Vallejo’s #1 Pressure Wash Services Company

by Carlos Gonzales, New Look Power Wash – newlookpowerwash@aol.com

New Look Power Wash has been providing pressure wash services in Vallejo for 11 years to home and business owners.  As a small based business, our success depends on your satisfaction with our services.  If your residence is in need of a bath ~ we are the company to clean it. If your concrete is dirty ~ we will get it clean. Is your back patio or driveway in need of a facelift? If so, we are the company to call.

New Look Power Wash, located just minutes from Vallejo, CA is the preferred pressure wash company for business and home owners. Our services have ranged from cleaning concrete off of Columbus Parkway, house washes downtown to fulfilling contracts for the City of Vallejo. Our cleaning techniques offer our customers an unsurpassed reassurance that the worked performed by New Look Power Wash will be done the correct way. We only use state of the art of equipment, environmentally safe soaps and the latest techniques to rid your house or concrete of unwanted stains, dirt and grease build up.

As a customer of New Look Power Wash you can expect:

• Quality Service

• State of the Art Equipment

• Environmentally Safe & Certified; Green Soaps

• Onsite Consultation

• Fully Insured – 5 Million General Liability Coverage

• Waste Water Reclamation

• Vendor status with San Francisco Bay Area city and county municipalities

But most of all you can be assured we will provide you with a pleasant experience and quality service at a fair price. Don’t believe us? Read what our customers from all over the San Francisco Bay Area are saying about New Look Power Wash. We are centrally located in the Bay Area and are only minutes to your place of business or residence for a FREE onsite assessment of your pressure wash needs. Contact us today at 707.812.3702 to schedule that much needed house wash or driveway cleaning that you put off in 2011.

Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Pleasanton, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Petaluma, El Cerrito, Folsom, Lafayette, Cathedral City, Clayton, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Pleasant Hill, St. Helena, Walnut Creek, Oakley, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, South San Francisco, Rancho Cordova, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lodi, Stanford, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Carmel, Redding, Livermore, Fremont, Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Modesto, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Elk Grove, Sunnyvale, Visalia, Roseville, Daly City, Antioch, San Mateo, Clovis, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Alhambra, Chico, Citrus Heights, Livermore, Alameda, San Leandro, Calistoga, Campbell, Tracy, Merced, Atherton, Auburn, Belmont, Belvedere, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Mill Valley, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County.

New Look Power Wash Featured in National Publication

New Look Power Wash was recently featured in Cleaner Times, a national publication representing the pressure wash and cleaning industry.  We wish to thank the editor of Cleaner Times, Mr. Jim McMurry and the entire staff of Cleaner Times for their unconditional support of New Look Power Wash over the years.

To read the article in it’s entirety, just clink on the link provided.  New Look Power Wash Article

Napa Vineyards Mandate Pressure Wash

Hire a Pressure Wash Contractor

So you are finally looking for a qualified pressure wash contractor to perform the necessary task of applying his or her knowledge to provide pressure washing services to your house or place of business?

The likely hood that your house, building or sidewalks are pretty dirty right now and you need to get them clean, right?  Customer often wait until the outside of their building or house is either covered with algae or the dirt has accumulated so much over the years that the building itself has turned into an eyesore.

As with every significant purchase you make for the upkeep of your property you will want to make sure that the pressure washing contractor that you hire has the necessary credentials that ultimately qualify them as a legitimate pressure washing contractor.  Beyond the business license and proof of insurance you will want to make sure that the contractor has an acute understanding of what needs to be cleaned and how it will be cleaned.

It has been my experience over the years regardless of the locale i.e. Napa, San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, Los Angeles or San Diego that the consumer has little knowledge if any of what we as pressure washing contractors really do.  One particular customer in Walnut Creek made a comment that all I do is play in water all day long.  I guess one could surmise that this is indeed true however there is many ‘things’ that we do in order to ensure that our pressure washing services are the best in California.

