The time it takes to complete the job

[Driguy]

Lets say we have a 900sqft apartment. consists of 2 bedrooms, hall, and a large living area. If you are given a 2 hour window to complete this job, and it was a heavily soiled carpet. would you using your methods be able to clean it in that 2 hour window.

factors
1. Your 2 hours start when you arrive
2. There are 4 6"diameter Red stains, and traffic areas are completely trashed.
3. Carpet is standard builders grade boring beige.
4. Apartment is on the 3rd floor, and takes 250' of hose to get to it.
5. There is no furniture
6. You do not have a helper

My assesment
I would start off by hauling the hoses up, vac at one time then rolling it back, and then solution the next rolling it back to the truck. Hook up my water line to an outside faucet * if there is one, start the truck, gather by chemical bag and rake, and head up to go at it. Mind you i may catch flack for this but i have not invested in a vacuum and i do not groom my cleaned carpet. I prespray with diluted parts Flex, Citrus, and Boost all with my injection sprayer, agitate with my rake, and let it sit for about 10 minutes will i catch my breath. totaly time 1:00

All ready for the haul alone I'm winded, as usually these jobs happen in late afternoon after i have all ready done 2 jobs. It takes me with just wanding it 2 strokes per line an hour to clean, and forgetting my iron and red dye remover i trek back down and up and set up to do cool aid after i have cleaned the carpet. that takes 1:20

After the cool aid is gone i track back over my steps with the wand out the door, disconnect my lines and wrestle them back to ground level. I disconnect my water fill, roll it up, same with the solution first and the vacuum next. 20 minutes there

I clean out my hydrofilter, and fix my chemical bag, close up the truck call the next job tell them im running late. and travel time there will be another 45 minutes

So 3:25 minutes give or take for 1 apartment job. I also don't feel the carpet came out nearly as good as it could have if i would have pre vacuum, use mechanical agitation, given it dwell time, extracted, groomed and left fans.

How in the hell do you guys do all those steps at every job, and still make money? This apartment was a $150 job.


I would just like some insight on this. As a technician I run up against this kind of stuff all the time, and I'm torn between quality of work, and the quantity I'm suppose to keep up with.

 

[Jim Nelson]

9oosf =$45o.00 i take all the time it takes to get it clean i have no where eles to go.

 

[windmarkbob]

We'd have taken up a Brushpro 20 to do the "vacuuming", followed by pretreating and scrubbing using the same machine. follow that with a quick extraction. Our tech would have had 2 wallpaper steamers heating up while doing the vacuuming, and they'd have steam rinsed over the red stains first. Then set the steamers down on top of the applied Red Relief while cleaning the rest of the apartment. After each bedroom, they'd have repositioned the steamers as necessary. Start to finish about 1.75 hours and approximately $150.

 

[Rex Tyus]

I don't confuse budget work and "premium". Apartments are budget. Many we do don't even have electricity or water turned on. Owner occupied homes are "premium". Time and a place for everything.

 

[steve r]

i do 3rd floor apts all the time and have never used more than 150ft of hose.i use an emulsifier so i only prespray when its nasty. rarely would it take more than 2 hours for a toatally trashed apt.
$65 for a 2bd $10 per red stain up to 5 inches in diameter $50 per room extra if trashed.
and they are like new except for burns and such.i get out all ink stains yellow brown red whatever except bleached out spots which im doing now but i dont like too unless requested.
my apts are happy to pay me my prices because in their words i actually clean them and they save on replacement.
lol i also take two steps at a time when going up stairs im flying when i set up and tear down hell when im cleaning too.ive been done for an hour now and im still breathing heavy.

 

[Dolly Llama]

is there a window on the parking lot side?

if so, carry wand, pre-sprayer, spotting kit AND a cheap poly rope up.
Lower the rope out the window, then go down and tie off both vac and sol line.
(while you're down there, grab your iron and spotting towels.)
now go back up and pull "both" vac and sol line up at one time.

we charge more for 3rd floor and/or PITA set ups

250ft of hose??
3 stories straight up to a 3rd floor "window" is less than 35ft

even at that, when you work along, some job set-ups are WAY more time consuming than others.
just the way it is


..L.T.A.

