Ed Hutchinson
New member
Pro-Active
Hello,
My name is Ed Hutchinson and along with a friend of mine Tim Tucker, owner of Tucker Cleaning Inc. in South Carolina who also owns a vent-a-hood cleaning business like myself, have been trying to involve anyone we can in being pro-active in bettering our hood cleaning industry. Tim and I both share the frustration of competing with the local "jobbers” who claim to clean an entire exhaust ventilation system, which would include, setting up equipment, prepping the kitchen, set up a ladder, setting equipment up on the rooftop, pre-spraying system, then clean the entire system from rooftop to the kitchen according N.F.P.A #96 standards, (or at least close.)
Fact is the rooftop is rarely cleaned, the service companies (and I use the term service loosely) with no insurance, no training, no ethics, and who probably don't pay any taxes leave the job in one and a half to two hours. Typically leaving the shaft and fan blades heavily laden with grease buildup. This poses a fire hazard as well as causing undue stress on the motors trying to turn those heavy fan blades.
Anyone who really knows this business is well aware it’s not for the timid. You deal with caustic chemicals, slipper surfaces, often hand scraping, your usually wet and greasy, electrical wiring that is sometimes an electrifying nightmare, etc.
Tim Tucker has posted a letter labeled " coverage" on the Delco's bulletin board. I suggest all to read it. (included below) It points out a flaw in the insurance industries policy. Insurance companies often ask for proof of cleaning yet they don’t ask if the service company is properly insured. Tim tells me that only twice, in over one hundred restaurants has he been asked to provide proof of insurance and by choosing a service company without liability insurance and bond as well as workman's comp insurance the restaurant owner and their insurer place their businesses in jeopardy.
VERY rarely have I encountered many vent-a-hood cleaners that start cleaning on the rooftop and work their way down through to the kitchen. Typically they just clean the filters and the hood. for just about the same price we charge to clean the entire system. Why don’t we charge more? Because there is no regulation to enforce N.F.P.A # 96, therefore the lowest price gets the work.
In my town there is a hood cleaner I’ll call "Company A " which stands for "Company Awful” they are notorious for only cleaning the filters and the plenum, is liked by the customers because he is 1) a good talker, 2) gets the work done in “record time” and at a “Good price”.
As I read in another posting, “unfortunately, owners place to much weight on price and not enough on quality of work.”
A (former) manager of a Burger King informed me that, I lost a bid to a company that came in $25.00 less. The manager informed me that the "other" company drove into the parking lot, unloaded equipment, cleaned the exhaust system, rolled up equipment and left the parking lot within 1 1/2 hours and of course the next day the kitchen was a mess. Chemical residue was all over the walls and within the plenum. The rooftop ventilation unit looked like someone took their wand and swept over it a few times back and forth and that was all. Most of the fan cover, the fan blades and upper portion of the exhaust system wasn't even touched. This same job would have taken my helper and myself at least 3 hours, probably longer because a lot of the exhaust system had been neglected for so long.
It's guys like this that figure about half an hour travel time, one & a half hours on the job = 2 hours or less, and do 3 to 4 jobs a night. Most of their time spent on the job consists of cleaning the filters & the visible parts of the hood. There isn’t enough time for them to get into the ductwork and the rooftop exhaust unit.
Just don't ask them anything referring to N.F.P.A. #96. They would say, Huh?
For anyone who keeps track of operating cost, our cost have sky rocketed.
Ex: beginning of this summer tarp (plastic) cost $15.96 per roll of 2mil 10x100. today 3/06 $39 (@ Lowes), We all know about the rising fuel cost and add to it the increased cost of chemicals etc. The list goes on.
Our authorities having local jurisdiction should be more involved so we could be on a more even playing field and actually have some standards and accountability for all of us to comply to. Apparently there is only so much they can do. Most city's and towns are under staffed and liability issues apparently are involved. Sounds like a lot of liability falls on us. What do you think?
Question, when a restaurant catches fire due to excessive grease build-up from inadequate cleaning maintenance, partial or no cleaning maintenance at all.
High Temperatures- from high volume cooking = Heat, along with existing flames from cooking
+ Excessive grease build-up = Fuel
+ oxygen
= Fire
What are we talking about here? What is at stake?
- Loss of revenue?
- Partial or total loss of property damage?
- Disruption in the local economy?
- Jobs lost?
- Heaven forbid loss of life
- Insurance claims, and you know the insurance company’s are going to chase liability
wherever they can.
- If within a downtown area an entire block or worse could be wiped out!
Without the support of our local authorities that have local jurisdiction in our city’ & towns the “Jobbers” are and will continue unchecked, having no accountability, they drive out charge rates down and they do the customer a great disservice by only performing partial assumed service by disregarding N.F.P.A. #96.
