We currently don't do any floor waxing but would consider adding it since many of the places we clean are medical offices and they have exam rooms with tile floors and ask if we do that.

What are the best methods and what equipment would I need? I already have a 175rpm rotary and a Cimex. I have done some floor stripping in quarry tile and other hard surfaces like terracotta.

One of our accounts just asked if we do waxing and said they received a proposal for the floors and the guy said he also cleans carpets. I am confident that we wont lose that account but maybe others in the future might want just one company that takes care of it all.

Stripper(can be bought at Home Depot), 2 buckets with ringers(again can be bought at Home Depot), 2 mops, floor machine and black or green pad and a wet vac with a floor tool(not really needed but you will be doing lots of rinse mopping without), sealer and wax.

Mix stripper to directions apply to floor with mop and let sit for a few min depending on how bad the floor is, use floor machine and pad to clean floor, use wet vac to pick up slop and then risne with clean water two to three times, then let dry with fan or just air dry.

Apply wax with a clean mop head, I do 2 coats of sealer (if they pay for it) with 3 coats of wax. Or if no sealer do 4 coats of wax.

And dont think for one min your job is safe, if they told you we have this guy who does floors and can also do carpets, be on your guard. I have found out over the years there is no loyalty in this business with our customers base. A cheaper offer comes along and bamm your out of work.

I did VCT floor maintenance for years. IMO it's a step down from carpet cleaning. The work is more difficult, the chemicals far more harsh, and the process is slow. You will find it difficult to make the kind of money you are used to.

But if you have to do it - depending on the size of the job you will have different tools. Small jobs are approached like the post above. However, you don't want to go to a super market with those tools and chemicals.

I would suggest that you invest in better chems than HomeDepot. Unless they have changed in the last couple of years, they are neither inexpensive or good.

Personally, I'd stick to being a really good carpet cleaner.

My companies philosophy is we are floor care specialist
Any flooring a client has we can service them, even if we cannot do it (rare) we have the contacts that can.

It is far better to be able to service a client cradle to grave then have to worry about getting the boot due to the fact of not wanting to service a particular flooring we feel is beneath us.

I would rather break even on one project then get booted and loose the whole account. My suggestion to you would be if you do not want to or know how to service a particular flooring find someone you trust to do it and build a relationship with them


David

Thanks for the info guys. All good points made.

For years, I didn't want to have anything to do with floor waxing. I do realize that it might be something I should consider. For one, I could increase business without acquiring new accounts and two, It would reduce the chance of us losing an account to another company.

I should also consider adding laminate floor care, since some of the medical offices we service have them in their exam rooms. Even if those floors don't make us a much a carpet cleaning, it's still more money in our pockets.

Floor care can be good. And floor care can be horrible.

First: How is it horrible? A dedicated VCT floor care business is typically less profitable than commercial carpet cleaning. As a stand alone business floor care can be a painful existence. Long nights, smelly work, poor pay. It's a tough industry.

Now for the upside: VCT floor care performed in conjunction with commercial carpet care can be a nice add-on profit maker. Our carpet cleaning business has always provided Commercial Floor & Carpet Care. Plus, if you don't take care of all their floor care needs, they may hire a floor guy that will steal the carpets away from you.

Floor care provided at the same time as carpet cleaning can be profitable. How? There's no "down time". A big part of VCT floor care is time that's wasted waiting for coats of finish to dry. But that's not an issue if you're doing carpet cleaning at the same time. You simply start working on the floors first, and then you start cleaning the carpet. You come back to the floor periodically throughout the carpet cleaning process to add additional coats of finish. Hence the floor is being serviced at the same time you're cleaning the carpet.


Stripping smaller VCT floors is fairly simple...
Seven steps to a perfect strip job:

1. Dust-mop, sweep, or dry vacuum the floor thoroughly.

2. Apply a liberal amount of stripping solution to the floor. Important note: Do not apply stripper to more floor area than you can service before it starts to dry up (work in smallish sections). Pioneer's Formula-X stripper that we sell is a rinse-free stripper that can dissolve any level of build-up.

3. Put Lightning Strip pads on your Cimex (Lightning Strip pads are highly aggressive, won't load up with finish, and last a very long time).

4. Put plain water into your Cimex and release a little water as you scrub the floor. The water extends the stripper that's on the floor. Make slow overlapping passes with the Cimex. Note: Avoid letting stripper get under boxes or sling onto walls or carpet.

5. Scrape the edges and corners, or detail these sections with a stripping pad or even a mop.

6. Immediately wet-vac each scrubbed section of the floor and rinse the floor with a mop and mop bucket. Note: As soon as you're done scrubbing the floor - wipe down your Cimex with a wet towel to get any stripper residue off the machine.

7. After the floor is completely dry apply 3-5 coats of a quality floor finish. We like to poke a small hole in the cap of the finish jug and squirt it directly onto the floor. Mop the finish down with a finish-mop making smooth even coats. Avoid laying much finish up to the walls or in the corners. Pioneer's Wonder-Glo is probably the simplest finish to get a BIG shine right off the mop without high-speed buffing. And it has excellent durability and ease of maintenance.


Important Note: It's imperative that no stripper solution gets onto the carpet. Be very careful! You've got problems if the stripping solution seeps from a room where there's tile into a carpeted section of the building. Furthermore, if you roll your machines across the carpet, or even walk from a room where there's stripper, you will leave tracks on the carpet. So be VERY CAREFUL to avoid getting any stripper onto the carpet. We usually put large pieces of cardboard on the carpet if we have to roll equipment across carpet from a stripped room.

Here are the products you'll need:
2 mop handles (one for each mop)
1 medium finish mop head
1 large looped rinse mop head
1 mop bucket and wringer
1 wet vac
* Formula-X Stripper
* WonderGlo Finish
* Lightning Strip Pads

* The bottom three items are available at Excellent Supply:
http://www.excellent-supply.com/store/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=28&pageStyle=H

When we started servicing VCT floors in the early 80's I wanted to find the BEST floor finish that money could buy. I tried many products but never found any product that outperformed Pioneer Eclipse products. So when we decided to start selling VCT products at Excellent Supply can you guess which brand we decided to go with? If you guessed Pioneer Eclipse - give yourself a gold star!

I hope this gives you some ideas for servicing VCT floors. VCT floor care can be profitable when it's provided along with carpet care.






Rick Gelinas

Thoughtful and concise as always. Thanks!

Thanks again.

Now that I have an idea of what to do, what should I charge for this service? Most of these, to start, are going to be exam rooms at medical offices that are around 100-150sqft each. Eventually, I could take on larger jobs. I have been asked about those type of floors for many years and now don't want to pass up money that I could be making.

For small rooms like that you'll need to get between .30-.50 per sq ft.





Rick Gelinas