Goomer said:
I am currently looking for a local rug cleaning plant to bring some rugs to be cleaned. In my search I came across a company that feeds the rugs through a machine, instead of being washed in a pit.
http://www.majesticrugcleaningnewyork.com/rugcleaning.html
Are there any benefits and/or disadvantages to washing them like this as opposed to someplace that uses a wash pit?
Frank - usually operations that have wash pits are in transition to "growing up" to having wash floors and machines for rinsing and removing the water. So the site you found is one of a long-time operation, that would likely give you a better cleaning than your wash pit option (if they are detail-oriented, so you may need to ask about their operations... if they are like Bryan O'Haleck's or Ken Snow's then you would be picking the best one to use... and they both have operations with big machinery)... and you would also tend to get a better pricing from an operation that's large and mechanized because there will be less labor involved. Guys with wash pits are usually more limited in their turn around during a typical day, especially if they don't have "crews" working for them.
You might test an order with both, and see who does the better job, and see what price you can get and add on your margin.
But an operation like the one you found will likely be much more thorough than any new start up wash pit operations you approach. Especially if they don't have a lot of experience. It all depends truly on the one in charge, at both facilities.
Everyone I have trained to start with a wash pit has moved to pouring a real wash floor and when funds and space provide, getting the equipment to grow their volume. So I teach the pit as the transition phase - way better than surface cleaning, and can be thorough absolutely, but you hit a ceiling where you can only do so many rugs a day with that model. So you plan to grow eventually.
This means a pit setup is limited in the price they can offer to subcontract work - because their time is more invested in each rug, and that's costly. But when their operation gets larger and more systemized, those margins get better to work with.
Anyway... that's my two cents.
Lisa