PRESSURE WASHING THE TRIALS OF LIFE AWAY

PRESSURE WASHING THE TRIALS OF LIFE AWAY By Tony Wade, Daily Republic

FAIRFIELD – Overcoming obstacles to reach personal and professional success are recurring themes in the life of Fairfield resident Carlos Gonzales.

While the 44-year-old entrepreneur now has a comfortable living as the owner/operator of New Look Power Wash, growing up in Pennsylvania, things weren’t easy.

‘My mother was an alcoholic,’ Gonzales said. ‘My brothers and sisters and I would live with her when she was doing well but then she’d relapse and Child Protective Services would have to intervene. We probably lived in five or six different foster homes up until the time I graduated from high school.’

Soon after graduation, Gonzales joined the Navy where he worked for five years as a chaplain’s assistant. After leaving the service, his childhood experiences led him into the field of nonprofit social services.

Gonzales worked in homeless shelters, as a drug counselor, served on advisory boards and wrote community development grants for nonprofits all over the Bay Area. Around that time he met and married his wife of now 19 years, Bettye, who he describes as being ‘corporate America.’ Gonzales soon joined her in the rat race by applying skills he honed in the service sector.

‘Using skills learned through on-the-job training, my own business instincts and things I learned from bending the ears of superiors, I started working for a company in Walnut Creek called Direct Media,’ Gonzales said. ‘I discovered that whether you are in the social services or corporate world, if you treat people with dignity and respect and solve problems as a team you are going to be successful.’

In the late ’90s Gonzales was courted by a company that recognized his skills at management and offered him a position as director of sales in a Silicon Valley dot-com start-up. Gonzales was reluctant to leave Direct Media, but the six-figure salary, generous stock options and other inducements made by the company to sweeten the pot finally convinced him to make the change.

The job only lasted nine months.

‘The rate at which we burned through the start-up capital was way too high for investors and we lost our funding,’ Gonzales said. ‘That coupled with a lack of vision by the founders of the company resulted in me waking up one day without a job.’

Dot-com companies were folding left and right at that time. Gonzales interviewed and floated his resume without much luck. In a fit of boredom, he decided to clean the exterior of his house. It turned out to be a fateful decision.

‘I rented a pressure washer from a local rental company and as I was washing my house with it a neighbor happened by and asked if I did it professionally,’ Gonzales said. ‘I told them ‘no.’ Then like three more people came and asked me the same thing, and I replied ‘no’ each time.’

‘I then began to realize I may have stumbled onto something so when the fifth person asked me if I pressure washed professionally I said ‘yes, I did.’ ‘

Gonzales’ company, New Look Power Wash, was born.

Gonzales researched the pressure washing industry in the Bay Area and realized it was a much-needed service. Once established, he began to focus on trying to change the image of pressure washers.
‘

There is a misconception that pressure washing is just a bunch of guys playing with water all day long,’ Gonzales said. ‘But you have to know the different kinds of chemicals for different surfaces, different pressures, different nozzles, and what temperature the water needs to be, among other things.’

According to Gonzales, the reasons for pressure washing go beyond mere aesthetics and cross over from being a luxury to a necessity.

‘For instance if the gutters aren’t cleaned before the rainy season it can cause significant damage because the water has to go somewhere,’ Gonzales said. ‘It can lead to wood rot and leaks or cause those nasty black streaks you see on the sides of houses, which then need to be painted. With pressure washing you can do preventative maintenance.’

‘With businesses, there are health considerations and we have a statewide contract with one to clean their Dumpsters. Obviously how clean a restaurant is on the outside plays a role in whether customers decide to patronize it. Also, any business has to consider liability issues such as algae growing on the sidewalk in front of their store where a customer can potentially slip and fall.’

Gonzales set his sights higher and envisioned a nationwide organization, which could help raise the level of professionalism in his chosen field as well as serve as a resource to contractors.

The United Association of Mobile Contract Cleaners (UAMCC) already existed, created by industry ‘godfather’ Robert Hinderliter of Texas, but was languishing.

With Hinderliter’s blessing, Gonzales was tapped to breathe new life and new energy into the organization. He jumped in with both feet.

‘I completely rebuilt it adding a new business plan, new board of directors, new goals, new benefits — everything,’ Gonzales said. ‘I took care of the legal work like incorporation, and started establishing relations all across the United States. It took two years and a $20,000 investment of my own money.’

The UAMCC is now up and running with a board of directors and members joining monthly. They have consulted with officials in South Carolina on the Clean Water Act and are teaming up this year with the Ronald McDonald House Charities in a nationwide program of giving back to communities called Wash with Us.

A promise that Gonzales made before starting his labor of love was that after he had established the UAMCC, he would step down as its acting executive director and allow the organization to be owned by its members.

This past January he kept that promise and walked away from heading the organization.

‘My purpose in getting it going was to give back to an industry that has opened up a lot of doors for me,’ he said.

Gonzales’ story of overcoming a rough childhood and becoming a successful business owner, sans any formal education, is even more remarkable as he had to overcome a physical obstacle as well.

In 2003, he was diagnosed with Menire’s disease, an incurable vertigo equilibrium malady of the inner ear. Gonzales’ vertigo got so bad he had to have brain surgery. After the operation, he experienced almost total hearing loss in his right ear.

A year later, he started to experience vertigo attacks again. Doctors discovered he had Menire’s in his other ear as well. He can still hear with the left ear but it is a struggle.

