soils n oils + CRB

I’m curious…
We’ve got a few dozen mainly residential RCs using S/O by the drum + crb prespray scrubbing.
Several are from these boards: Gerry the real deal Miller, dreadnaught, Dobs, ACPower, Bill & Deb, Fuzzsucker, Francisco, Jonathon,  Ryan come to mind.
I know you’ve all gotta be getting better results opposed to your competitors who don’t scrub, and you’re all healthier for going the DfE. But I’m curious how it’s effecting your bottomline.

Is it slowing you down, the extra scrubbing?  Is it costing you more in chemical or hurting your efficiency?  All things considered, free shipping, unlimited supply at your fingertips, extra work, attrition or lack of it, whatever... is about the same as before, better or worse than before you switched to DfE + scrubbing resi?

I dont pre scrub. I can answer a few parts of this thread though.

Yes, DfE is providing a healthier environment for us and our clients. No more coughing!

Bottom Line:

I am saving at least $18 per gallon when we buy bulk soils and oils as compared to other products on the market.

Soils N Oils bulk $20.00 a gallon
Other Product Lines avg. $38 a gallon.

On top of cost per gallon we save an enormous amount in shipping cost per year with free shipping of the 55 gallon drum of Soils n Oils.

At an avg cost of $28 a case products, and ordering what seemed to be every month that got old fast.

Not having to order supply on a regular basses has help me focus on more important items like operations.

I am too cheap to buy the crb at this point. I know it works, I know it would improve cleaning, I know it will not take much more on production time, not to mention its versatility, (pre scrub, encap, tile and grout scrub, ect.) but I just cant pop on it at this time.

Bottom line affect is I saved lots of money with the above benefits when we started buying 55 gallon Soils n Oils. I bought two last years.

I have a CRB and used it a couple dozen times and now I never do. If I am going to scrub it's going to be with a 175 and fiber plus pads.

A word about scrubbing and Soils and Oils too...

I have found that some presprays scrub better. I mean that there's a noticable difference when you prescrub S/O and not so much with some other presprays.

I know you could nuke your prespray and get it just as clean as you can by using something safer and prescrubing but did you know that the time you spend prescrubbing can be deducted from your time using the wand. At almost a one to one ratio. Meaning if you spend 15 minutes prescrubbing you're going to be spending almost exactly 15 minutes less extracting.

Here's a hint: If you mix S/O one part water to three parts S/O you get one of the best spotters you'll find anywhere. Side note: I mix up a gallon of this super spotter at a time and pour it into a quart bottle in carry in my pouch. Now if I need to nuke that, I pour an ounce of Energy by CTI into the quart bottle (I call this liquid Fels) and then I go back to regular super spotter strength on the next job. I tried Citrus boosters and they all ruin the sprayer in less than a day. I tried oxy boosters and they didn't give me the extra kick Energy does.

So carry this bottle on you somehow and while you're scrubbing in your prespray and you come across a nasty area/spot hit it with this super spotter and scrub it a bit more.

I know this isn't quite what you asked Joe, but I am snowed in here and find myself rambling on about this subject.

did you know that the time you spend prescrubbing can be deducted from your time using the wand. At almost a one to one ratio. Meaning if you spend 15 minutes prescrubbing you're going to be spending almost exactly 15 minutes less extracting

Never looked at it that way, very interesting. I am also surprised you don't use the crb as much as the 175...is that just due to comfort or does it really do a better job of scrubbing for your?

Ken, I think that is exactly what Joe was curious about. Yes that makes since about the extra time working the wand or spotters in to get the result with out the pre scrub. That is the answer that I have yet to experience because I have yet to prescrub anything as far as carpet. Sometimes it's just a hard sell. And at $1,000 + that's a reall hard sell for me. Maybe I'll look into a 15" 175. (Used of course). Thanks good info there Ken. I have also seen the supper spotter at work too. Good stuff.

Ken that 1 to 1 time spent concept is probably true, at least in traffic areas.

