Sorry about the absence Mikey. One of the many things I've had on the go and just today completed is this full on end of tenancy cleaning. I don't just do the carpets but wash walls, clean hard floors, tiles, windows and tracks, do cobweb removal, clean ovens and fixtures etc.
It sounds easy and it really is but because you are basically servicing all the interior surfaces and fittings of the property to a professional standard; there is a lot of stuff to get done in order to complete the job. Spent 14 hours on the job, invoice was for $1,600 so an average payday I suppose for most of you guys.
I apologise at how long it has taken me to get all the content for this post uploaded. When you tapped me on the shoulder on Facebook and said “Where have you gone - come back” I kind of realised I had been guilty of not really contributing. The thing is that between being a newbie who knows he doesn’t know and doesn’t need to look an idiot needlessly I tend to read a lot more than I post. A little while back we had a post where we were talking about how long we had all been doing what we’re doing; and the clever analogy was floated of somebody like a cleaner who has been in the business for five years being like a fifth grader, whereas people who have 20 or more years experience are doing post graduate university study.
It occurred to me that really I have no business saying much about a good many things.
Obviously this has to be balanced against the community’s need for constant contributions and new members to maintain interest and to keep the principals of “give back” at the forefront of the memberships priorities.
I’m still learning how to achieve this balance. I also just plain don’t want to look an idiot. :-)
I hope this post goes somewhere toward striking the right balance.
This job involved a fairly deep scope of service. The home had largely been well kept but as a cleaner you see things that the occupant doesn’t see week to week. The oven was a good example.
Before:
After:
The bathroom was - er - um - “interesting”. There was a cover of mould on the tiles at the base of the shower stall riser. It was beyond gross.
Before:
After:
I have only done limited hard surface work before so this was a different day at the office in that sense to what we routinely do. I have no doubt the work would not be even be passable by MB respondent standards. Our results I hope will improve with experience. It is not currently expected that tile and grout is restored in end of tenancy cleaning in my market. It’s something I thought I might be prepared to do over and above the mundane and the conventional to set us apart a bit.
The hard surface work didn’t stop with the bathroom however. There was a - from my perspective - very tasteful sandy coloured linoleum vinyl floor covering which extended from the combined kitchen / dining area, through the hallway and laundry / toilet areas. Like anything of the kind that is light coloured it hid well how dirty it truly was. It literally changed colour on me when I..... Oh look, let me just show you.
Before: (Looks pretty reasonable from here)
WTF....?
WoW....!
http://youtu.be/3ctboNqMdiU
After finishing the large expanses of floor with the machine and extractor I used a pole mounted grout brush and the extractor with hand tool to tidy up the edges where the disc machine can’t reach.
Then came the kitchen cupboards, range and hood and countertops. Clad in retro 70’s brown and beige The textured countertops hid an array of filth. The dust bunnies on top the the kitchen cabinets was a sight to behold also. We’ve discussed vacuum cleaners a lot here recently. The consensus is Kirby’s are good for carpets, however the tools are no good and the best thing to do is get a Shark or similar. I’ve debated this issue with many here, today I think I can show WHY, I - personally - would be lost with just about any other vacuum cleaner's hose and tools. They just aren't flexible enough for my jobs. Case in point, the curved wand. Kirby call this the Suction Control Grip. It serves to provide that familiar pistol type grip for making vacuuming hard floors with wands and floor tools eaiser. No biggie right.....? WRONG.....? What if you clean above the floor as part of your business, and you regularly need to clean on top of hard furnishings above your head quickly and painlessly?
I can and here’s why......
I can move the curved wand to the END of the extension tubes, thus giving me an elbow that curves up or down (depending on orientation) for the tool I’m using.
In this situation I move the elbow so that it is between the two extension poles, curving them in the middle to offer terrific reach into very deep, but only moderately tall cabinets and cupboards.
Oh yeah and as for the range and the benchtops.....
Before:
After:
A little Sulfamic Acid made the sink look much brighter and removed the dullness well.
With the kitchen, bathroom, hard floors and windows (not pictured - do I REALLY need to go there....?) out of the way it was time to tackle - The Carpets.......
Must say, the pace stank...... It had been a smokers home and a dog had been allowed to sleep inside. Apart from the malodour, the carpets are older nylons that have begun to succumb to colour loss and subsequent yellowing owing to ozone exposure. I have seen this in one other home and it was FAR worse there than here. Still it complicated getting the kind of end result we like to deliver. It was only going to look so bright.
Of major concern where the plethora of unknown marks, One very large and obvious one in the lounge room defied removal with citrus spotter, alkaline spotter and acids. In the end I poured oxidiser on it directly and let it dwell for 15 minutes while I setup the room for pre-spraying and agitation.
Oh I forgot to mention the 2.5 hours of pre-vac we did on multiple angles to try and make the most of extraction and reduce the tendency for further browning which was only going to make an already yellow cast carpet look more miserable. bag weighs a healthy 1.82Kg.
Before:
During & After:
http://youtu.be/rTpEdY8mnTg
After:
So basically, it was a simple but very involved little project for us. We do a few of these but this is the first time I have bundled the hard floor restorative cleaning into the package.
