doylebloss
Supportive Member
Have you ever done something simply as a labor of love? Spent weeks or months working on a project at home and had everyone in your family wonder what you were up to. That is what this blog is going to be about for me. My family has been involved in the professional cleaning and restoration industry since 1971. I cleaned my first carpet when I was 14 years old in 1974. I loaded a Steam Way 400 portable into the back of my mother’s cherry red 1972 Ford Station Wagon and set out to clean about 300 square feet of carpet at a local gas station. Ask me about that job sometime.
Professional carpet cleaning is an industry full of fiercely independent entrepreneurs who scratch and claw their way to build a successful and profitable company. Some are content to remain a mom and pop owner operated company with one truck on the road. Others choose to build large companies operating multiple trucks bringing in millions and millions of dollars of revenue per year. Including restoration contractors, it is an industry of 60,000 – 65,000 companies, and unless you are in it, many of its mysteries, pains, and its joys will remain hidden to you. It is an industry that although has been around since the very early 1900’s, really got its foothold and started to build in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Its fortunes and many of its challenges have been directly linked to the carpet manufacturing business, and the growth or recession of installed wall-to-wall, sometimes referred to as broadloom carpet. In the last 10-12 years, it has greatly expanded beyond just carpet cleaning, with many contractors offering cleaning services related to stone, tile, wood, and concrete floors. Our purpose in this blog will be to focus mainly on the development throughout the years of the cleaning equipment that these professionals used to perform their carpet cleaning services, and if you are relatively new to the industry, you may be surprised to find out just how long some of this equipment has been around.
This blog is dedicated in celebration of the life of my father, Ralph Bloss. In 1971, he was convinced by an innovative man named Clark Seabloom to come to work for a new company that at the time was called Sani-Steam. He left his job in Chicago with Wyler Foods and moved back to Denver, Colorado. For the next 32 years he developed a love and admiration for the professional carpet cleaner that remains unparalleled. With the help of his family, he built Steam Way into a leading manufacturer of truckmounted and portable carpet cleaning equipment and chemicals. But his lasting contributions to the industry went well beyond being a supplier to the industry. Evan Kessler, who at the time of my father’s passing was the publisher of long time industry publication ICS Cleaning Specialist Magazine put it this way. “Ralph Bloss became a patriarch of the carpet cleaning and restoration industry. Few have done as much for the advancement of education in this field. During his 32 years in the industry, Ralph was recognized with the highest honors, respectively, from14 regional and national trade associations. Ralph truly loved his customers, his vendors and even his competitors. Ralph gave encouragement to everyone he came in contact with. Ralph engendered the words customer service. Whether you were a Steam Way customer never purchased a Steam Way product, whether you are an IICRC Master cleaner or have never taken an IICRC course, whether you are a veteran of 30 years or just beginning a carpet cleaning business, you have been affected by Ralph Bloss. His tireless efforts to promote the IICRC, our trade and to provide education have made this a better industry for all.”
This blog will also recognize many innovators and inventors who developed the cleaning equipment that has allowed the industry to expand and grow. At the end, along with my father, we will recognize many other of the pioneers that blazed the trail for this fledging industry.
Continue reading...
Professional carpet cleaning is an industry full of fiercely independent entrepreneurs who scratch and claw their way to build a successful and profitable company. Some are content to remain a mom and pop owner operated company with one truck on the road. Others choose to build large companies operating multiple trucks bringing in millions and millions of dollars of revenue per year. Including restoration contractors, it is an industry of 60,000 – 65,000 companies, and unless you are in it, many of its mysteries, pains, and its joys will remain hidden to you. It is an industry that although has been around since the very early 1900’s, really got its foothold and started to build in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Its fortunes and many of its challenges have been directly linked to the carpet manufacturing business, and the growth or recession of installed wall-to-wall, sometimes referred to as broadloom carpet. In the last 10-12 years, it has greatly expanded beyond just carpet cleaning, with many contractors offering cleaning services related to stone, tile, wood, and concrete floors. Our purpose in this blog will be to focus mainly on the development throughout the years of the cleaning equipment that these professionals used to perform their carpet cleaning services, and if you are relatively new to the industry, you may be surprised to find out just how long some of this equipment has been around.
This blog is dedicated in celebration of the life of my father, Ralph Bloss. In 1971, he was convinced by an innovative man named Clark Seabloom to come to work for a new company that at the time was called Sani-Steam. He left his job in Chicago with Wyler Foods and moved back to Denver, Colorado. For the next 32 years he developed a love and admiration for the professional carpet cleaner that remains unparalleled. With the help of his family, he built Steam Way into a leading manufacturer of truckmounted and portable carpet cleaning equipment and chemicals. But his lasting contributions to the industry went well beyond being a supplier to the industry. Evan Kessler, who at the time of my father’s passing was the publisher of long time industry publication ICS Cleaning Specialist Magazine put it this way. “Ralph Bloss became a patriarch of the carpet cleaning and restoration industry. Few have done as much for the advancement of education in this field. During his 32 years in the industry, Ralph was recognized with the highest honors, respectively, from14 regional and national trade associations. Ralph truly loved his customers, his vendors and even his competitors. Ralph gave encouragement to everyone he came in contact with. Ralph engendered the words customer service. Whether you were a Steam Way customer never purchased a Steam Way product, whether you are an IICRC Master cleaner or have never taken an IICRC course, whether you are a veteran of 30 years or just beginning a carpet cleaning business, you have been affected by Ralph Bloss. His tireless efforts to promote the IICRC, our trade and to provide education have made this a better industry for all.”
This blog will also recognize many innovators and inventors who developed the cleaning equipment that has allowed the industry to expand and grow. At the end, along with my father, we will recognize many other of the pioneers that blazed the trail for this fledging industry.
Continue reading...
