Good help is hard to find

I was servicing my van this morning in preparation for tonight's cleaning tasks (2 buildings - 24,900 sqft) and my helper calls in sick. Then I called my back-up helper, who is always asking for more hours this time of year, and he tells me that it is going too be cold tonight so he doesn't want to work.

I even called my brother who has helped a few times and knows the buildings.....nope, not interested due to forecast.

I still have the second van working this job, so I am not solo, but pulling hoses on jobs like this are a huge time saver. The temperature right now is low 20's and it is expected to be down around zero tonight, so it will be a little uncomfortable, but we will be inside most of the time.

Sick, I understand. The other's...well, not so much. I pay my helpers twice what they get paid at their normal jobs, provide transportation, buy dinner, and supply a cooler with drinks and snacks....still, they balk at working due to temperature.

I guess work ethic just isn't developed any more. I realize that it is just a job to them and not their company, but for people constantly asking for more hours, they sure are picky at what they will work.

Time to put the superman cape on and get to work....just needed to complain to someone. At least we have forecasts of near 60 starting this weekend.

Worst part is that I have to do almost the same thing tomorrow night....hope they will work then.

That sucks the extra man could have saved you a couple of hours. I have a feeling finding good help is going to be your biggest challenge now that you're going to ramp your business up.

Is that 24,900 sf of carpet?? Or of the bldg?
How many man hours to complete that?

Square feet total for 2 buildings...all cgd.

I can normally hold 1200 - 1400 per hour myself....double with second van.

I'm expecting a long night.....

Wow We!!!.........25k of carpet is A TON to do yourself. I don't even think I would attempt it by myself, unless possibly it was encapping.......may the force be with you!

Yep, good reliable help is about impossible to find, and the reason I still usually work by myself, even tho not my preference really.

D@mn, that's a lot of carpets, we'll at least you'll be a LOT richer when you get the check

There was kryptonite in my cape.

It was horrible, I actually ran out of energy about 4 hours into it from moving 15 brass stanchions.  Luckily, I had a few sodas available to get back in the game, but it was rough going.

At about 11 pm, my supply hose froze up solid as did my line leading to the softener in the back of the van.  Luckily, I had a spare garden hose, but it froze up before my tank filled even half-way.  It was a scramble to clean before things froze up and started chucking ice into my pump.

I finished about 40 minutes ago, still have to unload the van and winterize since it is at zero degrees right now.  All I really want to do is take a few Tylenol and go to bed!

I don't think I will attempt that again without more help...until that invoice is paid, it is going to feel like a very bad decision.  

At least I don't have jobs scheduled until the evening and that one should only take one truck about 3 hours....I am still bringing help this time.

You did it!! Your one tough mofo. I bitch when I have to clean in 30 degrees

Hey Mil do you mind if I ask what your charging per sq ft for steam cleaning commercial?

Sucks to hear about that big of a job alone but man you have a lot of commercial work it seems.

Its hard to build up commercial work with being so busy from residential but would really like to get into it,    the idea of residual income from commercial accounts sounds really nice.  

do you offer a discount with a commitment?   like 15% off if they sign a bi annual?    


were these buildings too dirty to encap?    I used to do an entire hospital campus all cold water extraction lol,   couldnt even use pre spray and crappy portables only,   closed door policy.     Wish I knew about encap back then,  what a joke.    Was 5-7pm every night of the week,   contract was about $36,000 per year.    Not worth it without an employee doing it.

Right about now Rob has probably already wand stroked about 10k square feet. If I did that Im afraid I would never be able to stand up straight again



Rob when you get that check treat yourself to deep tissue massage

Day two is in the books and I still have a couple of hours before going to work the day job at the plant...it is nice when it works out for a change.

AC, I don't want to give out the actual number per sqft (lots of local eyes out there), but it comes out to about the same as a discounted residential per hour. So, take your normal residential rate and discount maybe 10-15% and you will be pretty close.

