CleanCraft's Business Growth Series
Operational Process: Increase Productivity by Reducing Time
Involved in the carpet cleaning industry for over 50 years,CleanCraft has had many opportunities to do time studies, cost studies, etc. One of the biggest takeaways from our studieshas always been the cost of TIME. Manybusiness owners think the most costly aspect of their company are itemslike: Marketing, Equipment, orChemicals. However, hands down, themost costly aspect of any company is TIME.
You have heard the saying, “Time is money.â€�It is so true.Let’s say your goal for your cleaningtechnicians is $60/hr in revenue. So, ifthey do a $180 job, it took a single tech 3 hours to complete.What if we told you that you had some wastedtime in this job?Let’s look at thecleaning process itself.In most cases,the cleaning tech pre-sprays the room down, then uses a rinse to flush withhis/her wand, and then spot treats as necessary.Now, let’s look at the pre-sprayprocess.The tech’s only real cleaningchemical is the pre-spray, so the tech needs to make sure the spray isthoroughly distributed around the room.If the tech misses some spots, the cleaning is not as effective.It takes around 4 minutes to effectivelypre-spray a room down.Now, let’s sayyou have 8 rooms in the home, 4min x 8 rooms = 32 minutes of pre-spraytime.We look at this as wastedtime!With use of our Code: Green “All-in-Oneâ€� Carpet Cleaning Agent, you can pre-spray just the center trafficarea.You will actually clean with Code:Green in your extractor’s solution tank.This means you only take 30 seconds to pre-spray vs. 4 min.In the same 8 room home, you just saved 28minutes of time.At $60/hr goal, that is$1/minute savings, so it is $28 savings on that job.Your service tech has 3 jobs that day.Using the same strategy, that is almost an1-1/2 of time saving and $84 in savings!
Now, let’s look at equipment time savings.Many carpet cleaners say a truck mount willsave time over a portable.Well, ourstudies have concluded the opposite.How, you say?Well, most peopledon’t factor in the fill/empty of their truck mounts in their timestatements.These truck mount operatorsmust fill their fresh water tank each morning. Then, empty at the end of theday.Plus, now days, it is illegal todump outside, because it drains to rainwater sewers.So, the carpet cleaner must drive to a designated dump siteto empty at the end of the day.Dependingon the town/county ordinances, this may be a dump site that is a good 30 minutedrive out of the way each day.Factorall this time, and you can now see why the 10-15 minute fill/empty time on ajob with a portable is nothing.Still,some may say “Well, you need to bring the portable in the home and setup.â€�Actually, you need to do this with a truckmount as well.With a truck mount, youhave to carefully maneuver hoses through the yard to not damage landscaping,mess with the front door to secure and lessen the amount of cold/warm air escaping,etc.The truck mount and portable arepretty equal on time here.All and all, when you average all the "Time" events over the course of the day, the portable will actually save you time over a truck mount.
If you want to look at a High Powered Portable that won’tsacrifice power & quality, take a look at the Eclipse.With 3 and 4 vacuum motor models, the Eclipsewill give you the power of a truck mount with the convenience of a portable.
Think of what you can do with this time savings... More jobs per day? More time dedicated to marketing &strategizing for business growth? More time with your family?Any way you look at it, time savings can bethe most valuable asset in your company.