Picking the right contractor to perform the pressure wash services you desire can be difficult when you do not know what questions you need to ask.  As mentioned before at minimum you want to make sure that the “pressure wash” contractor is truly a legitimate pressure washing business in the first place.  As a consumer you will want to make sure that the contractor does indeed have a business license and most importantly carry the correct and enough insurance that specifically covers pressure washing as part of their company policy.  Pressure wash contractors that do have the necessary credentials often proudly display them on their website.  In our case, New Look Power Wash is fully insured and a pressure wash vendor for the County of Solano, the City of Fairfield and the State of California.  In conjunction with this we are also a certified Small Business with the State of California.  Often times other trades that claim they perform pressure washing services do indeed have insurance and will tell you that BUT the may not be insured for pressure washing.

Questions to Ask

Once you have found a few legitimate pressure wash companies to bid on your project, don’t be afraid to ask them exactly how they intend to clean and remove all the dirt and algae from your residence or place of business without damaging the actual surface.  Here are a few questions to ask as you try to decide which company you will hire:

• What procedures do you use to clean?
• Do you use cold or hot water when you pressure wash?
• Do you use any soap? If so, ask for the MSDS sheet for it so that you may read exactly what they are putting on your building or sidewalks
• Will the soap hurt my plants?
• Will the algae reappear?
• What equipment will you use to clean my back patio or sidewalks?
• Can the contractor guarantee that they will be able to get the surface clean?
• Ask for references if you wish to speak to another consumer about the contractors work.

These questions along with some that you may come up with will hopefully enable you to make the right choice in hiring a pressure wash contractor.  As you are interviewing the pressure wash company determine which company you feel will back their services up unconditionally should something go wrong on the job.

The Almighty Dollar

Pricing does play an important role if not the deciding role in determining who you hire to perform the services.  However do not let pricing be the only reason you choose one contractor from the next one.  Qualified contractors charge for their services because they have spent many years testing what works and does not work on different surfaces relating to pressure washing.  Entering into the pressure wash industry as a contractor is relatively easy but being a qualified contractor does require knowledge and experience in the field of pressure washing to properly perform the services the correct way.

Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Pleasanton, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Petaluma, El Cerrito, Folsom, Lafayette, Cathedral City, Clayton, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Pleasant Hill, St. Helena, Walnut Creek, Oakley, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, South San Francisco, Rancho Cordova, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lodi, Stanford, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Carmel, Redding, Livermore, Fremont, Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Modesto, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Elk Grove, Sunnyvale, Visalia, Roseville, Daly City, Antioch, San Mateo, Clovis, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Alhambra, Chico, Citrus Heights, Livermore, Alameda, San Leandro, Calistoga, Campbell, Tracy, Merced, Atherton, Auburn, Belmont, Belvedere, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Mill Valley, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County

Heritage Labs Green Announces Strategic Alliance

Heritage Labs Green selects California based pressure wash company for industry implementation of cleaning product.

(2010-08-02 08:37:30 – Staten Island NY) Heritage Labs Green owner of SW 1000 has announced the strategic alliance with New Look Power Wash, a California based pressure washing company, for the testing and implementation of the SW1000 Multi-purpose cleaner within the pressure washing industry.

As a time-tested commercial and industrial heavy duty degreaser / all purpose cleaner, SW1000 maintains a unique balance of high performance coupled with environmentally safe characteristics.  The results of which is an effective, safe, Green cleaning material that will not only “do the job” but save both time and money. Countless numbers of industrial giants have tested and are users of SW 1000 and their support continually proves SW1000 to be the environmentally friendly product that posses unique degreasing and cleaning abilities for a wide variety of uses and applications.

New Look Power Wash will manage and facilitate the marketing efforts for SW 1000 as they relate to the pressure wash industry.  Carlos Gonzales, owner of New Look Power Wash further explains his company role.  “Even though SW1000 has the necessary scientific data that proves it to be a unique product we just about concluded our nation wide product test campaign where I have approximately 15-20 independent contractors testing SW1000 on different surfaces and conditions across the U.S.  Thus far the feedback has been extremely positive.  “I even put SW1000 through the test on dirty and greasy commercial jobs recently both in California and Las Vegas and I was extremely impressed with the results.”

The President and Founder of Heritage labs Green, Donald Adone welcomed the new alliance with New Look Power Wash by stating, “Carlos took the bull by the horns and has made the necessary inroads to get SW1000 into the hands of the pressure wash contractor”.  “Our goal is to be able to offer an environmentally safe product with enough punch to rid the oil and grease on the more nasty flat surface contracts that pressure washers encounter all the time” he said.