Many times the customer is only interested in who will place that Certificate of Compliance Sticker on their hood for the cheapest price and get out of the restaurant in the fastest time.
It’s controversial, however regulation to some degree is needed. If those of us in this industry were required to have a local business license, insurance, certification from a school approved by the authorities having local jurisdiction at least it would start making us all accountable. Just as those who service fire suppression systems are required to submit their inspection reports. If we were required to submit a copy of our “After Service Reports” this would free up the fire marshals time to do the rest of their jobs. Yes I know this is a controversial subject, but we need to work with our local fire departments, and yes it needs to be a 2-way street.
I am only trying to suggest ways that legitimate companies can be on the page and protect our business.
There are many stories, such as those posted on the Pressure Washing Institute and Delco’s Bulletin Board. Hopefully more people will continue to be pro-active in sharing on the job experiences and creative ways to increase our abilities to 1) build our company’s and increase our profits. 2) protect our customer, their workers and the public that dines at these locations.
P.S. I’m all for anyone who wants to own their own business, however if someone wants to get involved in the vent-a-hood cleaning industry, I strongly suggest working for someone else first. I did and it prepared me for a lot of unforeseeable situations, both customer related & mechanical. There is so much to learn. Depending on the scope of a job, you can get over your head real easy.
I saw this in a post:
There’ always someone willing to not clean it
for less than we would charge to clean it.
First Call, Inc
Ed Hutchinson Owner/Operations Manager
Wilmington, NC
910-538-9722
-----------------------
From: Tim Tucker
Subject: coverage
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Hello,
My name is Tim Tucker I own Tucker Cleaning Inc. in South Carolina. I have been asked many times to show service for many clients. Our service is to clean the restaurant vent hood system.
We have never been asked about our coverage from any insurance company that has gotten confirmation of our service.
We are now at risk of closing our doors and putting many customers in jeopardy.
The reason is too many in our service field are not insured. They do not carry liability, workers comp or bonding. We in the field cannot compete against such so-called service companies.
With that being said, it is also fact that many if not most are not providing the fire preventing service we are hired to do.
My question is how do we together stop this. We need to be regulated, insured, bonded and provide the service hired for. If it takes requiring certification or local government control then so be it. In this area we cannot even charge the national standards of pricing due to the fly by nighters, who for one never claim their income are not insured and put an industry at risk.
Thanks for your time
Tim Tucker President
Tucker Cleaning Inc 696 Hunts Bridge Rd. Easley, SC. 29640
864.859.5143 864.350.2292
Hello,
My name is Ed Hutchinson and along with a friend of mine Tim Tucker, owner of Tucker Cleaning Inc. in South Carolina who also owns a vent-a-hood cleaning business like myself, have been trying to involve anyone we can in being pro-active in bettering our hood cleaning industry. Tim and I both share the frustration of competing with the local "jobbers” who claim to clean an entire exhaust ventilation system, which would include, setting up equipment, prepping the kitchen, set up a ladder, setting equipment up on the rooftop, pre-spraying system, then clean the entire system from rooftop to the kitchen according N.F.P.A #96 standards, (or at least close.)
Fact is the rooftop is rarely cleaned, the service companies (and I use the term service loosely) with no insurance, no training, no ethics, and who probably don't pay any taxes leave the job in one and a half to two hours. Typically leaving the shaft and fan blades heavily laden with grease buildup. This poses a fire hazard as well as causing undue stress on the motors trying to turn those heavy fan blades.
Anyone who really knows this business is well aware it’s not for the timid. You deal with caustic chemicals, slipper surfaces, often hand scraping, your usually wet and greasy, electrical wiring that is sometimes an electrifying nightmare, etc.
Tim Tucker has posted a letter labeled " coverage" on the Delco's bulletin board. I suggest all to read it. (included below) It points out a flaw in the insurance industries policy. Insurance companies often ask for proof of cleaning yet they don’t ask if the service company is properly insured. Tim tells me that only twice, in over one hundred restaurants has he been asked to provide proof of insurance and by choosing a service company without liability insurance and bond as well as workman's comp insurance the restaurant owner and their insurer place their businesses in jeopardy.
VERY rarely have I encountered many vent-a-hood cleaners that start cleaning on the rooftop and work their way down through to the kitchen. Typically they just clean the filters and the hood. for just about the same price we charge to clean the entire system. Why don’t we charge more? Because there is no regulation to enforce N.F.P.A # 96, therefore the lowest price gets the work.
In my town there is a hood cleaner I’ll call "Company A " which stands for "Company Awful” they are notorious for only cleaning the filters and the plenum, is liked by the customers because he is 1) a good talker, 2) gets the work done in “record time” and at a “Good price”.
As I read in another posting, “unfortunately, owners place to much weight on price and not enough on quality of work.”
