what I've done and found great deals that way.

BTW - in case you don't already know.

www.searchtempest.com is your friend (you'll never have to use your local only craigslist search again).

On eBay, when you search for an item (and you are logged onto your account), it gives you the option to "save search", if you do this from your smart phone, you can get notifications on your phone, when new items are posted. You can search using different keywords and hit the notification option on there. I get them daily on my Galaxy 3.
 
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davegillfishing

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Great tip. Thanks.

Yea going to get the equip is the down side but till I get stock piled if I run short I will have to send one of my guys on a 20 min ride to their shop.

I will be shocked if it has to happen more then a few times.
 

Desk Jockey

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If you don't need it yet, don't buy it, work your numbers up slowly as you get more work. Save back half from each job and create a slush fund for equipment purchases, buy the best used you can find and as you get established buy new as your primary use equipment and all the used stuff can be your secondary fleet.


We don't own any where near as much as we could but if you don't need it what's the point?

When we get stretched on equipment we add a little more until the next time and then add again. If you're consistantly tight, you need to buy more but no point in going overboard unless foresee the potential for more work coming.

If you have the work, equipment is a great investment.
 
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davegillfishing

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thats the control emotion side of my plan..it would be so easy to go buy the crap out of stuff just to have it but whats the point..i feel along with lack of cross education that is the biggest mistake people make..buy too much unneeded stuff to start off with.

thank for confirming my decision richard. i am by no means a rocket scientist, i just go by the same common sense principals that i built the cleaning side with and cross my fingers lol
 

Desk Jockey

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It's not like the old days, now its just so easy to get equipment when you need it, JonDon, Interlink, Pembertons (I love Jim & Lee).

You've got a good plan for now, as you get more work buy a little at a time. Get some jobs under your feet before buying too much. Use some of that money to market the new service. Market your data base first, put it on all your materials you give to your clients. Get a van magnets that look like your vans but are just for WDR. We used these several decades ago when we first started marketing for water work.

If you work your data base and also market wdr work it will come, it may come slowly but that gives you time to refresh yourself training wise and procedure wise. You'll do fine!

2013-01-26_08-31-33_162.jpg



Guys like Lockhart have huge fleets of equipment and upgrade and sell off their used. He is a good contact because he keeps his equipment in such great shape. It's the next best thing to new.
 

Kevin B

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I would say another real important aspect is answer your phone 24/7 LIVE. A customer who wakes up to water cascading onto her grand piano is NOT leaving a message. Hire an answering service, or the rest of this stuff won't matter.
 

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