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Our primary jobs are to clean and make some money from our services. The indirect ways for us to ‘make’ money are important as well. I recently had a number of repairs that would have cost me a bunch if I wouldn’t have been able to diagnose and do the repairs myself. Recently my U-Mate was losing its pressure when I spray. Could have mistakenly spent a lot more on a pump, but replaced the pump pressure switch for $17 and 5 minutes. Next, a blower went bad on the U-Mate. A new blower and an hour of work . . . back in business. Finally, the handle and base on the Nobles cracked. Called the home office and learned there was a 10 yr warranty . . .Fantastic! A couple more hours . . . creation of a new language 👿 👿 , and the Nobles is back in business. We are a lot of things in our businesses (carpet cleaners, book keepers, PR, Human resources,etc.). Learning a few mechanical skills can be equally valuable. The home office, and state owners can be fantasic help if we can’t figure an issue out.
Great points! Your next door neighbors in HB are a great resource too. I carry both my buffers in the van and had both die on same job. Called neighboring HB operator and he said he had to replace plug head before. Stopped at hardware store on way to next job and fixed one for under $10 and was able to do next job. Have fixed vacuum on job numerous times.
Most of our equipment does not need daily fixing, however, usually before any thing breaks down there are some warning signs. When your buffer, vacuum, port-a-vac, upholstery mate, or power sprayer start making unusual sounds, or starts to act different than normal, it is a good time to be on the phone with John to start trouble shooting the item. Do not wait until the thing totally dies on you. It is easier to trouble shoot things in your own home or office rather than in the customer’s living room. Everything made today is made to become obsolete, worn out, and eventually replaced with a newer model. It is only a matter of time until every piece of equipment you use breaks down. Knowing this, we can be prepared for the time when a motor, or pressure switch, or plug end fails.
Bryan is right about being able to do the repairs yourself rather than paying someone else, but the time factor can be the biggest issue for an operator. A repair shop can take days or weeks to fix a small problem. If your vacuum stops working, you are out of business, until you can get it repaired. Do you have a backup plan for this? Could you use your personal vacuum from home until you can get yours repaired?
You probably have an annual check up with your dentist or eye doctor. Dave Forsberg, one of our operators in Nebraska, has just gone through about a year battle with cancer. He is going to be okay because of early detection. He also takes his equipment into a local repair man each year to see what needs to be replaced to keep the equipment running. He schedules a time for the repair man to look through everything at Dave’s convenience. Dave never needs to cancel a job because his equipment is not working.
Having some back up equipment is extremely smart. You need to rotate out some of the older equipment with newer equipment. Your old equipment becomes your back up equipment in case of a breakdown.
One thing I’ve thought could be helpful is a list of the most common items needing replacement. I realize everything will eventually need fixing or replacement, but some items are more prone than others. If such a list were available, I would probably order one of each item and keep it on the shelf. Being in the business nearly 2 years, I haven’t had enough history to develop a sense of what needs fixing/replacing in what time intervals.
Parts List ideas
Hoover vacuum
both belts
bellows(accordian looking thing at bottom)
Power Sprayer
spay handle assy.
spare battery
Floor Machine
pad driver insta-loc
Switch
internal switch contact springA small, multi tool kit, electrical tape
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