When it rains, it really pours !

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting for a while, I've been extremely busy between work and some personal stuffs, I literally didn't even have time for myself.
I had lost another employee due to lack of hours, he resigned last month because he got a full time job offer.
This past week I had an extremely full schedule, 5 jobs / day and some of these jobs are good size jobs too, when I get home I only have time to shower, have dinner and go straight to bed cause I'm sore from pushing the wand and all the running around setting things up and wrapping up.
I also had another oil leak in my other machine, which is a scare after spending $ 700+ to repair the blower leak on the everest 650, it turned out it was the screw that shows the oil level was not tight all the way, tighten that out and seems okay so far. *knock on wood*
Yesterday a house cleaning company that always gives me carpet cleaning work called and he said are you interested in cleaning 2000+ homes ? I was like you're kidding me ? He said no, I'm not kidding you, apparently the gas leak in porter ranch area near LA last year resulted in so cal gas company to pay for all the clean up, I talked to the guy who manage all the clean up process, he said that the clean up shall begin this Monday and it has to be done on June 7th ! I was like no way I can get that done ! He said it's ok, I have other vendors do the clean up so it's not just me, he also said that if I have any friend interested in jumping in, feel free to pass his # along.
If any of you are interested in doing this, let me know, I will hook you up, it's not a detail cleaning though, more like a straight steam, quick in and out, not sure how it's going to go, I'll go through more detail tomorrow.

I'd very possibly be interested, DP.
Let me know the details tomorrow.

Vacant or furnished houses?

I have a couple days open this coming week, and nothing scheduled yet for the following week.

Many of the guys at fast food places are thrown around with low pay and crazy hours and days....snag one! find one and be selective....I promise these folks are all about it...I worked at one one time. think about it...if a guy needs work and is willing to do the fast food thing until something better comes along...he is willing to keep busy in tough times. Never had a bad one. Hope things get better for ya DP

Stay busy like that Dp and I might end up flying out there and working for you for awhile. How is the oatmeal out there?

Dave, the details so far is the homes are furnished, we don't move anything, go in, steam exposed areas, move on to the next home which should be very very close, I'm hoping they all will be in the same street or even next to each other, that way no reeling hoses necessary.
The pay is $ 150 for each home, like I said, no spotting, no pre spraying, heck they even bought a small steamer from HD and do a lot of those homes with those small tiny machines.
I'm guessing I can do each home in an hour and do 5 per day, an extra $ 750 / day is not bad I think ? You get paid on a weekly basis.
Let me know if that's something that interest you, I'll call you later today.
Rob, come on down, the oatmeal here is organic

I just might man....I am only half kidding.

As for those jobs, I would have just one reservation and that would be protecting your reputation. Sounds like a shoddy way to clean and it might generate some negative views on your reputation seeing you perform to that level of effort.

Then again, you drive unmarked vans (slicks) so maybe that wouldn't be a risk after-all. So,basically, you are doing the college turn-overs in effect just with houses.....could make some very fast money.

Well I can tell you that I will not leave business cards in those homes, lol.
The main objective is just sanitizing purposes due to gas leaks, my TM cleaning would be much better than those small steamer machines bought at HD.

That confuses me a little.....what do you mean gas leak? Natural gas...petroleum fuel.....?

I don't know how a natural gas would contaminate carpet and if it was fuel...forget about cleaning it, rip it out.

AND if it did contaminate, wouldn't the furniture and walls require cleaning as well? It just sounds strange to me.

I'm not sure about the contamination but this happens in California, so I think it's either so cal gas got a lawsuit or they want to avoid one.
They are also cleaning the homes throughly including walls and surfaces wipe down.
I'm guessing it's natural gas.

It isn't Halon release is it....as in fire suppression? That I can see as being a real problem that would need sanitizing, but natural gas shouldn't cause a problem that I can think of. It does have an offensive odor added to it, but I can't see that needing much to remove.

Which leads me back to my original concern. They are cleaning walls, surfaces, carpet, but NOT moving furniture?

That really throws a red flag out there for me. If I were in your shoes, I would ask for more details on why this cleaning is being done before I attached my name to the clean up process.