I always put down 3oz/gal S/O everywhere I was gonna extract then get out the Grandi Groomer and scrub the traffic areas, then re-mist the traffic again with another 3oz/gal.
So the regular soil got 3oz/gal and no scrub.
And the traffic got 6oz/gal total, what I've explained a thousand times as "spray-scrub-spray."
Did it for years this way with Grease Eraser. Switched to S/O and didn't notice any difference so never went back to GE.
CRB came along and that just took all the labor out of it. I used to go through a Grandi Groomer every month as the tines got weak.

Your 3:1 Super Spotter sounds super strong.  Like the Energy idea. Is it better than just adding liquid peroxide?
The spotter I teach guys is more like 1:3   ...     1 part S/O and 3 parts water.  works good.
Cuts sludge as good as any other NVDS solvent I've used. No smell and no wrinkles.

The new way around my shop for cleaning parts, I still use S/O 1:3 except with a long chain solvent added.  
I call it SOS, short for Soils and Oils with Solvent added.
That's what we'll call it unless somebody comes up with a better name.  
It works great on grease & grime, using a simple spray & wipe with a shop rag. No dry skin. No smell.
I'm selling it now as a DfE Safe Hood Cleaner, T&G cleaner too I guess (waiting for your input).  Only a couple of you have even tried it.

I think it's about your routine I have my vacuum cleaner and rx 20 at the back next to the door
the rx is lighter than a 175 with pad driver my to go tool of choice.

I am not going to mess around if it's filthy it's getting a scrub and believe it or not you are going to use LESS chemicals in the long run.

I takes just as long to mess with a high traffic area with a wand but less work to pre scrub it then wand it.

Terry what are you saying your pre scribing with when needed? Your post is a little light on description.

yep I know pretty much what I am going to do after inspecting the job.

I am not going to lament should I wand this or not.

hence how my tools are organised in the truck.

We use S/O almost with every job- carpet, upholstery as well as tile. We usr crb on every job to pre-scrub , We feel that the time we use the crb saves us on the wand as well. Joe has saved us a ton in chemical cost-- we buy the drum, use 3oz per gallon, use periixide when needed. On the last stock up day we purchased only avenge spotter from Interlink, we give as well sell the spotter to our clients. I once was a Prochem ultra pac user-- about 22 years worth, We normally used 36 gallons per year, I bought the drum in june of 2012, still have the same drum. It has definitely saved us money. With the use of s/o we hardly ever have to use outside spotters- as well thanks to the crb action. We have been able to turn the pressure down, we clean most res at apprx 325- 340 psi

This is really an interesting topic. I do use Energy on commercial jobs to spike the Extreme Clean and it does make a big difference if the heat is high enough. Never thought of spiking S/O with it nor in a spotting role.

My reservation would be the odor. I find that Energy has a very strong odor and really would like to avoid it when possible. Spill some in your van and you will not be happy for a long time either. Maybe in small doses like in a spotter it might not be too bad.

I really needed to start thinking hard about the CRB. I have other uses for it that I could justify the purchase.

Ryan S wrote:I really needed to start thinking hard about the CRB. I have other uses for it that I could justify the purchase.

Been doing the same thinking...especially for pet hair removal which is on encountered on most jobs.

I don't hate the smell of Energy as much as some guys do.

Joe, I thought you told me 3to1 and this whole time it should be 1to3? Maybe I'll switch the ratio and see if it still works. It would certainly save some money on product. And Yes, I like the boost of Energy better than the boost of Oxy type boosters except on the lightest of carpets i.e. light grey or nearly white and sometimes light blue.

And another thing... in fact I am going to start a separate thread about the 175 machine.

milspec6 wrote:

Ryan S wrote:I really needed to start thinking hard about the CRB. I have other uses for it that I could justify the purchase.

Been doing the same thinking...especially for pet hair removal which is on encountered on most jobs.

I'm always amazed by how much hair it will dig up even after a really good pre-vacuuming!

There's so many uses for it, it's probably the most versatile tool I have.

