The Vacuum Cleaner Challenge

One of the fastest-growing and most competitive segments of the cleaning industry is residential cleaning. Starting in the mid-1980s, several large and successful maid service franchises evolved. And thousands of mom-and-pop independents around the country have been just as successful. This is all due the fact that the U.S. market for residential cleaning is huge.

However, as mentioned, it is also competitive. Years ago, residential cleaning was charged by the hour. However, today it is usually charged by the job, meaning that a fixed price is determined by such things as how many bedrooms a home has as well as the number of children and pets, overall size of the house, etc.

Charging by the job has its plusses. If the work can be done thoroughly, to the customer’s satisfaction, and also faster, then it means more money for the cleaning professional. For this reason, professional maid services are always on the lookout for new cleaning tools and equipment that can speed up their work, such as new vacuum cleaner technologies.

Case in point: a large residential cleaning franchise decided to test a conventional upright vacuum cleaner versus a backpack, similar to the PV 6 true-HEPA vacuum cleaner just introduced by Tornado. For six weeks, a supervisor for the franchise personally cleaned a one-bedroom apartment once per week using a new commercial upright vacuum cleaner considered of good quality and a popular seller. After the six-week period, the contents of the vacuum bag were weighed, and it was determined that 10.70 ounces of soil were collected.

Then for six weeks, the same supervisor vacuumed the same apartment once per week, this time using a backpack vacuum cleaner. Like the PV 6, the backpack was a true-HEPA machine, which means that not only is the exhaust HEPA filtered but the entire casing of the machine, along with its connections, is airtight. This prevents airborne contaminants from escaping and harming indoor air quality. This time, using the same measuring scale, nearly 14 ounces of soil were collected.

“This demonstrates that the backpack removed significantly more soil,” according to the supervisor. “In addition, we found the backpack vacuum to be 30 percent, if not 40 percent, faster than using the upright, which is an excellent improvement in worker productivity.”

More than Carpets

With these successes recorded, the supervisor wanted to determine what other benefits the backpack offered over a conventional upright. Sure enough, several surfaced right away, most centering on dramatically increased flexibility.

Workers using the backpack could clean the carpets and—just by changing or adjusting nozzles—clean baseboards, ceiling fans, air-conditioning vents, blinds, and corners and crevices as well. In addition, and often with the same attachment, the backpack could clean hard-surface floors as quickly and easily as it did carpets.

“This added flexibility improves worker productivity as well,” he says. “Usually we use the upright just for carpets and nothing more, but now we have a machine that is a true multitasker. It’s more effective, more productive, and [when using machines like the new PV 6] more comfortable to use as well.”