Cimex or CRB

This topic has been around for a long time, but all the feedback on the other boards just left me confused...who can you trust? So, I want to ask this group, as I do trust your opinions.

Which is the better tool for vlm cleaning? Cimex or CRB?

I just got my business in a bad fix that could have been avoided with a good vlm cleaning. I use an Orbot, but there seems to be better options out there and I want to upgrade very soon...if I am still business after this mess:evil:  

The biggest advantage the Cimex has over the Orbot is speed. With the Orbot and pads your also extracting soil(Pad Capping) as opposed to just encaping with the Cimex. You add the 19 inch driver and onboard sprayer to the Orbot and you can increase the production.

If you have big open spaces of CGC carpet the Cimex is the way to go because you're not swapping out pads like the Orbot. I would go with the Cimex over the CRB any day but then again I have the suckiest CRB machine you can get.

I don't think I helped with the confusion:D 

Do you want to share the details as to why you got in trouble?

For what kind of carpet?
Orbit should be better than both... why can't u just straight encap with the orbot
Ya spill the beans!

milspec6 wrote:This topic has been around for a long time, but all the feedback on the other boards just left me confused...who can you trust?  So, I want to ask this group, as I do trust your opinions.

Which is the better tool for vlm cleaning?  Cimex or CRB?

I just got my business in a bad fix that could have been avoided with a good vlm cleaning.  I use an Orbot, but there seems to be better options out there and I want to upgrade very soon...if I am still business after this mess:evil:  

Damn, Robert that doesn't good good! What's going on? 

Whatever it is, I hope you come out OK!  

This was the third job of this marathon cleaning week in preparation for a really important (insert wealthy and rhymes with "Sorran Muffett") party. It was a gift shop that I was told was a mere 2k sqft and had to clean it at night.

The problem came when I showed up and found that it was actually 7800 sqft, hadn't been cleaned in 5 years, was filled with soda spills, and was also full of display racks of clothing, stuffed animals, and books!! This was at 10:30 pm and needed to be done and ready before morning....oh, and I was solo.

Like any good cleaner, I just jumped in and went at it. It got worse, no water hook-ups at the building so I had to keep stopping to unhook and draw water. That was slow down number one. I was also on 2 hours of sleep some 22 hours prior to the job...problem number 2. We lose power for 10 minutes due to timer issues...problem number 3.

I scrambled all night moving displays and racks back and forth while hwe my butt off staring at the deadline. I ran through 220 gallons of water flushing the bejesus out the place and despite the doors being open and multiple airpaths in use, it still felt very humid in there...problem number 4.

Fast forward, I am throwing things around and cursing my way out the door at 5:30 am with an obviously wet carpet behind and a few likely missed spots from the rushing. I fall asleep on the hwy and had to nap for a few hours just to continue.

Then I get the call. When the power went out, security turned off the breakers to the air handlers trying to find a solution. Translation, nothing dried down and now all the clothing, stuffed animals, and books were damp and taking on the smell of Extreme Clean!!!!

Heads are rolling and mine is coming out with a very long neck!! So, if I survive it, the contract is probably done for 2014 regardless. So, I was thinking that if only I had a Cimex with me that night, I might have been able to prevent all of this drama.

Sounds like a nightmare Mil.

I would have cleaned it with the Orbot. It would have been faster and easier to maneuver around all the crap, and you wouldn't have needed air path. When I first started in this biz I cleaned a 45k sq foot furniture store with a 15" challenger it took me over 2 visits but I got it done and they were happy.

I take it, doesn't sound like you have Liability insurance?

My fingers are crossed you do!

Would he be liable if they turned off the air paths?

It sounds like you were hoodwinked. It's only 2k sqft but turns out to be 4 times that much! It looks like you tried your best to Make It Happen despite the circumstances. Hindsight is 20/20 and there are things that you might do differently in the future. When you gear up to go hunt dear and then find out you are actually hunting Grizzly bears is a big difference. Even if you had every carpet cleaning machine known to man, based on what you were told, you probably would have attacked it the same way. To me it sounds like that is a contract that needs to go away anyway.

I have a Cimex and love it for the heavy scrub on CGD. I also wish I had a orbot for places like that. I just don't buy into the CRB. Could someone clue me in.

Mo wrote:Would he be liable if they turned off the air paths?

I can only speak for myself and the way my Liability Insurance works, but in this case NO!

Anything that is "in my care and control", is NOT covered. So if I'm cleaning a carpet and I ruin it, I'm NOT covered. If I'm cleaning a carpet and someone shuts off the power that causes damage to the structures contents, or if someone slips and falls on a wet floor, I AM covered,....NOT in my "care and control".

Here in CA, most large commercial contracts/customers want to see your 'certificate of liability insurance' ($2 Million coverage) before hiring you.

People here are so 'sue happy', it's good practice to cover yourself anyways.

I wouldn't think of doing the work I do without being at least covered to 'protect myself'!!..........I just have too much too loose. Even if I didn't and commercial accounts didn't require it, I would probably still have liability insurance, to cover customers personal or property damage, and protect myself from a lawsuit....

