I have a contract with the state of New Hampshire for 11 large municipal buildings. The contract requirements state ....

"The vendor must provide all materials, equipment necessary to clean commercial grade carpet, using an approved dry cleaning or chemical cleaning process"

I am now being told that only hot water extraction is acceptable. I countered that the contact states the above and also provided the link to the Shaws brouchure that Rick G was kind enough to post on his site.

My concern is that Shaw only recomends encap as an intrim cleaning method between HWE's. Am I reading that correctly. Any suggestions as to how I can argue that I have met the terms stipulated by the contract. Also even though the contract contains the paragraph above it also lists what equipment specs are required and these are all truck mount and large portable extraction units.

Please need help fast....Thank in advance

Rick

It can be hard to re-educate people and overturn strongly entrenched ideas.

If they're saying that "only hot water extraction is acceptable" --- then it sounds like you'd better provide some HWE for this account.

Sell the customer what they want. Keep in mind, you can continue to educate them toward other options, and IMPROVE their maintenance plan, as you continue to serve them. In the meantime you may need to be flexible toward their requests.



Rick Gelinas
encapman

I agree with Rick
you may need to get your self some HWE equipment

I know we have put Steamin Demon equipment into to a school in Concord

Steamin Demon XL-20 is listed as an approved piece of equipment. But I do really do not want to spend 3K for a machine I may only us for one account. Also at .07/sq ft will the Stemin Demon be as fast as a Cimex?

Since this sounds like attempted breach of contract, you may want to consult with a business or contracts attorney to obtain a professional evaluation of the terms of your contract. It might take only a letter from him/her to whomever it is who is attempting to change the rules in the middle of the game. And if they do choose to ignore such a letter, you might well have a case for damages if they select another vendor.

Is this a new contract? Sounds like the competition is a sore loser and wants to get you disqualified.

George Barnett
Owner: G & G Services
HydroTech Distributor
http://www.webnow.com/HydroTech

I'm gonna get ripped for this one, but I won't even go after any contract that smells of government. Is there good money in it? Yes. Is there ignorance walking the halls of gov't? Yes. Is it worth the trouble? Not for me. I worked in municipal gov't for 10.5 years and that was enough. My point is, if you want to deal with it, you're more of a man than me! You are facing an uphill battle that, in my opinion, is not gonna make the contract worth the grief and misinformation you are gonna have to deal with. Even with all the education you have received and will continue to receive, you're not gonna be as smart as the "guy who thinks he knows more than you" who oversees your contract and has no clue how to take care of carpet.
Now that I've shown my complete pessimism for working with government, you all may show me the errors of my ways. However, I should mention that in all other dealings I am usually overly optimistic!

Is the Demon as fast as the Cimex?
It would depend on the soil conditions.
Is it worth it to buy a 3K machine that you may only use on one account?
Trust me if you have it you will use it on more then just that account.

Is it still worth it only you can deside that. How much is the account worth to you over the amount of time you have the contract for? how bad do you want to keep the account?

Do you have or can you buy as good a machine for less money that will enable you to keep the account?


We have done, and do several government accounts no problem with them, they pay by government credit card after job completion. Contract is clearly laid out. I must be one of the lucky ones, of I was in the millitary long enough to know somtimes you may need to jump through hoops a little.


My last comment. How do they know what you are using? is someone waching you?

Rick,

"at .07/sq ft will the Steamin Demon be as fast as a Cimex?"

No, the SD will NOT clean as fast as a Cimex.
And it would be challenging to clean profitably at .07 per sq ft with the SD.
I wouldn't expect to go there with the SD. The SD is designed for High-Flow extraction.
Low priced high production cleaning isn't what the SD was designed for IMHO.

The Cimex is a perfect machine for high production encap cleaning.

Each machine has a unique application and a corresponding price point.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

Great responses - thank to all. I will post the final outcome.

Sounds like you stand to lose a lot of money. I would do whatever it takes to satisfy the contract requirements, borrow, rent or buy the necessary equipment if you want to keep this contract.