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Roof Washer New Jersey (609) 929-5812 wrote:

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Ted,
Does your lift allow you to get to theback

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Not on the big 2 or 3 story homes with steep pitches Mike.  I think a 60' lift would be needed for that and it'd need to be heavily articulated (an 'up and over' type of boom).  Then one would have to be concerned with the curb weight though (could the driveways handle a huge truck of that size?).  Some of the older 2 story, low pitched roofs would be doable with my 42 footer though I think.  Haven't done any of them yet though.  Lots of newer construction and high pitches around here.

For our clients that want the back of their house done, we do that via ladder.

The lift is often a good selling point/differentiator for us, as we explain the safety aspects versus ladders or worse, walking a roof.  Plus it sometimes draws a small crowd as the roof gets transformed right in front of everyone's eyes.  

For any folks considering adding a bucket truck to your fleet, I suggest finding a 42' working height or bigger. Many of the non CDL trucks out there only have a 36' working height.  The extra 6 feet of the 42 makes a HUGE difference.

Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:

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Roof Cleaning Northern Virginia (571) 250 9650 wrote:

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Hi Chris.

Centreville is surrounded by Manassas, Fairfax, Chantilly and Herndon.  Suburbs of Washington DC.   All of the towns/cities just run together here  LOL.

 

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Ok, I have heard of Fairfax and Herndon, Virginia! I just never heard of Centreville.
Thanks for clarifying it for me Ted. Where is Virginia Tech located at ? They recently played Boise State, and it was a great game! The Virginia Tech Hokies have nothing to be ashamed of, and they almost won!

 

 

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Virginia Tech is down in Blacksburg Virginia.  We love our Hokies around here!  Too bad Blacksburg is about 4 hours south.  That's a LONG drive for a football game.  My youngest (Junior in HS) plans on going to Tech.  

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 wrote:

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That's good looking work on that roof in Centreville VA Ted. I never really thought that those bucket trucks would reach far enough from the driveway to get the far side of the house. Your pictures are changing my mind on that. Too bad you can't get the back with that size. Do you know what percentage of jobs you sell that you can use the bucket on, compared to the ones you can't??

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I use the lift on 90-95% of the jobs Bill, for mainly two reasons:  it's relatively high density around here (not many sprawling ranches but lots of small lots), and I don't position the southern exposures for cleaning unless there are visible stains OR unless the HO requests it.  (Being high density, most of the time the neighbors house just 10 yards away is covered in algae anyway.  So it's tough sell on the southern/other exposures.)

Most of the homes that fall in to the 5-10% balance have side load garages.  The bucket is only good for part of those roof's.

I've read some posts where others have tried the bucket trucks but it didn't work out well. It's working out great for me and I needed a work truck anyway.  Plus it's a 7.3L turbo diesel with ice cold AC.  A real life Tonka  LOL