October 12, 2011

Carpet Maintenance Programs – We Didn’t Design Them, The Manufacturers Did

warranty sealWhenever someone is held liable for the condition of their product, they are going to give the purchaser the specs on maintaining it in order to keep it in optimium condition.  That way, if the product is not used properly and the purchasers comes back for a refund, the arguement can be made: why didn’t you take care of it properly?  After all, someone who manufactures a product and sells it doesn’t want to go around giving money back to purchasers for something that was misused, not maintained appropriately, and therefore broke down due to neglect.  After all, if I had my way I’d only change the oil in my car every 200,000 kms, but that would have consequences.

Our carpet cleaning programs are designed based on manufacturers’ warranty requirements.   These steps are necessary to protect and maintain your carpet so that it is kept in optimal condition.   This is based on fact, not any one person’s personal opinion or experience, but on the research, testing and results of numerous companies over decades of this product being created and sold.

WHAT DO THE MANUFACTURERS SAY?

There are key elements to carpet cleaning wherever there is HIGH TRAFFIC.  This is key – we’re not talking about the carpet on the bottom of your living room closet, or the spare room where Auntie Frieda and Uncle George go once per year but is otherwise unused, we’re talking about HIGH TRAFFIC AREAS: carpet that gets walked on every day by multiple pairs of dirty feet.    This is the lobby areas of buildings, the stairwells, the hallways.  They take a beating, and need to be cared for in order to ensure the best lifespan of the product.

The warranty requirements have 5 mandatory elements:

1) Entrance Mats : reduce the amount of dirt tracked in.  Use them.  It’s in the warranty requirements because they work and make a significant difference.

2) Vacuuming: get that abrasive soil out before it cuts and scrapes the carpet fibers under the grinding action of footsteps.   Everyone knows to vaccum but are you doing it properly?  Are you doing it enough?

3) Spot Cleaning: get that stuff out of there before it sets permanently!  And not any 1 spot cleaner is good for every type of spot.  Use the right product, don’t bleach the carpet fibers, and don’t set the stain permenantly by using the wrong thing.

4) Interim Maintenance : this can take several forms, but is a required step for high traffic areas in carpet – lighter than a hot water extraction clean, but heavier than vacuuming.

5) Hot Water Extraction: this is the most recognized form of carpet cleaning, also known as steam cleaning or restorative cleaning.  It is a necessary step, but not the only step – look at all the other steps that come before it.

Keep your warranty valid.  Maintain your investment.  Keep your strata clean.  That’s the goal and we’re on your side to achieve that result.  Don’t let the situation get extremely bad, then try to tidy it up a year later with a hot water extraction clean, expecting that it can and will every time be able to correct a cumulative year’s worth of neglect.  That approach doesn’t work.  It’s proven not to work.  If it did, that’s what would be outlined in your warranty.  But it’s not.

October 12, 2011

Tile Floor Cleaning

With fall here, tiled areas generally get grungier because of more use and people tracking in mud and dirt from the outside. Homeowners will see this in entrances, laundry rooms and kitchens. For stratas, this is particularly noticeable in lobbies and elevator entrances by parkades. People are spending more time indoors – that means using the pool – noticing the build up of staining and dirt around it and in the change rooms.  Several stratas have decided to clean this all up and remove the dirt from their tile and grout with our truckmount tile cleaning SX-12 system.

Using the SX-12 system, the area is first sprayed with a cleaning agent. Then hot water blasts the dirt away from under a round head that the operator moves like a lawnmower. The dirty water is sucked back out to the truck and disposed of. Anything left over is mopped up, leaving both the tile and grout shiny clean.

-fast, thorough, cleans grout lines
-disinfects
-surface prepared for protective coatings
-cost effective

Contact Fredy Cayta for quotes on getting your strata’s tile and grout cleaned. fredy atsvmresidential.ca

October 12, 2011

Tight Budget? Save With Gutter Programs

A few times this fall, I’ve been asked to provide a quote for a partial clean at a strata. I’ve been happy to do so of course, but quickly found that if a strata is expecting to need a partial clean later in the year in a problem area, going with a gutter program can easily save them hundreds of dollars.

