Hi Jim,

I wanted to give you some feedback on the productivity of the Cimex.

I was recently asked to inspect a 22 story assisted living senior complex. Before my purchase of the Cimex I would not have even considered the contract. Upon inspection of the complex I learned that the previous company was using truck mounted units. They would drag hundreds of feet of hose up the back stairwell at each end of the building. I asked why. The manager replied, "truck mounts are the only way to get the carpets clean." I told the manager that I would not use my truck as it was too time consuming and dangerous to drag that kind of hose up stairwells. I told him we would use encapsulation cleaning and portable units. He was not sure, but granted us a demonstration.

We scheduled the demonstration on the third floor. I was going to clean half with the Cimex and the other half with my truck mount for comparison. My technician and I took 20 minutes to drag 200 feet of hose to the third floor. We coiled the hoses and my technician began to pre spray the carpet. I went down to the truck and brought the Cimex up the elevator. I began to clean the second half of the hallway. I noticed that my technician was already cleaning towards me.

I cleaned the small sitting room and my half of the hall while I watched my technician pulling and fighting with hoses. I finished my sections well before my technician. I also noticed that I was not tired or sweating. My technician however, was soaked with sweat and quite tired of fighting with hoses.

We removed the Cimex and the truck mount hoses to inspect the job. The carpet was blue and had the typical gray dingy discoloration in the walk areas. The area cleaned by the truck mount looked very good. But, you guessed it; the section cleaned with the Cimex was noticeably cleaner.

The agitation of the Cimex removed noticeably more of the dingy look. We sprayed a test area to see if the truck could do any better. The area lightened a bit more, but not enough to match the Cimex. We then finished the hall with the Cimex and everything blended.

The manager called me the next day. He stated that the carpets looked excellent. He wanted us to submit a bid and create a maintenance schedule. I wanted to establish an approximate rate of time per hallway so I asked the manager to find us another hall. He sent us to the 11^th floor. This floor was prone to re-soiling. I started to clean with the Cimex. The change in appearance was dramatic. Upon completion of the job the floor went from black to blue. The hall took me 20 minutes to clean. An additional 5 minutes was spent waiting for an elevator.

Three days later, I went back to inspect the 11^th floor for re-soiling or wicking. The carpet still looked clean. The maintenance crew commented on how nice the job was and how much easier it was for them to vacuum. We secured the contract. My hourly income should be between $150 and $175 per hour depending on the elevator availability.

Our second great adventure was in the local police station. They have a light beige nylon level loop commercial carpet. The traffic areas were very dingy and worn looking. I was told that the previous cleaning company came in quarterly, but could not significantly improve the appearance. They told me if I could not fix the problem they were going to replace the entire carpet.

I pre conditioned the carpet and gave it about 10 minutes of dwell time. When I started to hot water extract the carpet it was improving, but not enough. I cleaned the entire station to remove old residues and debris. The secretary told me that the carpet looked just as it did when the other company finished. That cut me to the bone. I knew I could do better. The Cimex was in the back of the truck, so I decided to see if its agitation could improve the appearance. As I walked the Cimex over the carpet, the dark path seemed to melt away. I would not have believed it if I was not seeing it myself. The secretary and the supervisor were almost as amazed as I was at the improvement.

I now clean the station 4 times per year. Three with the Cimex and once after winter with the truck mount followed by the Cimex. I average $200 per hour, and they are happy they do not have to replace the carpet.

I keep the Cimex on my truck and use it almost everyday. On well vacuumed and maintained contracts, I use the Cimex alone. On worn or trashed contracts I either use the Cimex first as agitation or after cleaning to help reduce dingy appearances. The unbeatable agitation makes cleaning the grease from restaurant carpets as easy as cutting butter. Using the Cimex has cut our average clean time of 2 hours to 1.5 or less. We are able to clean better, faster and use almost 30 gallons less water per restaurant.

Incorporating the Cimex into our salt/calcium preventative maintenance program has also has great success. I have created a three step program to prevent those unsightly black traffic areas that appear in the heat of the summer. This program uses less effort and keeps the carpets looking clean all year long. The process costs more, but the customers are happy to pay for the exceptional results.

Thanks for finding the Cimex for me.

Jeff Helmer

Executive Carpet Cleaning