CleanCraft's Business Growth Series

Category Menu: Intro -> Starting Business -> Operational Process -> Marketing -> Diversification -> Final Thoughts

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 studies has always been the cost of TIME. Many business owners think the most costly aspect of their company are items like: Marketing, Equipment, or Chemicals. However, hands down, the most costly aspect of any company is TIME.

You have heard the saying, “Time is money.”It is so true.Let’s say your goal for your cleaning technicians is $60/hr in revenue. So, if they do a $180 job, it took a single tech 3 hours to complete. What if we told you that you had some wasted time in this job? Let’s look at the cleaning process itself. In most cases, the cleaning tech pre-sprays the room down, then uses a rinse to flush with his/her wand, and then spot treats as necessary. Now, let’s look at the pre-spray process. The tech’s only real cleaning chemical is the pre-spray, so the tech needs to make sure the spray is thoroughly distributed around the room. If the tech misses some spots, the cleaning is not as effective.It takes around 4 minutes to effectively pre-spray a room down. Now, let’s say you have 8 rooms in the home, 4min x 8 rooms = 32 minutes of pre-spray time. We look at this as wasted time! With use of our Code: Green “All-in-One” Carpet Cleaning Agent, you can pre-spray just the center traffic area. 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 28 minutes 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 an 1-1/2 of time saving and $84 in savings!

Now, let’s look at equipment time savings.Many carpet cleaners say a truck mount will save time over a portable. Well, our studies have concluded the opposite. How, you say?Well, most people don’t factor in the fill/empty of their truck mounts in their time statements. These truck mount operators must fill their fresh water tank each morning. Then, empty at the end of the day. Plus, now days, it is illegal to dump outside, because it drains to rainwater sewers. So, the carpet cleaner must drive to a designated dump site to empty at the end of the day. Depending on the town/county ordinances, this may be a dump site that is a good 30 minute drive out of the way each day. Factor all this time, and you can now see why the 10-15 minute fill/empty time on a job with a portable is nothing. Still, some may say “Well, you need to bring the portable in the home and setup.” Actually, you need to do this with a truck mount as well. With a truck mount, you have 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 are pretty 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’t sacrifice power & quality, take a look at the Eclipse.With 3 and 4 vacuum motor models, the Eclipse will 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 be the most valuable asset in your company.

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