Everyone seems faster than me. A 4.9 40 makes you a back-up at best in this fast paced world. All my life, both before and after getting my college degree, I have been somewhat slow but committed to quality at most everything. That covers several varied lines of work (too often employment). Never had a boss complain about my work, only the time it takes. None the less what I have done has been quality in carpentry(staight and square), hospitality(good service + we appreciate your business), business systems programming(promoted to management by choice of my peers, zero politics-tried to turn it down), 3 years of long distance big truck driving(no accidents, no citations). And now, carpet cleaning.

I'm looking for 4-5 good jobs/wk to lead me into retirement.

My question - do you post vacuum with Punch or does that spoil the encap properties even though the product is made for extraction? Maybe I could save time if I didn't thoroughly vacuum before and after every cleaning.
Email: magic-carpet@cox.net

I don't know for sure about the Punch post vac'ing, so I'll leave that one. As far as time, some jobs take a lot longer than others. I posted months ago that I pulled out 36 pads out of two rooms (about 400 s.f.). I spent about 3 hours on that one. I've also had a couple very lightly soiled carpets where just a couple passes per area worked just great. These go much faster.

It sounds like you are using Punch. If so, remember that you don't have to remove all the dirt. The cleaner crystallizes and keeps working after you are gone. I don't know for sure, but with encap/padcap it is reasonably safe to move on from each area once you have the visual appearance you desire. You could pull more dirt out, but the vacuum would probably be getting most of that anyhow.

As far as your ethic, being thorough is better than being fast and not thorough. If your rates are higher and you are thorough, you can still be well rewarded. I know I'd be happy to spend 6+ hours on a 1000 s.f. job it it made $380.

Some people just naturally work more slowly than others. My sister is like that; she is hyper-thorough in everything she does. She says she gets anxieties about the quality of her work if she tries to work any faster. I guess each person has his or her own internal clock, or metronome. I try to work just fast enough to give the customer at least the results they expected; maybe a little more. They already like the fact that the carpets dry fast; that your are not blowing nasty chemicals all around their house; so if the results look anywhere from good to
very good, they should be very happy with the totality of the experience.

Mark, I appreciate your reply. I very much need to learn that good is ok. Good, done well, is most often well above average; it can put you on the good side of the 20/80. I can get a/r about being excellent some times. And Grant, I need to email you about my curiosity over your very good web site.

Can anyone answer the ? about post vacuuming and Realeasit Punch. I'm thinking it's not only an extra step but maybe even a totally wrong extra process. Does anyone use a carpet rake as the final step to achieve the finished look?

I would only vacuum, no matter which product I have used, if there is any kind of pad litter or other particles visible on the carpet, detracting from the appearance of your job. I have never understood the need in some people's minds to convert the swirls left by the OP machine into vacuum cleaner lines.
HWE people may do this, or rake the carpet, but it's because they're trying to speed up the drying time.
That's not a concern with OP.

my opinion is, post-vac is a necessary evil...again, just my opinion. the vibration of my Challenger machine lifts debris to the surface of the carpet. i can post pic's of my Dyson's dust cup after a post-vac...no CC'er would leave that on/in a carpet if they could see it.

there have been instances when i didn't post-vac. when i do a berber, i usually don't. should i? YES, everytime. but i don't always.

i guess that is why i also take longer than most everyone else who posts their cleaning times LOL.

thanx --- Derek

just my 2 cents --- Derek

Derek, does the damp carpet little clog up the Dyson?