Those Innovative Monkey Pad guys...

[Able 1]

Betcha she (pic up top) gets FREE monkey pads!

Keith

 

[DANA KOTHRADE]

Greenie,
I'll do even better. I'll come to your shop and let you demo the pads for yourself, I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. I'll be traveling the next two weeks but after that, I'll call you to set up a time that works for you. Sound fair?

 

[Mikey P]

That would be a wise move Dana.

Greenie could move a boat load of pads for you.


I'll make sure he finds a f'd up floor for you to demo on.

 

[Gary T]

I really feel for the seasoned pros like Gary who have spent a life time and boat loads of cash to become a "Stone Pro" and now every Mikey, Marty and Waldo will be able to do 80% of what he does for next to nothing.

Mikey That is the least of my worries. I compete with that on a daily basis. It is the edumacation that really sets me apart from all the janitors, tile guys, carpet guys, out there attempting stone work. 90% of the seasoned pros working on the hotels and casinos are janitors who can spray some crystallizer. It is guys like me who get the call to fix these things after they look like hell.

Even if these pads work as advertised, they sure don't come bundled with the education and experience necessary to understand stone and how it reacts under your machine and the process you apply to it. I see it already in this thread with the questions about weighted machines or not. That is some very basic knowledge that is needed in this field. Which stone needs weight, how much, how little, how fast do you move. You'll get away with it for awhile, till you hit a floor that doesn't react like the last one or two did. Then I suspect there will be a lot of head scratching. How will you all know even what the hell stone you are working on, when the idiots who sold the crap don't know what it was.

All I'm saying is be CAREFUL. Don't buy into all the hype. These things may work great on some marbles, but I guarantee they will not work on everything equally, NOTHING DOES. Equipment is only part of the equation, no matter how expensive or easy to use it may be.

I hope you guys do great with these things and they work every bit as well as advertised. I am not worried a bit about these things on the market even if all of you buy them and become 80% of a stone pro, it will have no adverse effect on my business.

Even if Dana will not honor a money back guarantee (as he did not respond to my post), I am ordering a set to test and will post an honest report. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain if they work as hyped.

Also, if anyone here runs into problems while working on stone, feel free to call, email, pm, I'll try to help ya out even if you're right next door.

 

[Mikey P]

Very good points Gary.

I would hope you realize that I already know of the many challenges that can arise with stone.

I myself run into many situation through out the year where anything done to a floor would be a improvement so I plan on taking advantage of the ease of the Monkeys to do some bookless learnin.
No one in my area currently offers anything in the way of Stone care. I really need to hop on it at some level. I already have 8 flooring stores referring me for cleaning so why not?


Dane Gregory and Larry Cobb, both guys who know just a little about Stone work, vouch for Dana. My BS detector is better than most and it never tingled once at the show

I'm hoping Dana realizes the long term value of letting me sit through one of his week long for free :wink: :wink:

 

[DANA KOTHRADE]

By seasoned pros I certainly am not referring to the crystallized crew at the hotels. I'm talking about the pros like greenie who come in to fix the damage.

We offer the most advanced hands on training and technical support in our industry, over 38 years of combined experience between the two trainers, so these idiots can actually help educate newbies and help when they run into issues.

I'm happy about all the national attention our pads are getting but let's face it, greenie is right! There is no miracle pad that can make a monkey a true craftsman. These pads were not meant to do that. They allow people to home and polish most any marble, travertine or limestone without risk. The more complex stuff will always be left to the craftsman.

Greenie, are you going to take me up on my offer?

Mikey, I'd like to officially offer you a free pass to our advanced event so you can see first hand exactly what we can do for your members. Just be ready for some serious work! No long lectures, no boring powerpoints or videos no written exam. All hands on, all day, as long as it takes till everyone gets it. Final exam consists of extreme marble repair, color matching with stone dust, grinding, polishing and finishing. Each student gets 12 months real time live tech support.


Happy to have you at the next event mikey!

 

[Mikey P]

Dana,


Greenie is a supplier/manufacture not a worker bee.

 

[Gary T]

Dana, I did not in any way refer to you or any of your people idiots, I was and am referring to the idiots who sell stone. The idiots who sell doctored granite, who claim because it looks like granite they sell it as granite. Who tell people go ahead and put this or that in your shower, those who say marble is great for kitchen counters.

Greenie doesn't work on stone, but is one of the most knowledgeable guys when it comes to CC, TMs, wands, etc.

