carolinawildcat
New member
Much has been written lately about Hacks. You guys mock them, I defend them. It gets old, almost like recesstime in grade school. But I digress...
The tagline for PWI is "Improving the Industry Through Education".
Is it? Really?
Sometimes it seems it is "Improving my Feeling of Self-Worth by bashing guys that are not as fortunate, as I am."
Some on this board act as if they popped out of their momma with a nice rig, hot water and a book of business. You'd think they never had to offer services at a discount to make the rent (not payroll, not a mortgage, RENT), never had to learn by trying and never struggled. I have, and am not afraid to admit it.
A recent thread was mocking a guy who was offering his services at $15/hour. Fifteen bucks an hour isn't too bad for some, many in Michigan and California would be happy to be making $15/hr.
In fact, I was brought up to believe that anyone who tried to earn an honest living is to be applauded, not mocked. Would you rather this guy try to steal your pressure washer and hock it, or use his Home Depot washer ("ha-ha! he uses a Home Depot washer!! ha-ha, he's a loser Hack!") to make an honest living? I prefer the latter.
No one offered to show me the ropes -- check the logs, I spent hours and hours reading thousands of posts on this board in the archive sections. I learned by trying and screwing up and breaking stuff. The pump sprayer, lots of Clorox from Wal-Mart, and my first Troy-Bilt. It was badass for me, it had variable tips!
I rarely refer big jobs I can't handle to local pw contractors, because none of them have ever returned my goodwill. I honk and wave at the guy on my street working at my neighbor's, he growls at me when he sees I am a competitor. Funny thing is, I see some local guys with big trucks and tanks doing things I learned NOT to do -- things I learned on this board reading posts from you guys. So I contact guys in Beaufort or Savannah, an hour or so away, and they are happy to get the referrals.
So back to my question: Is this board really "Improving the Industry Through Education?" The thread I referred to earlier about the Hack on craigslist said, "Someone or something is gonna get broken" or something to that effect. If you truly believe that will happen, why not do something about it?
I'd like to put my money where my mouth is. I will give a $100 gift certificate from SunBrite for the winner of my Referral Program, "Take a Hack to Lunch Day".
Here are the rules:
You must introduce yourself to a Hack you do not know. You may contact him on craigslist and offer to buy the guy lunch or stop your truck and say hello when you see him washing a house. Photo documentation of you and the Hack together, preferably in front of his station wagon with the cheap pressurewashing machine clearly shown, would be great and kind of fun, too. Or maybe at the streetlight roll your window down and offer to talk to the guy with the bright red handle of the Troy-Bilt or the good ole blackandyellow electric Karchner in the bed of his pickup truck. Give him your cell # and offer to be a resource. Talk to him about how lowballing hurts BOTH of you. Offer to let him ride with you on a job. Don't be condescending, and you may accidentally meet a guy using a cheap pressurewashing machine on one of the 37 rental properties he owns, but this isn't the type of guy I am talking about.
The Hack must then become a member in good standing of PWI, ten posts minimum, with the Hack identifying himself on the board, who befriended him, and maybe Ron could speak to him personally via telephone to confirm the guy is who he says he is. No brothers-in-law or friends or anything like that.
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to pressurewash, he eats for a lifetime.
The extra benefit to this is growing the membership of the board.
Hell, maybe the guy is an out-of-work carpenter that is a whiz at repairing the rotten siding on the last house you washed, or a laid-off mechanic who's really good at rebuilding Honda GXs. Or maybe he has a hot sister who's single...
Will you lose a little more business to this guy if you help him? Probably, but he's already beating you at a job here and there, anyway. Will he take your help and knowledge and grow faster than you and put you out of business, probably not. But you may keep someone from doing serious property damage, losing a finger or even help him pay his mortgage next month.
Now I'm sure many of you are reading this, thinking of something snarky or smarta** to say. Don't bother. There are hundreds of other posts on this board where you can chime in with something that YOU think is really funny.
Serious replies, only please.
Want to help someone out who may be down on their luck?
