Production Rates

[Mike M]

I want to start a discussion about production rates for hot water extraction aka steam cleaning.

The goal is to produce a chart of real production rates for cleaners in various cleaning categories that our members can use for reference. It would be posted in the Reference area.

Here are the machines/methods I had in mind for HWE:
Portable - Something with a wand
Portable - Walk Behind, no wand
Truckmount
Truckmount with RX20 or larger wands or other attachments
Steamin Demon or similar that hooks to a sink

also need to take into account whether the job is Residential, Commercial, furnished (and how much ie low, medium, high density), access, water availability, etc.

Why are production rates important? Because we use them to set pricing. It could mean the difference between profit and loss.

I've seen some prduction rates listed over the years but wonder about the source of the information? Most have been published by manufacturers.

Not sure if we should just take the numbers out of posts or set up a series of polls to get the information together?

Let's hear you ideas........

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[Freshnclean]

I charge between .22 and .30 for HWE with wand, a portable unit.  The price vary's from commercial to residential with and without furniture.  Under 500 square feet gets the .30 charge unless it is unfurnished.  Pets stuff and stains add to cost, of course.  My speed is not fast thought.  I usually make around $60/hr. on the job.  I don't think this is great but I would lose a lot of business if I charge too much more.  Not sure I even want to calculate what I make an hour after all the time spent fixing- maintaing equip, estimating, billing, collecting, ect.

[Mike M]

Furniture would be taken into account with "Density".

I think we need to start with max square feet you can clean in an open area. Truckmount and portable have different rates. Let's consider setup/take down separate.

If you were set up and just cleaning open area for an hour how much could you clean with a standard 12" wand? We can  add square footage for larger tools separately in our calculations.

Also need to consider wand stroke and level of soiling. We can use single stroke method to start. (one wet pass, one dry pass) Start by considering the carpet "normal" soil load. We can add time by considering more soil, dual method, etc. later. Also consider prespraying as that is a normal part of HWE cleaning.

As an example I used to use 1000 sq ft per hour as a standard for truckmount Commercial HWE cleaning jobs with a standard wand. Some operators are capable or more if they work faster but over the course of a day of commercial work it would drop toward the end of the day to average 1000. For the sake of our project here let's just consider a couple of hours worth of work. 1000-15000 sq ft per hour with a truckmount on a commercial job.

Set up and take down vary widely on commercial depending on how much hose you need to run, whether self contained or hookups are needed. We can come up with a standard for each.

I'm thinking we can come up with a checklist that starts with the max speed possible, then deduct for things like soil load, furniture density, job access, hookups or none, etc. This might give people a more accurate guesstimate of time it would take to clean a job. Compare this to your hourly target income and square foot pricing to make sure you are making enough money.

Thoughts?

[Freshnclean]

I think we need to start with max square feet you can clean in an open area. Truckmount and portable have different rates. Let's consider setup/take down separate.

If you were set up and just cleaning open area for an hour how much could you clean with a standard 12" wand? We can  add square footage for larger tools separately in our calculations.

Ok.  Just did a 750 square feet apartment.  Empty, soil moderate to light, 1 red stain, I would calculate wanding at 40 minutes. However I ususally do at least two dry passes.  I would say 1000 square feet for a portable per hour is fair on commercial and apartments.  In residential I always spray neutralizing spray and groom at the end so for me 750 square  feet an hour residential.  Trying to be conservative though in my guess.  I will keep track the next few days to see how close I am.

[Mike M]

OK - We can add a deduction for protectors and other treatments.