A Tale of Two Buildings or Some People Never Learn.

I thought I'd share a war story with everyone. Over thirty years ago, two sister high rise condo's were built. The Pearl One and The Pearl Two. Different property managers and boards of directors. In 1984 when I was just getting into the business full time we cleaned The Pearl One with our brand new Hydra master Bob cat. They decided to go "in house" afterwards with predictable results. Over the years they went back and forth between in house and low bidder carpet cleaners. Results: Over the past thirty years they replaced the carpet three times. (Carpet seldom wears out, it ugly's out) Contrast that with The Pearl Two. We have been cleaning their carpet twice a year for so long I can't remember when we started. Results: Their carpet always looks good. They replaced the original carpet about six years ago. We began our cleaning program without missing a beat and their carpet still looks new. The only reason they replaced the original carpet was it actually wore out.
About three years ago I was approached by The Pearl One for an estimate. I was the only bidder that actually made a presentation at the board meeting. (I requested it). They liked what I had to say and scheduled a cleaning. The first cleaning was a thorough HWE. Six months later we did an encapsulation. During that cleaning the resident manager hung around watching and asking questions. Six months later when time came to clean we were informed they had purchased their own Cimex and no longer needed us. I'm waiting to see if they call me back or once again replace the carpet. Some people NEVER learn.

Great story, thanks for sharing!!

I'm curious, were you cleaning the units?........or buildings common areas? Hallways maybe?

Ahh man. That's why some guys rebrand their machines with their company name. They'll be back when the soid load becomes to heavy for encap. Might be a while though.

Mo wrote:Ahh man. That's why some guys rebrand their machines with their company name. They'll be back when the soid load becomes to heavy for encap. Might be a while though.

Or they'll buy a TM and really F it up!

Rainbow how do you clean those tall buildings with a TM. Those towers are tall. The look tall when you're far away from them driving on H1.

Davey Cracker wrote:

Mo wrote:Ahh man. That's why some guys rebrand their machines with their company name. They'll be back when the soid load becomes to heavy for encap. Might be a while though.

Or they'll buy a TM and really F it up!

Then they'll sell their TM pennies on the dollar fire the PM and hire Rainbow

We run the hoses up the outside stairwell when possible. Cleaned as high as 35 stories. Crank up the pressure a bit for the upper floors. Suction isn't a problem with a Hydra Master CDS and a four to door. We use a Cimex followed by a wand with a glide.

Rainbow Rider wrote:We run the hoses up the outside stairwell when possible. Cleaned as high as 35 stories. Crank up the pressure a bit for the upper floors. Suction isn't a problem with a Hydra Master CDS and a four to door. We use a Cimex followed by a wand with a glide.

That is some hose oh my goodness that is nuts. Man some of you guys have some HUGE accounts that is really crazy big

Wow, 35 story's!!

The highest I've gone is 17, and told myself never again after that. My max now is about 6.

Davey Cracker wrote:Wow, 35 story's!!

The highest I've gone is 17, and told myself never again after that.  My max now is about 6.

You probably went higher than that when you were in high school Dave


That is very interesting how cleaners get the job done in different areas.

Hey Dave, you guys in Cali would probably get sued 3 times at every cleaning from residents saying they tripped over your hoses I've never really used that toothless man emo

If I was cleaning a building like that I would be screwed because I'd probably forget something in the van and make that 35 floor trip a couple of times.

Rainbow, What has been your longest hose run?

35 stories ? How did you do it Lynn ? How long are the hoses ?
17 stories Dave ? How ?
I've done 6th floor but no more, 4th or more gets portable cleaning due to liability issues.

35 stories is what....350 feet plus the condo (30 ft?) and the length from the truck (25 ft?). So, you are looking at 405 feet of hose?

Vacuum should be okay and water pressure okay, but the weight would scare me in the event something drops from there.

I no longer have to go higher than 5 stories and that is enough for me. I tip my hat to you sir, that is earning your pay!

I say his longest hose run is 500 plus.

Longest hose run is around 450 feet. Not as big a problem as you might think. First move, lay out hoses in the top floor hallway. I have three pressure hoses left over from truck mounts I bought years ago. They're plastic with no SS reinforcement. Very light and strong. We then take suction and pressure hose up the elevator and drop the ends over the side of an outside stairwell rail if possible. If not we drop the ends down the stairwell between the railings. I use 50 sections with ball valves on each for pressure. We use plenty of bunggie cords on each. At the bottom we drop the final section of pressure down to the truck as we use a live pressure reel. Pretty simple and takes under an hour using a three man crew.After laying out the hoses I run the Cimex over the hallway. Then comes the extraction working backwards removing hose as you go.. The wand guy and helper keep going while I go to the next floor down. I then go back up and help transfer hoses. Tying off at the next floor down we start over. We can do about fifteen floors in an eight hour day. Feel like I've run a marathon at the end of the day. It takes two full days to finish a thirty story building. I leave the hoses tied up overnight but take the truck home.
The encapsulation cleaning is the easy part. Two guys. One uses a stiff broom on the edges and doorways then vacuums. The other guy (me) runs the Cimex. We can do about twenty-five to thirty floors a day.
I've added the stiff broom procedure to nearly every job now. It's great for breaking loose heavy dust along the walls and getting debris out where it can be vacuumed prior to extraction. You still have to use the suction hose along the walls but you get a better job than suction alone.
From time to time we will do an apartment cleaning if it can be coordinated. I wouldn't consider running all that hose just for one apartment. We have a few complexes with no elevators as high as three floors. I'll drop hoses and use the TM on them as I work alone and am not about to haul a portable up all those stairs.