Want to really make a difference for people in this industry?
Put your money where your mouth is. I am.
The tagline for PWI is "Improving the Industry Through Education".
Is it? Really?
Sometimes it seems it is "Improving my Feeling of Self-Worth by bashing guys that are not as fortunate, as I am."
Some on this board act as if they popped out of their momma with a nice rig, hot water and a book of business. You'd think they never had to offer services at a discount to make the rent (not payroll, not a mortgage, RENT), never had to learn by trying and never struggled. I have, and am not afraid to admit it.
A recent thread was mocking a guy who was offering his services at $15/hour. Fifteen bucks an hour isn't too bad for some, many in Michigan and California would be happy to be making $15/hr.
In fact, I was brought up to believe that anyone who tried to earn an honest living is to be applauded, not mocked. Would you rather this guy try to steal your pressure washer and hock it, or use his Home Depot washer ("ha-ha! he uses a Home Depot washer!! ha-ha, he's a loser Hack!") to make an honest living? I prefer the latter.
No one offered to show me the ropes -- check the logs, I spent hours and hours reading thousands of posts on this board in the archive sections. I learned by trying and screwing up and breaking stuff. The pump sprayer, lots of Clorox from Wal-Mart, and my first Troy-Bilt. It was badass for me, it had variable tips!
I rarely refer big jobs I can't handle to local pw contractors, because none of them have ever returned my goodwill. I honk and wave at the guy on my street working at my neighbor's, he growls at me when he sees I am a competitor. Funny thing is, I see some local guys with big trucks and tanks doing things I learned NOT to do -- things I learned on this board reading posts from you guys. So I contact guys in Beaufort or Savannah, an hour or so away, and they are happy to get the referrals.
So back to my question: Is this board really "Improving the Industry Through Education?" The thread I referred to earlier about the Hack on craigslist said, "Someone or something is gonna get broken" or something to that effect. If you truly believe that will happen, why not do something about it?
I'd like to put my money where my mouth is. I will give a $100 gift certificate from SunBrite for the winner of my Referral Program, "Take a Hack to Lunch Day".
Here are the rules:
You must introduce yourself to a Hack you do not know. You may contact him on craigslist and offer to buy the guy lunch or stop your truck and say hello when you see him washing a house. Photo documentation of you and the Hack together, preferably in front of his station wagon with the cheap pressurewashing machine clearly shown, would be great and kind of fun, too. Or maybe at the streetlight roll your window down and offer to talk to the guy with the bright red handle of the Troy-Bilt or the good ole blackandyellow electric Karchner in the bed of his pickup truck. Give him your cell # and offer to be a resource. Talk to him about how lowballing hurts BOTH of you. Offer to let him ride with you on a job. Don't be condescending, and you may accidentally meet a guy using a cheap pressurewashing machine on one of the 37 rental properties he owns, but this isn't the type of guy I am talking about.
The Hack must then become a member in good standing of PWI, ten posts minimum, with the Hack identifying himself on the board, who befriended him, and maybe Ron could speak to him personally via telephone to confirm the guy is who he says he is. No brothers-in-law or friends or anything like that.
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to pressurewash, he eats for a lifetime.
The extra benefit to this is growing the membership of the board.
Hell, maybe the guy is an out-of-work carpenter that is a whiz at repairing the rotten siding on the last house you washed, or a laid-off mechanic who's really good at rebuilding Honda GXs. Or maybe he has a hot sister who's single...
Will you lose a little more business to this guy if you help him? Probably, but he's already beating you at a job here and there, anyway. Will he take your help and knowledge and grow faster than you and put you out of business, probably not. But you may keep someone from doing serious property damage, losing a finger or even help him pay his mortgage next month.
Now I'm sure many of you are reading this, thinking of something snarky or smarta** to say. Don't bother. There are hundreds of other posts on this board where you can chime in with something that YOU think is really funny.
Serious replies, only please.
Want to help someone out who may be down on their luck?
Want to really make a difference for people in this industry?
Put your money where your mouth is. I am.