Our standard 1x gutter cleaning service price includes everything youd expect from a single servicing of the gutters at a strata. The program price is usually around $200 more, and includes 3 free visits within a 12 month period after the first visit in which the gutters are completely cleaned. Separately, a visit to do a partial clean can cost up to half the price of the full 1x clean, and is going to cost a minimum call out charge at least. This is usually going to be well over $200. With the free visits included in the program, the strata saves the difference.

For example, one strata who requested a quote for a partial clean would need to pay $475 based on the labor involved in cleaing that area. With the program, they’d save $275, and still have 2 more free service calls in case any other service needs arose throughout the year.

So consider going with a gutter cleaning program if you’re trying to save money for your stratas using partial cleans as a discount idea to leave some extra dollars in the budget. You will save money.

October 11, 2011

Services We Perform

Cleanlogo-2C

I’m often surprised to learn that a lot of property managers with whom we have a great relationship do not know all the services we make available to stratas. We are structured primarily to serve the property  management industry in the GVRD.  Here is a breakdown of what we can offer you.

Fredy
Floor Care
Account Manager: Fredy Cayta

contact Fredy for quotes: fredy at svmresidential.ca

-Carpet Cleaning & Carpet Cleaning Programs
-Spot Cleaning, Emergency Carpet Cleaning
-Upholstery Cleaning
-Tile Cleaning
-Linoleum Strip and Wax
Rachel Headshot

Exterior Cleaning Services
Account Manager: Rachel Hart
contact Moe for quotes: rachel at svmresidential.ca

-Window Cleaning: High Rise and Low Rise
-Gutter Cleaning 1x Clean and Gutter Cleaning Programs
-Dryer Vent Cleaning
-Pressure Washing
-Parkade Cleaning
-Building Facade Cleaning: hand scrub or pressure washing

Angel Profile Pic Option 1

Strata Janitorial and Building Caretaker Services
Account Manager: Angel Cividanes
contact for Angel: angel at svmresidential.ca

-Performance or Hourly Based Cleaning
-Part Time / Full Time Cleaning
-Building Caretaker Services
-Cloud Based Reporting

We guarantee satisfaction 100% within our quoted scope of work. Any customer concerns are addressed right away.

Thanks for considering ServiceMaster Clean Residential for Vancouver.

January 20, 2011

Dryer Vent Cleaning: Inspection Camera & From Inside Suite vs Outside or Both

Why Our Inspection Camera Is Great

     This is a photo taken from a dryer vent cleaning job where a customer complained that we must not have cleaned their vent properly, as hot air wasn’t coming out from the other end of the vent.  We peeked inside, and this is what we found:

The builder hadn’t bothered to extend the pipe all the way to the vent which was attached at the end of the building, so the hot air and lint was being jetted inside.  Unusual, yes, but I’m glad we got the bottom of the problem.  This was not something that could be corrected by cleaning.  The resident needed their installation completed.

There are sometimes unusual problems that need digging into in order to find the source.   Our camera can be used to investate what is happening deep inside the vents to ensure problems can be identified and afterward solved.

Why Cleaning From 1 Direction Works Very, Very Well

     Did you ever take a straw out of a paper wrapper when you were a kid, then stuff some of that paper wrapper back into the straw, put your mouth on one end, and blow?  If you did, you shot a piece of paper out of the other end of the straw.  If you moistened it first, you might have called it a ‘spit ball’.  Not pleasant, but a lot of fun if you’re eight.

Dryer vent cleaning is essentially the cleaning of a tube, like a straw, with some gunk in it.  It’s a fairly simple idea: blow the gunk out.  You want a clean tube to allow air flow from both directions, and that is what our dryer vent cleaning does.

However, there is often confusion between cleaning the dryer vent, or tube, from the inside or outside of a tenant’s suite and if one way is better than the other, or if even cleaning from both directions is required.  Essentially, we are choosing one end of the tube, like picking one end of the straw, inserting our equipment, and blowing the gunk out.   The difference is that we usually choose to blow in the direction of the outdoors so that you don’t end up with the gunk in your home.

The hose has an attachment on the end which directs the flow of air.  If we insert it from inside the suite near your dryer, we aim the air forward so that it blows out the vent and outside your home.  This will clean the tube from the point of insertion to the vent, because we feed the equipment forward, pushing and blowing the dryer lint using high pressure air until the vent is clean.

