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Money on the Floor
By Bill Griffin
March 02, 2012
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Are you leaving money on the floor with every carpet job you complete?
Unless you are offering cleaning services related to hard floor care, the answer is "yes," and you probably left more behind than you earned from the carpet job.
It''s hard to believe, but it''s true. Hard floor care, in most areas, starts at 45 cents per square foot and can go as high as $25 per square foot, if you are restoring granite.
When it comes to hard floor care, most carpet cleaners and janitorial service providers start by expanding into tile and grout cleaning and sealing. The average price in most areas for this type of work is around $1 to $1.50 per square foot.
I''m not suggesting you trade in your truckmount for a floor machine; my point is that you are leaving money and opportunity behind on most jobs, unless you are offering to clean and maintain the hard floors, showers and countertops that are found in every home and building that you enter.
Obvious add-on services
During the years, I''ve watched carpet cleaners try different ways to get customers to use their services more often and write a bigger check, and some have done so with great success.
Examples include add-on services such as upholstery and drapery cleaning, blind cleaning, power washing, carpet repair, color repair, ceiling tile cleaning and, of course, the lucrative disaster restoration segment.
Hard floor care fits right in with these services and is a great way to generate additional income and repeat business, not to mention that the billing rate and profit potential of hard floor care is much better than carpet cleaning.
The market: Facts and figures
Hard floor care is a big and growing market. Carpet sales during the last 10 years are down 20 percent or more, depending on whose numbers you believe.
In 1992, carpet accounted for roughly 70 percent of all floor-covering sales; in 2010, that number is 37 percent and still falling. Meanwhile, wood, stone, ceramic and laminates are growing or at least holding their own.
The only bright spot in the carpet market is area and woven rugs, which are still growing. The commercial market for carpet remains strong, with the greatest loses being in the residential side of the market, although the use of hard surface flooring is continuing to make inroads in the commercial market.
What''s the cause of the downturn in the use of carpet? Most experts agree that it''s a combination of factors that include: Out of control oil prices, a slowing economy, unstable interest rates, a decline in consumer confidence, indoor air, product and installation quality concerns, as well as changing consumer tastes related to interior design.
Some carpet industry optimists expect the trend to reverse itself over time, but are not saying when. Personally, I don''t see this happening any time in the next 20 or 30 years without a major change in technology, such as self-cleaning carpet, and that wouldn''t be good for carpet cleaners.
In an effort to make up for the loss in business and profits, carpet manufacturers are diversifying and expanding their offerings to produce, import and sell hard floor coverings such as wood, stone, ceramic and laminates. This is a market shift that cleaners need to be aware of and follow with service offerings to existing and potential customers.
Look at the numbers
As for market share of installed products, here are the 2010 numbers from Floor Covering Weekly, which publishes a statistical report in their July issue each year:
•Carpeting and rugs: 37 percent
•Ceramic tile: 24 percent
•Resilient (tile and sheet goods): 15 percent
•Wood: 12 percent
•Laminates: 6 percent
•Stone and marble: 6 percent.
As far as the potential size of the market for floor care in the United States, here are some numbers to consider, from U.S. census figures: •4.7 million commercial buildings in the U.S. with 67.3 billion square feet of space
•7.9 million businesses
•115 million housing units, 68 percent of which are owner occupied.
Industry trends
Major changes are taking place in the floor covering industry, and the pace is quickening. In the past, when it came to hard floors, we had two or three choices, with VCT, VAT and concrete being the most common.
Then we started to see resurgence in the installation of solid and laminated vinyl, rubber, linoleum and sheet goods. Now we have laminates, porcelain, ceramic and concrete of all types, along with a growing selection of stone and wood.
Exciting things are being done with floors — some are good and others not so good — for those who maintain these surfaces.
One trend is to combine different types of materials in the same floor. Imagine having to clean, maintain or restore an irregular shaped ceramic tile or stone floor with brass inlays, with the entire floor surrounded by wood and or carpet. No easy task, considering that one surface is impervious to water while the others are extremely sensitive to moisture and harsh chemicals, not to mention metal that may need polishing.
Let''s take a quick look at some of the more innovative changes we are seeing in floor covering surfaces today:
• Porcelain and ceramic tile
These surfaces are often made to look like stone or other materials and are being imported from around the world.
Their use is growing each year in both homes and businesses.
• Laminates
This is one of newer categories, although common in Europe for more than 20 years. These surfaces tend to be sensitive to moisture, which causes swelling along gaps between the planks.
Manufacturers consider them to be maintenance free; however, topical coatings and repairs are being made with secondary sourced products.
• Wood, bamboo and cork
Wood (hard, soft and exotics) and wood-like products (cork, bamboo, and palm) are extremely popular in middle to high end homes and some offices.
Factory pre-finished goods are overtaking the finished on site products.
• Stone
Granite, marble and slate, along with many other common and precious stones, are now being installed as floor covering materials in high-end homes and commercial buildings.
• Concrete and terrazzo
The most widely used floor covering in the world is being transformed from a gray slab into a modern up-beat floor covering through the use of hardeners, diamond polishing, dyes, etches, stamping, coatings and other innovative and decorative concrete techniques.
Terrazzo, both epoxy and cement-based, are seeing growing use in commercial buildings due to low maintenance costs.
• Linoleum
This is an old-style floor covering repackaged with environmental appeal. Modern day linoleum is considered a green and sustainable floor covering, and is seeing renewed use in schools, public buildings, offices and homes.
• Rubber and vinyl
We are seeing an increase in the use of both materials due to low maintenance costs, environmental preference, comfort under foot and a variety in design options that include standard and oversize tiles, as well as sheet goods and planks.
• Exotics
You name it and you''ll find in on the floor today. Exotics include such things as leather, hand-cut mosaics of stone or wood, precious gem stones and wood planks made from logs that were pulled from the Amazon River, recycled materials or reclaimed materials from barns or old buildings.
The future
New surfaces, chemicals, equipment and processes are showing up each day and more are on the horizon.
Some we can see, others we can''t yet imagine. One thing is for sure, change will take place and it will happen faster than anyone anticipates.
Keeping up-to-date with the changes that are impacting our lives, jobs and businesses is a part of every cleaning professional''s responsibility.
If you don''t stay in touch with what''s going on in your industry and that of your customers, pretty soon you will find yourself out of touch and no longer competitive in the marketplace. Education is your only defense.
As for new processes, we will see new coatings and equipment that will reduce the amount of work we have to do. Self-cleaning surfaces already exist and will be incorporated in floor coverings in the future.
Where possible and economically feasible, cleaning will be engineered or built into surfaces and buildings; in some areas, robotic cleaning equipment will handle the dirtiest jobs.
Nanotechnology and bio-engineering will have a major impact on the future of cleaning. Not to worry, your job and future are secure for today — as long as you stay current with changing trends, technology and customer expectations.
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Bill Griffin is an industry consultant and trainer, and the owner of Cleaning Consultant Services Inc. He is also president of ICAN, a non-profit association comprised of industry professionals providing free consultation services through Cleaning Management Institute (CMI). Comments and questions about bidding and estimating are encouraged: (206) 849-0179; WGriffin@CleaningConsultants.com.
