What would you do?

[rhino1]

Cleaned a nursing home yesterday. Old folks would not stay off the carpet, kept dirtying it just after I cleaned (i.e. rolling leaky wheelchair down hallway, greasy walkers, filthy laundry carts) so I had to keep going back down the halls and recleaning after them. 5K sf to clean, and I think I had to reclean about 2K sf.

So what would you do in this situation, charge for the recleaning or just grin and bear it like I did?

BTW, I do 4 of these for this same company, first time I had a problem.

 

[Charlie Lyman]

I would re-clean and talk to the person who contracted you. After that I would charge.

 

[floorguy]

HEY YOU OLE BASTARD...STAY OFF MY CARPET!!!!!!


is that the 1st thing you did???



yup do what charles said....and if they have an issue with paying for extra work...explain to them why....if they still dont understand then you have 2 options the next time..

1. Clean it the 1 time...if they mess it up to bad for them......which leads to #2

2. decide if you can loose the job or not... if you cant or dont want to...CLEAN IT AGAIN!!!! and just suffer

 

[roro]

It is like vacuuming the carpark during autumn - NEVER look back.

( The sheer futility of trying to get every damn leaf - those bloody trees would laugh at me and just keep right on shedding.)

roro

 

[Jeremy]

Clean it later in the evening. Almost no old folks stay up past Jeopardy...
I clean 5-6 of these... Smaller ones right after lunch & let them know the residents need to be in their rooms as a safety precaution. The larger homes with more moving parts can be tricky in the daylight... I'd suggest at the earliest after supper & start in the dining area so they have time to get sleepy before you move on to the hallways. 8)

 

[KATRACHO]

can you clean it by the night

 

[Becker]

Ice pick to the tires of the wheel chair.

Super glue the walkers to the floor.

Hack about 8" off the canes.

Push the shufflers down.

 

[windmarkbob]

what we do...

As soon as it looks like it may be a problem (if you aren't too far into the job) inform the customer of the situation and see if they can suggest a better time for the cleaning to be done. If you're already well into the job, just note the situation on the invoice and recommend they contact you with anything that may be a better time/day where this may not happen quite so much, and just continue cleaning it (once, and once only...unless afterward they'd like you to touch up a spot or two). They hired you to clean the carpet once, not two, three or more times on that trip.

Mr. Coffee

 

[Shorty]

BEFORE even starting work on any of the places, impress upon management the dangers of elderly people slipping and falling on the damp carpet.

Subtle hint to remind them of litigation ;-)

They, or you, may suggest an alternate time, or even lock doors/barricade off wet areas.

Always try to put the words into their mouth to suggest to you the best way of handling these problems.

Cheers,

Shorty.

PS ::: When I spent six months in hospital in a wheelchair, I used to love running over the freshly stripped or polished, (still wet) vct in my wheelchair.

Jeez the cleaners used to get upset ;-)

 

[diamond brian]

Have someone make an announcement that all old people are to be confined to their rooms until you are finished!

Seriously, either clean late at night or grin and bear it.

 

[russgolfer]

Would Cimex or OP be an option? Did one last year this way. Used air movers and the areas were dry in about 30-45 min. It actually got us the job because the director liked the fact that the carpet would not be wet for long reducing risk of slip/fall injuries. Just a thought.