‘It’s difficult for me to communicate with people with my hearing loss and that’s another reason I wanted to go into business for myself,’ Gonzales said. ‘Could I file for disability? Probably, but I’m not the kind of person who will ride that ticket. I was raised to put in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay and I work hard. I have not allowed my Menire’s disease to slow me down.’

Gonzales at one point had hired employees and the money was rolling in but the downturn in the economy, as well as his two-year mission to set up the UAMCC, took a bite out of his nest egg.

Both setbacks and successes have taught him the benefit of prioritizing his life.

‘God has shown me that the acquisition of wealth is not all that it’s cracked up to be,’ Gonzales said. ‘I learned a valuable lesson in that as fast as money can come, it can go away, but the one thing that will remain is God. I am managing the growth of my business versus allowing my business to manage me.’

Reach Fairfield freelance writer Tony Wade at getthelowdown@sbcglobal.net.

Bill will impact Pressure Washing in Solano-Napa?

On the Government Legislation front ~ Proposed law could greatly effect pressure washing companies in the Bay Area with special emphasis in the Solano and Napa regions.  Link provided ny the Times Herald Online.  Visit the California Pressure Washing Blog for updates about this important piece of legislation.

Impact Pressure Washing In Solano and Napa?

Pressure Wash Vendor for City of Fairfield, CA

New Look Power Wash recently was added as pressure wash vendor for the City of Fairfield, CA.  New Look Power Wash offers pressure wash services to the residential, commercial, industrial, graffiti removal, natural disaster clean up and concrete pressure wash and sealing markets.  The city of Fairfield is located in Solano County. New Look Power Wash is registered vendor for Solano County and the state of California.

New Look Power Wash is located in Fairfield Ca, centrally located between San Franciso and Sacramento bordering between Solano, Napa and Contra Costa County.

Pressure Wash Colleague Fighting Cancer

A colleague in the pressure washing industry shares a very inspirational story about his plight with cancer.

Under pressure Athens multi-tasker runs business while fighting leukemia By Holly Hollman
Staff Writer

Daily Photos by Gary Cosby Jr. Jeremy Kiefer runs his own pressure washing business, volunteers for the Athens Police Department and is battling leukemia. Kiefer and John Yeager place a ladder so they can access the roof of a Decatur home for cleaning.

ATHENS – Jeremy Kiefer could be walking on top of a roof one minute, sitting in a doctor’s office having blood drawn the next and ending the day operating a driving-under-the-influence checkpoint.

Kiefer could teach lessons on multi-tasking if he decided to add one more item to his to-do list.

The Athens business owner has juggled multiple jobs since he was a teenager in college.

Now he is running a business and fighting cancer.

At age 17, Kiefer took classes at an Indiana college, managed a tuxedo store and ran his own window cleaning business.

At age 34, Kiefer is a husband and father, the owner of Clear Shine Maintenance and a reserve officer for Athens police.

Work hazards

Since December, his life has involved more than his usual multi-tasking. He has been designing a battle plan against chronic lymphocytic leuke­mia.

A doctor discovered the leukemia after deciding to do a blood test as a follow-up to Kie­fer having e-coli earlier in the year.

“I was having panic attacks, and my equilibrium was off, so the doctors said we should do a full blood work,” Kiefer said.

Panic attacks and equilibrium issues are dangerous for Kiefer’s job, because he climbs ladders and gets on top of roofs as part of his cleaning business.

“This type leukemia is usually diagnosed in those 60 or older,” Kiefer said. “There’s not a lot of background for people my age.”

According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, there are 15,490 new cases of CLL each year. It can cause loss of energy, shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes and infections.

Waiting on chemo

This type of leukemia is slow-progressing, so Kiefer and his doctors have decided to wait until the disease affects his red blood cells before starting chemotherapy and doing a bone marrow transplant.

Once there are a high number of CLL cells in the marrow, they can crowd out normal blood-forming cells, and Kiefer will have to attack the cancer with chemo and a transplant.

Although Kiefer is taking the wait-and-see approach with leukemia, he is not taking that approach with his career. Between medical check-ups, Kiefer markets his business, oversees his crew of three, mixes chemicals, conducts de­monstrations, operates the equipment and climbs onto roofs. His father, Stan, helps him run the business. They travel throughout North Alabama to provide residential and commercial cleaning.

Kiefer’s company uses a soft wash process to clean roofing shingles and the more common pressure washing process to clean chimneys, driveways, sidewalks and other structures.

“Many people don’t think about cleaning the roof,” Kiefer said. “The roof process is gentle and doesn’t void the warranty. It’s so soft you can put your hand in the stream of water. We put a detergent mix on the roof, and then when it rains, it cleans off the mold and debris.”

Kiefer said that no matter what his future holds, he will keep multi-tasking. When the time comes to put his focus on leukemia treatments, he will do so, but keep other projects going.

“I’m very one-track minded,” he said, “but at the same time, I have to have a lot of things going on. I focus on one thing at a time, but I have to have multiple things to focus on throughout the day.”

Pressure Wash Vendor with Solano County – Fairfield and Suisun City

New Look Power Wash was recently added as a vendor with Solano County’s Central Services Division. As a registered vendor for the county, New Look Power Wash has shown Solano County that we have obtained the necessary qualifications to bid on pressure washing or power washing contracts that are RFP’d from the county of Solano, which includes Fairfield, Suisun City, Vallejo, Benecia, Cordelia, Vacaville, Dixon and Davis!

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