Sanitising & Disinfecting Service

[Daniel Perkins]

Wasn't really sure where to put this. Has anyone or is anyone considering offering a type of sanitising or disinfecting service? I know this is a business on its own but with the way things are and are going to be, I thought it might be a good way to go in the future as an add on service. I've been looking at likes of fogging/misting machines & electrostatic sprayers and chems they use etc, it's very interesting and high end electrostatic sprayers are big money. Obviously some very potent chems available for spraying surfaces but there are several non toxic/plant based ones that have very little down time for the customer.

Like most things it would need an investment, whether or not people will be germaphobes from now on in or will just go back to normal when all this has died down & whether it is worth the investment remains to be seen. Anyways just thought I would put it out there for a chat and see what you guys make of it?

 

[Pjj]

It’s not something that appeals to me we are  busy  enough with windows, UPVC cleans, softwashing ,pressure washing , I don’t want any more jobs or kit , to a degree I also feel it’s specialist cleaning , but each to there own 

 

[Part Timer]

I think @Chris34 did some cleaning at the start of the virus. Don't think it was the full clean but might have seen it being done

 

[Daniel Perkins]

Yeah I suppose you already have several facets to your business. I think for me doing mostly commercial trad and wfp cleaning on likes of stores, restaurants, pubs, coffee shops etc I was just thinking it might be an interesting option to put to them when they all open back up (well if there is any of them left!!). I wouldn't be doing soft washing or pressure washing myself so I might do a little more research into offering another type of cleaning option considering hygiene is all the rage now. 

I agree it is a special cleaning service and many companies around the world do it specifically. Because i am already on the premises of shopping malls, centres, streets and outlets and dealing with owners who have businesses/premises all around the city I thought maybe it's something to at least do a little research into. Just yet another investment is a sticking point ya know.

 

[Daniel Perkins]

I think @Chris34 did some cleaning at the start of the virus. Don't think it was the full clean but might have seen it being done

Interesting, it's definitely something certain businesses likes gym, creches, pubs and restaurants will jump on imo but there are companies around doing this for years and fully equipped. I suppose I am just thinking if the commercial window cleaning is put on the long finger... maybe in these crazy times sanitising premises where staff are might be something of interest for business owners.

 

[Part Timer]

Trouble with the list you've mentioned the majority will be the last ones allowed to open.

 

[Pjj]

Yeah I suppose you already have several facets to your business. I think for me doing mostly commercial trad and wfp cleaning on likes of stores, restaurants, pubs, coffee shops etc I was just thinking it might be an interesting option to put to them when they all open back up (well if there is any of them left!!). I wouldn't be doing soft washing or pressure washing myself so I might do a little more research into offering another type of cleaning option considering hygiene is all the rage now. 

I agree it is a special cleaning service and many companies around the world do it specifically. Because i am already on the premises of shopping malls, centres, streets and outlets and dealing with owners who have businesses/premises all around the city I thought maybe it's something to at least do a little research into. Just yet another investment is a sticking point ya know.

It’s never a bad thing to diversify , but for  us we have enough work and don't want to become a jack of all trades master of none ????but for you it might be a big thing to help out in difficult times just wonder once this has all blown over if sanitising will go  what it was before covid 19 ??? 

 

[Daniel Perkins]

Trouble with the list you've mentioned the majority will be the last ones allowed to open.

Aye and unfortunately I do think many won't even make it that far.

 

[Daniel Perkins]

It’s never a bad thing to diversify , but for  us we have enough work and don't want to become a jack of all trades master of none ????but for you it might be a big thing to help out in difficult times just wonder once this has all blown over if sanitising will go  what it was before covid 19 ??? 

Absolutely mate, me myself i've been saying that about alot of cleaning companies over the years that do all sorts but don't do it well.. jack of all. Yeah unfortunately for me being mostly commercial, the sector has been massively hit. This is the thing I suppose it's just hard to know whether the investment will be worth while. A quick google and you'll find especially in the states, this hygiene cleaning companies are all over the covid saga, absolutely making a mint out of this. Ah sure I'll do a bit of research into it anyways. just thought I would put it out to the knowledge base on here

 

[moto]

Most commercial customers (all hospitality) dont have money (no cash flow) to pay for it now... there may be some work when they start reopening.

 

[Daniel Perkins]

Most commercial customers (all hospitality) dont have money (no cash flow) to pay for it now... there may be some work when they start reopening.

That was my thinking, option for the future. Most of this stuff coming for the states and their all back ordered for god knows how long anyways. Might be a little add on for residential too. See how thing go over next few months and then might look into it.

 

[Karlosdaze]

Yes, I'm also looking down this route as being in Mallorca they are not opening the airport & letting my clients in or opening the hotels for a while yet. Have ordered a machine, but have a feeling this sort of work may need a special permit as you would be spraying chemicals.

I'm mostly looking in to dry fogging with Hydrogen Peroxide as it's fast, quick, covers more surface area & 10x quicker. It is also the hospital solution. Problem is getting any kind of info' at all. From mixes to spraying to what is dangerous etc. Everything I read seems to contradict each other. Would be interested in any info' you have about dry fogging or point me in the right direction, especially on mixing ratios.

 

[Chris34]

That was my thinking, option for the future. Most of this stuff coming for the states and their all back ordered for god knows how long anyways. Might be a little add on for residential too. See how thing go over next few months and then might look into it.

Yeah I've just finished a temporary employed job doing contact cleaning, I had to take it as my window cleaning customer base isn't high enough to be relied upon in times of uncertainty.  The job I did was just cleaning everything that people touch in office communal areas, this was just 4 hours each day over two sites, but it worked out around £1,400 for me for 6 weeks, so the office management company would have been paying more than that and that was just contact points, they were still paying for the regular evening cleaning even though the buildings were almost empty.

