Help - VCT job

[tmiklethun]

I get a call from a plastic surgery office wanting me to strip and recoat VCT. I have never offered this service before, but I am good at tile and have the 175 rotary and pads ect.

Sounds like a good client that I would like to service, but I want to make sure I can perform. What is the procedure for VCT and is it worth the money?

 

[Mikey P]

There is more money in picking strawberries.

Sub it out.

 

[floorguy]

stripping is not just one of those things you "jump" into....

sure you can do it, and it will take you 3 times as long as if you knew what you were doing...

but a DR. office is not a good place to cut your teeth...

sub it and go do it with them...

with that in mind, if you still think you want to do it, give me a call....because it will take me forever and will read like mumbling if i have to type it all out

801-898-6210

 

[dealtimeman]

I agree with above.

Find someone that normally s&w and get a quote from them. Then call your contact and submit an estimate with at least 30 percent mark up. Show up and learn how to so it with them.

 

[Shane Deubell]

We have couple a week, mainly breakrooms, restrooms in offices but its always sold as a combo with carpet. Profit is definitely lower closer to 50%.

Have to agree with above that learning in a medical environment will be a rough experience, too many corners/edges plus lots of misc furniture and just stuff. Might want to team up with someone for this job.

Is it worth it?
Only to someone like me that is focused on commercial work, once they hire us combo jobs almost never get rid us regardless of price. They really want to hire the least amount of contractors and whoever makes it easy usually ends up with the job.

 

[juniorc82]

stripping is not just one of those things you "jump" into....

sure you can do it, and it will take you 3 times as long as if you knew what you were doing...

but a DR. office is not a good place to cut your teeth...

sub it and go do it with them...

with that in mind, if you still think you want to do it, give me a call....because it will take me forever and will read like mumbling if i have to type it all out

801-898-6210

I agree with doug. Doctors offices are choosey and there is a lot of stuff they will want moved so the medical clinic sort of thing is not the place for a novice. I consider my self to be pretty solid in my skills when It comes to stripping and refinishing and I still run across vct jobs regularly that give me a run for my money. I do a cosmetic surgery clinic and the nature of their business is based very superficial and vein to begin with and shows because I have grown so use to their complaints I just factor in a follow up touch up visit in with their estimate whenever they call me to do any work. I often wonder why they keep calling me because they really complain a lot. Maybe because I coddle them.....

 

[Lonny]

Maybe I have done too many of em but, they are very straight-forward, just a pain in the backside. Just did a combo today, actually it's what I am winding down from. Commercial carpet and strip n wax, It was a trucking place, so probably the polar opposite to what you will experience in the Doc's office.
Black pads, doodle bug, mop and bucket, flat mop for application, shop vac, stripping solution, wax, putty knife, 175, patience.
If it's been a while since it was last stripped it can be very time consuming. If it has been a year or less, shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Mardie]

There is more money in picking strawberries.

Sub it out.

I am finding that some of my carpet clients want me to do this for them so they do not have to deal with another company. The approach I take is that I do not care if I get the work or not so I just price it out to make money. I believe that if your client has faith in you and that you will and do produce the results that they expect then the price is not an issue.

 

[Mikey P]

besides the fact that it's horrible work to perform, I choose to let a hispanic pal of mine do it for $600 a day.


Pretty easy to add a few bucks for myself at that rate.

 

[Mardie]

besides the fact that it's horrible work to perform, I choose to let a hispanic pal of mine do it for $600 a day.


Pretty easy to add a few bucks for myself at that rate.

Agreed-------- would not want to do it myself so that is why I only supervise my help and lay down the wax.

 

[Russ T.]

If you don't like it, just bid it high enough that you DO like it if they go for the bid. I would definitely prefer carpet but adding VCT to our services has opened up some commercial opportunities for us. I was subbing it at first but realized what the sub was making, now I do it. At 50 cents a foot, there is $ to be made once you have the equipment and get the hang of it. Many big companies will value a compathat can care for all floor maintenance needs.

Russ

 

[juniorc82]

I started out offering strip and wax just as something to help get my foot in the door with small offices that had both carpet and tile as well as to help get through the winter. I don't know how the hell it happened but now it is around 30% of my revenue. My only complaint about vct is that more often than not it is done at night or on the weekends which is really beginning to take its toll on me . Oh and moving furniture which really sucks( just stripped a huge day care center yesterday and my legs are still a bit sore ).But I would say adding it to your services would be an over all good step especialy if your market is a small city or semi rural environment where it can be hard to stay busy with carpet year round

 

[floorguy]

thats why i try to tell them they need to move it.....unless of course some things have to be put back...

next month doing a craft store....you think i am moving that crap??? helllllz no...

oh and i wouldnt have gotten it at .50 doing it for .20....and will still clear plenty after 3 days of work...(the edges arent bad thats why i went chep)

with that said, i did some little office last month and was at $1 a ft.....

price it to what you need to....duh

 

[Shane Deubell]

Several things you can do to improve productivity and make vct jobs more profitable.

To me the biggest one doug mentioned, offer the customer an incentive to put the furniture back. The biggest time waster is waiting for that last coat to dry and put furniture back, the finish needs to harden a little bit before putting weight of a table on it.

Some others might be using a premium floor finish so you only need 2-3 coats instead of 5-6.

Blowers in 45 degree angle or sitting on a chair to generate some air movement.

When waxing only put 1 on the edges/corners to set yourself up for next service.

Charge a premium for 1x service, we almost never do 1x vct jobs.

Protective gear like gloves, gripper shoes, baseboard stripper and long handle scrapers

Just some ideas to throw out there and not saying its the "right" way...

 

[juniorc82]

thats why i try to tell them they need to move it.....unless of course some things have to be put back...

next month doing a craft store....you think i am moving that crap??? helllllz no...

oh and i wouldnt have gotten it at .50 doing it for .20....and will still clear plenty after 3 days of work...(the edges arent bad thats why i went chep)

with that said, i did some little office last month and was at $1 a ft.....

price it to what you need to....duh

Doug I think if you have the right equipment vct can still be super profitable. I don't get a whole lot per square foot for a few of my big ones but once I invested in a couple of decent auto scrubbers and the propane stripper it made our vct profits go through the roof. After switching to a propane stripper I cant even imagine doing anything over 1000 open square feet without one!

 

[floorguy]

you can, or i wouldnt still be doing it....

and yes you can get the $1 a ft everyone talks about....on bath rooms, and other smallish areas.....anything over 500 sq, and it goes down down down...

not saying there arent some lucky bastards...but only about 10%

as with anything we have learned out here....

systems, systems, systems

 

[Jeremy]

I can talk you through it... Call me anytime after 5pm Eastern. 812-754-1447 or 812-595-6333.

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

I haven,t done floors in 25 years. but a new account needed it and only wanted me. I learned fast and after two weekends and @ $1.00 a square we are both very happy. The summers are very slow here, so it was nice to be busy. jz.