Untold horrors

By Scott Warrington

October 13, 2010

Print / Reprints /
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin | Share More

PLEASE GO TO; http://www.janiservu.com/ for related articles!!

Advantage Cleaning Services Does Construction Clean-Up In Painted Post, N.Y. 14870!!!!

Every carpet cleaner who has been in business for more than a week has at least one story about an accident, miscue or disaster that could have been avoided.

Such incidents can be learning experiences — we all should learn from our mistakes.

But, it is better when we learn from other people''s mistakes, rather than from our own.

Here are 10 stories of catastrophes — both large and small — that could have been avoided and can be avoided if you take the lessons to heart.

1. Failure to properly maintain your equipment

When your equipment is down, you are not making money. Yet, one of the most preventable catastrophes is unexpected equipment failure.

While there are many instances that your equipment can fail, here are two examples.

Truckmount woes

A cleaner shopping for a truckmount felt that he could save money by installing his machine himself, rather than paying the local distributor/service center.

The distributor would not sell the machine without including installation, but the cleaner found someone on the Internet willing to sell and ship him a machine.

A week later, the distributor received a call from the cleaner, who was in a panic.

The cleaner had attempted to pull out of a gas station and into traffic quickly, which caused the unit to slide back, burst through the rear doors, and drop into the street.

The service center could do nothing to help; the cleaner paid a fine for the obstruction of traffic and had the unit towed up onto a flatbed truck to remove it from the street.

Obviously, preventing this problem would have been a professional installation by the distributor''s service center, which is authorized by the manufacturer and qualified to do the installation.

Black Death

"Black Death" refers to a condition when the elastomers (elastic polymers) lining the solution hoses break down due to temperature, age, exposure to strong chemicals or other reasons.

The result is nasty black gunk spraying from your cleaning wand or through a rupture in the hose.

Cleaning this from your customer''s carpet, furnishings and other surfaces it may have reached can be a real challenge.

The simplest solution to the Black Death problem is replacing your solution hoses on a regular basis.

How often depends upon the temperatures you clean with, choice of hose, the products in your line, water hardness and other variables.

As a rule-of-thumb, change the lead hose that connects to your wand once a year.

2. Failure to protect your client''s property

We should all know about using proper personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect our own health, but there is a second meaning for PPE: Property protection equipment.

Inexpensive tools, such as corner guards and door jamb savers, drop cloths and devices to prevent damage when moving furniture, can save big repair bills ranging from scratched walls and baseboards to gouges in flooring.

Plastic tabs or foam blocks that keep furniture legs off carpet that is damp with prespray or freshly cleaned will prevent furniture staining that may be difficult or impossible to correct.

Here is a story from a fellow cleaner that illustrates the point.

"I was in a client''s home cleaning the carpet in the living room, kitchen and hallway. She asked me if I would move her refrigerator and clean underneath it. This is something I rarely do but never had a problem with before so I said, ''sure.'' I didn''t realize there were some sharp edges protruding from underneath the refrigerator. As I moved it forward, it gouged several cuts into her kitchen carpet."

The prevention? Be careful when moving any appliance or heavy furniture.

Use sliders or other tools to avoid this type of incident.

Using furniture glides can also prevent permanently marking some types of carpet if you drag or push heavy furniture across them. Your customer will not be happy with you when that happens!

3. Safety: Yours and your client''s

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), slips and falls are the premier cause of accidents in the workplace. When carpet is being cleaned in a residence, it is also a workplace.

When feet or shoes are damp from a carpet that is being cleaned contact another floor surface, the friction may not be great enough to maintain traction.

The result is a slip, possibly a fall and injuries. This accident that could have been avoided illustrates the point.

"While cleaning in an apartment complex, I had just started applying prespray for a 50-something retired military guy. He decided to move some furniture out of the way. I was in a completely different room when he decided to do this. The next sound I heard was a huge crash coming from the dinning area. So I ran out to see and there he was with his back against the cabinet, large coffee table in both hands and sitting on the ground.

"As I went to assist him, the fear that ran through me was numbing. I really thought I killed someone. It was so surreal, there was an eerie desolation to the room, and even though he had the military channel on, I heard nothing. Complete silence. The few seconds I walked toward him seemed like hours were flashing by. Fortunately, there were no long-term injuries in this case, just some sore and stiff muscles."

Caution tape, barricades, safety cones or other warnings should keep those in the area aware of the potential problems.

When hoses cross sidewalks or other areas where people are walking, a hose bridge makes tripping less likely.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Although less common a hazard than slips and falls, carbon monoxide poisoning is still too frequent an occurrence.

