We let the customer pre vac.

Ron Werner

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steve said:
Let,s just save the Holy than thou stuff for Sundays.

Has nothing to do with being "holier than thou". God knows I'm not. But if something is worth doing, its worth doing right. My dad showed me that in his work as an electrician. No one say his work, but they KNEW it was done right.

You are better than me at one thing Steve, you're a better businessman. You put profit at the head. Which from a business point of view is the right thing. I just like doing the job, like seeing the finished product, my WOWing of the client is when they see the soil that came out AND they see and know how much cleaner it is.

Its like cleaning and polishing a car, I don't just do the quarter panels, hood, roof, and trunk. I'll clean around the door frame, the rockers, in the wheel wells, then stand back knowing I did a good job. Its the things you CAN"T SEE that make the difference to me. Not everyone will do that. No worries. But when there are so many splash and dash companies out there, I think we should, as the "professionals" raise the bar. An Exec Officer of a ship I was on had posted:
Excellence is the standard, Not the Goal!

If you're charging more than I am, great. I can tell people, here's a company that does this and that and charges $X, you are getting a whale of a deal with my service.
 

hogjowl

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2 cents more ... Greenie, are you serious? Stick to making and selling trinkets.

It take from 15 to 25% longer on a job to prevacuum the carpets. If you do it properly. For someone charging 30 cents a s.f., that means 7 and 1/2 cents of every sf goes into vacuuming. If you are currently charging 25 cents a sf to 2 step clean, you will need to add between 4 to 6 cents a sf to cover the added time spent vacuuming. So that 25 center would have to jump up to 30 or 31 cents a sf overnight. So that $200 whole house (800 sf) job he did last time would now cost his customer $248.00. That's a big jump in price for middle America.

I think that's why you just don't see too many businessmen, folks who really know their numbers, and who run crews, prevacuuming. It's almost always the owner operator, who's idea of being financially sound is just having cash in his pocket, that is always spending an hour prevacuuming every job, and trying to be the new Dick Ragan on the boards.

A good bit of this prevacuuming crap is cleaners playing with the handful of Lonnie-ites who inhabit these boards, but sometimes the play can hurt the less experienced who lurk here.
 
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The way I see it is as pride. The way I've been raised is to do your best each and everytime you do something. At the end of the day you ask yourself, "did I give my best"? You are the only one who can answer it. Character in my book is, "doing the right thing, when nobody is looking".


If a prospective client asks your cleaning process and you tell them you vacuum when you don't, that's dishonest. "I'm sorry from a business stand point, we don't prevacuum, it's costs us money that your not willing to pay for." < That right there is honesty.


Didn't the IICRC create a standard of cleaning? If one step is left out, you haven't met the standard.

I'm not looking to stir up anything, that's my .02 on this topic.


I vacuum every job regardless. I know it take me an extra 20-30mins and boy would I love to skip it. But in the end, I know I did the best with what I have to work with.
 

Greenie

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Hey numbnuts, it wasn't literal...charge .07 if you need to, but even at 1/2 of that your quality would be better as is your show.

Do what you think you can get away with I guess.

But...I don't for one second think we're talking about the same thing here, an Owner/Op is focused on quality and the relationship, Co.'s that run crews, are focused on turning sales dollars, they know it's not as clean, but they are of the "good enough" mentality and prevacuuming isn't even considered.

Two different business models.

Choose your model.
 

hogjowl

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I couldn't agree more. You're saying just what I have been saying, and claiming it like you though it up.

So quit giving Cameron hell for running a multi-truck operation the way all the rest of them do.
 

Ron Werner

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In a perfect world all cleaners would be able to put in all the steps and charge what its really worth, whatever that is.

But you're right Marty, we each have our own busn model, we each have our own way of doing things. Sometimes we can take from one busn and add it to our own, sometimes we can't. I know a owner/operator is able to do that much more than an employee simply because the employee hasn't a vested interest.

I'm not out to bust anyones chops for not prevacuuming. I understand why its not done, for some they just don't have the time, others just don't care, others its not as necessary a step in order to please their client, collect a check and provide for their own families needs.

I'm just sensitive to it because, since 95 when I first discovered just how much crap was actually IN a carpet that other vacuums were leaving behind, I've been busted in the chops over talking about it. Other cleaners here in my area would just roll their eyes as if I was smoking the stuff. It IS the best way to clean, but if someone's busn model doesn't allow for it, they have to do the best they can.
Some guys know how to clean a filthy carpet fast, without vacuuming, so it looks great with no wicking or returning spots. I don't know how to do that. I just read the standards, apply the steps, and low and behold if the carpet doesn't come clean!
 

Greenie

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admiralclean said:
So quit giving Cameron hell for running a multi-truck operation the way all the rest of them do.

Who's giving Steve a hard time....I'm pretty sure he's an upity priced cleaner, just doesn't vacuum.
 

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