Buying Bulk Chemical??

nusteem

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I am trying to bypass the middleman and make my own traffic lane cleaner/degreaser. Where is the best place to buy bulk?

:idea:
 

Ron K

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If you have to ask that question then maybe you shouldn't be mixing chemicals or maybe you should increase your personal chemical usage !
 

Zee

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For the record: I make myself a pretty awesome spot remover!

Why would you try to make your own trafficlane cleaner? Trying to get rid of your supplier/shop?

So when your truckmount takes a crap midday halfway thru a job...they are the ones most likely to get you going again.

Or they could just say they don't wana be the middleman- go figure it out.

Perhaps the time you spend on messing with your mixing attempts and the time you spend on getting your raw material- you could spend that time marketing or simply doing an extra job to cover your chemical expenses. (Where the middle man gets supported)

No I'm not against getting things cheaper...
 

John Olson

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You better talk to the goverment before you go "making" you own chemical to be used in peoples homes. Little annoyances like MSDS and Health ratings and such seem to be a really big deal with them.
 

Hoody

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DING DING DING!!

Even when mixing products with oxidizers you've made a new chemical formulation. I prefer to just buy the products with the additives already in them, easier in long run, and lessens the liability.
 

nusteem

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Well it seems some of you just like to get off topic and poke! I just love the mentality!

A supplier I know buys in bulk and adds water to make his. I have bought a bag or two before.
 

Ron Werner

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nusteem said:
Well it seems some of you just like to get off topic and poke! I just love the mentality!

A supplier I know buys in bulk and adds water to make his. I have bought a bag or two before.

If all he's doing is adding water then he's buying a concentrate, not making his own. We all buy "in bulk and add water" technically.
There are too many really good presprays and additives already available to need to mess around with a chemistry set.
The question of which are the better TLC's has been asked repeatedly on this board.
 

ruff

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Oh Hush!
Let him make his own TLC.

He's gonna be a supplier's best customer.
Just as my best and most appreciative clients are the ones who tried to clean by themselves.

Beside don't suppress the pure of heart and delicate blossom of the enterprising spirit :p
 

Jamesh921

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And the vultures begin to feast. If you don't want to help the guy, that's fine. But, get off his back. All he did was ask a question.
 

ruff

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Jamesh921 said:
And the vultures begin to feast. If you don't want to help the guy, that's fine. But, get off his back. All he did was ask a question.
You are right. He did.
And you know this board, we like to make a little fun, nothing viral or vicious.

I guess for the best bulk prices it will have to be Dow Chemicals and Union Carbide.

However whatever savings he may get per year, if he spent that amount of time on marketing, he'll do a whole lot better.

But that, I guess, is beside the point.
 

Ron Werner

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A little bit of criticism is good. Helps his resolve. If something was said that makes him change his mind then he would need to rethink his idea.
If not, he'll be more confirmed.

Who knows, he may mix up the best TLC that has ever been!
 

carpetchem

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Which chemicals in particular are you looking for? Sometimes by just googling a particular chemical by name, you'll bring up online stores that sell that particular chemical. There are sites like www.soapgoods.com that specialize in chemicals used in soap making. However, not all those chemicals are ideal for the needs of carpet cleaning.
 

Desk Jockey

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Would you just be better buying a cheap product already made. At least you'd have a msds. Many years ago I remember some bragging about Castrol Super Clean. ???

Personally I think for as little your chems cost you, you'd be better off focusing on what you could to to increase your productivity while in the home.

Time (labor hours) is where you can save some big money.
 

XTREME1

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I have been working off the same order of orangeforce123 for about a year
 

GeneMiller

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cutting out the middle man is a bad idea. where is he going to find a job. 25% of the population are middlemen. 5% are middlewomen. that's a lot of people unemployed. obama will have to put in another czar just to handle the over load. :shock:

my supplier gives me a discount if i buy in bulk. i just let him know anytime he is placing an order to call me. that way he can plan and buy more on the same order. he doesn't have to order blind. win-win

gene
 

idreadnought

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In most cases your largest expense is labor. Either your own in lost time available to work or actually paying out wages plus taxes and such. One of my smallest expenses is cleaning agents. Spending time making the aspects of your business that cost you the most more efficient will make you more money in the long run. If you are committed to saving money with your cleaning agents then suppliers would love to sell you drums of cleaning agents and great discounts. For me I would rather save money on labor, gasoline, and marketing.
 

sweendogg

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The most I've spent on cleaning solutions on one job was $40.00... that was a $900.00 job.. most cases I'm using only about at most $4.00 worth... You have to be Ken's size of business to see any real benefit of mixing your own.. and they had a certified chemist create their "recipes"
 

Dolly Llama

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actually, i was thinking of Ken when i read this thread


Nusteem, I really can't offer any suggestions on where to buy raw ingredients to make your own bathtub gin...the only place I know about was mentioned by Odin

I'm curious though, what's the goal of making your own??
Cost savings or a better mousetrap, or both??


..L.T.A.
 

mirf

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That maybe the worst idea of the year. I cannot even see a saving after all the expense and liabilities.
 

Jay D

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buy a 55 gallon drum of powder from cobb or someone might be best for you. powermaxx is good stuff.
 

nusteem

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dmirf1@msn.com said:
That maybe the worst idea of the year. I cannot even see a saving after all the expense and liabilities.


And the blind man says: I can't see!!
 
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nusteem said:
dmirf1@msn.com said:
That maybe the worst idea of the year. I cannot even see a saving after all the expense and liabilities.


And the blind man says: I can't see!!

"Oh I see" said the blind man to the deaf boy! I've never mixed or made my own pre spray, but I know my times better used by building or implementing a system in place. To each their own.
 
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I'm not saying this guy should make his own juice but there are times when using a good amount of product will make the impossible a reality. If that's how you roll and/or you have a big volume chems really get expensive. I cant even count how many jobs using 10-50x the normal amount of product have made magic happen. An example is a t&g job that we now do every 2 weeks, it requires $170 in chems each time to get the 1700sf of restroom t&g clean. Many companies failed before us and we nearly failed to make it work ourselves. I won't accept defeat so I actually lost a few hundred redoing it until we got a result, it took 3 or 4 days to complete the 1st service. It's not the equipment either, few if any of you get more power to the carpet/floor. Pressure helps but there area limits, some carpets and grout can't handle 3000psi. I think about Art Kelly wielding his 2 trigger sprayers on some of these shitholes we clean, I get a good laugh.


Did I just make hack status?
 

Art Kelley

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Out Of Character said:
I think about Art Kelly wielding his 2 trigger sprayers on some of these shitholes we clean, I get a good laugh.

Hey! shiteatinggrin Those 2 trigger sprayers follow a soaking from the HF. Just a richer mixture of TLC or deo etc. The carpets get a LOT of prespray.
 
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My chemical cost is low and not worth the hassle of doing what your suggesting. I would rather grow my business than waste my time on saving a few pennies.
 

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