Company History
 Twelve
years after starting her business, Dawn McGee, of Brandon,
Florida has paid off the $1,000 loan used for her start
up capital but still has to labor away barefoot, under
the sun-and she still loves the work.
In April 1975, McGee was just out of high school, working
part time at a phone answering service “just sitting
there getting fat” and not liking the job one
bit. She decided to do something about it, “start
my own business”.
 At
that time her father Robert Weckman now owner of Action
Pressure Cleaning Systems Inc. of Brandon was a pressure
washer salesman for another company. McGee recalls that
asking her father’s advice about entering the
business world seemed the logical place to start. And,
logically, her father recommended a pressure-washer
related venture.
McGee talked to her father .who talked to his boss,
and McGee entered the pressure cleaning business with
a $1,000 worth of loaned equipment. Since then, McGee
has been doffing her shoes and pulling a pressure washer
hose up ladders and countless roofs. McGee remembers
thinking at the start “girls” do not do
this type of work, but she had done enough “girl”
work to realize it was not for her.
“A lot of this work is physical,” she said,
but I enjoy the exercise, I like the freedom of being
outdoors.” McGee also likes the money she earns.
Technological advances in the pressure washer industry
have helped McGee keep cost down for her clients. We
are getting more water, higher pressure, and it’s
easier to hook up the system. And less time on jobs
means more jobs.
Even though her father was in the pressure washer industry,
McGee’s success was not guaranteed. Her business
was not affiliated in any way in her father’s
company in any way other than the $1,000 loan, and despite
her father’s occupation, McGee had no work background
in pressure washers.
“I had no training recalled McGee. I just went
out and got my own on the job. Fortunately, I didn’t
make a whole lot of mistakes. McGee. who now has a list
of 1,100 regular clients, remembers the shoe leather
she wore out lining up her first customers. “I
went around to peoples houses a lot and I was scared,
but a lot of people were really nice.” She felt
it strange ringing the doorbell and explaining her business.
“I wasn’t really that type.” McGee
had help in this area from a “real salesman”
her brother Bruce, who was 14 years old at the time.
Bruce worked with Dawn “a couple of years”
and has since joined the Air Force.
Now, McGee said, she has all the business she can take
care of without adding employees. An option, she said
does not appeal to her. I don’t advertise at all,
most of my business is from word of mouth. It gets around
that we do a really good job, and I get calls every
day. Her time on the job, McGee is perhaps her best
advertising. You know how people will walk up and down
the streets of a neighborhood. They will stop and watch
when they see us working. I can go into a mobile home
park for just a couple of jobs and by the end of the
day I’ll have a whole weeks work.
McGee said Florida’s humid climate and the accompanying
mildew mean a never-ending source of jobs. We can do
part of a house and it’s the difference between
black and white. A lot of people are amazed at the difference.
She battles the mildew with a “Multicide”
which is mixed into the water application to kill mildew
spores and retard future growth. Thirty years later
she has over 2000 customers including commercial and
residential accounts and prices have doubled. The equipment
has become more sophisticated with an array of attachments
the job is faster and can be completed in a shorter
time.
 Like
her brother McGee works for her father during her off
–season, and as a pressure washer demonstrator
during season. Robert Weckman’s Action Pressure
Cleaning Systems Inc. is a family affair, he agreed.
Beside his son and daughter the company also employs
McGee’s husband Mark McGee. The “family
affair” is proving prosperous for all involved.
Weckman advertises Action Pressure as the distributor
with the largest stock in Florida and has over 100 units
both hot and cold machines as well as a complete pump
rebuilding shop. In late October 1991, the company moved
from the 1,250 square foot warehouse occupied since
1975 into a 3,000 square foot warehouse facility 10
miles East of Tampa. We had completely outgrown the
warehouse and had to move everything 15 feet in order
to show an individual machine. Now we can spread everything
out where customers can come in and go down the isles
just like a supermarket. If they are interested in a
unit we can take it out, start it up and demonstrate
it with no fuss. This helps sales. Daughter Dawn is
a big help in getting sales. Dawn and her husband Mark
run an on the job training school for our buyers and
that attracts customers. These people want to go in
business but are afraid because they do not know how
to run the equipment and don’t want to learn on
their own. While working for her father McGee is actually
training competitors for her business. “I am”
but I am not worried about it. I’m at the point
where I actually recommend people that we have trained.
In fact I have a man that I trained a few years ago
who is making more money than me. There are a lot of
houses here and room for other people in the business.
McGee’s father does not worry about the competition.
We try and work with everyone in the business. In fact
one of our competitors may be out of stock and need
some parts and in a real emergency and we are there
to help them. We sell to competitors because it is good
for the industry and us. Being able to offer a full
package works out excellent for us as when we sell a
unit the buyer will come back week after week for accessories
and chemicals. Action Pressure stocks a huge inventory
of their private label cleaning chemicals from rust
removal to non-streaking house cleaners.
 The
Florida family operation’s business plan is based
on service to the client and industry. In 1971 Bob’s
wife Ann announced a new baby was on the way. Fresh
out of high school in 1989, Eric joined Action and has
been our right hand man. He and his sister Dawn are
managing partners in the business. Eric takes care of
sales and service.
Another ingredient to Action Pressure Cleaning System’s
is the vision and effort expended in gaining new markets
through it’s customer training program and selection
of machines. Action stocks machines as high as 7000
P.S.I.
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