PS- The CCer friend I referred to above...he was a lowballer. Ran a bonnet only business at $10/rm. I gave him my old porty, we showed him some new techniques and better chemistry. We let him borrow our equipment, pick our brains, helped him on difficult jobs that he normally would have given up on. And guess what?! He's now at $29/rm. He raised his minimum from $30 to $65 and is feeling much more confident and putting more money in the bank now than he did trying to be the lowballer.

We have now made a great friend, and eliminated one more lowballer from our market. We have helped him improve his level of service, confidence and income. Everyone has benefitted.

Think about that the next time you see an ad for a lowballer in your area. Maybe call them and get together over coffee and talk shop...you never know who's life you'll make better, including your own!

Take care,

Lisa

I agree Ted.

That same statement is true in CCing as well. Our average prices, nationally have not gone up since the 70's. I assume it is the same in Canada. And that is bad for our industry in general. When we can learn to quit worrying about what the other guy charges, and start charging what we need to in order to make the money we need to provide for our business and it's future growth, and our families as well, then this industry will take a turn for the better. Until then, this industry will be littered with failed businesses...cleaners, suppliers and manufacturers alike.

Just think if every cleaner in your city got together and agreed on a standard pricing that was fair, but allowed them to make a good profit, support their families, have savings for retirement, maybe even put their kids through college and take a vacation once or twice a year! Do you think everyone would quit cleaning their carpet??? No way! It is unfortunate that cleaners can't be more cooperative. There are plenty of rugs to be sucked out there, plenty of work for all, but so many scratch and claw just to put gas in their trucks because they are trying to beat their neighbor's price by $1 a room.

Just food for thought. We make an effort to meet all the cleaners in our town and surrounding areas. We treat all of them as our friends, we encourage and educate the lowballers. And you know what? Not only do we have some great friends who will go out of their way to help us if we have a breakdown or need to borrow a piece of equipment, but the average price of CCing in our area has been creeping up steadily. Solidarity is a good thing in the service industry.

Take care,

Lisa

Ed,

You are so right.

In the seventies I sold a:

- 7 gallon
- 30 psi
- single stage vac motor
- 113 lift

For $3,100.00

It was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now I sell a 10 gallon, 100 psi Plus Plus with 150" vac lift, lifetime body warranty for $2,250.00

Judging by the way everything has gone up in the past 30 years this unit should sell for $8,000.00

My feeling as I have indicated before is the expensive equipment cost is allowing very low-end people with little to no business knowledge to enter our industry and butcher both carpet and pricing.

But I guess that's just free enterpise. We all start somewhere.

Lisa;

Thanks.

Because of the fact that we are a manufacturer of equipment, I will reserve my comments , and most of all, experience with TMI.

However, I would not dispute your product accessment on that one.

Good Fortune and thanks for asking;

Ed Valentine

Thanks Ed! I knew I could count on you for the straight scoop. I'll tell him to save his money, use it as it is, and then buy a Recoil when he is ready to move up.

BTW Ed, since you are familiar with TMI, did you know that they made the first TM I ever had? It was a belt driven 3006 blower turned by a Kohler 18hp motor....and man was it crap! Eventually I had it converted to direct drive, and replaced the 18hp Kohler with a 20hp Subaru and got much better results with it.

Take care,

Lisa

Lisa;

Many thanks for the asking of my opinion.

I remember the TMI units very, very well. I would highly recommend that this particular operator does not re-muddle his current system for these reasons:

Fiberglass is old technology and the very way these tanks are designed, will not hold up to higher and continual air-flow pressure, period. Especially, an older and perhaps worn unit. It will not hold the stress levels.

We have found that the most important aspect is not just installing "more" vacuum motors to produce, "more" vacuum or air-flow; rather, it is the "design" that helps to produce and maintain all this added vacuum. The common individual perhaps is normally not aware that design (this is true in reference to the efficiency of your GREENIE glides--over the "other guys", for example) is the key and is extremely important.

We are currently doing a special project for Europe and I only wish I could be more specific on the above in reference to "design", however, I can not at this particular point in time.

Installing a higher pressure pump would require the operator to install new plumbing, regulators, new wand valves, etc....

In the end, would it be worth it? IMHO, no.

This Industry has been blessed with relatively low costs in regards to equipment of this nature. High-performance equipment costs less today than the low performance did in 1972.

Thank you for asking.

Good Fortune to;

Ed Valentine

www.cross-american.com 

Port A Bill replies:

Leave them in series

I don't believe tou can throw a 3 stage in with the 2 stage, unless you're an engineer like Ed.

You might be able to tweek in 150 psi pump, but no more without another cord. Even that will be testing the limits.

Usually, the best plugs are near the kitchen counter.

I have a CCer friend here that I gave my old porty to. It is a dual 3 stage motor, 100 psi, unheated, TMI with the old fiberglass body. The motors currently are setup to run in series. It needs two different 15amp circuits.

 Could he get better performance by running them parallel? How about adding one more 2 stage motor to the mix? Can the pump be upgraded and a third motor be added and still maintain two cords? Maybe look for a larger amp circuit (ie: washing machine outlet, etc...) and run a heavier gauge cord on one side??

Thanks and take care,

Lisa