We don't get to encap any of these buildings for 2 reasons:

1. They have children sleeping on these floors at night for group "camp-outs" and I don't feel comfortable using encap for that. Just like most Health Depts will not allow it for daycare centers...health vs appearance.

2. These buildings get over 2 million people through them each year and the soil load is incredible. In just 2 weeks, it often looks like you were never there for some buildings.

You are so correct with that photo, Mo.

I suppose that normal res. rate depends on several different factors.........

Mine is normally .40 s.f., so even here -!0-15% would be really high for commercial, I would think?

I second Dave's opinion, it depends on the areas as well as how hungry you are and how tight the competition is, unless if you don't care and just target high end market. But with commercial especially with that much square footage ( over 20 k ) I think I'd be happy to give 40 % discount off my residential rate, even at that 40 % discount I may not win that bid in LA market, and I honestly don't care if they don't want to do it, I've said it in the past and I'm going to say it again, that long of hours logged on that TM, there's a whole lot that can go wrong !

The key isn't the sqft rate...I didn't explain that very well. The key is the productivity rate.

I don't get my .38 - .45 like residential (not even close), but I cover far more sqft on commercial in an hour than I can on residential. The result is about the same rate per hour over the length of the job.

Commercial is quick. No set-up issues, no moving furniture, no setting protectors, rarely any air movers, etc. The end result has been nearly the same rate per hour in my experience as I get on residential

My average house (3 bedroom, 2 story) takes me up to 3 hours with all the song-and-dance involved. I can cover close to 5k sqft of commercial over that same period on commercial solo.

Ya I think I could come in at .10 and still do okay.

Ive done bids on apartment complexes quite a few times and usually price those at .18c because of stairs and 4-5 stories, to me that can be pretty time consuming.

I guess its usually just the tread on the stairs, dont really have to do the facing on commercial stairs unless its dirty

In this area, if you can get .13 - .17, you are in the ball park. Even at .12 you should still come in around $130 per hour rate if you can maintain the pace.

Are you going to get rich? No, but I think that rate is favorable compared to residential. Just throw the radio headphones on, grab a beverage, and zen your way through a sea of carpet.

I really need better workers!

I cleaned the theater last night as scheduled....well, sort of as scheduled.

I attacked the seats with a couple of helpers to work assembly-line fashion while another cleaner was to come in once we got 1/2 way through to start on the carpets. I used to do both, but seats are such a killer that I was glad to sub out the carpets this time.

We started at 6 pm and by 9 pm we were half-way through the seats. The sub tells me that he wasn't coming, but would clean it the next night.

Not happy, but figure that would probably be okay. He would be able to clean easier with us out of the way anyway. So, I call and leave a message with the building manager of the change.

At 11 pm, I get a call back from the building manager.....says there might be an event scheduled in there this weekend and she would verify it and get back to me. I update the sub and ask him to change plans and come in to clean.

At midnight, the seats were done. All 500 chairs cleaned and a couple of sore backs and exhausted people are looking forward to going home....sub still hasn't arrived.

We get the vans loaded up and then we got the call.....event is scheduled in the morning. Six hour meeting with the board of directors in the theater!!!!

Had to unload van and clean 5,600 sqft of carpet solo. Finished at 4:30 am, home by daylight. I just woke up and the body is plenty sore.

Can't rely on anybody these days....need to find better cleaners.

" Had to unload van and clean 5,600 sqft of carpet solo. Finished at 4:30 am, home by daylight. I just woke up and the body is plenty sore.".
I think your making this up! I dont think you ever sleep!? JK

Matt; My carpet cleaner wrote:" Had to unload van and clean 5,600 sqft of carpet solo. Finished at 4:30 am, home by daylight. I just woke up and the body is plenty sore.".
I think your making this up! I dont think you ever sleep!?  JK

That's what Joe said too when I tried to order a new wand. He told me to call him back after a full night's sleep....what-ever that is these days.

Damm dude you have to be in shape to do that amazing

Zombies don't need rest

When I'm ready to expand, Nebraska would be number 1 in my list, I'm sure by subbing for you, I don't need to spend a dime in advertisements