We received info regarding a IICRC Approved (CCMT) Commercial Carpet Maintenance Technician Course near us.

Is this something good to have under your belt? ( Comes with a IICRC Cert) Or would it be considered a waste since Rick trains us so well?

This is the course:
http://www.midwestcleaningtech.com/Class/CCMT_2011_02.asp


Thanks for your thoughts!

Rich McDonald
BMS Cleaning

I'll jump on out here with my two cents:

IICRC classes are great for educational benefits and I always highly recommend the education.

As for business growth, I don't believe holding current certification is a necessity. Keep in mind, the education is important both for application and for talking with prospects/clients - having knowledge can and will set you apart. But I held current certs for several years and was never once asked (for residential or commercial) if I was certified or to produce my card and I no longer renew my certs.

But - here's the other side: Suppose there is a new building in your area and you want to put it on a maintenance program. This is where having current certification and even CRI approval would come in handy, because you then are the authorized cleaner who can maintain their carpet without voiding their warranty. But this point has to be sold - don't expect them to just know it because, really, most of them don't care much about it until and unless you really educate them about it.

Check into the specifics of the above example, though, because I really don't keep up with carpet warranty specs anymore. It may be that now all you need is CRI approval to be within guidelines (assuming you actually utilize the chems/equipment specified) and IICRC certs are not required. I honestly don't know the current situation. Two years ago I had my certs and Seal of Approval status from the CRI - but found that even with the logos, the marketing and educating clients, I had just as high a closing rate without them and saved a lot of breath.

So... all of that to say this: In my opinion, it's great to have the education, but certification isn't really necessary. You can make the certification work for you (and you do HAVE to MAKE it work), but it's been my experience that the added time and effort isn't really cost-effective when you add up the cost of the class & test, the time and expense of attending the course and the time and expense of selling people (who often couldn't care less) on the fact that you put all of the time and expense into getting your certification.

Hope this short reply helps.

David Edwards

Joey Pickett is a fantastic instructor and you would certainly benefit from his many years in the industry. He is very familiar with low moisture and commercial cleaning. I'd be very interested in taking the course with Joey as the instructor.

I took the class years ago but my instructor was not familiar at all with the Cimex or low moisture and felt the class could have been much better had he been more familiar with the different systems.

That helps. Thank you both very much for this information!!


Rich