This deadly threat may arise when a work vehicle is parked inside a garage or merely close to the entry of a home, an open window or the fresh air intake of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

Here is one owner''s report of a near tragedy that occurred following a safety meeting on the topic.

"It was late in the afternoon when I got a call from one of my technicians. The technician was trying to tell me something but I was having a real hard time understanding what he was saying. His voice was weak, slurred and slow. I could hear the truckmount running in the background. The loud noise of the machine also seemed to drown out the phone call. Then the technician just stopped talking.

"I knew that he was calling from a triplex that was only about five minutes from my office. I hurried over to the job and found my technician laying face-down on the living room floor holding the cell phone next to his ear. I dragged him out to the front lawn and called 911. He was still breathing but extremely flushed. He was transported to the hospital where he fortunately made a full recovery."

The problem was that he had parked the van in such a way that the exhaust of the slide-in truckmount was only a few feet from the front door and blowing directly into the apartment.

Employees don''t always pay attention or take safety meetings seriously.

Safety meetings should be held on a regular basis and made as interactive as possible to keep crews'' attention.

You can implement an additional step.

Carbon monoxide detectors costing only $20 to $30 can be carried into each job to sound a warning before technicians or building occupants are endangered.

4. When pets go wild

Cleaners with claw marks, scratches or bites from pets that "…never did that before!" are all too common.

While some cleaners report good success by carrying doggie treats in their pockets, perhaps a better way to prevent a confrontation with Fido or Fluffy is to remind the homeowner in advance to "Please, put pets up in a room that is not being cleaned" or some other place curious animals can be kept away from the activity.

This is not only for the benefit of the cleaning technician, but also for the welfare of the pet.

Perhaps even more annoying than a bite on the ankle is the pet that slips through the opening in the door where your hoses are routed.

Running down the streets in a quiet residential neighborhood yelling "Come here, boy" as the dog cuts across a neighbor''s yard may make you wish your company name was not so prominent on your recently wrapped van.

Fitting an insulated barrier in the door opening not only keeps escape-artist pets inside but helps hold cool or heated air inside as well.

Your customers will appreciate that.

5. Lack of necessary training

More than a few carpet cleaners have stated that they would never turn down a customer''s request to do any kind of cleaning.

"If it involves cleaning, I can figure it out," said one cleaner. He then proceeded to clean his first marble floor using something very mild that Heloise had said would make floors shine — white vinegar.

The cost to hire a stone care professional to polish out the etch marks was in the thousands of dollars.

It is fine that a technician can handle any cleaning request from his client, but he should do so with the proper training.

Fortunately, in our industry, that is widely available. There is classroom training through Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) approved schools, classes that focus on hands-on training and various digital video disk (DVD), compact disk (CD) and other formats that allow you to see jobs in progress and learn new fields of cleaning from the comfort of your home or office.

Check with your distributor. They are eager for you to learn how to perform new services.

6. Failure to pre-inspect

The rug was an Indo-Kirman with multiple colors.

When the rug was safely transported back to his shop, the cleaner did a quick check for colorfastness on a white towel using his preferred cleaning product, and then began the cleaning process.

When the cleaning had been completed and the rug was dried, it was observed that some portions of the rug had faded significantly.

When returning the rug to the owner, the technician explained that faded areas must have been where a dog had urinated on the rug.

The rug''s owner responded that this dog must have had remarkable aim to pee on only the blue portions of pattern before adding that he did not have any pets in the home!

This cleaner had tested a small area of the rug that did not include any of the blue yarns. These bled during the cleaning process.

A more thorough and less hurried examination of the rug would have revealed this problem and the cleaner could have adjusted his cleaning process accordingly.

Careful examination of an Oriental rug might reveal any number of potential "booby traps." The same goes for cleaning carpet or any other surface.

Commercial carpet responds very differently if the face yarns are nylon, olefin or wool. Don''t rush the job.

7. Marketing blunders

Marketing blunders in the carpet cleaning field may never be as infamous as the saga of "New Coke," but they can be a strong blow to the owner/operator family business.

Calamities in this field include a cleaner who had the wrong telephone number prominently displayed in his Yellow Page ad that he had proofed and signed off on, and go to either the extreme of continuing to spend money on ads that are not working, to the other extreme of not advertising at all.

The results of these two courses of action are either no money or no customers — which soon leads to no money.

Sadly, many owner/operators who eagerly entered the carpet cleaning business end up out of the business. Most of these entrepreneurs acquire the technical skills of cleaning but are not good judges of which type of advertising will attract business.