So, we are talking about oil residue from a methane leak?

http://mynewsla.com/government/2016/03/01/nightmare-never-ends-porter-ranch-family-finds-oily-residue-in-home-after-gas-leak/

Then the furniture MUST be moved and the carpet / walls cleaned around them as well. This sounds like a bad situation buddy. This company is cutting corners with what is being paid out as a haz-mat clean-up project and wants you to be part of the process.

I wonder how well the rest of the property will actually be cleaned? If any of these residents sue down the road for health issues, you do not want to stand in court and say that you just cleaned the open areas of carpet with a quick going over just to sanitize.

This company needs to provide full disclosure to you as to the details and sign a contract excluding you from any liability by listing the full details of that desired cleaning.

Personally, I don't like it. I would probably turn down this job just for the smell of it and lack of details being provided to you at this point.

Man, after reading that news Rob posted, I have to agree, big red flags!..........it sounds like a half assed clean up job, and not a good thing to get in the middle of.

Hopefully it just sounds this way due to limited info.

This is interesting.

The timing on your employee just sucks DP. I was planning a trip to LA June 5th through the 12thto visit the grand kids. Ill be in touch

I went to survey the area yesterday and when I got there to the one house, the home owner said that a judge had ordered so cal gas to stop cleaning due to the cleaning company didn't clean the way they're supposed to clean, I told the guy in charge and he didn't know anything about it, there was a supervisor in the field and she said she just met with so cal gas guy with a suit and tie in the field a few minutes earlier and he didn't say anything, so they keep cleaning, the first home I went to only have carpeted stairs, second address I went to don't have carpets, both home owners are not friendly at all which is understandable due to all the shit they've been through ( evacuation, dirty / dusty home, etc )
I talked to Dave at the end of the day and he doesn't want to get involved and I don't blame him, lol, I also had second thought after seeing the way they handle things at the field and all the lawsuits involved, Dave said that if the cleaning should've been stopped and we cleaned anyway, we may not get paid or even worse got dragged through legal system for months, which I don't have the time and energy to go through, so I also will pass on this, the money is great but not worth the risks.

Every time a cleaner turns down a job, an angel gets their wings.

I think you made the right call....look forward to reading about the cleaner who gets caught up in this mess.

seems like it could have been great but after Rob mentioned they arent cleaning under furniture it does seem like they are trying to get away with minimal expenses.

especially when its a contamination type situation

It happens all the time, I watched a cleaning company try and clean a posted Histoplasmosis area about 3 years ago. They didn't accept my bid and went with a small carpet cleaner instead. To many, a cleaner is a cleaner and use that term interchangeable for all types of surfaces.

These guys had 2 kids in Tyvek Suits, gloves, N95 masks, and even goggles there to wipe down the area. They even used Sporicidin, so I thought they must have at least done some research.

Then it happened. The Supervisor walked past the tape barrier and into the middle of the zone to give instructions on where to pay greater attention. He wore a pair of shorts, ball cap, tank top, and was smoking a cigar.....just brilliant.

I bet the quality of cleaning they ask for is NOT on paper....when they complain with a law suit they want to look like they sent in cleaning crews and fixed it.....if the quality was bad, go after the cleaner. They will say they wanted them professionally cleaned and "YOU" cut corners. They dont want furniture moved for it to be cheaper.....how is this really cleaning?


I bet the cleaner gets paid without a problem....they are trying to pass the buck. Either way, the style of cleaning does not fit your professionalism DP.....move one and you will be much better off. I would never work somewhere where I didn't feel like I could leave my card.

"I would never work somewhere where I didn't feel like I could leave my card." (Devon)

Amen!

There are a couple additional red flags that I didn't mentioned up there, on my way to the job sites, he asked me to steam clean the carpets with water only, no detergents or pre spray, I told him how's that cleaning anything ? Then he asked how much to clean upholstery, I told him that I can't give him a flat rate for upholstery nor I can clean them with water only, he asked why, I told him it's like putting water on dry sands, it will be muddy, that's the best explanation I can give him since he doesn't seems to care how the cleaning is done.
Oh well, I'm pretty sure I made the right call on this one.

Send him a reminder card when he ends up in jail.

I just can't believe someone dare to do these kinds of sheet in California in the middle of all the lawsuits involving millions of dollars, you're right, I will send him a reminder card then, lol.