> I'm thinking about doing this as well. Does
> Bruce get paid Don's rates? I'm attempting
> to figure out how to price the system, and I
> can't imagine telling someone $800 for a
> morning's work with a straight face. But if
> that's realistic, then I'll do it.

Well, it's not exactly a mornings work.

Bruce said the cleaning for an average deck (maybe 300-600ish) takes around 3-4 hours to do right (darn spindles are the tricky part). And then you come back the next day and the sealing takes 4-6 more hours. So you're looking at 10 hours. Bruce said he makes his bids for around $70 an hour so say $700 a job. That's still a nice profit (at least until the tax man gets ahold of it, unless that's not going to be a factor). $700 for 2 days work. You could live well on 2 jobs a week.

> I also went online and found many
> do-it-yourself sites that insist that deck
> renewal is a three-step process that
> involves a lot of scrubbing, stripping,
> staining, finishing, etc., even though I
> believe I found the company Don talks about,
> who claim just the opposite with their
> "chemical" that you just spray on
> with a spray gun they provide. Obviously,
> Bruce uses a power washer, so maybe his
> system is different than Don's chemical?

I think it's a little different. Bruce actually just uses a power washer. He says he uses a cleaner if they want the wood lightened up a little. It's up to the homeowners.

If you're going to use a cleaner, it looks like an oxygen bleach wood cleaner is the way to go. Timberwash and Delco DSR-47 were the 2 I read about.

Here's a nice little guide which takes you step by step through the process (one of many)

http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/homei/0004HIHIAM.html

You just spray it on and then give it say 15 min to soak in. Then you can either lightly scrub it with a nylon brush or just spray it off.

I guess it's either powerwasher alone, or powerwasher plus a cleaner. And then you come back the next day and finish by sealing the deck.

(Note: if the deck is already stained, you may have to use a paint stripper to remove that for an even better finish)

> I'm out of work and I have $312.34 left to
> my name. I think I'll spend $21 today for a
> classified ad akin to Don's to test the
> market before I invest any other money.

Good luck, John! I think this is something you can definitely do and 'make a good coin' (as Bruce put it).

Success,

Erik