I'll try your pads, I look forward to it.

 

[Greenie]

The sooner Dana figures out who he is addressing and reads a profile or two, the sooner he'll have a sale, and If Mike wants to trade Dana some legit advertising for a free sit in, g'head it'll be 10X more valuable to Dana than Mike.

I'm not against Dana, I just ask that he atones for his past sins, that Polish marketing angle is nausiating, Dana is only 45 mins. from me and for at least 3 years it's been everything I have for discipline to not drive down there and choke him and his "team" out.

So Dana, treat us like normal intelligent business owners as 90% of the folks here at Mikey's are my customer and are among the top 10% of the professional cleaners you will ever come across.

I am open minded, if Mike attends, I would attend as well, but I value Gary T's input, and his experience can only be helpfull in a class of rookies, so I yield my seat to him, and will get a full report before I offer this product to my customer base.

When is the next class?

 

[Mikey P]

Just got off the phone with Dana.

Monkey Pads are his creation and the patent is pending.

He does private label them to one other company at the moment and if Greenie would pull his Pink Post card out of his ass I could see him selling Greenie Pads someday.

 

[Greenie]

Got standards, and morals, profit is secondary.

Said I was open minded.

When can Gary attend?

 

[Mikey P]

Does/can Gary attend is the question.

Dana is up in SF and away from his PC for a while.

 

[Bob Foster]

It's interesting that with all the tile and stone guys here on MB it took Dana and his booth to open my eyes to what I believe is a huge opportunity for me. I am in the process of differentiating and diversifying from the crowd so I can build myself a business that provides well for the time and effort I am putting into it.

I never saw Dana's "Polish" marketing efforts and as you guys know I have a huge distaste for those types. BUT here is what I see he is offering that got my attention.

- The fussy stuff is disappearing quicker and people are also cleaning carpet less frequently because the remaining carpet in homes is in less visible areas means the owners are less inclined to clean them.

- I believe the recurring revenue model of commercial carpet cleaning is more secure and there is not as much competition. Some of us will forsake our evenings and weekends so we can have a more secure cash flow from commercial work however commercial work generally does not give you the revenue per hour that residential carpet cleaning does.

- As work diminishes in the residential carpet cleaning area it will force more residential cleaners into commercial work and put a downward pressure on pricing.

Stone and tile refinishing brings a significant differentiation to a person willing to get into it but the question for most of us is how can we do it without spending a lot and risking screwing up. It shows the signs of much higher revenue and also another reason for a home owner or a commercial property manager to choose you for their carpet cleaning because you also can do the tile and stone work. One of the biggest areas of stone work that I see opportunities in is counter tops but with the amount of them out there I'm concerned that it will loose its appeal due to low-ballers and Home Depot DYI marketing.

Stone and tile schools are not new but I sure would like to know the differences between Dana's school and the other ones such as Stone House.

Dana please fill us.

 

[Gary T]

I'd go in Jan or Feb maybe when it gets cold here. That is also when I do a lot more of my stone work. I will order a set of pads and run em around my test floor in the shop. Do a little side by side. I have used the other brands for honing and they work well. We will see.

 

[Greenie]

That is exactly what I was thinking Gary, not until after Christmas, most are pretty busy til then.

I might even have a day to drop in during the week in the winter and visit.

 

[Mikey P]

Sounds good to me too.


I wonder if Dana would mind if we recorded a bit of it.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

I was looking at placing an order but it looks like their set of 5 different grits consists of 800-1500-3000-8000-11000, I would have preferred a starter set of 200-400-800-1500-3000 grits, so in order to test these pads we need to purchase the 5 grit set & a 5 pad case of the 200's & 400's, $375+$375+$375 totaling $1125.00.

How about a MB special set of 200-400-800-1500-3000 ???

 

[Greenie]

Jim, I think the $375 includes 1 of each grit, it's oriented to the starter doing lighter etching, not deep restoration, I would imagine if you did this work routinely you would order them in the larger qty. and more grits.

ps: the whole weighted driver argument is distorted, with a 175, yes get the driver, with an OP no need.

 

[Mikey P]

I honestly cant recall if the demo 175 had a weighted driver..

Bob?

