Steve Hanson

Frequent vacuuming is an important part of keeping carpets looking clean. Because carpet hides soil so well, many building owners and managers think their carpets are clean, when they're actually quite dirty. That's why it's important that you, as a cleaning company owner, educate your customer on how often carpet should be vacuumed.

The first thing you need to look at is how heavy the foot traffic is in different parts of the building. Some areas will need more frequent vacuuming than others. Here is a breakdown of heavy, medium, and light traffic areas that are common to most buildings.

• Heavy Traffic Areas. These areas should be vacuumed daily because they receive the most traffic every day. The heaviest traffic areas are the entryways. The front entry is often given the most attention, but don't forget that employees and vendors frequently use other entryways in the building, so these must be vacuumed daily too. Other high traffic areas include lobbies, reception areas, elevators, hallways on the first floor, vending machine areas or coffee centers, and breakrooms.
  
  
• Medium Traffic Areas. These areas may need to be vacuumed just two or three times a week. Medium traffic areas would include office areas, hallways and upper levels.
  
  
• Light Traffic Areas. These areas will probably need to be vacuumed just once a week.Light traffic areas would include areas not used very frequently like conference rooms or empty offices.
  
  
• Detail Vacuuming. Most cleaning companies detail vacuum offices once a month. Detail vacuuming involves using a back pack vacuum with crevice tool attachments. These tools help you to get into hard to reach areas like underneath desks, between file cabinets, and along the walls where dust and debris collects.

Every building is different, so be sure to review the amount of traffic in each building before deciding what frequency of vacuuming is needed in each area. Also, include your customer in this decision as they will be able to give you more information about traffic patterns.

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Steve Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through his online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com.