As someone who's seen, smelled, and often tried just about every chemical out there, let me be blunt:
1. Chemistry is chemistry. It doesn't change, you can't fake it, and if you don't follow the rules stuff goes sideways. The basics we were taught in school still apply today. Same goes for thermodynamics and physics.
2. No matter what jazzy name you give a product, or what awesome pictures you put on the label, what's INSIDE the bottle matters most. And, tangentially, how MUCH of what you put in there is active ingredient versus fillers.
3. Soils respond to cleaning agents based on - you guessed it - CHEMISTRY. No matter how hard we hope and wish and dream, there will never ever EVER be a "sauce" that gets all of every soil out of every kind of carpet. Ain't happening. Sorry.
4. Different regions have different water hardness, different soil types, different atmospheric conditions. So a "sauce" that works brilliantly in one part of the country may very well under-perform in another. You can't take the experience of a guy in Arizona and expect to recreate it in New Orleans or Michigan.
5. Just like you guys are doing this to make money, so is EVERY company, large or small, that produces or distributes the chemicals and equipment you use (and this goes for me too, I'm not exempt). Our success depends on YOUR success, so obviously it is in our best interest to
listen to your needs and
serve them as best we can. If I get a hundred guys screaming for a less expensive alternative to d-limonene, then guess what I'm looking into? For every fellow who insists on Parker fittings, I've got a hundred who want the Brecos because they're less expensive. So which do you think I keep more of in stock?
6. With point 5 in mind,
any company can only handle so much crossover. If I have six guys who use six different brands of pre-spray that all have at least 75% of their ingredients shared, I cannot function as a business by carrying stock that only moves at a rate of one jug every two months or so to please all six guys who want "their" version of the same sauce. Especially when chemical manufacturers have a minimum that you must order to carry their products. If Prochem tells me I must meet a minimum of $5000 to place an order, I can't make a five-grand order just to get one case of "that really awesome deodorizer that guy LOVES because his customers like the smell". I'm sorry. I would if I could, but I'd go out of business and then the other thousand customers I serve would lose their source too.
7. There are dozens of chemical companies catering to you guys. And the vast majority of their products are simply renamed or "tweaked" versions of formulas that have been in existence for decades. Trend-setters like Bridgepoint and Chemspec are big for a reason - THEIR STUFF WORKS AND IT WORKS DAMN WELL. It's worked for thousands of guys, in thousands of situations, and while no one is always going to bat .400 these larger companies have incredibly successful histories. They have people like Scott and Tom who are always listening, collecting feedback, and formulating what YOU say YOU want. Don't knock this as "big companies out to get money" - USE IT to make yourself more successful.
And on a personal note - this forum is an open, free discussion of what processes, chemicals and equipment works well for all of you, yes? By the same token, it's Rob's house, Rob's rules. I may not always agree with what he does, but I'm a guest in his house and I will NOT be rude enough to call him out on stuff publicly in his own living room. Getting into a tiff over "Secret Sauce" versus Harvard versus Saiger's doesn't do anyone any good - but keeping it practical, doing side-by-side results tests, and presenting empirical evidence DOES.
Just food for thought.
