I'm doing my 1st commercial estimate and I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions.

1) 1600 sq

2) carpet burn test smells sweet

3) carpet has 7 pcs of gum that are deeply embedded (real bad)

4) carpet has 4 pcs of black tape holding rips together

5) carpet is thin as paper

I use a Hos Orbot, chems Hydrox & releasit basic.
Pads-tuways,glads & microfiber
Any thoughts on price,chems and pads to use (hopefully pics of carpet show up below)

http://s696.photobucket.com/albums/vv322/lexcor11/?albumview=grid

re-think retirement....the Cav's need you! your glory days aren't over! think back to the days of D-troit!!!!!

:*(

Cute
He wishes he had my game (being from KY I have skills)And I wish I had his $$.

Gum is not a big deal. Just some citrus gel such as CTI's pro-solve, and/or some freeze spray and a little spotting tool (CTI has the carpet shark) should do the trick.

For something that small, you really need to estimate how long it will take you and then multiply that by how much you need to make per hour. Consider vacuuming time, moving items, how long it will take to enter, set-up, and exit. The actual cleaning with the Orbot on should be no more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours or so.

Also frequency of cleaning should be considered. You may need to charge a first time price, then give various prices depending on how often they want it done after the initial cleaning.

I would use Encap Basic, use tuways first, then follow up with Glads to absorb soil if desired.

For commercial carpet, you will generally be dealing with nylon or olefin(does not absorb water). Wool would come up less often. For the burn test, the synthetics will melt, while the wool will turn into ash and smell like hair. Wool has a very distinct smell when wet. Can't miss it.

All of that isn't too important since you can use what you have on any of those.

The Orbot shouldn't damage those seams any more than they already are, but just don't dwell on those areas too long.

By the way, did you do a demo area yet?

Thomas is right about the gum - I concur, it's not a problem...
"Gum is not a big deal. Just some citrus gel such as CTI's pro-solve, and/or some freeze spray and a little spotting tool (CTI has the carpet shark) should do the trick. "

Regarding the tears in the carpet, get a hot glue gun. You can do amazing carpet repairs on commercial glue down carpet with a hot glue gun.

Regarding cleaning: Pre-vacuum, and clean with your Encap-Basic and your Tuway pads on your HOS and you'll get splendid results! Go for it, you'll do just fine.

Take pictures of the job and show us how it turns out.







Rick Gelinas

Ben,

Most commercial carpet is thin don't let that bother you. The gum is easy to remove. Pro-solve gel. Citrus Gel. Freeze Spray. Dry cleaning fluid and even Releasit DS mixed 50/50 will remove gum. Plenty of things out there hopefully you have a product mentioned already for that. I would use the encap-basic since that is all you have. As for as pads I don't know. I only have Cimex machines and am not familiar with the pads you are talking about. Bid the job out on a square feet basis. We usually bid .15 a sf or more and half that again for protector. Don't sell yourself short.

In the future I would suggest buying some DS. It has a protector built into it and in my opinion is the best encap product out there.

If you are not selling protector you are leaving money on the table. We are using Soil-eze protector and it is a great protector and allows us to make plenty of profit selling it.

What's your target goal per hour?

The Orbot can easily do that job in 90-minutes. If you charged .12 a sq/ft that's $128.00 an hour.

If that seems too high or too cheap move up or down a penny or two.

A couple of pennies make a huge difference in your hourly, .14 would come out to $224.00 total or $149.33 an hour.

Not bad money, but in a competitive bid you're going to want to be as cheap as you need to be to be competitive and yet make a reasonable profit.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the responses.To answer one of the questions-"Did I do a demo?" No.The parent co.of music chain store called and ask me to check it out.In which I did.They said store was 1600 sq ft probably true but carpet area that is exposed is probably a little over 900.I bid the job @ .12 sq ft.Plus gum removal was $5 ea pc.
I have the Pro-Solve-Gel and a can of freeze spray also.
Last fri I ordered a Desiderio continuous fill steam machine and it is according to Fedex supposed to be in later today.I'm just wondering If anybody has one and if steam will do a good job on gum to?

You don't need steam for gum. It would be slower and more of a hassle than freeze spray and gel solvent. It takes less than a minute to remove a big hunk of Bubblicious (using freeze spray and gel solvent).

This old message post explains the process...
http://www.network54.com/Forum/228309/message/1167431876/Quick+%26amp%3B+simple----












Rick Gelinas

Thanks Rick for the tip and link.