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First Day with the Challenger

Well the Challenger arrived yesterday and I was able to take it to a 1000 sf. job today. 4 of the 5 areas turned out to be very trashed, so it was a good example of what a Challenger can bring to carpet cleaning. It still took me close to 4 hours, including vacuuming, post vac'ing, etc, but there was gum, goo, juice stains, and all kinds of stuff like that to get out. As I get more experience I know that would be down to about 3 hours for this job. The one "cleaner" room in the house only took 10 mins.

Out of my 20 pads, 19 were used, and all were quite dirty on both sides. Good thing I didn't have 2 jobs scheduled today, time to order more. In the living room and dining room I just kept putting on more pads and they kept getting dark brown...

That is one smooth machine. Very well made, my compliments to the engineer/s.

I used Naturell in half the home, and Hydroxi Pro Carpet Cleaning Crystal in the other half. Both worked roughly equally well. I mixed the Naturell at 7 oz/gal instead of the suggested 5 as the carpet was rather trashed.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

You sound like the rookie pitcher just called up from the minors, and being put in to start against the Yankees (or comparable team). AND, you got the win.
Everyone in this business gets a job with severe conditions like this every now & then. It's best to get one early on; after that, everything seems easy by comparison. I don't know what you are charging per sq. ft. (maybe you charge by the room?). I charge .38/s.f. So even in slow conditions like these, I would be grossing approximately $100 per hour. (1000 sq. ft. x .38 =$380. $380 divided by 4 hours = $95 per hour. So even if your rate is only, say, two-thirds of my rate, you've still taken in $65 per hour or so on a very difficult job. Assuming you are able to get it down to 3 hours, then you're grossing $100 or well above, depending upon your rate. In my Training Manual, I suggest that, upon encountering soiling conditions well above the norm, the customer should be informed that you intend to charge a surcharge above your standard rate.
On the one hand, you're going to be working longer & harder than you do on 99 out of 100 other jobs. On the other, you give the customer the right to say, "No, I won't pay a surcharge. I'll only pay the standard rate." Then the ball is in your court as to whether you want to proceed or not. If you were to try and charge extra AFTER the job was finished, you would in all likelihood be viewed by the customer as practicing what the law calls "bait & switch" tactics. This you definitely DON'T want to be guilty of.

The other approach you can choose to take, upon being presented with a really dirty job, is just -- in your mind -- to "average it out" with all of the other jobs you are going to be doing over the course of a year. In other words, think to yourself: "Oh, well, there are also many pretty easy jobs. I don't discount my prices on these, so do I really want to impose a surcharge when it goes the other way on me?"

In this way, you'll be developing kind of a policy: either you'll always impose a surcharge under abnormal conditions, or you won't.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

I forgot to mention that as I was finishing the owner's property manager came in to do her inspection (of the home, not the carpet). She had apparently seen the carpet before it was cleaned and had recommended that they replace it. She said "holy cow, I have to tell you this is really impressive". She then asked me for a stack of my cards and said I'd be hearing from her. So there was a benefit to taking that long to complete that job!

As per my rates, they are way too low, but there is a lot of competition around here. I'm going to raise my rates on July 1st about 15% and go from there.

How many pads do you guys own/keep in your truck when you go to a job? And where do you order them from?

Re: First Day with the Challenger

PS: Has anyone tried microfiber bonnets? They claim to be the best on absorbtion, and durability, but they cost like $35 each where I've seen them. Maybe I should learn to sew.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

Can't help you re. microfiber bonnets. I only used one once, and it didn't appear to become nearly as soiled as the cotton ones. That may possibly be due to their greater thickness, and the fact that technically, microfibers don't absorb liquid in the same manner as cotton fibers. Microfiber pads are made of a synthetic material, whose fibers are split into many little nooks & crannies. Maybe thhese tend to hide the soil somehow.
Where to buy replacement cotton pads:
Order from Challenger: contact@challengerop.com, or
buy some from Argo & Co.: www.argoco.com. Single ply or 2-ply. I buy the 17" 2-ply ones for $7.50 each.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

We have found the micro pads work better with encapsualtion cleaners, they do not have the absorbent abitlities that cotton does, but they tend to scrub better than cotton which is what encap juice needs. For larger areas encap cleaning with micro pads and your challenger is faster than using cotton pads and you don't have to change the pads as often. You will still pick up a lot of the dirt and the encap will do the rest. I know Mark has info on encap and you can find more info on encap cleaning and supplies for the Challenger including an encap brush attachment for the Challenger at www.smart-cleaning-solutions.com For homes we always use cotton pads evan if we are encapping. Jim

Re: First Day with the Challenger

I did two berber jobs this week. Much tougher on the hands and arms, now matter what glider. Not too bad really, just more vibration than the normal (of none). I used Outsolv on both of these. On the first all the stains and spots came out without any special work on my hands and knees (a first for me) which made me smile big as my customers jaw dropped. The second job took more work to get out all the dirt/stains but turned out well also.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

On the tougher jobs always allow more dwell time. Also you might want to use the green-stripe scrubber pad first; then allow dwell time; then finish with cotton pads.

Re: First Day with the Challenger

Yeah, I think the only way I had such a good outcome in the second house was b/c I allowed a lot of dwell time and first scrubbed the whole room with the green brush bonnet. As a side note, that green brush sure is hard to get off the drive plate. That thing sticks to velcro like glue.