steamron
Member
What has been your worst restaurant carpet you cleaned and what did you use for TM and Chemical?
How bad was it?
Any pics, do show us.
How bad was it?
Any pics, do show us.
Dirtiest-Greasy Carpet
- Thread starter steamron
- Start date
In my first few years of business when restaurants abused me...it was a pizza hut. And surprising at it may sound, it wasn't the condition of the carpet, nor the pre spray that was of any importance. The story goes:
I had a contract to do 3 different locations once/month. I don't remember the price I charged either. Probably because I purposely removed it from my brain out of shame that i charged such a low price just to get some work.
Anyway, now that I've admitted to my sin of being a low balling hack, let's start with the dramatic story of a broke carpet cleaner that grew to hating cleaning restaurant carpet at 11pm out of town.
I packed up my tools, and got on the road to go clean some carpet 45min away from the house. When I arrived, the lights were off and nobody was there. I dragged my wonderful wife with me that night, because it was on a weekend night, and she didn't have to be at work the next morning. I found out that they had a pipe broke, and no water. They forgot to call and tell me that I wasn't able to clean.
So I sent them a bill for traveling, and they denied payment. I dropped that job faster than they could hang up the phone.
Since then, I've been very picky on cleaning restaurants. After that long, dramatic story that's wasted 2min of your life, I hope you've learned something from it. If not, I hope you got a laugh out of it
I had a contract to do 3 different locations once/month. I don't remember the price I charged either. Probably because I purposely removed it from my brain out of shame that i charged such a low price just to get some work.
Anyway, now that I've admitted to my sin of being a low balling hack, let's start with the dramatic story of a broke carpet cleaner that grew to hating cleaning restaurant carpet at 11pm out of town.
I packed up my tools, and got on the road to go clean some carpet 45min away from the house. When I arrived, the lights were off and nobody was there. I dragged my wonderful wife with me that night, because it was on a weekend night, and she didn't have to be at work the next morning. I found out that they had a pipe broke, and no water. They forgot to call and tell me that I wasn't able to clean.
So I sent them a bill for traveling, and they denied payment. I dropped that job faster than they could hang up the phone.
Since then, I've been very picky on cleaning restaurants. After that long, dramatic story that's wasted 2min of your life, I hope you've learned something from it. If not, I hope you got a laugh out of it
Here's mine Powerburst and citrus pro..
I hate restaurants!
Mark Saiger
Mr Happy!
Desk Jockey
Member
Looks great Jeff! 
Mikey P
Administrator
Red pad
360I Brush Head
steamron
Member
Mikey, what was your prespray?
Pioneer Floorcare
Member
I once cleaned a 300sqft Chinese place that the only way you could tell it was carpet was to move a booth. It was black, and had the texture of asphalt. This was back when I was hacking it for my boss, and was using a wang enterprises Banshee with a diesel burner. Used a 175 with red pad to put down tide and orange-sol (dilemonine) then extracted with an aw-29( hackity mc hacking!
Cleanworks
Moderator
I can't talk about it, I still have nightmares. Let's just say we thought it was a gray carpet but it turned out to be bright blue.
Goomer
Member
Nice
You just absorbent pad-capping with a showerfed 175?
Pre-spraying?
What type pads and juice?
TomKing
Supportive Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
- Messages
- 1,126
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Name
- Tom
- Years of Experience
- 20
- Role
- Business Owner
This isn't some nasty hole of a place just a normal photo of what we do on a regular basis with our contract work.
I honestly don't know where some of you dine to get that stuff. LOL
I think the worst part of restaurants is the management. You either get great leadership to work with or a tyrant for a manager there does not to seem to be any in between.
My top pet peeves with restaurants.
1. I will pay when I get around to it. " Our terms are 90-120 days" ok Mr. how about you serve me a nice steak dinner and I will send you a check in the next 90-120 days. I think not.
2. The assistant manager trying to get his own store decides the way to get noticed on excellence is to ride your guys after every visit.
3. Oh its not ok to call you at 9p.m. and tell you we need to reschedule. After your guys are already on their way. No we wont pay a call out fee.
4. The crappy assistant manager who is closing and tells your guys you have 30 min to do a 2 hour job because he doesn't want to wait around.
5. We want you to show up at 10p.m. when we close. Because we can't trust you with a key. Its ok for the cisco guy and the bread guy to have a key but not you.
6. We want you to show up at 10p.m. because you can't have a key and make your guys wait an hour until the staff and their friends are done drinking. Oh you need to charge extra for that hour ok we will just find another company. How about when you serve me dinner I tell you I want and extra side or two and don't expect you to charge me.
7. What you want a formal agreement on paper for terms and service? Come on Mr. carpet cleaner you should just trust us we are a national franchise.
