Rant about our industry "experts".

I keep meeting cleaners who only prespray the traffic areas in a home or just use an extraction chemical and no prespray at all. The ones that I talk to seem to believe that there is no reason to spray under furniture or anywhere else except the traffic zones and will chew out a new tech for "wasting prespray" on the whole room.

This drives me crazy and it has been going on for years. It baffles me how people can call themselves cleaners and believe that only water is needed away from the traffic zones. We are not there to clean up dust, we are there to remove soil, oils, spills, pet urine, mice droppings / urine, insect droppings, etc.

People and animals leave a lot of body oils in a carpet and most pets find there way behind and under the sofa with their toys...slobber included. That prespray breaks that bond of oils to the fibers and acts as a lubricant for the wand...both are important.

Sure, their method would save a lot of money on chemicals and certainly save time as well, but you are not a very effective cleaner operating like that. To me, that is an example of focusing too much on the money and not enough on the service. Don't even get me started on those that believe you just need super hot water and nothing else, they are in a class all by themselves.

Okay rant over (for now)

Ha..ha....
I know a guy that's retired that has been doing this for 40 years that almost never use presprays, he swears by hot water + detergents, I will spray presprays lightly on "non traffic" areas or clean areas but I will still spray some, like you said it's easier to "work" the wand on those areas instead of cleaning dry carpets, besides how much is it going to cost them really ? A few cents ?? They are not saving that much $$ by not spraying those areas, they actually have to work harder.

I still end up dumping mixed spray every week, so why not use it where it can do some good? Never made sense to me.

Same thing in the window cleaning world. The argument over which soap is best....

Some are in the Dawn dish soap or ecover camp. Some are in the professional soap camp (me being one).

When you use dish soap, it leaves residue, which attracts dirt, which makes windows dirty quicker. Fine if you are cleaning the glass every week or every other. Not good on residential that you are cleaning up to 4 times a year.

That's OK though, it's something that adds to my value. I don't worry about the fact it costs me a few cents more to do the job, like some other guys. I make sure the client gets the best possible service for their money.

Consequently one of the complaints I here is that the last finished to quickly so it really doesn't pay

I never had much if any success getting a carpet cleaned well without a pre spray.  

Ive gotten excited about extraction solutions in the past but every single Ive put one to the test on medium/light soil the results have not impressed me.  

procyon does okay,   if its pretty light..    Ive used much harsher stronger ones before and none of them will wipe a decent traffic lane well.

I always end up back at like either just water with a very light good smelling deodorizer, or matrix all fiber rinse which is also light but fresh smelling. All fiber rinse wont wipe soil or oil well at all but it helps break down soaps and residue like resolve