Love to hear your thoughts as always. Just ask the you - kind of remain mindful I suppose - that I am only 15 months in at this point and so, using our school continuum example, I’m a grade 2 who has learnt to write his name holding a pencil - mostly right.
Grant
It sounds easy and it really is but because you are basically servicing all the interior surfaces and fittings of the property to a professional standard; there is a lot of stuff to get done in order to complete the job. Spent 14 hours on the job, invoice was for $1,600 so an average payday I suppose for most of you guys.
I apologise at how long it has taken me to get all the content for this post uploaded. When you tapped me on the shoulder on Facebook and said “Where have you gone - come back” I kind of realised I had been guilty of not really contributing. The thing is that between being a newbie who knows he doesn’t know and doesn’t need to look an idiot needlessly I tend to read a lot more than I post. A little while back we had a post where we were talking about how long we had all been doing what we’re doing; and the clever analogy was floated of somebody like a cleaner who has been in the business for five years being like a fifth grader, whereas people who have 20 or more years experience are doing post graduate university study.
It occurred to me that really I have no business saying much about a good many things.
Obviously this has to be balanced against the community’s need for constant contributions and new members to maintain interest and to keep the principals of “give back” at the forefront of the memberships priorities.
I’m still learning how to achieve this balance. I also just plain don’t want to look an idiot. :-)
I hope this post goes somewhere toward striking the right balance.
This job involved a fairly deep scope of service. The home had largely been well kept but as a cleaner you see things that the occupant doesn’t see week to week. The oven was a good example.
Before:
After:
The bathroom was - er - um - “interesting”. There was a cover of mould on the tiles at the base of the shower stall riser. It was beyond gross.
Before:
After:
I have only done limited hard surface work before so this was a different day at the office in that sense to what we routinely do. I have no doubt the work would not be even be passable by MB respondent standards. Our results I hope will improve with experience. It is not currently expected that tile and grout is restored in end of tenancy cleaning in my market. It’s something I thought I might be prepared to do over and above the mundane and the conventional to set us apart a bit.
The hard surface work didn’t stop with the bathroom however. There was a - from my perspective - very tasteful sandy coloured linoleum vinyl floor covering which extended from the combined kitchen / dining area, through the hallway and laundry / toilet areas. Like anything of the kind that is light coloured it hid well how dirty it truly was. It literally changed colour on me when I..... Oh look, let me just show you.
Before: (Looks pretty reasonable from here)
WTF....?
WoW....!
http://youtu.be/3ctboNqMdiU
After finishing the large expanses of floor with the machine and extractor I used a pole mounted grout brush and the extractor with hand tool to tidy up the edges where the disc machine can’t reach.
Then came the kitchen cupboards, range and hood and countertops. Clad in retro 70’s brown and beige The textured countertops hid an array of filth. The dust bunnies on top the the kitchen cabinets was a sight to behold also. We’ve discussed vacuum cleaners a lot here recently. The consensus is Kirby’s are good for carpets, however the tools are no good and the best thing to do is get a Shark or similar. I’ve debated this issue with many here, today I think I can show WHY, I - personally - would be lost with just about any other vacuum cleaner's hose and tools. They just aren't flexible enough for my jobs. Case in point, the curved wand. Kirby call this the Suction Control Grip. It serves to provide that familiar pistol type grip for making vacuuming hard floors with wands and floor tools eaiser. No biggie right.....? WRONG.....? What if you clean above the floor as part of your business, and you regularly need to clean on top of hard furnishings above your head quickly and painlessly?
I can and here’s why......
I can move the curved wand to the END of the extension tubes, thus giving me an elbow that curves up or down (depending on orientation) for the tool I’m using.
In this situation I move the elbow so that it is between the two extension poles, curving them in the middle to offer terrific reach into very deep, but only moderately tall cabinets and cupboards.
Oh yeah and as for the range and the benchtops.....
Before:
After:
A little Sulfamic Acid made the sink look much brighter and removed the dullness well.
With the kitchen, bathroom, hard floors and windows (not pictured - do I REALLY need to go there....?) out of the way it was time to tackle - The Carpets.......
Must say, the pace stank...... It had been a smokers home and a dog had been allowed to sleep inside. Apart from the malodour, the carpets are older nylons that have begun to succumb to colour loss and subsequent yellowing owing to ozone exposure. I have seen this in one other home and it was FAR worse there than here. Still it complicated getting the kind of end result we like to deliver. It was only going to look so bright.
Of major concern where the plethora of unknown marks, One very large and obvious one in the lounge room defied removal with citrus spotter, alkaline spotter and acids. In the end I poured oxidiser on it directly and let it dwell for 15 minutes while I setup the room for pre-spraying and agitation.
Oh I forgot to mention the 2.5 hours of pre-vac we did on multiple angles to try and make the most of extraction and reduce the tendency for further browning which was only going to make an already yellow cast carpet look more miserable. bag weighs a healthy 1.82Kg.
Before:
During & After:
http://youtu.be/rTpEdY8mnTg
After:
So basically, it was a simple but very involved little project for us. We do a few of these but this is the first time I have bundled the hard floor restorative cleaning into the package.
Love to hear your thoughts as always. Just ask the you - kind of remain mindful I suppose - that I am only 15 months in at this point and so, using our school continuum example, I’m a grade 2 who has learnt to write his name holding a pencil - mostly right.
Grant
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