Need a Truckmount - No idea where to start.

[RyanQualityClean]

Hello,

My name is Ryan and I run a Commercial only cleaning business with one other business partner. In 1.5 years we have been very blessed with the way we do thing and have 3 full time crews. We have just been using subcontracting and paying out our carpet cleans and waxing. We have a waxer now and do that just fine, but need a carpet machine bad.

We just signed on 11 large buildings as a group and included the waxing and carpet in the bid per their request. This was built into the price but we can no longer afford on over 100,000 square feet to be paying someone else to do it. We have a lot of great connections that will come train us once we have our own equipment, but I need a truck mount basically that can do up to a 50,000 square foot building, which is another one we have. 3 stories.

Where do I start?

I was thinking a new machine because we aren't mechanically inclined as far as machine and motor repairs and it needs to be able to handle all of those buildings.

Also, will I be needing a bigger van to go with it? I have a ford sprinter van now with an empty back. I am located in Central Washington so it would be great if there is somewhere in Seattle or Portland I can go to get a machine / have it installed.

I don't mind financing as we will make the money back with all the other clients we have easily now and would love to keep it under 20k.

Thank you.

 

[ACP]

Hi, we are located in Seattle. Weve had great luck with Judson and also Relia -Built

If your going 3 stories up I would probably go with a large blower machine.. like a 56 or larger.

You could also look into a few Cimex machines for VLM, not a truck mount but great for doing commercial buildings... unless the areas are very heavily soiled you may not need a truckmount.

if you do go with a TM, I would make sure you have a large on board water tank.. sometimes you cant get ez water supply

 

[Joe cool]

TM can start at 12k then mid level at 20k and bad ass TMs are 30 + .

 

[1ST CHOICE CLEANING]

I didn't know Ford had Sprinter vans

 

[Scott W]

If the buildings you will be cleaning are multi-story, you may want to consider portable equipment and low moisture methods such as OP machines or Brush Pro machines.

Interlink Supply has a showroom in Seattle area (Tukwila) that can show you several brands and models of truckmounts as well as the other equipment, let you try it out, see how much space you need and so forth.

I suggest you contact them and arrange some time to visit. 425 207-0149

I know Luke Dreager there. He would be a great resource.

 

[RyanQualityClean]

Thank you. I will find time to visit them. The 50,000 square foot one is 3 stories. The rest 10-11 buildings are all one story ranging from 5500 - 19000 square feet.

Are there nice enough portable machines that make carpet look awesome and can handle these size of buildings in one night?

 

[Scott W]

Thank you. I will find time to visit them. The 50,000 square foot one is 3 stories. The rest 10-11 buildings are all one story ranging from 5500 - 19000 square feet.

Are there nice enough portable machines that make carpet look awesome and can handle these size of buildings in one night?

I don't know the layout or soil level of your specifc buildings to answer that. Most quality portables operated by an experienced tech would cover 600 - 750 sq. ft. per hour avergae soil and average amount of furnishings to work around. Maybe 1200 sq. ft. per hour if all open area. Add helpers to vacuum, move furnishings, auto-fill and auto pump out and you could do 50% more maybe even double if you were really hustling. I do not see 1 machine cleaning 50,000 sq. ft. in one night.

Truckmount would be a little faster but not greatly faster. I don't think a single wand truckmount would do 50,000 sq. ft. in one night either.

Some of the low moisture methods can get 3,000 - 4,000 sq. ft. per hour and up. Still would be hard to cover in 8 hours.

 

[rccva]

We do large buildings of 50k+ and all we do now is VLM. We spend many years running long hose runs but now we do things better and easier with VLM. Take a close look at it before spending lots of money on TM. BTW, we have two Butler TMs that go along with our OPs.

 

[Mama Fen]

I don't know of many teams that can do a 50k+ job in one night, especially not three stories. Most around here would break it down into zones and rotate through the zones in a schedule.

 

[rccva]

I don't know of many teams that can do a 50k+ job in one night, especially not three stories. Most around here would break it down into zones and rotate through the zones in a schedule.

Most of our large customers do one or two cleanings a year and we have to knock it out in one weekend. We will usually have a crew doing HWE and one crew doing VLM. Easily done in one Saturday.

 

[RyanQualityClean]

Most of our large customers do one or two cleanings a year and we have to knock it out in one weekend. We will usually have a crew doing HWE and one crew doing VLM. Easily done in one Saturday.

Ok perfect so we will do it over a few days. Of course the big buildings will understand. And vlm is a great price friendly option?

 

[rccva]

Ok perfect so we will do it over a few days. Of course the big buildings will understand. And vlm is a great price friendly option?

Oh yea, VLM is a sweet option for large commercial. The days of running 500ft hose runs are over for us. The only time we do long hose runs is if we are splitting the building between the two methods.

 

[ACP]

Ya with commercial it's really.only super nasty restaurants that will benefit from a truckmount and high heat.

Vlm on commercial carpet can handle a pretty good amount of soil. With commercial it's not dog stains, food spills, liquid, and thicker carpet... that's where a TM shines.

It's really tight low pile with a lot of the soil sitting on the surface, can easily transfer onto pads.

 

[ACP]

With 3 cimex machines you could probably do 50k Sq ft in a night

 

[Anderson]

Stick with the truckmount and clean it the correct way.....
This is your sales pich over the competition you truckmount it......
Sorry the other vlm is just moving the dirt around.......
Portable is too slow.......
Get a truckmount with a pumpout ...and a bonzer from rotovac or a zipper...
I can do 2500-3000 sq ft an hour with a zipper or bonzer....
Should get that done in 2 nights

 

[rccva]

Stick with the truckmount and clean it the correct way.....
This is your sales pich over the competition you truckmount it......
Sorry the other vlm is just moving the dirt around.......
Portable is too slow.......
Get a truckmount with a pumpout ...and a bonzer from rotovac or a zipper...
I can do 2500-3000 sq ft an hour with a zipper or bonzer....
Should get that done in 2 nights

You clearly haven't done any side by side comparisons. I've been doing TM HWE for 27 years using every type of tool available. 8 months ago I started doing VLM with an OP and compared them side by side. Went back day after day to compare, in every situation except greasy restaurants, the VLM was just as good or better. Plus it cost waay less then HWE, no coffee spills returned and the carpets stayed looking good longer. I have 2 Butlers that will continue to work hard for me, but large commercial will always fall under VLM.

 

[RyanQualityClean]

First of all, thank you to everyone for the support. Would Cimex Cyclone 19" with Pad Drivers for under 3k from jon don do the trick then? I can spread it out over a couple nights for each building no issues. is just one plus chemicals all I need? is there a better machine?

 

[Anderson]

No one can ever tell me that vlm takes any dirt anywhere.......
If you have to do it n a high rise...ok..........
Any manager can come and see that dirt is bing moved aound......
Its not,any,diferent than what chemdry has done for 40 years
Yea it may look clean.......but its no diferent than what host did years ago......

 

[mrotto]

funny, we did vlm and tm side by side and your right, there was no comparison

TM won hands down

 

[rccva]

No one can ever tell me that vlm takes any dirt anywhere.......
If you have to do it n a high rise...ok..........
Any manager can come and see that dirt is bing moved aound......
Its not,any,diferent than what chemdry has done for 40 years
Yea it may look clean.......but its no diferent than what host did years ago......

I may be mistaken, but doesn't Chemdry use a rotary similar to the RX20? It's just HWE with very low psi.