Yup^

I like the energy idea. I do not prescrub but I don't wand either. We use the Rotovac 360i on every job. We also use soils and oils on every carpet we clean. Although we do not order by the drum as of yet and we do boost s/o with dissolve in many instances and usually also boost with h202. I find that 80%- 90% of customers state that they have never had a cleaner get their carpet as clean as we do. That is huge and means tons of repeat happy customers all thanks to Joe and his wonderful product.

The best part about pre-scrubbing is it's free. You are reducing the time it takes to wand and wanding costs you money. It costs money to run the TM and it costs nothing to run the 175. So when you prescrub you are actually saving 5 bucks or more on the average job.

I have always done pre-scrubbing in some form. The CRB to me does a better job on cut pile. Customers do say the last guy never did that! Like Dan said, it brings repeat happy customers!

unless its really dirty we pre scrub with a push broom, works really good and a lot faster job to job then pulling out a crb or a pad machine

especially if its just a small traffic area outside the kitchen or something, if its really dirty then the crb will save you time and energy

Ken Raddon wrote:The best part about pre-scrubbing is it's free.  You are reducing the time it takes to wand and wanding costs you money.  It costs money to run the TM and it costs nothing to run the 175.  So when you prescrub you are actually saving 5 bucks or more on the average job.

More points of Power from Ken.

I know you’ve all gotta be getting better results opposed to your competitors who don’t scrub,
I always look for better ways to deliver better clean and in here maybe no more than 1 every 50 cleaners want to do a good job and take the time to clean.

and you’re all healthier for going the DfE. But I’m curious how it’s effecting your bottomline.

Is it slowing you down, the extra scrubbing?
No because the rinsing is faster and carpet dry quicker.  

Is it costing you more in chemical or hurting your efficiency?
Costing more NO, hurting efficiency I don't thing so

 All things considered, free shipping, unlimited supply at your fingertips, extra work, attrition or lack of it, whatever... is about the same as before, better or worse than before you switched to DfE + scrubbing resi?
Scrubbing make a big difference and the look after is worth it.

I normally only schedule 3 jobs a day in morning, afternoon, and late afternoon and I don't fill my schedule every day so if  the job needs a precrub it gets a pre-scrub.

I use my little Drimatic no its not a full blown CRB but it does the job and it light. I'm doing a job tomorrow with a lot of dog hair. Who knows I may also pull out my OP machine don't underestimate the ability of an OP machine to dig up hair and It may even do a better job at pre scrubbing than a CRB. I'll do whatever it takes to get the job done cuz I'm not running to the next job

Mo wrote:I normally only schedule 3 jobs a day in morning, afternoon, and late afternoon and I don't fill my schedule every day so if  the job needs a precrub it gets a pre-scrub.

I use my little Drimatic no its not a full blown CRB but it does the job and it light. I'm doing a job tomorrow with a lot of dog hair. Who knows I may also pull out my OP machine don't underestimate the ability of an OP machine to dig up hair and It may even do a better job at pre scrubbing than a CRB. I'll do whatever it takes to get the job done cuz I'm not running to the next job

Amen to that, I never over-book my days. In fact, I am pretty darn slow and schedule a morning job and an afternoon job for most days. It allows me plenty of time in between to get cleaned up and organized so that the next customer gets me at my best. Quality over quantity in my book is what builds your reputation...of course, it doesn't pay the bills unless you charge well for that best effort.   

Besides, most customers are curious and watch how you clean and although they may not understand how to clean a carpet, they do understand how to wash clothing or even just there hands. In all cases, even lightly soiled, you would agitate your laundry or your hands to get things clean....I think that customer knows that too. Scrubbing just looks professional, whether needed every time or not.

The CRB does take the work out of it, as i age the easy way is the best way. I used a RX-20 for 20 years packing it up and down stairs,then got a 360 I and wow half the weight. I did a job today with light urine spots from a small dog,treated and scrubbed the whole place,rinsed with 360 I and all looks great. Soils and oils for odors works great,wish i had found it 20 years ago. Thanks Joe!