Summer 2019

WASHING
BABE-RAHAM
LINCOLN
number one outreach initiative.
“As far as I know, that was like the
biggest promotional thing still to this
day that the organization ever did,”
Bockman said. “So basically the organization
-- free of charge -- offered to
clean the nation’s historical areas. It
was a community thing that I did for
my own companies and communities
and then I went to the board of directors
of PWNA and introduced the idea
of making it a campaign for the organization
to use it for promotion and as a
membership building thing.”
Once again, in classic service to
America style, Bockman had made an
imprint in a patriotic way. This time
he was recognized for his work in a
high-profile manner. As creator of Clean
Across America campaign, he received
the Daily Points of Light Award from
then President George Bush.
Working on national historical
monuments inside the Beltway was no
panacea, however. Doing government
work by its very nature means lots of
bureaucratic red tape. Cleaning historical
monuments adds another layer of
regulations and, frankly, obstacles to
performing a successful clean.
“Most of the stuff you have to run
by National Park Service,” Bockman
explained. “They have approved products
you use for the Lincoln Memorial,
for instance… it really was nothing.
Palmolive probably would have done a
better job. Or you could have just used
hot water at low pressure.”
In the spirit of Clean Across America,
and/or with profit in mind, pressure
washers nationwide should consider sizing
up their own local historic inventory
(smaller in scale though it may be) and approaching
the proper government entity
(planning commissions, historical societies)
about getting a chance to clean them.
Bockman offers up this advice for
those thinking of doing so.
“It’s not just different methods and
chemicals and processes but also navigating
governmental entities. It can be
very complex and not for everyone,”
Bockman said. “Even for small-town
operators, they need to prepare their
minds to sort of go through some hoops
and do some things that you wouldn’t
normally do just getting a residential
or commercial job.
“Sometimes it’s a huge hurdle,” he
added. “For instance, you often have to
do core samples…So you may have to
wait a year before you can actually go
out and do the job. You’ll have to show
consistent cleaning performance on different
areas of the buildings and in removing
different stains. They may want
it to dry just to make sure it’s right. So
there’s a lot of prep work involved to secure
it. You’ll have to put a lot of work in
place before you can even begin bidding.
“Also, wages. Sometimes you have to
pay a certain amount on different projects
on government jobs. Some of them
they require you to pay wages that could
be $30 an hour and you have to pay your
guys that if it falls under certain guidelines.
You have to know that fact going in
and plan for it or you’ll under bid.”
According to Bockman, on some of
his highly-sensitive DC jobs, his crews
will be guarded by armed security the
entire time they are on a job.
“They guard us with M-16s,” he
said. “So you have two security guys
per employee on a job site following you
around watching you the entire time
and inspecting your vehicles and going
through your chemicals every time you
pull in…A lot of contractors way under
bid these kind of projects because when
you have to go through a security checkpoint
every single time you do a property,
it can take an hour just to get on the
property and through security. Time is
money. Then you’re guarded and you
can’t move around quickly. So, for instance,
if a window is open, they’ve got
to call to get clearance to go in there
and close it. Some of the jobs that we’ve
done that would normally take us three
or four hours can take two days just because
of the bureaucracy. So pricing is
huge for these jobs.”
Not understanding all these ins and
outs of government can cost you in the
long run, both financially and reputationally.
“On some jobs, they don’t allow us
to use any acid-based materials at all,”
Bockman explained. “So if you have to
remove rust or lime or calcium without
an acid-based product, that has to be
covered in the contract that you submitted.
Because if they expect that to be
removed, there’s no way you can really
remove it. If that fact is not made clear in
the contract, you have lost all credibility
when you have to bring that fact up in
the middle of a job.”
Education, then, is key. And no one is
more known in the pressure wash industry
for an emphasis on education than
Bockman. Arguably no one in the field
has as many certifications and credentials
for various types of cleaning techniques
as Bockman. He is also a prolific
teacher in the field. In fact, Bockman
created many of the power washing and
soft washing classes in existence today
across the globe.
His restoration work in particular requires
continuous education on the latest
and greatest products and methodologies
being developed to deal with historic
or sensitive projects.
“Staying on top of the industry in
this specialized field is key to success,” he
said. “I recently took a class that taught
me how to rebuild statues. Let’s say you
have a statue and a grape bundle breaks
off. This allows you to remake the grapes
and attach them and bond them so they
won’t break off the next time it freezes.
Really cool stuff, and very lucrative.”
Bockman isn’t just known for historic
jobs. He’s also known for his ability
to do big jobs that other pressure
washers simply couldn’t bid on because
they don’t have the bandwidth, equipment,
knowledge or experience that
Bockman possesses.
continued ...
VOL. 1, NO. 3 | SUMMER 2019 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 29