If you are going to do a fair side by side match up then it would require:
- similar level of concern/care for results
- realistic time limit
If you match up an automated car wash with a detailer - you will get varied results. But if the auto car wash has a concerned prep team, and finishing team, you can still get a very thorough wash at a fraction of the detailer price and turnaround time.
The question is not which method is most thorough - it is which operation produces the best results and value for the bucks.
And success of a business is not solely measured by the net dollars (that is important though...) but also what value is being created by providing great jobs, and putting money into the community.
Here's my gauge ... who do I recommend clients to when they move to a new town? I'd refer DA Burns all day long - not just for quality work, but quality people.
And in Los Angeles - even though there are several long time large rug plants - I refer clients to the smaller workshops because of their attention to work quality and service.
RHyde - you'd probably be a good person to refer to I'm sure ... with your method and care ... but the same method, executed by a few of our current
IICRC instructors of the rug courses, with their equipment and skill level - absolutely not.
So it's not just the METHOD - is the person behind the method as well. My wash supervisor has cleaned more than 2 million square feet of rugs, it's an art for him ... and if you put him up against a newbie with the best expensive equipment, he'd kick their butt all over toon town.
The bigger argument is not between PIT and MOORE - it is between SURFACE cleaning and a WET WASH method. A pit will clean well with the right person doing it ... but even the very best surface cleaner is not going to do the best for the RUG if they are not able to dust, or rinse thoroughly, or clean the fringe. That's not much better than a sponge bath, because the concerns I hear from cleaners in the home are to not get it too wet so it doesn't bleed, and it dries in a decent time.
Again RHyde - I think your focus is a bit off here ... a much more interesting comparison would be between the surface cleaning methods and wet wash methods - because in that case, one can cause damage long term in a situation where it's meant to be "cleaning."
I've never been anti-Moore operation .... I'm just anti-Hack operation.
I'm sure it would be an easy test though for Moore and pit. Next time a RCT class is around, why not have one of the
IICRC instructors clean a rug in a pit at a real plant, and simply do a side by side. You can even get a new employee to handle the prep work before the Moore process so they can be at the same skill experience as the RCT instructor - so it's fair since all of the instructors have never operated a successful rug WASHING plant - and just see the results.
I think that would be interesting.... but the SURFACE clean versus a PIT or a CEMENT FLOOR or a MOORE operation would be a much more relevant test. Because those cleaning in the home need to be aware of what they are leaving behind, and what that long term effect of residue does to the fibers and foundation of some of these rugs - and that they can still be dirty if the guys doing the work stink, so they are charging for cleaning that doesn't really happen.
Interesting stuff...
Lisa