“Carlos will be in charge of establishing a nationwide distribution channel within the pressure wash industry to include distribution centers which will be selected based on several quantifying benchmarks where the distributor will ultimately have a purpose and motivation to promote SW1000 to their customer base.’

Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Pleasanton, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Petaluma, El Cerrito, Folsom, Lafayette, Cathedral City, Clayton, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Pleasant Hill, St. Helena, Walnut Creek, Oakley, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, South San Francisco, Rancho Cordova, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lodi, Stanford, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Carmel, Redding, Livermore, Fremont, Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Modesto, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Elk Grove, Sunnyvale, Visalia, Roseville, Daly City, Antioch, San Mateo, Clovis, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Alhambra, Chico, Citrus Heights, Livermore, Alameda, San Leandro, Calistoga, Campbell, Tracy, Merced, Atherton, Auburn, Belmont, Belvedere, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Mill Valley, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County.

Pressure Wash During A Natural Disaster

 

 

Over the years the pressure washing contractor has explored many ways to market their services to almost every imaginable opportunity out there.  It may come as a surprise to some but pressure washing after a natural disaster could very well be the next frontier for our industry.  My experience with working in natural disasters areas are two fold:  I spent many days and nights as a firefighter on the fire lines protecting homes and business’s from fast moving wild land fires throughout California before I owned a pressure washing business.  As a pressure washer, I traveled to southern California after the infamous L.A fires in early 2000 where I spent several days pressure washing homes that accumulated soot and embers carried by the drift smoke.

Unfortunately, natural disasters and natural disaster clean-up is big business.  According to the ISO/PCS Insurance Information Institute, in 2007, insured loss or damage cost due to wild fires was 1.6 billion dollars.  And this was just for the state of California.  Hurricane damage cost and clean-up during the ’05 & ’06 hurricane season in the southern region of the U.S. reached a staggering 58.8 billion.

Flood damage and clean up cost in the mid west and northeast also reflect staggering figures in which billions of dollars of aide from the federal government is funneled to these locales to assist communities and often time entire states get back to some semblance of normalcy.

My trip to southern California was originally prescribed as volunteer work to assist home and business owners clean up their property.  While down in the fire zone I soon realized that pressure washing was a much needed and sought out service.  Every imaginable outside fixture that fell victim to the intense drift smoke but avoided the actual fire was seemingly fair game for pressure washing.  Community after community had one form or another of drift smoke ash accumulation that required a remedy.   Insurance adjusters from different insurance companies beckoned our assistance to quickly rinse off properties and cars in quick fashion in order for them to accurately determine if any fire damage occurred, per the insurance claim filed by the policy holder.  As we jokingly say in the pressure washing industry, I was definitely redefining the term “splash and dash” during our time in this region.  No cleaning chemicals were required, just a quick rinse.  The insurance adjusters only wanted to see if there was any fire damage to the property in question.

My curiosity about the type of insurance claims prompted me to inquire in between rinsing.  I was surprised to hear one insurance adjuster reflect in saying that the majority of the policy holders file claims to have their properties repainted.  I countered by explaining that just by pressure washing the likely hood of obtaining pre-fire condition was realistic – all with a fraction of the cost it would take an insurance company to pay a painting company to repaint the property.  Beyond that I explained that if the property did indeed need painting, one must pressure wash it first.

Captain Gregory Bounds from the Suisun City Fire Department, a northern California fire department that deploys each year during wild fire season explains that ash and soot from drift smoke can blanket communities for hundred of square miles.  “With any significant wild land fire incident you can pretty much guarantee that these communities will need the services of a company to spray away the accumulation of ash.”  He further states the need of having pressure washing services at the fire base camp “De-mob (demobilization) is mandatory for the release of fire department vehicles upon that safety inspection by a certified mechanic (ICS 212 form).  For the de-mobe mechanics to inspect a dirty, muddy fire engine delays the process of inspecting that vehicle properly to get it repaired if needed and home safely.  It is not uncommon for strike teams to drive hundreds of miles for it to return home.  The power washing would allow the mechanics to visibly see damaged areas from 4×4 driving and accumulated dirt and soot that sticks to electrical components, u-joints and windows.”