If we clean the dryer vent from outside the suite, we insert the equipment with a different nozzle on the end which blows the air backward, out the vent and away from your dryer.  We feed the tube forward to the end, and the high pressure air blows out the dryer lint, cleaning the tube.

Since we are cleaning the lint out of the vent from one end to the other using high pressure air, I’m going to compare it to the eight year old again trying to blow a spit ball at his friend: we don’t really care which end of the tube we pick to blow from, just like a kid could choose either end of the straw to stick in his mouth and then blow: the end result is that the gunk is going to come flying out and the tube and it will be empty and clear again.

The difference is often in regards to convenience to the residents of the stratas we are servicing.  If we can access the vents from outside of the suites, there is less coordination needed for residents to be home to allow us in and access the dryer vent tube from the spot near their dryer.  It is much easier to feed in the equipment from outside so that no one is bothered.

I hope this helps demonstrate and further your understanding of the process.  If you have any questions or need any further clarification, please visit our website, blog, or call us.

January 20, 2011

Carpet Maintenance Programs Designed By Manufacturers

Whenever someone is held liable for the condition of their product, they are going to give the purchaser the specs on maintaining it in order to keep it in optimium condition.  That way, if the product is not used properly and the purchasers comes back for a refund, the arguement can be made: why didn’t you take care of it properly?  After all, someone who manufactures a product and sells it doesn’t want to go around giving money back to purchasers for something that was misused, not maintained appropriately, and therefore broke down due to neglect.  After all, if I had my way I’d only change the oil in my car every 200,000 kms, but that would have consequences.

Our carpet cleaning programs are designed based on manufacturers’ warranty requirements.   These steps are necessary to protect and maintain your carpet so that it is kept in optimal condition.   This is based on fact, not any one person’s personal opinion or experience, but on the research, testing and results of numerous companies over decades of this product being created and sold.

WHAT DO THE MANUFACTURERS SAY?

There are key elements to carpet cleaning wherever there is HIGH TRAFFIC.  This is key – we’re not talking about the carpet on the bottom of your living room closet, or the spare room where Auntie Frieda and Uncle George go once per year but is otherwise unused, we’re talking about HIGH TRAFFIC AREAS: carpet that gets walked on every day by multiple pairs of dirty feet.    This is the lobby areas of buildings, the stairwells, the hallways.  They take a beating, and need to be cared for in order to ensure the best lifespan of the product.

The warranty requirements have 5 mandatory elements:

1) Entrance Mats : reduce the amount of dirt tracked in.  Use them.  It’s in the warranty requirements because they work and make a significant difference.

2) Vacuuming: get that abrasive soil out before it cuts and scrapes the carpet fibers under the grinding action of footsteps.   Everyone knows to vaccum but are you doing it properly?  Are you doing it enough?

3) Spot Cleaning: get that stuff out of there before it sets permanently!  And not any 1 spot cleaner is good for every type of spot.  Use the right product, don’t bleach the carpet fibers, and don’t set the stain permenantly by using the wrong thing.

4) Interim Maintenance : this can take several forms, but is a required step for high traffic areas in carpet – lighter than a hot water extraction clean, but heavier than vacuuming.

5) Hot Water Extraction: this is the most recognized form of carpet cleaning, also known as steam cleaning or restorative cleaning.  It is a necessary step, but not the only step – look at all the other steps that come before it.

Keep your warranty valid.  Maintain your investment.  Keep your strata clean.  That’s the goal and we’re on your side to achieve that result.  Don’t let the situation get extremely bad, then try to tidy it up a year later with a hot water extraction clean, expecting that it can and will every time be able to correct a cumulative year’s worth of neglect.  That approach doesn’t work.  It’s proven not to work.  If it did, that’s what would be outlined in your warranty.  But it’s not.

November 24, 2010

Dryer Vent Cleaning

Since the exterior division at ServiceMaster Clean Residential added dryer vent cleaning to its’ list of services, we’ve had great success performing this service for stratas around the GVRD.   We’ve had a few questions from property managers and strata council members about dryer vent cleaning, so here are a few points to address those questions.

