Science saved my ass with cheap apartment carpet.

[amazingcleansc]

Went in a low rent apartment where they had just changed the carpet 4 months before.

Cut pile cheap brown nylon carpet is all they replace their carpets with.

I walked in and I thought, "Nice! new carpet." I cleaned the whole apartment and was called back the next day. They didn't think I did anything. The furniture marks were not groomed out of the floor AT ALL and there was white dust in spots in the carpet. The guys working in the unit left at 3 but left their stuff in there, I cleaned it at 4.

Couldn't do anything to get marks out. Finally I RX-20'ed cute stripes into the floor so it was really obvious it had been cleaned and scrubbed.

I was thinking SOMETHING wasn't right. Maybe it was polyester. Took a sample, burned it. blue and orange flame with a puff of white smoke. I guessed that maybe they just got a REALLY cheap nylon carpet. I mentioned it to the guy at interlink and he said "well you know olefin burns the same way as nylon".

Then the neurons connected in my brain. Heres what happened. I cleaned the carpet at 4. Olefin in a cut pile dries stupidly fast. Olefin has NO resilience compared to nylon, hence the furniture marks. The next morning it was bone dry. Dust under the rug wicked to the top.

I told the apartment manager (who thought I half assed my job) that the carpet was a different material. I had a sample of the carpet from that room and I cut a sample from the nylon carpet under her feet. I submerged both of them in a clear glass of water.

The olefin sample floated to the top and the nylon sank to the bottom.

She was grateful and had me call the guy that sold her the carpet and tell him what to sell them from here on out.

 

[juniorc82]

The things we gotta go through to clean a 90 dollar rental unit. I have had landlords tell me the same thing. I had one were there was a dresser that sat in the same spot for years and I was accused of not cleaning because the carpet lost its resiliency in that area. Vacant rentals are a love hate relationship with me. I love that im in an empty unit with no one looking over my shoulder but hate the prices and hate knowing that my apartment complexes get cards and brochures from other companies on an almost weekly basis. Oh and who set the idea in these property mgrs head that the carpet guys will clean for next to nothing? I calculated square feet one time on some of my rentals and was only getting like .13 on a good day.

 

[Ron Werner]

I won't say it

 

[idreadnought]

So what if it is around 15 cents a foot to clean an apartment. So what if they are rat assed nasty and they are 90 polyester? For my company it all comes out to production per hour. We constantly make more per hour cleaning rentals than residential homes. Things like moving furniture, locating homes in remote places, talking to the customer for hours, putting on booties, corner guards all take time. Yeah we get more for it, but is it worth it? I get a call to clean two apartments for 85 bucks each and leave the bill in the drop box. An hour and a half later from the time I leave my driveway the carpets are done and the check is on the way. Sometimes faster! Agreed there are some places you don't want to work for and you need to weed out the lousy apartments and landlords, but if you actually can do quality production work then there is money to be made in apartments and rentals.

 

[Ron Werner]

as long as the carpets are getting cleaned. When it comes to move outs, people look for the cheapest price. There are not going to worry about getting a better cleaner at a higher price because the carpets were a little ratty looking when they moved in. Why? Because the last cleaner charged was in and out so fast it was just a surface clean.
My feeling about them is that I'm cleaning for the person moving in, not moving out. If I can break that cycle someone is actually going to enjoy their new home. That's "when" someone is willing to pay a little more to clean up for the next person. doesn't happen often so I try to refer the better move-out cleaners if I can.

 

[amazingcleansc]

as long as the carpets are getting cleaned. When it comes to move outs, people look for the cheapest price. There are not going to worry about getting a better cleaner at a higher price because the carpets were a little ratty looking when they moved in. Why? Because the last cleaner charged was in and out so fast it was just a surface clean.
My feeling about them is that I'm cleaning for the person moving in, not moving out. If I can break that cycle someone is actually going to enjoy their new home. That's "when" someone is willing to pay a little more to clean up for the next person. doesn't happen often so I try to refer the better move-out cleaners if I can.

yeah except in shitty cheap apartments, the only vacuum to ever touch those floors is the one that is attached to a truckmount.

 

[Chads]

Sounds like a pet powder crap people put on carpet, just a simple vac job would have taken care of it.

 

[-JB-]

I won't say it

classic.