Roundtable Meetings

To all,

My name is Everett Abrams, I am a contractor in Southern NJ. We had a very successful roundtable meeting in my area in the fall. We sent faxes and called other contractors for attendence. If we had been a little more organized I think we could of had around 50 people. We would like to get this round up and running for Saturday February 22 , 2003. We would like to get as many possible meetings going , one in each state would be great but probably not realistic. We would need people to step forward and host the meetings. Perhaps maybe a distributor would be interested in hosting one in their location or anyone else as they have been done in the past? Please step forward.

The goal of this round of meetings should be to collectively attempt to get a large group of contractors , from all over together and share the same information. I believe in setting an agenda that we should all follow and then leave time for open discussions. One example , would be (as Scott Stone asked) certifications and how we would and should move forward on these, another one of interest would be "What we would like to see in a professional pressure washing organization?", Could we get a group together and united as plumbers and electricians do?. Other topics could be marketing , fleets , wood restoration , exhausts , etc. Everyone's input should determine what is discussed in each meeting. It would be important to keep the agendas consisitent so that we could post and share information with each other.

If anyone is interested in attending or hosting I will leave my contact information below. I truly belive with enough participation this could lead to something very special. If anyone has comments or questions please contact me. I have a copy of an agenda with questions if anyone is interested.

Personally , this isn't about any affiliations or anything political or selfish motive in any way. I am only interested in seeing how organized we can be , and then , see where it leads.Thank you in advance and am looking forward to all comments and suggestions.

Phone:1-866-440-3325
Fax:1-609-268-3212
E-mail: eabrams@deckrestorationplus.com

P.S. I will host another one in the same place in Medford , NJ on this date in any event. I already have 10 contractors and 1 distributor on board. It will be fun!
 
Last edited:
Everett, As you know, I will help with our meeting in anyway I can. I hope everyone else will get together,and help out the person that steps up to organize there meeting. Lets all try to give a little time, to make this even bigger than the last meeting.
 
Provided there is no snow to plow, I will attend the Jersey meeting. If I really tried I could probably get enough people to come from my area to host one here...............but honesty, I have many other things on my plate at the moment.
 
Everett,
I am going to try to attend your roundtable meeting in February. Medford NJ is about 120 miles from my house. I should be able to get there in 2.5 hrs. No big deal for me. The only problem that I can see is the date you picked February 21 which falls on a Friday. Wouldn't it be better to have these roundtable meetings on the weekend preferably Saturday.

The reason I'm saying this is because for one traveling on a weekday(Rush Hour etc.) is usually hell for someone like myself who has to travel a long distance to attend.

Maybe a poll should be taken to see what day of the week would be best to have these meeting. Another factor I can see about not having this meeting on a weekday is some people have other jobs and on top of that some contractors try to only work M-F so they would have to possibly cancel a days worth of work to attend.

Either way I would need a definite date by around a week from now that this meeting will be held so I can arrange my Schedule accordingly.

Thanks
 
Im sure Everett ment the 22 of feb.
 
Update

I did mean the 22nd of February , Thanks and sorry for any confusion. I am looking forward to another great get together.Also , for anyone who is going to host I do have copies of fax invitations and ways to get a good turnout. The big thing really is for everyone to not worry about egos , who doesn't like who , and all the nonsense stuff and you can have a great time.
I am sure we'll have a great one in New Jersey and I invite anyone who would like to join in. I'll keep track of all the details and appreciate everyones response.
 
Everett.....Thanks for the invite. Sure, EDI will be there. If you like, we would be pleased to make a presentationon on any of our products.

Let's discuss on Thursday.


Skip
 
Everett, My name is Mike Borrelli from MWB Restoration, Inc. in Secaucus, NJ. I think this is a great idea, I'll do everything possible to attend just keep me posted. If your looking for some Equipment for display or show and tell I'll be happy to bring my truck. A couple of NJ contractors got together at the PWNA show in nov. the guys that I meet are top shelf. there was now holding back with info they were just there to help if they can. If you would like me to make some calls I have some of there cards. I'd be more then happy to help in any way I can.
 
Is that the True Mike Borelli? A.K.A. Vin Diesel ? The man who lives his life 1/4 mile at a time?

Look forward to seeing you there. Tim
 
Update

Just wanted to give an update. So far we have three definite locations and one we need to get a definite on. New Jersey , Texas , and Indiana. Looking for more host and folks interested in attending in these areas. I'll post on Friday all the who , what , where of each location who is attending.

For Medford NJ:

Meeting will start at 12:00pm and end between 3-5:00pm (a lot of folks hung around together or went to dinner after the last one)

Everett Abrams Sam Cadario
Mark Williamson Josh Unangst
Jordan Long Joe Mangino
Mike Hughes Mike Borrelli
Lee Strater Skip from EDI
Tim McCulla John T from Clean County
Joe Shannon

There are also two "probablies" but I won't post until they are definites.Look for more posts and I'll contact everyone who is attending through the week. Thank you.
 
Hello Everett,

Who is host the meeting in Indiana and what city?

Thanks,

Dave Olson
 
Good Idea....BUT....

