Posted by Ken Wainwright
on 3/29/2012, 11:29 am, in reply to "50,000 sq ft"
2.27.127.226
Hi David
We all have different approaches to our business, so I will state MY view. It's not necessarily wrong nor right, but it is my view.
I am the professional. It is my good name that is on the line. So for someone, presumably unqualified, to tell me how to clean a carpet really gets my goat. You wouldn't tell a mechanic which wrench to use so we should be treated with similar respect. So....
I would inspect the carpet AND the facility. How have the carpets been cleaned in the past? What's the installation like? Tiles? Roll carpet?Broadloom? Low profile? et al. Level of soiling? Stains?
You say there's no furniture to move, so I presume the building is occupied and furnished. There will be computors, printers, faxes, photo copiers etc. etc. What's access like? Hours of working? etc.
Is the building well ventilated? Air conditioned? Is the weather humid in June? Will it be occupied whilst you are working?
My position is this. Industry Best Practice is that in modern electronic offices, prolonged levels of high humidity is a no-no for these machines. Low profile carpets can be an S.O.B. to dry and wick-back is a serious consideration. The high impact of HWE rinses can penetrate between tiles and not be extracted effectively. This water has also been known to migrate into sub floor channeling used for computer, telecommunications and mains power cabling. This is less of an issue if the installation is 100% perfect, but to be honest, it never is.
Add to this the logistics nightmare of cleaning this amount of carpet with a porty or truckmount and you will qualify for your first nervous breakdown (you will have earnt it
)
So, as the professional I would clean the carpets in the best way that I see to be most appropriate. Almost certainly, this will be with a low moisture system, be it encap, bonnet or, in my case, thermal pad. I would be working to having the carpet dry in 30 to 60 minutes.
It may also be worthwhile checking your liability insurance. If there is a claim against you for physical computer damage, could they, the insurers, dispute your claim if they deem that you used an inappropriate system?
As for costing, I always prefer the sqM formula, but a tried and tested way is to cost the labour by the day,including yourself, add chemicals, travelling, credit and other known costs, then minimum double that figure or preferably treble/quad to give the business a profit too.
If you are successful with this job, regardless of the system used, I like to allow enough room in the quote to be able to follow up with a scheduled maintenance plan at a much lower price once the initial restoration clean has been completed. NEVER be persuaded to complete the restoration clean at the maintenance price on the promise that they will take the programme. They rarely do. They just get you to work your nuts off for next to nothing
Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken
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