Come on Mike,
I think Frank has specialized in high rise residential. There is very little need for a cimex if you are focused on residential. His van is 4 blocks and 5 stories away. How many trips are you going to make back and forth to the truck? I believe Frank gets everything in one trip. He is going to do 1000 feet of carpet. Would a 175 and pads be quicker than the Oreck Orbiter? Not with two 20 minute round trips to the van for the extra trip to get them and take them back.
With remote cleaning you have different criteria as to what is most important.
20,000 feet of Commercial carpet is brutal with a porty. I would wager if Frank had bid against Chavez and the Cimex he would have been triple the price.
Coming off the big trucks with lots of water, lots of tools, and lots of suck you will realize cleaning with a porty is a totally different ball game.
With the equipment you have been using you can do little jobs quickly but where it really shines is on middle size jobs with tile and stone and carpet. You can do it all and it only takes 2 minute to grab another tool.
Like riding a bike 2 miles to work every day and then deciding to go back to "Walking to work." You will still get to work but the effort required will be totally different. You can still make good money but your square foot of cleaning per hour on a big job is not going to compare.
I am really excited to see how you adapt to cleaning with a porty. You have excellent cleaning skills and know how things should turn out. You also have excellent organizing skills. With the
big truck and a cimex and a 175 and a
crb and very hot water and huge suck you have been able to clean a lot of flooring efficiently and make good money.
It will be fun to see what kind of production you will be able to get with a Caravan, a porty and a
crb, no heat and two vac motor suck.
Limited space and limited power will drive you nuts or change your focus.
Chavez says you are nuts for even thinking about doing this....