[Steve Chapman]

Hi all,

We are doing a lot of carpet cleaning for the local council and are trying to tempt them into having maintenence cleans, as at the mo we tend to do carpets for them only when they are really bad and mostly only once a year.

has anyone got a good maintenence plan that they could share with us, just to give us a starting point?


cheer
steve

[Ken Wainwright]

A maintenance plan will vary from premise to premise, so I'll generalise for a fairly decent size office building with low profile nylon loop tiles or roll.

Every 3 months.
Entrance, reception, traffic lanes, rest areas plus any other high use areas such as around photo-copiers etc. All stairways and lifts.

Every 6 months
As per 3 month cycle plus all work stations within open plan offices, restaurant.

Every 12 months
All areas. This includes paper file storage rooms, individual "satelite" offices eg managers, directors etc. which tend to not have the same beverage spillage problems of the open plan offices, Board Room, Library etc.


Once you have a rough plan to work to as above, I would suggest you vivit the site when the carpets are at their dirtiest so that you can have a better idea of soiling and spillage problems. I would suggest that the first year is open to variation of schedule as the needs are gradually assessed and confirmed. Things such as you may be able to change to just 3 visits a year (at 4 months instead of 3) or reception may need to be every month etc. etc...... Client MUST have an effective barrier mat system installed which is capable of being cleaned, so Coir is a no-no.

In the office environment, IMO a plan like this must be LM.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Steve Chapman]

Thanks ken,

what percentage of discount would you normally make for this regular type of cleaning as obviously its not the same as doing a full carpet clean everytime?

I want to make them realize that its more cost effective having it maintained than restored each year :

cheers
steve

[Ken Wainwright]

There's no discount Steve.

It's a totally different ball game to one-off cleans so should have it's own pricing structure.

As a very rough guide, I'll give you an idea of my base charges, but bear in mind that they can vary considerably both up and down. They are costed for use with my LM system.

One off or initial clean: £3.00 M²
Maintenance visits: £1.50 M²

The best returns these charges have given me on all day jobs are £264 per hour for initial clean (@ £2.80M)  and £190ish for maintenance.  This is for me and my wife working together as a two person team. A typical average for us on maintenance is about £150ph.

I ALWAYS charge  the premium price for the first clean. It is always more difficult and intense than the maintenance cycle. This will also allow you to show a "discounted rate" for ongoing maintenance.  Also, it is not unknown for a custard to have the first clean done at maintenance rates and then cancel the programme

Safe and happy padding
Ken

[Steve Chapman]

Cheers Ken,

thats given me something to play with

regards
steve

[carpetguy]

As councils tend to operate a policy of " crisis management " I'm afraid " maintenance cleaning " is not really within their vocabulary!

[Steve Chapman]

think you probably right there, but will have a go at educating them

steve

[collins ReVive Stoneworks]

ken can you just clarify IMO & LM presume low moisture

could use an effective low moisture system
DRY FUsion
chemtex
bonnet
DRY

which with your experience would you opt for

stairs are a problem we have some flats for a management company we have truck mounts RX etc

but its the difficukty that you can not close these areas off from residents

any ideas?

[Ken Wainwright]

Collins 121063
Would I be right in presuming that you are 43years old

IMO = In My Opinion
LM = Low Moisture
VLM = Very Low Moisture (Dry Powder Extraction)

To be honest, I have found over the years that even generic LM cleaning with cotton, microfibre or Turan pads has been very successful in the environment I described in my first post above. I also feel that cleaning performance can be enhanced with some of the branded systems you have described.

As for cleaning stairs, there are a few machines available which can now be used for LM/padding. To be honest, for maintenance work,  I still use hand pads as supplied by Dry Fusion. They are quicker, easier and less tiring  than using a machine and results are everything I would want or expect. Your eyes and head says that they shouldn't work and in the early days, you still wouldn't believe what your eyes tell you. Last Friday, I cleaned by hand pad, not maintained, some beige patterned BW on stairs and the results were stunning.

It is even more essential with LM & VLM systems to carry out ALL procedures by the book.

I'm not happy on a public forum to recommend one brand above another as, IMO, they are all capable of delivering excellent results. With some systems, material costs, for example, can be significantly higher than the competition so this could be a factor in your choice. Some could offer benefits to your customer, eg the protector with Dry Fusion or the production rate in large open areas of Cimex/Encap. So, before you make a choice of kit, you must know exactly what you need and expect from it.

Other forum members here will have historical knowledge of what I use and of reasons/needs.

As for H&S in residential appartment and other buildings, post or attach to every door and stairway your standard safety advice/slippery floor signs plus your stand alone trip/slip signs in your working area and at intervals behind you if working upstairs. I print mine out in MS Word and always use yellow paper and attach with sticky back plastic ( I can't spell Scotch Tape or Sellotape  )

If you wanted to communicate on a personal basis, you can find my details in "Find A Carpet Cleaner" at
www.ncca.co.uk I trade in the Birmingham/West Midlands area.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken