Tapping into VCT

[Philip Hamby]

It looks REALLY interesting, if it does what it claims to. I go into some real VCT messes sometimes. Is it good for that?

Medical facilities are much easier for me. Maybe that's a better application?

It does work very well. If the floors are really bad you have to mist the floor and let it stand for 2-3 minutes then run scrubber over it and it will pull the dirt out of the wax up to 4 layers deep.

 

[Philip Hamby]

Also, it does work in medical facilities. We have the system installed in Archbold Medical Center in Georgia and they save thousands of dollars because they no longer strip the facilities floors.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Is 3M cool with the "doodle" near appropriation of their long-time trademark "Doodle Bug"?

 

[Mikey P]

Yes

 

[Cleanworks]

One man only, get all th gear set up, strip with the 175 (small areas at a time to avoid wax redepositing on floor_) lay down the 175 pick up the wand and rinse and repeat. It is a pain to clean the recov tank. Use sone stripper and toilet brush and rinse. It's a little cumbersome but compared to rinsing with a mop and bucket you fly through the job. Speed dry with air movers. Although I don't really like doing vct, we make more money than carpet cleaning.

 

[susclean]

i'm a small guy just starting out and i find that VCT is a nice change of pace as well as a great way to get in front of people that can be a good referral source.

Things i like about it:

1) no hours on the TM
2) provides opportunities for recurring contracts
3) seems to be easy to sell as a lot of people don't want to do it
4) provides opportunities for frequent maintenance (scrub/recoat, scrub/burnish)
5) VCT is everywhere

things that are a bummer:

1) weekends and nights
2) definitely lower hourly rate
3) some contracts require extra labor due to size

 

[Total_Rookie]

Great feedback on this thread. I'm not completely done with this, as I see a market that is not being met correctly. Possibly because most businesses go after price. Although a lot of them are already burned out on the last 3 stooges that did 3 stooge style work.

 

[dealtimeman]

If you do good work, with good efficiency, you will get a great result in both satisfying the customer and making money.

You should be making 75-100 dollars an hour on floors.

 

[jwfoulk12]

As much as I dislike VCT I need to add it to my business I believe. My problem is its been so long since Ive done it I dont have the confidence. I used to do it as a teenager but that was many years ago. Theres really nobody in my area that is doing it. I would want to charge enough to make it worth my while. Russ what are you getting per square that you feel makes it pay well enough to deal with the hassles?

 

[Cleanworks]

If you do good work, with good efficiency, you will get a great result in both satisfying the customer and making money.

You should be making 75-100 dollars an hour on floors.

I usually average 150 an hour on floors. Why would clean floors cheaper than carpets? It is more complicated, more equipment, more chemicals. I am usually doing small jobs less than 1000sqft.

 

[Philip Hamby]

I usually average 150 an hour on floors. Why would clean floors cheaper than carpets? It is more complicated, more equipment, more chemicals. I am usually doing small jobs less than 1000sqft.

I agree. I feel the industry is still stuck in the 1970's and 80's not just with techniques but with pricing too. I agree that if you can get 150.00 an hour its more comparative with doing carpets. That should be the goal.

 

[dealtimeman]

If you are making 150 per man hour doing floors, you shouldn't ever turn your Truckmount on to clean carpets again.

 

[Cleanworks]

The problem is I like cleaning carpets and I can't stand doing vct. I only do it by special request and I charge them the max to try to discourage them from calling me again. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work and I end up doing more vct than I like. Good thing is, at least I make a little money doing it.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Exactly the same here. Don't want to do it but sometimes its a part of a large carpet cleaning project.

 

[mmarkovic]

It's good to keep an open mind so you can discover new products, methods or techniques for solving old problems. VCT never got me excited but I get then occasionally and charge from .65 to 1.20 per square foot depending on the complexity. Dental office on Tarkett sheet goods where I have 45 minutes prep time just getting ready to strip. (dental equipment, Charis etc) Since designing the Turbo-Hybrid I appreciate it even more at doing wax stripping as a thorough suck & rinse tool before applying new finish.

 

[Cleanworks]

some times it's all about the approach. Usually when customers asks me if I can clean these floors, I say, I can but it's expensive.

 

[Russ T.]

As much as I dislike VCT I need to add it to my business I believe. My problem is its been so long since Ive done it I dont have the confidence. I used to do it as a teenager but that was many years ago. Theres really nobody in my area that is doing it. I would want to charge enough to make it worth my while. Russ what are you getting per square that you feel makes it pay well enough to deal with the hassles?

I'm around $1 per foot Justin. It has taken some practice but I usually make $100-$150 per hour doing VCT. That's what I shoot for, no matter what im doing.

I've got 2700 ft.² to do at ISU starting tomorrow. I will do it in 2 visits so that's about 1350 ft.² per visit. I've already quoted them at $1 per foot.

I start tomorrow morning at 9 and plan on finishing by 5 so I can watch the Super Bowl with my fam. 8 hours of work for $1350. That's BEFORE buying stripper and finish but it's still going to be in the $150 per hour. Next Sunday I will finish with the job, making similar money.

There are others around me who do it but this particular client really likes our work. It's the best when they've tried others and are able to see the difference. We try really hard to be EASY to work with too, from scheduling to completion.

 

[Cleanworks]

So that's 150 an hr plus 150 for supplies. Pretty good money but you'll need a couple of cold beer after that job just to get the taste of stripper out of your mouth

 

[Russ T.]

We've got everything from craft beers to PBR and chicken wings/pizza, the whole deal for the game tomorrow.

 

[Cleanworks]

I work for beer

 

[Desk Jockey]

It's good to keep an open mind so you can discover new products, methods or techniques for solving old problems. VCT never got me excited but I get then occasionally and charge from .65 to 1.20 per square foot depending on the complexity. Dental office on Tarkett sheet goods where I have 45 minutes prep time just getting ready to strip. (dental equipment, Charis etc) Since designing the Turbo-Hybrid I appreciate it even more at doing wax stripping as a thorough suck & rinse tool before applying new finish.
View attachment 11715 View attachment 11716

You're using your TM to rinse and extract with?

Is that a real tie or a clip on?

 

[Russ T.]

Well, it went as usual yesterday. It took longer than I thought it would. That's pretty typical for me. I worked until 7 last night for a total of 1676 ft.² (instead of 1350).
In 2 weeks I go back for 1534 ft.² more. That's a total of $3210 for 2, long and difficult days by myself.

 

[Cleanworks]

Nice job Russ!

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

Nice work Russ!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Wow nice work and nice pay day Russ!



Soo whut do ya think...clip on or real tie?

 

[Andy]

Someone once told me that if you don't like doing something, charge enough so that you do. I was always comparing what I was making per hour cleaning carpet verses VCT. VCT wasn't matching up so I didn't like doing it. Then I started charging the same per square foot just to strip and additional square foot price for each coat of finish i put down plus chemicals, didn't mind it so much then. Always sold on 6 coats of finish. I called it "two past awesome". Finish has a primary purpose of protecting the floor 2 sealer and 2 finish would do that and look awesome. Then I would apply two more coats to protect the shine of the first four, thus" two past awesome". Laying the finish is easy, that's is the fast money,it's stripping that takes time. The more I charged, the better job I did, the more work I got.