 

[John Watson]

I would turn this job down and leave it for you loballers, We charge .30 for apt that are MT and prevacuumed and will do a great job in 2 hours but I cheats, I gots a Helen...But if I did do it, we would charge $270 plus $135 for the TA's extra aggitation plus $60 for the red stains for a total of $465. I only pack 200 feet of hose and we have 1-2 jobs per year that take more than that, One is a yacht on a long walkway the other is a beach house where the road was washed awayand we have to go in the back way which takes 300 feet and they both pay an extra $100 for the inconvenience to us

 

[Dolly Llama]

I would turn this job down and leave it for you loballers, We charge .30 for apt that are MT and prevacuumed and will do a great job in 2 hours but I cheats, I gots a Helen...But if I did do it, we would charge $270 plus $135 for the TA's extra aggitation plus $60 for the red stains for a total of $465. I only pack 200 feet of hose and we have 1-2 jobs per year that take more than that, One is a yacht on a long walkway the other is a beach house where the road was washed awayand we have to go in the back way which takes 300 feet and they both pay an extra $100 for the inconvenience to us

no one cares about all that Watson.
The dude needs help with being more effiecient on those fooked up jobs.

if there's a thread asking about being an old CCer working on the truck every day and how to get their wife to work as a support tech, we ask you :wink:


..L.T.A.

 

[Becker]

1st question I ask when it come to apartments.

How close is the door to where I can park.

Sounds like a lot of freaking work for $150.00

 

[Ken Snow]

LOL Larry, I couldn't have said it any better. Why is it that when someone else can do something, or just wants some advise, some people feel a need to insult them or say how they could do it better. Sounds like insecurity to me. Kudos to anyone who has the guts to ask questions to better themselves!

Ken

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

tie wrap the solution hose to the vac hose. Drape both over your shoulder and arm and carry it up like a big electric line. That will save tangles and time. The steamer trick is a nice one too....start it first so it heats up....and then pre clean red stains (on some polyester and berber they wash out). Lay steamer in different spots while cleaning. As you get done with a product/chemical put it near the door so you don't forget it. Do not bring stuff back out to the truck, b/c at some point you will need that chem you just brought back out to the truck. If apt is not trashed do not hook up for water...that is a waste of time if you really do not need it. We go through windows, balconies...you name it...anything to get to an apt. easier. We all were utility belts. On the belts are a general spotter, a gum and tar remover(heavier duty solvent), pair of sissors, pipe cleaner (to clean a plugged jet), a door stop, white rag, and a gum scraper to save trips going back and forth to the van.

 

[Scott S.]

i would take up my porty hook it up and sweep all of the carpet as my helper brought up the rest of my crap. then prespray, talk to the customer as my helper agitated the carpet. i would then extract all, spot what needs spotted, rinse once more over spotted areas and empty the machine. my helper would then start taking stuff down as i got paid, then double check to make sure i didnt leave anything. unhook all hoses and take down the porty. and put stuff away as my helper brang it down. He is paid well dont worry.

total time for 900sq feet would be 1.5 hrs. if i had to prescrub it would take all of 2 hrs. typical price would be 150 same as you but to prescrub i would add 30 more

 

[John Watson]

Kenny you and larry KMA, It's big enough so you both can kiss it at the same time!!!!

Its hypothetical, "Lets say we have a 900sqft apartment. consists of 2 bedrooms, hall, and a large living area. If you are given a 2 hour window to complete this job, and it was a heavily soiled carpet. would you using your methods be able to clean it in that 2 hour window."

He keeps adding 250 ft of hose 3rd story and $150.00 It is total BS and he is just going to take it over to his board and ask the same thing Some real intelegent stuff being asked there!!!

 

[Driguy]

is there a window on the parking lot side?

if so, carry wand, pre-sprayer, spotting kit AND a cheap poly rope up.
Lower the rope out the window, then go down and tie off both vac and sol line.
(while you're down there, grab your iron and spotting towels.)
now go back up and pull "both" vac and sol line up at one time.

we charge more for 3rd floor and/or PITA set ups

250ft of hose??
3 stories straight up to a 3rd floor "window" is less than 35ft

even at that, when you work along, some job set-ups are WAY more time consuming than others.
just the way it is


..L.T.A.

Holy Hell that is the best freaking idea i have ever heard.

Yeah it takes the entire truck because of where the hall way access is compared to where i can park I am not aloud to led the hoses dangle over awnings. thats why i dont run them straight up a stair well. But running them out the window and pulling them up with some rope. Oh man, omw to home depot.

When i do these apartment complexes i can never park right at the stair well. and i use 200 feet of hose, but i have to unroll all 250 because i'm short between the stairs and the truck. Some of the condos at the beach are well reset into the building, and have elevator access and stairs at the very ends of the buildings.

I unfortunately am the technician and get no say on what jobs i do. But i do catch hell when it takes me more then 2 hours to do a job.

The job i mentioned earlier i only get 17% of.

 

[Dolly Llama]

But running them out the window and pulling them up with some rope. Oh man, omw to home depot.

.

go to Harbor Freight instead.
you can get a 100ft of poly rope for a couple bukz.

and tell your boss to give you a raise cause you hang out here with the BEST


..L.T.A.