Another good cleaner out of business...

[B&BGaryC]

A local cleaner, whom I have never met, won't be around much longer.

I have always heard excellent things about him. His customers rave. He is one of the more expensive cleaners in this town. Doesn't do high volume, he is just an owner/operator, raises his prices every year. I get the resulting fall out. They always tell me they never thought they could ever pick another cleaner, but the prices were finally out of their budget. I can tell by working after him that his work quality and customer education skills are tremendous.

He thinks he's a water damage expert now. We are fixing his third job now. Major mold problems after he "dried" a water loss. We checked the wall 28 days after he pulled his equipment. IT'S STILL WET!!! This loss we are working is huge. Insurance companies and regulators are getting involved. People are mad, and I don't think he will have a house this time next year. He just works solo with his wife to help. I really think this is the coffin nail. Just because you can clean carpets doesn't mean that you can you dry floods. You just gotta use your head. I am a carpet cleaner. Our company does flood work. I will not touch a flood. I know better. I will wait until I am properly certified, until then, I will let the experts my boss employs handle damage claims.

Just a word of advice to anybody looking to get into water. Look before you leap. It takes thousands of successful jobs to make a name for yourself, but only one failed restoration attempt to lose everything. He made a name for himself as an expert, educated, highly competent carpet cleaner... But he will be remembered as the guy who didn't know what he was doing and lost his business.

 

[Derek]

what a loser.

sounds like he shoulda invested in an OP machine.

thanx --- Derek.

 

[Guest]

sniff sniff.
Tell us another one.

 

[B&BGaryC]

Dude, this is serious. I just hope there are people out there who can learn from this mistake. You can't just rush into water damage.

Unless of course your back-up plan is a cardboard box and free soup.

 

[Guest]

Dude,this happens everyday. I've done it twice!
Like I said"sniff sniff"!





Is the guy that owns the company that you work for as distraught over this loss of competition as you are?
High fives all around,in my opinion.

 

[Bob Foster]

That's very sad to hear about. I really feel for the guy.

But,




He's a damn good carpet cleaner with a good reputation and he will be back cleaning carpets like he never left. So what, he might have to lower his price a few percent but that will feel better than being broke and unemployed.

He sounds like he is good for the carpet cleaning business. People have high expectations that hacks can't meet.

 

[The Preacher]

tell yore boss he wants to hire you, just to piss him off on a friday and then tell him monday morn how much you like yore job!!!!

 

[Guest]

Yeah,I really feel for the guy too,but life and business is full of education(s).
Everything I know about either I've learned the hard way.
Like Bob said,he'll be back. And,he'll be alittle smarter next time.

 

[B&BGaryC]

Interesting take guys. I am not sad about the loss of competition. I would not mind snagging up his customers. I just think it sucks that people can make this mistake.

 

[R W]

THAT'S why I don't get into the drying part of WD. I don't want to be bothered with monitoring jobs, doing the construction work and/or hiring sub-contractors to do it, and w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the insurance check. I work for a restorator that hires me to extract water, sometimes help out with carpet removal, if needed, and sends me back to clean and deodorize carpet and upholstery when he's done his part. I'm happy....he's happy...we both make money.

As for pricing himself out of the market, it happens all the time. I may be more expensive than my competitors, I may be cheaper. My steady customers will usually get a price break because they all ways call me back. If Mikey P or Dave Rampage came to my area, they would find some work, but would end up charging themselves out of business. You charge what the market will bear.....and around here, you better be in line with the top competitors.

 

[B&BGaryC]

I don't think he's pricing himself out of business. He is dropping his clients that can't afford him, and taking the country club clientele etc. etc...

He still has a solid base. I only meet the customers that had him start cleaning for him when he was cheap. I wish I had the nuts to raise my prices a bit. (I'm steadily working them up there.)

I started by bidding my jobs at what I think they are worth (A little less than what they are worth actually), not necessarily what I was going to get... Then I start explaining the work, the differences between the two packages and the two protectors, and how the warranty works. If they ask anything about the prices I say, "This is the price without the discount taken out, if we can decide what kind of work you want I can apply the discount accordingly." Sometimes they have me punch out a few scenarios on the calculator, then they select the work that they want, I fill in the total and hand them the bid sheet to sign. This prepares them for next year, or two years from now when I am not going to be taking off a huge discount. (Usually 10%, or 20 bucks)

Wrong? Right? I dunno, but it has been working recently. I have sold every single job I bid this week at 55cents/sq. foot when most in my area charge less than 30....

 

[Jim Williams]

I talked to the .40 sq. ft. guy in my area awhile back. He said he is thinking about getting out of the business because it's too slow. At the same time I have been booked two weeks out all summer charging not cheap, but reasonable prices.

This fellow also got out of mold remediation because of too many lawsuit threats. He's a pretty decent carpet cleaner though and a really nice guy.

In some areas there's just not enough millionaires to go around.

 

[B&BGaryC]

could have got re-wet after his dry down

these things do happen and no fault of the cleaner in question.


customer may not be telling the whole truth


T

Yes it does, but like I said, this isn't the first fix. We are on our 3rd mold job we have gotten from one of his water jobs in less than 6 weeks. He is having issues, whether or not it got re-wet. However, we had to dig past a lot of dry stuff to find this pocket of moisture, with no apparent path for water to get their except from their water damage shortly over a month ago. I really doubt we are the only company in the area fixing his work.

 

[Rex Tyus]

Not the first time a larger company had negative comments about an upstart competitor. I wouldn't count him out yet.

 

[B&BGaryC]

Not the first time a larger company had negative comments about an upstart competitor. I wouldn't count him out yet.

He has been around forever. He used to pull hoses for his dad. We are upstarts compared to him. He just has no business doing water damage.

 

[Kevin]

I hope this other cleaner isn't Moe

This belongs on ICS

 

[Jtuseo]

This is what the guy will do. It is simple. You guys do not realize something, if somebody sues you they can never get money out of you! It is very simple you dissolve your corporation and then open a new one. It happens every day. I worked for a flood restoration company they had 3 different corps in one year! That is why you incorporate yourselves!

 

[Jayson]

I'm in a fairly uniqe situation. I was brought aboard to my current company to start up and there carpet cleaning division. They were a 100% Mold, Water, Disaster and Fire restoration company. They tried cleaning carpets but had very bad results by getting a portable and sending a mold guy to clean carpets.
After seeing what it takes, how long it takes and the equipment to do it correctly I wont NO PART of that side of the company. Nor would I recommend a average O/O to get into it if he wants to stay small.

 

[Rex Tyus]

He has been around forever. He used to pull hoses for his dad. We are upstarts compared to him. He just has no business doing water damage.

I understood he was a long time cleaner, and new to restoration. That is what I was referring to. You may be 100% right about the situation. I have no idea. Just remember it is easy to go behind someone and find fault. Especially a competitor. Just be aware he may get to go behind your company some day.

As Odin said

could have got re-wet after his dry down

these things do happen and no fault of the cleaner in question.


customer may not be telling the whole truth

You never know.

 

[Jtuseo]

Odin I could not agree with you more. Once the customer learns that they get a check written to them its fair game.

 

[Kevin B]

Walls being wet 28 days after the loss is very unusual. That indicates an environment that encourages moisture. A standard loss, will dry on its own in Montana this time of year, if the house is kept at room tempurature. Will it dry before mold takes place? I would bet not, but it will still dry. Unless, the walls were not normal sheetrock, or some other non standard application.

My guess, is that it got secondary moisture or had another leak of some sort. I've seen that over and over.