Asked if pressure washing could be a viable service for natural disaster incidents such as wild land fires? Captain Bounds remarked “the need is there today, however a pressure washing company could not just show up at base camp and announce that they are there to pressure wash”. Captain Bounds recommends anyone wishing to explore this service to begin by contacting their local FEMA representative or start at their local fire department to determine who to contact to get your pressure washing company listed as a vendor during wildfire incidents. Having your pressure wash company participate in natural disaster incidents will require patience and determination especially dealing with all the bureaucratic paper work that often comes as a pre-requisite. However once you obtain the necessary clearance as a vendor you stand a good chance of traveling from once incident to the next throughout the summer months providing a much needed service to the men and women that put their life on the line by fighting these raging infernos.

Natural disasters are not just limited to wild fires in the western part of the U.S.  Take Mathew Johnson from Pressure Washing Services located in Milford, NY.  Mr. Johnson and I spoke on natural disaster clean up the summer before his service area was hit with significant floods due to the unusual amount of rainfall that year.  He put the natural disaster clean up concept to work.  “What Carlos applied in California, I did the same thing here in New York except I applied it to our natural disaster – flooding” Mathew said.  He further explains, “For our industry, it is a unique service that if you are the only one providing it today you are almost guaranteed that your phone will be ringing to provide services during a time of need.”

Now before you run down to the local fire department and ask the fire chief to give you a call when a natural disaster occurs, you must first determine whether or not this “add on” service to your pressure washing business is right for you.  There are many considerations that you must evaluate before embarking to a natural disaster area:

 

• Days away from regular pressure washing business;
• Cash on hand.  Some disaster areas will not have functional ATM’s or banks readily open in the area.
• No pay.  Insurance claims and payments can be a long drawn out process.  Can you afford to not get paid from 60-90 days?
• Emotional impact.  Working in natural disaster zones especially hurricane and flood incidents can have an emotional impact on you especially if you frequently in contact with casualties;

It would be a sound recommendation for you to contact your local insurance agent in your community first.  They could  have the contact information for you immediately verses you having to track it down.

Providing pressure washing services during a natural disaster will require due diligence and a lot of preparation on your part.  Today you may wish to begin on a smaller scale right in your service area.  A house fire, depending on the intensity, can blanket adjoining houses with soot and ash.  A suggestion would be to make up fliers about your pressure washing services and distribute them discreetly around the location of the house fire well after the initial shock that normally plaques home or business owners during this difficult time.  This concept also applies to local flooding, coastal oil spills and small grass fires in and around communities across the U.S.

As you continue to evaluate your company and the services it provides you owe it to yourself to do not ignore the opportunities that lay during times such as when a natural disaster strikes – big or small. As history has shown, disasters such as hurricanes, fires and floods will continue to hold communities hostage for years to come.  Could it be time that the pressure washing industry contributes to help build these communities back?

 

 

Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Pleasanton, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Petaluma, El Cerrito, Folsom, Lafayette, Cathedral City, Clayton, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Pleasant Hill, St. Helena, Walnut Creek, Oakley, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, South San Francisco, Rancho Cordova, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lodi, Stanford, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Carmel, Redding, Livermore, Fremont, Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Modesto, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Elk Grove, Sunnyvale, Visalia, Roseville, Daly City, Antioch, San Mateo, Clovis, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Alhambra, Chico, Citrus Heights, Livermore, Alameda, San Leandro, Calistoga, Campbell, Tracy, Merced, Atherton, Auburn, Belmont, Belvedere, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Mill Valley, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County.

 

Pressure Wash My Vinyl Siding

Your house has vinyl siding and you need to have it pressure washed.  As you probably have found out, rinsing it down with a garden hose or better yet borrowing your neighbor’s pressure washer just did not get it as clean as your thought it would.  Home owners in California just assume that pressure washing their vinyl siding is as easy as sealing their concrete or pavers.  Obviously most have learned the hard way that pressure washing their house or deck is not as easy as it sounds.  Pressure washing your house, whether it is vinyl, stucco, wood or any other building material, is a carefully orchestrated process that should be left to qualified experts in the pressure washing industry to perform.

As a home owner you run a very high risk of causing costly and sometimes permanent damage to your house or property by using a pressure washer that you have no experience in using.

Hiring a professional pressure wash contractor to perform the correct and right way to pressure wash your house is smart and worth the investment.  A combination of cleaning soaps, heat and low pressure are the key ingredients to a successful pressure wash job, especially when pressure washing vinyl siding.