What is this service?: We clean the accumulated dryer lint from the ducting between the dryer and the vent from which hot air is expelled from the unit into the outside air.

Why do it?: This ensures each dryer is performing at its peak, and prevents fires.  Heat from a dryer can cause lint clogging vents to ignite.

When is best to perform?: Unlike gutter cleaning, there is no ‘season’ for dryer vent cleaning to be performed during the year.  Rather, it can be done at any time.

Frequency

According to dryer manufacturer Whirlpool:   “Frequency of Exhaust System Cleaning – Every exhaust system must be inspected periodically and cleaned to ensure that it is intact and free from lint accumulation.  The frequency of these inspections will vary, depending on thesystem and usage of the dryer. For single-family usage, an annual inspection is recommended. In commercial usage or in multiple dryer systems a more frequent inspection is recommended.”

Dryer Vents should be cleaned at least once per year, with common laundry room vents more frequency due to heavy use.

Who performs the cleaning?: Trained exterior division technicians.

How is this performed?:   This is done using high pressure air, which blasts the lint out of the duct, without damaging the duct itself.  The equipment used is a flexible snake system, which can be inserted into the duct from the vent located on the exterior wall or roof and blast the air backwards out the vent (to outside); it can be inserted at the point where the dryer unit attaches to the wall and blast the air forward and outside, or both.  In most cases, from one end of the duct is sufficient.  Some stratas prefer the cleaning to be done from both inside and outside of the units to ensure the most thorough cleaning possible.

 

Cleaning From Exterior vs. Interior and Exterior

The equipment we use to clean the dryer vent ducts is able to be used from outside of the residents’ suites and provide an excellent result.  This means we do not need to disturb the resident by co-coordinating a time for access to their home, which may require they take time off work or leave a key with a neighbor or manager.   Our technicians use the reverse snake system, inserting the flexible hosing into the vent, and moving it forward through the ducting to the point where the dryer is attached to the wall inside the suite.  The high pressure air blasts all of the lint out of the duct, back toward the technician outside.

We can also perform the service from both inside and outside, by entering the tenants’ suite, detaching the flexible hose from the back of the dryer where it connects to the wall and inserting the snake system at that point.  A different attachment is placed on the end of the flexible hose, which forces the air forward, pushing the lint once again out of the duct through the exterior vent.  Once this is done, the technician will reattach the hose, then perform the cleaning from outside of the unit as described above.

If for some reason the vent cannot be accessed on the exterior of the building, cleaning from the inside of the suite is sufficient, as cleaning from one direction only can still remove all of the lint from the duct.

September 20, 2010

Gutter Cleaning Programs

At ServiceMaster, our focus is giving our customers the highest level of service possible. This means sometimes going above and beyond what they’re used to getting from a service company.  The perfect example of this is our new offering of Gutter Cleaning Programs, and so far they’re working with great success!

Here’s the difference between our regular gutter cleaning service and our even higher standard now offered with the Gutter Cleaning Programs…

Our Excellent Standard Gutter Cleaning Service Includes:

  • Performed by career professionals
  • Hand cleaning method, down spouts flushed where tech suspects necessary to ensure proper water drainage
  • Safety Toolbox on Site
  • Comply with WCB safety regulations
  • Clean up our mess – remove debris from site
  • Report on any problem areas

In Addition, Our Gutter Cleaning Program Service Includes:

  • Minor repairs included FREE , on areas where they are needed we discover while performing the initial cleaning service
  • 3 FREE service visits within the next 12 months to address:

– Emergencies that arise (gutters overflowing, gutters damaged, etc.)
– Perform minor repairs
– Spot clean problem areas that have become full of debris again.

This is a value of up to $450 of labor per visit free – no fees, no hassles, and promptly – no problem.

Stratas often go over budget because of unexpected emergencies.  The cost of getting someone to site for a small job adds up.  And, these small jobs are often not given high priority by other companies.   Because your strata is on a program, not only is it taken care of right away, it also doesn’t cost anything extra – helping the strata to stay on budget, and taking care of these small problems before they develop into much larger issues.

So call us for a gutter program quote.  Then relax – We’ll Take Care Of It!