Got a call a couple of days ago from a small client; all we do for them is a monthly burnishing (ultra high-speed buffing) on their office tile, and an as-needed scrub and re-finish at no additional fee. (The client is a high-end machine shop; not too much traffic in the office area, and decent entry matting at entrances to keep grit off the finish.) It seems they've got a party coming up, and need us to detail some restrooms that their in-house janitor normally does (poorly).
I asked my operations manager to drop by to check the areas requested, and to look at our ongoing job to see if anything else might be needed. He reported that it was about time for a scrub and re-coat, but nothing else.
We use an EcoLab floor finish that goes down very thick, and responds well to an aggressive burnisher. (One of the reasons one ought burnish regularly is that it hardens the finish; the harder the finish, the less it will wear off, and the less often it needs re-finishing. Refinishing is much more costly than burnishing, so if I can do more burnishing and less re-finishing, I - and the client - save over the long haul.)
A lot of my competition will try to sell the client on annual stripping (fully removing all finish and sealer, not just scrubbing and top-coating), with perhaps a couple of re-coats in between. The client assumes that to be the industry standard, and pays for it. Because we burnish well and often, we rarely have to re-coat; rarely re-coating results in VERY rare stripping. It all saves us time, and the client money.
I didn't quite realize just how true the above was until I checked our job log. We have never stripped the client's floor; the last time we re-finished it was in February....2009. Five years ago. And it still looks pretty fair.
Comments