[justin brown]

hi all,

i am doing my first commercial job of 15,000 sq ft of carpet. i have 2 machines (grace craftex and airflex) my idea to clean would be

1) vacuum
2) Prespray (Prochem Traffic Clean)  and agitate
3) Fib and Fab rinse

why i do this i am not sure, i suppose i just play it safe by rinsing with fab and fibre even though its a synthetic carpet. can anyone recommend a better way and other products i could use? the building consists of 30 rooms, 2 long corridors and is a light coloured carpet with foot traffic and a few coffee stains?

[richie]

Really depends on what type of carpet you are cleaning. If its low profile carpet tiles and not heavily soiled, id opt to use the bonnet system and Solutions Fusion Clean.  If it is heavily soiled then try using Prochem PowerBurst as your pre-spray.  Any other type of carpet.....if low to medium soil then pre-spray with Prochem Pure Clean agitate if required the rinse extract with just fresh plain water.  If the carpet is heavily soiled then pre-spray with Prochem PowerBurst and rinse extract with Fibre & Fabric Rinse.  Prochem Traffic Clean is a very good product but if i were you i would trial Prochems Pure Clean & PowerBurst.  Two fantastic chemicals and by using these you will be lowering your chemical costs.

Richie.

[justin brown]

thanks richie, will give them a go

[Carpet Dawg]

bring an ipod or other generic mp3 player and it will take longer than you anticipated..

[justin brown]

i will have 3 machines going and 4 people. if i dont get it done in a day (8 hours) then i have had a nightmare! ipod is a great shout

[JandS]

Bet it takes longer than 8 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

John

[Simon Gerrard]

A job like that with three machines and four men will take at the very least 17 hours to complete, that's if you stick to your guns and do it properly as you have said.
To do it any faster you will need an extra couple of machines and an extra couple of men.
Given the size of the job it seems optimistic to do it in a day, especially as this is your first commercial job and have no experience of having done similar jobs to draw on. Unless you are obliged to do the job in a day, why  not relieve the pressure on yourself and take two days. The most important thing of all is to do it right because commercial customers can be very fussy about the end result and if you rush it to get it done you may end up doing part or all of it again.
Sorry to be so negative - good luck.

Simon

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Only been going 6 months,but had a few com jobs....,
but even i know that you have no chance of doing it in 8 hours,
with 3 machines and 4 men.
If you have other jobs the next day(morning at least) ring them,
and change them.To do a proper job you will do 10,000 sqft tops in 8 hours.

[justin brown]

thanks all, i have the weekend to do it in but was hoping to do it in a day. looks like i was wrong! will take your advice and allow 2 days, or do a 16 odd hour shift!

[JandS]

I reckon on doing an average of 35sq m an hour on a commercial setting.
That's on my own and that's not stopping apart from a quick coffee or 2.
15000sq ft is 1393sq m I think.
At 35sq m an hour that's roughly 40 hours divided by 3 machines is
13 hours.
Your going to need breaks and such and all told I reckon Simon's not
far out with 17 hours.

John

[davep]

With a bonnet you should be doing 100sqm per hr on your own (depending on furniture)

[Len Gribble]

How you do it is up too you but quantify with customer 

[Simon Gerrard]

Justin,

If I were you I would do the following:
1. Do a sample area for the client and have them confirm the result is acceptable.
2. If your quote has been accepted then you need to agree terms of payment in advance.
3. With your inexperience in commercial jobs and the fact that you are going to need a lot of help to get this done even in two days, probably using people who have even less experience than yourself - why not consider subbing some of the job and bring in other carpet cleaners with the extra machines and skills so that you learn from them and make some money into the bargain.

Simon

[justin brown]

hi simon, thats really good advice, thank you.