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who is wearing them, do customers seem to appreciate that you are wearing them? Does the tech wearing them mind? Are they good? Bad? Worthwhile?
I have considered wearing booties. To me the bust your a– factor would increase after walking on hardwoods after applying the kick a– stain protector.
We have some in the van, but have never had to break them out. Agree with the bust your a– worry. About the only time I think they would be helpful is when there is snow/rain on the ground, or if you are coming off seriously dirty pavement before entering the house. We clean a high rise condo complex and have to clean our shoes and equipment wheels before entering a tenant’s condo due to the grit/grime we walk through in the parking garage of the complex. Something to look out for when cleaning businesses. Also something good to show the property managers/business owners if they wonder why their carpets resoil so quickly or think they don’t need to clean them that often.
Yo Dennis,
Have thought about it . . . but I make too many trips to the van which would make them a pain in the neck. I always lay a pad in front of the door to wipe my feet. This works ok for me.I have found that a drop cloth (canvas) works the best… the one you want or the one you should purchase tomorrow is called a “RUNNER” it is about 3ft wide and 10-12 ft long..I throw it down where I enter and it not only works great it looks very professional. When your done , fold it up and put it in the van (trailer in my case). They wash up fine and you can get them at any paint store or Home centers of just about any kind. Oh, they are about $15-$20……..
I lay out a finishing towel just inside or outside the entry door as I am greeted by the customer. Normally don’t need one when conditions are clean and dry.
We had a “situation” last week were some of the carpets had been replaced and we were cleaning some of the old ones. It was a pain in the arse for Gary to keep removing his shoes as he walked across the new carpets. Finally he gave up and put down a couple of towels to wipe on. She was not impressed. We have also run up against it with new laminate or wood floor and expectaitions that we can some how float and/or hover over the new floor. Might try the booties
After being in business for only a couple of months, I came to the conclusion that we always wanted to be better than the other carpetcleaners around the county and even more important…give the impression or perception that we are better.
I cannot even begin to count the number of times that someone has commented on my/our wearing booties, when, no previous ccarpet cleaner they had used ever did. Well, we do not believe in walking on clean, lightly damp carpet with dirty shoes! It will clean the bottoms of the shoes very well.
We always wear booties and also leave a pair of more for the family use if they must walk on the carpeting before it is totally dry. It subliminally leaves a huge positive impression with the customer.
The question I would ask everyone is this…
Is anyone else in your area using booties? If they are, why aren’t you? And if they aren’t, wouldn’t it set you above and apart from them..the herd?
If anyone thinks this is anal retentive thinking…then you really don’t want to hear how we post-vacuum a carpet.
Thoughts?
Happy New Year!
Dave
I do think they are a great item to have just in case you run into “that customer” or a certain situation. I agree that it leaves a great impression with the customer, but on a day-to day basis I still queston the safety of wearing them in most circumstances. We already place towels on all hard surfaces coming off the carpet to prevent any accidental falls and even that doesn’t negate a few close calls every now and then. We always make sure our shoes are clean, especially before stepping on cleaned wet carpet. We also do like the Iowa boys and place a pad/towel at the front door if there is inclement weather outside to aid in cleaning our shoes. I love doing anything that will set us apart from competitors, but find the booties would probably be overkill 95% of the time. Heck, we get more comments on the fact we vacuum before we clean. Nobody does that one as you all well know.
If there are a lot of hairballs or other such loose debris remaining after we have bonnetted, we’ll post vacuum the carpet. We always raise the beater bar up on our vacuum if we are doing this to prevent the bar from dirtying the clean carpet. We just try and use the suction in these instances if at all possible. If there is no debris/hairballs, we don’t revacuum as I believe someone (John?) has said the moisture from the carpet can be hard on the motor.
I guess I am missing something with my advanced years…what safety factor? The booties I wear are pvc and slightly ribbed and I do not slip in them at all. I think they are just as safe as the bottom of my sneakers on any hard floor…they both are slippery to an extent and one must take baby steps on hard flooring after walking on carpet protected carpet.
I find it almost comical to think that someone might use a finishing towel to get carpeting highly clean and then walk on it with street shoes cleaned off with only a mat..interesting logic. I guess my mind is too old to wrap around that one.
S’pose that I just don’t get it…
Today (Saturday) Just left a pair for the owners of a rental property that had light berber and then they showed up unexpectedly for inspection as my wife and I were still there…my wife gave them 2 pair of booties to check out the 7 rooms with and they thanked us very much and then asked her for our card. They have other properties…
So the question is this…what would you all done in this situation? Ask them to remove their shoes before walking on freshly cleaned and still damp carpeting, getting their feet wet? Ask them to return later in an hour or so when it is dry on a rainy day like today? Or..do as I did? Or do/say something else?
Which makes more common sense, if there is such a thing? I think I got another customer.
Dave
So booties Not slipery? This is good.
I usually(always) clean from the back corner to the door. Never walk on the cleaned carpet with dirty shoes. I also think the bottom of my shoes are cleaner than most peoples socks or bare feet. having said that, perception is too often reality and the customer is writing the check. So I will order some booties.
Your 7 room rental, how much was the total on the bill? Was the owner paying or the moved out tenent? How did they get your number? Did you quote over the phone or in person. Did you have to compete with other cleaners. Who cleaned it last time? Will you put them on your mailing list?Let us know when the owner calls to book other work and if the booties come into play.
Dave, maybe I have a different style of bootie than you. Ours are more similar to what you see doctors wear in operating rooms. What you described sounds more like a galosh type bootie, which I agree would not present near the slippage problems. How much do these cost you? I follow what Dennis does and start in the back working towards the front to minimize any walking on clean carpet. More I walk on the areas I’ve cleaned, the more re-raking of the carpet I have to do.
The unit we cleaned was a rented townhouse. The renter hired me as he was moving out. We charge $45/average room or area and with 7 rooms an easy calculation. Light berber carpet and the owner and wife showed up unexpectedly to inspect. I had a pair of booties next to the door for them after we left, wife got another pair so they could inspect. We got them for customers in the future I believe…they were very impressed.
There are several booties on the maret. I tried several and disrecommend the hospital Tyvek type, since they allow liquid through and the lined ones are slippery inside the bootie. Also, I would NOT recommend the Enviroguard brand, they are very slippery inside the bootie as well. I use the Correct Touch type and they are not slippery at all inside the bootie and are snug around the metatarsal areaa dn lock in whatever is on your shoe and out whatever is outside.
I have yet figured out how to final rake or vacuum carpeting without stepping on it with my shoes.
When doing tile and grout cleaning, the booties are very helpful…no mud created and spread around at all. Anyone who has cleaned tile and grout knows what I am talking about.
I leave booties for real estate agents and for customers if they are not home, so when they arrive, they will not instantly resoil their carpeting if they must walk on it while still damp.
Must be getting punchy here…By the way, I also post-vacuum with a clean vac..not the same one I used to vacuum the original dirty carpeting with. And I guess we almost aslways kick up “stuff” to vacuum, so we always post-vacuum.
As far as cost of the booties is concerned..nominal when compared to the effect and comparison to other cleaners who are using them in the area.
In this market, almost all successful contractors working inside a home are using some type of bootie…
Dave
😕 I don’t know about the rest of you, but my older customers love it when I take my shoes off and slip on my slippers. They say what great manners you have! It is worth the $10 bucks every 6 months or so for a new pair>
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