8. Oh we got a new manager and he has a guy. No thought to the fact you have been cleaning there for 5 years and never had a call back.
9. Oh and my favorite we only pay X so if you want the job take it or leave it. I would love to operate like that again how about I let you serve me dinner and then I tell you Oh I only pay $5 for a meal. Mc Donalds does it why can't you? Hurry up and bring me my steak!
10. We want you to show up at 2a.m. after we close. What you charge extra for after hours third shift work? Don't you have guys working around the clock?
Sorry Mr. manager we work Monday to Thursday nights. You take it or leave it. I like my guys and I want them to have great lives. You work your crappy food service schedule with low margins and low pay. We got into this to build a life we want.
Like it or not restaurant work can suck. The only redeeming point is it is regular work you know is coming and when developed right it helps you build a solid dependable growing company.
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Nate The Great
Member
Sounds like someone's hungry........... Go grab a Snickers......
Thanks, I used a dual speed rotary at 300 rpm's , scrubbed with a burnishing pad and presprayed with chemspec foprmula 90 at 2 scoops per gal with added harvard powdered citra solv 1 scoop per 2 gal, I normally use procyon extreme but was out.
I could have followed with an absorbent pad and that would have been fine but they were expecting hwe so I followed the scrub with a steamin demon.
I do other restaurants that I just scrub and pad, but I only do a few restaurants.
Desk Jockey
Member
Nice work! 
Desk Jockey
Member
Man, you depressed me. Why do you suppose they are able to treat us so poorly, or do you think they do the same to all vendors?
Thanks Tom, very insightful post!
Old Coastie
Supportive Member
I ditched a restaurant for letting me drive 120 miles one way to do the bathrooms and then telling me they could only stay open 30 minutes past closing.
Here is a previous job I did for them. The kitchen hood was vented only halfway up the four story wall. Look closely above the vent at the asphalt-like accretion. I'd already cleaned the rest of the wall by hand. That is a 22-foot ladder there and it wasn't high enough!
When done, it was nearly spotless, but took from midnight to 0730. Oh yeah, a painted wall and AC equipment covered in an inch of grease. All done. Alone. No damage to the paint.
The thing is, the green "like we never even touched it" guys had come three nights with a pressure washer, scoring the stucco with a straight stream before they gave up in disgust. I did the whole wall by hand.
But the bathroom thing tore it for me.
Nate The Great
Member
TomKing
Supportive Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
- Messages
- 1,126
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Name
- Tom
- Years of Experience
- 20
- Role
- Business Owner
Why do you suppose they are able to treat us so poorly, or do you think they do the same to all vendors?
I think in most sales situations we don't start correctly.
Most of us are so excited to get a job to bid we loose our perspective.
I think to real problem is too many of our competitors walk in shoot a price from the hip verbally and then do a hand shake.
We pride our self on we are O/O and you get to talk directly with the owner. Our word is our bond.
The problem is these restaurants do not operate that way. Their word is not their bond. They only do or respond to what they have to legally.
You also have to realize most GM's at restaurants are incentivized by the over all profit.
They run a 2-3.5 million dollar business. They look at most of the cleaning, plowing, mowing companies as one truck hacks.
I guarantee you the food vendors, landlord, the linen companies, the uniform companies, the HVAC maintenance, the companies that provide the appliances all require contracts and purchase agreements.
Our industry does it to ourselves. We in most cases operate in a pretty unprofessional manner.
You have to work very hard at separating yourself from the pack and looking like you deserve to be paid and treated like a professional.
Desk Jockey
Member
Thank you Tom.
Do you feel you can still accomplish that sort of thing (professional approach) or do they already have a predetermined mindset on how they handle carpet cleaners?
I'm not looking at it for us, we have our hands full already however someone else might be looking at adding this type of work.
Do you feel you can still accomplish that sort of thing (professional approach) or do they already have a predetermined mindset on how they handle carpet cleaners?
I'm not looking at it for us, we have our hands full already however someone else might be looking at adding this type of work.
Cleanworks
Moderator
Tom is absolutely right as to the way we approach, not only restaurants, but most of our clients. I regularly book commercial jobs in the 2-5000 dollar range on nothing more than an estimate and a handshake. I don't do a lot of restaurants anymore buy I thing that the carpet cleaner who approaches it looking for a purchase agreement and a signed performance contract will definitely separate himself from the competition. When we look at the results that people like Mikey and Mark are getting by doing a premium cleaning with Zippers and Rotovacs, there is probably a market for that premium service at a premium price. I stopped cleaning restaurants because, it was at night, they wanted a low price, wanted to pay me whenever, etc. You have to be able to set the bar higher and put yourself in position to be that company.
