I been cleaning a client's 8 story building that now, after over a year of exclusively cimexing the halls, they are starting to look pretty grungy. I brought my porty and HWE cleaned a section of the hall, which looks MUCH brighter & better than the rest...This tells me that maybe I should HWE the rest of the halls to bring it back to snuff. Ive already had some complaints that it looks dingy...

So...

1) Should I include HWE every few months as a restorative cleaning? I'm sure soils will build up if encap is the only procedure I use...

2) I have a low set sqft rate based on encap that this client is accustomed to, should I tell the client that I periodically need to HWE, and that the rate per sqft is more, or should I suck it up and charge the same as i've been and hwe - breaking even on the hwe?

Am I correct to say that maybe once a year I should hwe ANY job that I encap?

Thanks, Guys!

Joe

Are u using pads or brushes?? I ask becouse i been doing a building for ten years with a bonnet cleaning and the carpets look new i got a big walk behide but never use it....I have never encap before but going to start...

Joe-
I've read many post that say its a good idea to flush with HWE periodically and some post that say they never have after many years. Here is my thought in hallways the traffic is limited to a smaller space so perhaps the constant traffic in the same small area has a bearing on it. I know many cleaners charge for restorative cleaning prior to encapping and get more for the restorative cleaning and less for maintenance cleaning. Can you OP it? I have a resturant that I HWE periodically and don't increase my price most of the time I Cimex it.

In this situation, the carpet was new when I started, and all i've done is encap w/ cimex...looking sorta grungy now, no major spots or stains, but just a dingy appearance overall, looks like maybe the sink is getting full...

Question, do the halls get vacuumed regulary? No vacuum, no extraction.

I have several accounts that I've been cleaning for a long time using Encap due to the size and location. They still look great BUT ALL have a great vacuuming schedule, like everyday. The customer has commented at each location how great the carpets look time and time again. So maybe the vacuuming needs to be better? Just a thought!

My first question to you is:How did the carpets look before your first service?

-Reason that I ask is that if a prospective client's carpet looks like it needs HWE,then it does need HWE....just to get it up to a serviceable level.

-I suggest that you do a whole HWE of areas you mentioned,then carry out your normal cleaning schedule.Now after two services inspect the carpet.Has the past services kept it looking good or not?

-If yes,perform another scheduled service and then you're ready to do another HWE (this is based on the contract is 4 quarterly services).

By doing 1 quarterly HWE at your agreed service contract may seem like loosing money but you already agreed at a certain figure,right?But you're still performing 3 additional services at a higher profit margin.

-If the answer was no,then you should take a walk with your point of contact and go through some or all of the areas.Show them that the soil levels are beyond what the agreed upon service schedule can remedy.The results speak for themselves.Now you have an opportunity to add an additional service or re-vamp the entire contract to reach a more agreeable schedule...a higher return for their investment in your company and equally as important,a higher return in your investment (your advertising)

Just another way of looking at the situation.

Patrick

im wondering too if it needs it every month.im kinda green still but i thought releasit would last longer than a month especially if it gets vacd.instead of encapping monthly maybe set up a deal to vac weekly and get a good vac or even a pilelifter once a week.

I agree with RickL.

I would try to do a post vac after each cleaning. I even go back to vacuum my account because i found that when vacuumed the fibers has a whole new light reflecting appearance.

The same time you will spend HWE, i would use it to vacuum the area first. Y ou may save yourself some cleaning solution this way. Convince custy to be sure to do a thorough vacuuming frequently, cause this plays an important role in why it is dingy.

Vcuuming, very important phase of a maintenance. Even if you HWE vacuuming will still be needed frequently to prevent fiber damage

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

I have one account that I clean carpets for including common areas I worked a weekly maintenance program in to vacuum hallways and common areas, stairs,laundry facilities. Convince the owner that these are high visibility areas and create the first impression to potential tenants. Any stain removal is addtional.

I have a large commercial account that is every carpet cleaners dream. Some areas are cleaned monthly, others quarterly and some semi-annually. They tried (unsuccessfully) to maintain it themselves using a part-time employee along with their usual janitorial account.

What I have found with it, and my other maintenance accounts, is that almost every area can be maintained indefinately using various low moisture methods. Only one area requires frequent hwe, and that's only because one hallway is directly outside their kitchen, and it has food and grease related soils on it twice a week.

True scrub-n-run encapsulation was attempted on this account for the first year, or so, but it just didn't work well for me. What I use now is OP padcapping using synthetic Tuway pads on the lightly soiled areas and cotton pads on the heavily soiled areas. Clark, at Orbitec is supposed to have some new Gladiator pads in shortly and I can't wait to see how they clean compared to the cotton pads.

Hey Admiralclean,

That sounds very interesting. So you can virtualy eliminate hwe, but have found that padcapping is the key?

I read one of your older posts in which you felt op was too slow. This is my main concern for commercial work. What is the production rate you've found comparing scrub and run cimex, versus op padcapping? Also, you've noticed a long term difference in results/up keep as well?

My plan was to Cimex 3 or 4 times for every steamin demon flush. The OP method sounds promising. Still probably will need the demon for 1st time dirty jobs.

My opinion regarding OP cleaning changed only a few months ago after getting an Orbitec Defender. The guide wheels on it allow me to travel in a straight line and walk like I am cutting grass. My machine is a 17 inch machine and I can do between 1000 and 1200 s.f. per hour with it. Running cotton pads slows me down to around 800 sf/hr, but that is because I only run cotton on the trashed places and I have to move in a vacuum cleaner like stroke in those areas.

Orbitec has a 20 machine like mine that has an on-board spray system on it that allows you to cover some really large sq. footage.

That's my next purchase.

I have a large monthly account that is a day-care that I have used every system under the sun on in an effort to keep it clean. Everything has given me problems until I got the Defender and started using cotton pads with it. I seriously doubt I'll ever have to HWE it again. Even if that time comes, it will be a long time away.

Thanks Admiralclean,

Do you use your Orbitec on residential carpet as well? Have you found tip bloom to be an issue?

I am getting a Cimex, but I'm starting to think that having an OP machine might be a good compliment to it. I think I heard some use the Cimex in most areas, and use the op for traffic lane soil removal.

I've used the Defender on my own residential carpet, and a few customers houses, but only those rentals I clean for a realtor who insists on "dry cleaning." The few times I used it on residential I was running synthetic Tuway pads that are not very aggressive. I had no trouble on the rentals with tip blooming, but I did notice a bit of texture change on my own home carpets. My carpet is a really soft saxony style of carpet and anything with aggitation will cause it to bloom a bit.

I haven't used the cotton pads on residential yet, but I know from experience using cotton with other OP machines that I'm going to have to be careful, and post vacuum while the carpet is still damp.

Thank you once again for your personal experience. I think I will hold off on using OP on residential for now.

I'm certainly not trying to get you to avoid OP cleaning in residentials. There's plenty of guys who seem to do it successfully. I have a friend of mine from high school who I just talked into this business. His situation is different than mine, and his market is different. On my recommendation, he purchased an Orbitec Defender and a couple of boxes of TuWay pads for commercial. His next purchase will be some (I forget the name) of those newer pads that John and Clark sell for residential.

My thoughts were that if he started in vlm cleaning, using an OP, he'd master that method, and not have the HWE monkey on his back.