It only cost me about $700 a yr! So, with property/net worth close to a million dollars, like I said, too much too loose not too!!

If anyone doesn't have liability insurance, and would like to get it, let me know. I'll hook you up with my agent, that can take care of you right over the phone, and by email. Heck, you don't even have to come up with a down payment, just make monthly payments/debts of about $60 a month, interest free (and I'd guess less in most states!), to be covered all year.

GL is expensive in Cali. Funny thing is if you ever have to use your GL you'll never be able to get coverage again

Thanks for the support guys. To answer some of the questions, I carry a 2 mil policy on the company that costs me almost 2k per year, but like Mo said, if a claim is filed on this deal I will probably lose the ability to maintain or get coverage again. Oh, and the person who told me it was a small room was actually one of my techs that was just in there a few days prior.

The problem with using the Orbot would have been that I don't have a sprayborg for it, so being solo on that job, it would have been slow going. In all the discussion, I think that I found my answer, now I have to find a deal on a used Cimex....AND a get a new tech that isn't blind!!

I meet with the manager tomorrow and I think it will come down to how the event goes. If there are complaints, I am expendable and facing a business firing squad. No compaints, I might have the chance to try and correct the job and thus save my reputation and not have to buy 5,000 stuffed animals!!

Hope all works out well for you. I would have called my tech and made him come into work for that screw up.

yep the spray borg is a must have.  i dont know why they even sell with out in.  hope all goes well for ya today.

milspec6 wrote:Thanks for the support guys.  To answer some of the questions, I carry a 2 mil policy on the company that costs me almost 2k per year, but like Mo said, if a claim is filed on this deal I will probably lose the ability to  maintain or get coverage again.  Oh, and the person who told me it was a small room was actually one of my techs that was just in there a few days prior.

The problem with using the Orbot would have been that I don't have a sprayborg for it, so being solo on that job, it would have been slow going.  In all the discussion, I think that I found my answer, now I have to find a deal on a used Cimex....AND a get a new tech that isn't blind!!

I meet with the manager tomorrow and I think it will come down to how the event goes.  If there are complaints, I am expendable and facing a business firing squad.  No compaints, I might have the chance to try and correct the job and thus save my reputation and not have to buy 5,000 stuffed animals!!

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/bfs/4149269141.html

Know anyone in Arizona?

Deal of a lifetime right there. And yes, I robbed the link from another forum I frequent. Hope it helps Robert.

An update:

I had the meeting and we walked over to the building for inspection. I was bracing for the worst after all the panic reports the day before. When we walked through the building, things were dry and no odors present...they ran the a/c all day to remove moisture.

Here is the strange part, the carpet looked really good minus a couple of dirt streaks that only I noticed. The employees were actually complimentary after seeing the filthy carpet for years and asked if I would be cleaning it more often in the future.

End of the day, it was placed on a quarterly cleaning schedule in 2014. I officially live in bizarro world now.  

Glad to hear things worked out for you.

I'm happy it all worked out for you too. Sounds like I would have been very stressed out and had a heart attack. I have a cimex and have been using it for years. I love it! I have never tried the orbot, but am very interested. Do not ever be fooled into buying a brush pro from interlink supply. Hands down a cimex will do a way better job. I took on on demo and cleaned a couple hundred thousand sq ft of carpet and it does not have the agitation you need for cleaning.

What a relief huh Mil

Welcome to the board Bwild:D  I like that user name

Hey Mo. Thank you. I was on the old board, but am happy to see a more user friendly board. This is where the truth is taught.

Mo wrote:What a relief huh Mil

Welcome to the board Bwild:D  I like that user name

I slept for 15 hours today...I think I am still in the game, and a big lesson learned!

Bwild,

Welcome to the lounge.

Milspec6 awesome on the outcome on that job, and congrats on capitalizing on getting a qtr cleaning contract. I had one like that when I first started out, walked like a weeks later and actually asked if he had it recleaned. Hahha. Sometimes things look better in light and after things dry out.

glad it worked out for you!

get the sprayborg, or just make the darn thing if your able to then get the weight kit, or again have it made. I permanently leave 2 weight plates on per side. On the orbot its mandatory imo. Only has around 35 pounds of head weight otherwise which is not enough.

or just get your self a zipper.....

bwild wrote:I'm happy it all worked out for you too. Sounds like I would have been very stressed out and had a heart attack. I have a cimex and have been using it for years. I love it! I have never tried the orbot, but am very interested. Do not ever be fooled into buying a brush pro from interlink supply. Hands down a cimex will do a way better job. I took on on demo and cleaned a couple hundred thousand sq ft of carpet and it does not have the agitation you need for cleaning.

Did you say "A" "Couple" "hundred" "THOUSAND" sq ft?!?!?!....as in Hundred Thousands?!!?!   

I'd like to hear about that job!...........and some kind of idea how low you had to bid to get it!?

Please tell use more about that one!!