I guess I think that it would be a great idea in theroy and be very helpful to the industry....but... At the moment, I am having a very hard time with industry backstabbing from a couple of my competetors. I have talked to 3 of the 5 companies that happen to do hood vents, and exhaust in my area, and I am finding that they have been experiencing the same problem with the same two competetors. Things that go as far as they go into a resturant and bid it saying that they are JAM Pressure Washing, and then get the bid, then not show up for the job. Then I call on the company, and get reamed out because I never showed up to do the job. Or my personal favorite, I am out of business now, but they would be happy to do the job. These are the same two companies that also clean the hood vents, but do nothing to the exhaust shafts, or the exhaust fans or bowls. they then charge the customer $150 for the $300 job. Since there is no fire inspectors doing thier job around here, (i.e. most business never get inspected other than pre opening day). This is very frustrating to me as I believe that "good" comepetition is good. I have the luxury of not having to depend on hood vents and exhaust for the mainstay of my business, rather I have the experience to do other power washing. It is the industry as a whole that suffers, for these people also do surface work for the customers, but they do it at a very low quality. I am not sure what to do about this, because I didn't have much of this in the last 8 years around dallas and fort worth. Or at least I should say i didn't notice it and it didn't affect me. So in closing, as much as I would love to get other contractors in the area together to express concerns and share information, I believe that it would turn into a gigantic mess. Any suggestions would be appreciated though as to how I can work on improving things in my area.

Thanks,
Rob
 
Replies

Hello Dave and Max_Rob-

Dave Olson,
Its good to here from you on this. Greg Rentschler/Charlie are hosting in your area. You can e-mail or phone.

timberseal@attbi.com or 1-866-230-2419

I hope you will attend as we are going to share information from each one and post the different topics.


Max_Rob,

Thanks for the reply. You make some great points that many of us have gone through in the past. I'll tell you how I handled it and then you decide. I have had contractors take my former name and even variations of my current one. Usually a call from a lawyer (or letter seeking damages and financial records and compensation , which I have had to do once) and it straightens it out. Sometimes this is just part of being in business , unfortuately.
I have even had contractors take my estimates and just leave their own. This making it look like I never showed up , which is why we always do follow up calls. It really does get frustrating when you are just trying to do the right thing.
What I did at the last roundtable meeting was invite EVERYONE (Friend or Foe) and figured I would leave any bagage at the door with any ego. We had a great meeting and the foes , never showed up! That is exactly what these meetings are good for so you can discuss these issues with others who are in your area and come up with resolutions. I would also like to add that this was a topic covered in our meeting. We just kept the meeting professional with no names mentioned and just how to handle these type of situations.
I hope you change your mind and get involved you sound like the kind of person who cares about the industry and would be an asset at one of the meetings.
 
Everette,

I appreciate your comments, and you have given me some idea's on how to handle the situation. I appreciate that. I don't know if there are anyone that would put on a meeting around here. I would be willing to get in contact with my distributors and the competition, and set up a meeting. I think it would be helpful. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Rob,
When you get a chance shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you some info and such eabrams@deckrestorationplus.com Thanks.

Mike,
Thank you for making this a sticky.

I also would like to thank Skip at E.D.I. for getting involved. Skip will be at the Medford , NJ Meeting . He will have some accessories to look at and we will have equipment there for anyone who would like to sample. He will also be available with any questions you may have.
 
Re: Update

Everett Abrams said:
Just wanted to give an update. So far we have three definite locations and one we need to get a definite on. New Jersey , Texas , and Indiana. Looking for more host and folks interested in attending in these areas. I'll post on Friday all the who , what , where of each location who is attending.

For Medford NJ:

Meeting will start at 12:00pm and end between 3-5:00pm (a lot of folks hung around together or went to dinner after the last one)

Everett Abrams Sam Cadario
Mark Williamson Josh Unangst
Jordan Long Joe Mangino
Mike Hughes Mike Borrelli
Lee Strater Skip from EDI
Tim McCulla John T from Clean County
Joe Shannon Randy Alkins

There are also two "probablies" but I won't post until they are definites.Look for more posts and I'll contact everyone who is attending through the week. Thank you.
 
Do we have any interest in a meeting in the Sacramento area?
Saturday 2/22/03.

(Sacramento California)

I will arrange for a place for meeting near my shop if anyone is interested call or e-mail me:

Mark McIntyre
Easy Clean Systems
3678 Omec Circle
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
916 638-0828 / 800 292-3279

Need confirmation by 2/3/03.

:)
 
I would be interested in a meeting in Indiana. I live in Michigan and am about 90 minutes from the Indiana border. I could get to Indianapolis in about 4 hours.
 
Hello Steve,

I am about an hour and a halfs drive to Indianapolis. I would be interested. Do we have anyone else?

Dave Olson
 
Me of course and I believe Charlie Roy will attend from Wisconsin.

This is good though as it will help us to secure a good and reasonable location for everyone.

Right now I believe were up around 6 guys

Give me a call 866-WOODCARE or email me at timberseal@attbi.com if you plan to attend.

Greg Rentschler
TimberSeal, Inc.
 
Back
Top