A (former) manager of a Burger King informed me that, I lost a bid to a company that came in $25.00 less. The manager informed me that the "other" company drove into the parking lot, unloaded equipment, cleaned the exhaust system, rolled up equipment and left the parking lot within 1 1/2 hours and of course the next day the kitchen was a mess. Chemical residue was all over the walls and within the plenum. The rooftop ventilation unit looked like someone took their wand and swept over it a few times back and forth and that was all. Most of the fan cover, the fan blades and upper portion of the exhaust system wasn't even touched. This same job would have taken my helper and myself at least 3 hours, probably longer because a lot of the exhaust system had been neglected for so long.
It's guys like this that figure about half an hour travel time, one & a half hours on the job = 2 hours or less, and do 3 to 4 jobs a night. Most of their time spent on the job consists of cleaning the filters & the visible parts of the hood. There isn’t enough time for them to get into the ductwork and the rooftop exhaust unit.
Just don't ask them anything referring to N.F.P.A. #96. They would say, Huh?
For anyone who keeps track of operating cost, our cost have sky rocketed.
Ex: beginning of this summer tarp (plastic) cost $15.96 per roll of 2mil 10x100. today 3/06 $39 (@ Lowes), We all know about the rising fuel cost and add to it the increased cost of chemicals etc. The list goes on.
Our authorities having local jurisdiction should be more involved so we could be on a more even playing field and actually have some standards and accountability for all of us to comply to. Apparently there is only so much they can do. Most city's and towns are under staffed and liability issues apparently are involved. Sounds like a lot of liability falls on us. What do you think?
Question, when a restaurant catches fire due to excessive grease build-up from inadequate cleaning maintenance, partial or no cleaning maintenance at all.
High Temperatures- from high volume cooking = Heat, along with existing flames from cooking
+ Excessive grease build-up = Fuel
+ oxygen
= Fire
What are we talking about here? What is at stake?
- Loss of revenue?
- Partial or total loss of property damage?
- Disruption in the local economy?
- Jobs lost?
- Heaven forbid loss of life
- Insurance claims, and you know the insurance company’s are going to chase liability
wherever they can.
- If within a downtown area an entire block or worse could be wiped out!
Without the support of our local authorities that have local jurisdiction in our city’ & towns the “Jobbers” are and will continue unchecked, having no accountability, they drive out charge rates down and they do the customer a great disservice by only performing partial assumed service by disregarding N.F.P.A. #96.
Many times the customer is only interested in who will place that Certificate of Compliance Sticker on their hood for the cheapest price and get out of the restaurant in the fastest time.
It’s controversial, however regulation to some degree is needed. If those of us in this industry were required to have a local business license, insurance, certification from a school approved by the authorities having local jurisdiction at least it would start making us all accountable. Just as those who service fire suppression systems are required to submit their inspection reports. If we were required to submit a copy of our “After Service Reports” this would free up the fire marshals time to do the rest of their jobs. Yes I know this is a controversial subject, but we need to work with our local fire departments, and yes it needs to be a 2-way street.
I am only trying to suggest ways that legitimate companies can be on the page and protect our business.
There are many stories, such as those posted on the Pressure Washing Institute and Delco’s Bulletin Board. Hopefully more people will continue to be pro-active in sharing on the job experiences and creative ways to increase our abilities to 1) build our company’s and increase our profits. 2) protect our customer, their workers and the public that dines at these locations.
P.S. I’m all for anyone who wants to own their own business, however if someone wants to get involved in the vent-a-hood cleaning industry, I strongly suggest working for someone else first. I did and it prepared me for a lot of unforeseeable situations, both customer related & mechanical. There is so much to learn. Depending on the scope of a job, you can get over your head real easy.
I saw this in a post:
There’ always someone willing to not clean it
for less than we would charge to clean it.
First Call, Inc
Ed Hutchinson Owner/Operations Manager
Wilmington, NC
910-538-9722
-----------------------
From: Tim Tucker
Subject: coverage
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Hello,
My name is Tim Tucker I own Tucker Cleaning Inc. in South Carolina. I have been asked many times to show service for many clients. Our service is to clean the restaurant vent hood system.
We have never been asked about our coverage from any insurance company that has gotten confirmation of our service.
We are now at risk of closing our doors and putting many customers in jeopardy.
The reason is too many in our service field are not insured. They do not carry liability, workers comp or bonding. We in the field cannot compete against such so-called service companies.
With that being said, it is also fact that many if not most are not providing the fire preventing service we are hired to do.
My question is how do we together stop this. We need to be regulated, insured, bonded and provide the service hired for. If it takes requiring certification or local government control then so be it. In this area we cannot even charge the national standards of pricing due to the fly by nighters, who for one never claim their income are not insured and put an industry at risk.
Thanks for your time
Tim Tucker President
Tucker Cleaning Inc 696 Hunts Bridge Rd. Easley, SC. 29640
864.859.5143 864.350.2292
