We all know (if we have been around for more then a few months and read message boards or trade magazines) that our industry has issues with bait and switch, low quality, poor technicians, bad owners, etc. Unfortunately we even have our own little factions HWE vs. Encappers, Truckmount vs. Portable, Vortex vs. other Truckmounts, one chemical manufacturer over another.

Well I have to get on my soap box now. I am far from the largest, busiest or most profitable cleaner on this board, nor any other for that matter. I am however a professional. I love to encap, I love to HWE, I just enjoy cleaning carpet and seeing the results of my work- because I do a DAMN good job!

So we come to my point the term Scrub-N-Run that is used- mostly by HWE guys. It seems very derogatory to me, like I am a snake oil salesman (I know I'm a cowboy and old fashioned, but not a scam artist). So I was kinda thinking that maybe we should in our own little corner of the world provided by Rick make a stand against Scrub-N-Run terminology and call it a Standard Encapsulation Cleaning (or something along those lines). It just seems more professional to me. We may not be able to change the world, but we can change OUR world.

What do you guys (and gals) think?

P.S.- I don't "Splash-N-Dash" either.


Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

I really dont care what any one calles me, as long as the check dont bounce. I have taken away a few customers from so called pro carpet cleaners. SS is one, Chem Who is another plus other local guys.

My customers are happy with my cleaning and they call me back and I keep getting new customers. My comm brochure shows what I do and explains how I do it and the calls still come in.

To my customers, I am a carpet cleaner. I provide a service and they write the check.

This Scrub N Run thinking is by guys that worry that they are having to now compete with other cleaners.

I guess if I had a tm that I spent 50,000++ on I would talk down any other way of cleaning carpet other then HWE. Would I want some guy with a $2500 Cimex taking business away from me, no.

Dont worry about what your fellow carpet cleaners call you. Worry that you dont get called by your customers.

I get a lot of flak about my Vento from a cc on this board, this gus says ya cant clean resi carpets with spinning a rag. Well guess what my customers would tell him otherwise.

Provide great customer service. Thats what businesss is about. Provide the customer with value, be honest, be a pro at what you do and again provide great customer service.

i see where you are coming from Del. i replied once on ICS that very same point and pointed out the "Splash-N-Dash" term.

but i now realize it doesn't mean as much to me.

if on all the forums i started referring to HWE as Splash-N-Dash, it would prove my ignorance to the method.

those who feel cool using some term for Encap also show their ignorance of the method. Encap is so much more. and i'm not going to explain all the differences. if you don't know them, stay in the dark.

thanx --- Derek.

I use that term all the time, and I mean no disrespect doing so. I simply have to have some way of distinguishing "standard" encapsulation cleaning from paddcapping, bonnecapping, or even HWE using encapsulation chemicals. The term encapsulation cleaning is used by various different cleaners in various different ways. It drives me crazy to hear some expert say he had great success "encap cleaning" a restaurant only to find he HWE'd the darn place using standard HWE chemicals, and simply used an encapsulation rinse.

Joe, I like your explaination.

I have heard the term used towards people that use Encap without HWE in Residential settings. Would that be considered the proper way to use the term "scrub n run"?

On most commercial, I would call it "Scrub and walk with pride to pick up my check."

I don't understand why someone would say that those with truckmounts would feel they had to defend having them or feel threatened by someone with a Cimex. I like having both. I've tried padding on residential and it's not for us. When setting up commercial maintenance accounts, I always emphasize periodic HWE so a janitor with a Cimex can't offer what I offer.

That shows you have some rare common sense.