Working with competitor, literally !

I was helping a friend of mine today because his van is still at the shop and we knocked 6 jobs out, it's funny to see different style of cleaning, he said he never knocked that many jobs before

It's nice to have a friend like you. I get a big kick out of seeing how other guys do stuff. Everything from job site organization to the actual wand stroke can be different and often goofy as heck.

Ken Raddon wrote:It's nice to have a friend like you.  I get a big kick out of seeing how other guys do stuff.  Everything from job site organization to the actual wand stroke can be different and often goofy as heck.

Lol, that's what I thought Ken, I think he overlapped too much but then again, I see it made a difference in cleaning results. He uses less pre spray and more detergents, I'm the opposite.

Some day, we should compile all those various wand strokes into a video....I have seen a very strange ones, myself included.

My guy still stands over the wand and scrubs while I take really long shuffle board strokes. We both get there, but in vastly different ways.

My wanding varies depending on what needs cleaned...I was thinking about this today....I had to over lap more than the norm and drag slow because it was helping ....it was a four pass drag too....then the dry....I was flushing urine out. Typically I do a two pass providing I feel they gave adequate steam and suction or I do another then dry.

I still see guys standing perpendicular to the wand like you would with a rotary or 2 handled machine

and then using a midget wand bending way over, reaching way out on their strokes... painful to just watch.


I pretty much dont even move my arms when I wand and I teach anyone to step in and step out with little to no shoulder movement. I had a bad motorcycle accident so really had to think hard about my mechanics, cant strain my shoulder or hips very much.

Hey AC, we used to call that the "Cha-Cha" method.

I am still close to that, but I will launch my wand at times when I am against the clock and stretch all the way out.....good so far with the shoulders.

In fact, the only pains I ever get are in my left knee after 6-8 hours of wanding. I really need to start changing sides and share the lunging with the other leg.

I have no pains from cleaning motions at all....all my pains are from other situations and believe it or not, I use cleaning to keep me limbered up.

AC...In the past I never wanted to hire a carpet cleaner who said he had experience....I can train a greenhorn but you almost never can change someone who is set in his WRONG ways! I had a guy who would never set the wand down correctly and I told him if it ever broke he was gone! It broke and he did the curly shuffle to get it fixed before I found out.....he finally set it down like you are supposed to. had another guy who would overlap differently than when I was around.....nipped that in the bud too. I dont get it....its harder to do it wrong.