There is no lack of offers to help cleaners market their businesses.

The sticking points are:
1.Those offering to help may have no motive other than to sell their own product or service
2.When good counsel is offered, the business owner fails to implement it.

It probably is not possible to avoid all marketing missteps.

An often-repeated quote attributed to businessman John Wannamaker says: "I am sure than only half my advertising works. The problem is that I don''t know which half."

The best solution is to get professional guidance in your marketing but be cautious about selecting who will guide you.

Once you decide on a marketing plan, follow it consistently.

8. Lost income opportunities

Can you call it a "catastrophe" when the client is thrilled with your work?

The cleaner in this story was careful not to tie up too much working capital — in other words, his bank balance — in chemical inventory.

He purchased a new gallon of his favorite prespray when he got down to the last quart in the current gallon jug. He was just about at this point when a good client called.

The story goes like this: "Company was coming to visit. The living room and entryway need to be cleaned, today! The prespray performed perfectly. The homeowner was thrilled. In fact, he decided to have the rest of the 1,500-square-foot home cleaned as well. Unfortunately, the bottle of prespray was down to the last few drops and the distributor was 30 minutes away."

Not stocking sufficient product or not having the right products or equipment to handle a job can result in similar lost income opportunities.

Be sure you have what you need on the van. This could be a stocking issue or simply having a place for everything, making it easy for the operator to know if he needs to bring along another gallon of upholstery prespray or if the new upholstery tool is still in the client''s home before he drive to the next assignment.

As a bonus, most distributors offer discounts for volume purchases. So keeping a reasonable stock of products on hand not only helps you avoid lost income opportunities but can also save you money.

9. Not maintaining professionalism

This account involves a nice quarterly carpet cleaning account at a newspaper office.

The cleaning was done late at night after the office had shut down for the evening. After 2 a.m. the cleaning was completed and the three-man crew decided to order some pizza. Since the workday was over, they saw no problem with having a few beers with their pizza. This resulted in some "horseplay." The major problem was that they were enjoying their pizza and beer while still in the office. A police officer making his rounds noticed the activity inside and called the owner. The account was lost not for price or poor cleaning results, but failure to act professionally.

Besides acting professionally, how you present yourself can affect the future of your company.

This story demonstrates this fact.

The interior of the cleaning van was so cluttered that the technician was having a hard time finding what he needed. Before he took the time to rearrange and clean things, his truck caught fire. Likely, solvent-soaked cloths or old paperwork too close to the hot engine of his truckmount was responsible. To the cleaner, this was a catastrophe.

Besides the physical damage, this cleaner may have missed the ongoing damage that was being done. The condition of your equipment and vehicles are shouting out a clear message about the quality of your business.

If the message is not consistent with clean and professional, it is hurting your business.

Both the appearance of your vehicle and the conduct of your staff, whether on the jobsite, driving a company vehicle or taking a lunch break while wearing the company uniform, are projecting an image that greatly affects the market''s perception of your business.

10. Common sense not in evidence

This last category is the potpourri or "catch-all" for several stories I have heard that could have been prevented with a little forethought.

Here is an example from a well-known name in our industry. Although he might like a bit of publicity for himself and the company he works for, I won''t mention names and embarrass him.

"It turns out that even pre-inspection can be dangerous. Older, oxidized and sun-rotted olefin does not deal well with the intense heat from an inspection light. The entire back of the sofa disappeared in less than one second!"

Another cleaner ran a kerosene-fired truckmount. When he purchased five gallons of kerosene, he noticed it did not smell right but went on ahead and used it. For nearly a month he fought problems with his heat system and replaced many expensive parts. Turns out that what he was using was paint thinner instead of kerosene.

A little sleuthing would have prevented this problem.

Then there was the owner/operator that had a regular, valuable client that always paid top dollar. One summer day while halfway through the $500 cleaning job, the cleaner noticed that his customer was pregnant. The cleaner commented, "How nice that you are expecting a baby!" Turns out the customer was not pregnant and responded "This is just a baggy shirt!"

The lesson? Keep it professional and watch what you say at all times.

Avoid catastrophe

Some of these stories may seem humorous.

I am sure that none of the cleaners involved thought them humorous at the time they occurred, though.

Hopefully, both the humor and tragedy in these dramas will serve to help you recall the lessons being taught.

Many serious problems we encounter when cleaning can be prevented.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scott Warrington has more than 40 years of experience in the carpet cleaning industry and related fields. He serves as the technical support specialist for Bridgepoint Systems and Interlink Supply. He can be contacted at scottw@bridgepoint.com.