 

[boazcan]

Stone and tile refinishing brings a significant differentiation to a person willing to get into it but the question for most of us is how can we do it without spending a lot and risking screwing up. It shows the signs of much higher revenue and also another reason for a home owner or a commercial property manager to choose you for their carpet cleaning because you also can do the tile and stone work. One of the biggest areas of stone work that I see opportunities in is counter tops but with the amount of them out there I'm concerned that it will loose its appeal due to low-ballers and Home Depot DYI marketing.

Stone and tile schools are not new but I sure would like to know the differences between Dana's school and the other ones such as Stone House.

Bob,

I just went to David Gelinas' class last week. Wow, he is very knowledgable and helpful. I am only 30 mins away from and he wasn't scared (nor should he be). 1 day class and 2 days restoring a travertine floor. Lots of work. Granite repair,etc. Not sure when his next one is, but it was a ton of info. Call him and chat with him.

Bryan

 

[steve frasier]

I would also be interested in the class

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Jim, I think the $375 includes 1 of each grit, it's oriented to the starter doing lighter etching, not deep restoration, I would imagine if you did this work routinely you would order them in the larger qty. and more grits.

Available in cases of five pads in 200-400-800-1500-3000-8000-11000 grits or a set of one of each of the following grits 800-1500-3000-8000-11000 Coverage: 500-5000 sq.ft. depending on floor lippage


Starter set is 1 pad each 800-1500-3000-8000-11000.
If you wanted 200 or 400 grit you have to buy each that comes in a case of 5...that's how I read it :?:

 

[Greenie]

Starter set is 1 pad each 800-1500-3000-8000-11000.
If you wanted 200 or 400 grit you have to buy each that comes in a case of 5...that's how I read it :?:

That is how I read it as well.

My only point was a beginner might only need the 800+ to restore some etching, I don't think you would want the 200 unless it was pretty severe, light stuff first, more serious stuff later, but I'm just guessing?

 

[Mikey P]

I run into loads of Limestones and Travertines that I'm sure a 400 pad will just nail to perfection.

Both of which always have wine, soda. juice and vinegar etching galore.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Over the next couple of weeks we have a marble floor & a Travertine floor, both have minor scratches & trafiic lane wear, so I was going to try out Twister & Nortons diamond polishing pads side by side to see which one performs better, I wasn't aware of Nortons pad until just the other day when my local distributor mentioned them & of course swore by them, I might throw Monkeys into the test as well (with honing powders on hand if I don't like the results from these magic pads). Norton appealed to me because they start off with a 36 grit stripping pad & then go up from there. http://www.nortonprocleaning.com/Data/E ... 0000002181

We run into lots of scratches caused by chairs, usually require diamond discs...protecting surroundings & dealing with slurry gets old, I don't expect these pads to replace major restoration but instead provide an option to the sticker shock some customers get when all they want is their polish back, I was thinking of a 3 tier pricing, if you want highest quality then we use diamonds, second plan would be powders & third would be these pads, if these pads replace powders then that makes life a bit easier.

 

[Mikey P]

Exactly Jim.

In most cases the chairs, the dogs the kids with rocks in their shoes and everything else will continue to mess up the floor. Most home owners will pick the less than perfect option and have it done more often.

 

[Tile Nerd]

Starter set is 1 pad each 800-1500-3000-8000-11000.
If you wanted 200 or 400 grit you have to buy each that comes in a case of 5...that's how I read it :?:

That is how I read it as well.

My only point was a beginner might only need the 800+ to restore some etching, I don't think you would want the 200 unless it was pretty severe, light stuff first, more serious stuff later, but I'm just guessing?

My thought is 400 or 800 then powder polish. Right now we powder hone with 600 then powder polish with Outshine with great success. 3lb tub of honing powder is around $20 and a 3lb tub of Outshine is around $40. Low risk, 2 steps with great clarity and 3lbs goes a long way. There are a few very safe powder polishes that don't require neutralizing and don't etch; TOG's "Outshine", Super Abrasive's "Dia-Glo, and MB-Stone's ????? (sorry don't know the name of the MB product but many swear by it) just to name a few.

 

[Tile Nerd]

Actually if it's just etching we're dealing with then most of the time we can just powder polish. If the floor has some wear or traffic patterns in it, then it may require honing to even the floor out before polishing. That's when we go to the 600 powder first.

 

[Tile Nerd]

I don't think they will be able to low ball Greenie because of the number of steps required with the Monkey pads and the cost of the monkey pads. It seems like it would be much quicker and cheaper with a polishing powder.

 

[Bob Foster]

I think a bunch of people here should try it - understand it - before they pass judgment on it.