Don’t run the risk of having water intrusion find its way underneath the eaves of your vinyl.  This happens due to just using nothing but pressure from a pressure washer to serve or act as the ‘cleaning agent’.  This procedure is incorrect not only for pressure washing vinyl but also for most surfaces at your house.

Before you fire up the pressure washer that you purchased at the local hardware store to wash your property that you paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for, consider the option of hiring a professional to perform the pressure wash services that you need.  Pressure washing is not about the use of just pressure and water.  View more of our pressure wash pics.

Pressure Wash My Vinyl Siding BEFORE

Pressure Wash My Vinyl Siding AFTER

Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Pleasanton, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Petaluma, El Cerrito, Folsom, Lafayette, Cathedral City, Clayton, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Pleasant Hill, St. Helena, Walnut Creek, Oakley, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Napa, San Rafael, Petaluma, South San Francisco, Rancho Cordova, San Pablo, El Sobrante, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lodi, Stanford, Monterey, Bodega Bay, Carmel, Redding, Livermore, Fremont, Fresno, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Modesto, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Elk Grove, Sunnyvale, Visalia, Roseville, Daly City, Antioch, San Mateo, Clovis, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Alhambra, Chico, Citrus Heights, Livermore, Alameda, San Leandro, Calistoga, Campbell, Tracy, Merced, Atherton, Auburn, Belmont, Belvedere, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Mill Valley, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County.

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.

Pressure Wash Business ~ Your Expectations

As a business owner in the pressure wash industry what is your expectations?  I am absolutely positive that you asked this same question when you entered into the pressure wash industry.  You came up with the idea to start your business and also to take it somewhere, preferably in the right direction.  What were your expectations or better yet how did you determine the ‘right direction’.

Think about this before you read on.  Analyze your business and what your expectations are for it.

Is Success Driving You?

Is one of your expectations to be successful? Though it may seem a silly question at first and often times business owner’s gloss over this statement but achieving success with your pressure washing business is a critical component that requires some deep thought.  Define success and leave out the template statement about making money so you do not have to work anymore.  If you have not heard this about money and success, let me be the first to clue you in on something.  Making money is not success. Making money is the reward for your success.

Where Ya At?

Before you can take your pressure wash business ‘somewhere’ it is probably safe to say that you better first know where you or IT is at. So the fundamental question to ask yourself, where are you? Do you know where you are at? And when I mean “know where you are at” I am leaning in the direction of YOU knowing exactly where you business is at today, where it was yesterday and where it was the day before that and the day before that. It is always good to KNOW where you are at before you KNOW where you want to go.  This is a fair observation.

Where Ya Going?

Once you have determined where you are at within your pressure wash business, it is time to envision its future.  Simply put, where do you want to go?  Now that you KNOW where YOU are at it is time to figure out WHERE you want to go. So, WHERE do you want to go? Leave out the template answer about making as much money like that contractor over in the next county or that contractor that is idolized on the different bulletin boards. Your business is not about them; your business is about YOU.

All ‘Systems’ Go?

So, back to the fundamental question that we all have asked ourselves or have been asked by others. “What are your expectations as a pressure wash business owner?” What are the elements of your business model, business plan, budget, that will help you achieve “Success” as you define it? Do you know?  Some of you may not realize this but many of you already have the elements in place in your business. You just need to organize them.  These elements or otherwise known as systems will help you arrive to the place you want to be at.  Before you implement the systems to push your business in the direction that you wish to go you must first arrive with an understanding as to where you want to go and stick with that.  Comprehend your business model, business plan, budget and the necessary infrastructure so that you will know what systems to implement to get you there.

What are systems?

That will be the next article on the California Pressure Washing Blog.  Here is to your success!  Please feel free to post comments here at the California Pressure Washing Blog.

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Pressure Wash service areas include San Francisco, Oakland, Emeryville, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Suisun City, Stockton, Pittsburgh, Walnut Creek, Benicia, Danville, San Ramon, American Canyon, Orinda, Berkeley, Albany, Point Richmond, Rio Vista, San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Burbank, Palo Alto, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Hayward, Rancho Cordova, Los Banos, San Diego, Long Beach, Orange County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Alameda County and Napa County.

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.

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