Whilst doing the job I bumped into a carpet cleaner, well two actually on separate occasions at each site, they work for a very successful commercial operation and as well as carpet cleaning they also do hard surface floors, stripping sealing etc.  Anyway both of them were telling me that at the moment they're flat out, they're trying to keep up with all the regular carpet cleaning and other floor work but they're also sanitizing offices with these fog machines all suited up.  It's different to what I was doing but they said they also are really busy doing the type of work what I was doing.  One of them was telling me that his boss reckons that they're going to be getting loads of this type of work over the coming months.  Basically he said that they give them some sort of certificate to say that the building has been sanitized, it's that certificate that covers the buildings owners backside by the sounds of it.

If you're doing commercial and are expecting to struggle then I'd say absolutely just get onto it straight away, I wouldn't wait another second because the money to be made from it will be now, if anything you've already lost 6 weeks income from that type of work and by the sounds of it you can charge top dollar for it.  When all these gyms, pubs etc start to open the first thing they will be doing prior to opening is having a thorough clean down, imagine telling them that you can sanitize the whole building to make it safe, think a lot will be wanting you there straight away.

You will need to do a crash course on safety and whether you need any form of certification but all that can be done in no time if you put in the effort.

Yeah given what you say I'd definitely get onto it, sounds like you already have your foot in the door so you've already got a massive head start over anybody starting at the same time.

 

[Pjj]

Yes, I'm also looking down this route as being in Mallorca they are not opening the airport & letting my clients in or opening the hotels for a while yet. Have ordered a machine, but have a feeling this sort of work may need a special permit as you would be spraying chemicals.

I'm mostly looking in to dry fogging with Hydrogen Peroxide as it's fast, quick, covers more surface area & 10x quicker. It is also the hospital solution. Problem is getting any kind of info' at all. From mixes to spraying to what is dangerous etc. Everything I read seems to contradict each other. Would be interested in any info' you have about dry fogging or point me in the right direction, especially on mixing ratios.

I would imagine you would have to have some form of training and certification that would take time to get and an understanding of the chemicals being used , not something  can be done over night .

 

[Karlosdaze]

I would imagine you would have to have some form of training and certification that would take time to get and an understanding of the chemicals being used , not something  can be done over night .

It's pretty much pay your taxes & you can be a brain surgeon over here. It's only when something goes wrong they start asking questions. I'm really just looking for any blog or newbie site to get me going on this dry fogging stuff. 

 

[Daniel Perkins]

@Karlosdaze @Chris34

I've been doing a bit of research over the last week, there are fogging/misting machines which I was looking into originally but a lot of them were used for pesticide and the outdoors and seem very powerful, lot of liquid spray etc. I have been looking more into cordless electrostatic sprayers, bit more subtle but certainly a fair bit more expensive and in short supply. It gives a charge to the solution so it you get full coverage on whatever you are spraying and can evenly wrap around it as oppose to fogging which just sprays where you direct it.

3 times more coverage on whatever you are spraying but they as I said, they are very pricey and hard to get at the moment. I've seen a lot of employers in the states that own gyms/creches/care homes/hospitals etc getting using these for their staff to use. Probably a great thing for an employer to buy as staff can use more regularly and so little time and effort in comparison to spray bottle and cloth. Clean and sanitise in one. Also, the US have a different mindset to us at the best of times so it's hard to gauge.

I looked at Steramine tabs which have been used by restaurants and pubs for years which is non caustic and can you go on clothes, food prep equipment, dishes, glasses etc so not as harsh as peroxides etc. Kills covid in 10 mins, other dissolvable tabs Purtabs kill SARS-CoV-2 in 1 minute but not specially covid 19 just the family it comes from. So you aren't saying to people listen leave the building for a few hours kinda thing, just don't touch the surface for 10 mins. Now all this sounds good and it's probably potentially could be a nice side business considering that mass paranoia may stick, a little add on to offer commercial sites along with window clean but there' a few things that i'm not sure about.

1) This is all the rage now because of one thing and that's not the virus as such, it's making money. Massive hygiene demand and lot of people trying to cash in on a global pandemic. Will that always be the case or will people just go back to normal when this dies down? Was it big business before all this? 

2) I've already invested a ton of money over the last 4 years so spending another couple of grand i'm not sure about and with an impending recession on the horizon. Me and the missus are comfortable enough for the time being but long term I dunno.

3) The most important one for me.. Lack of knowledge. Simply put, I have zero experience in this, theory is great but nothing beats practical experience imo. I can read the literature and watch the videos but really and truly I would like training and a course in this to feel confident about approaching big businesses making claims. At the end of day, I would be essentially saying to customers "Hey, i have a sanitising machine that kills covid 19", that would be my sell. That's a big statement to make, so making sure that firstly, it does that effectively and secondly what I am doing and using is not dangerous or harmful is something that would worry me at the moment. There is also the insurance aspect, I would have to speak to them about it.

That's just off the top of my head. I don't do anything unless i'm absolutely sure about it. No harm in looking and doing a bit of research but it's a big deal imo spraying any chems in someone's business or home and one that I will have to think about. I'm not worried about missing a trick with stores I do now, as to be honest most the f**kers are still closed lol, so nothing I can do. The ones that are open likes of chemists, specsavers, garages, health stores etc like everybody else are watching their bottom line but also I can see their social distancing measures already and how paranoid they are, although it's mostly optics imo.

What i mean by that is how the safe and confident the customer feels about entering their clean and hygienic environment. All about appearance and how their business looks from the outside and that they seem to be doing a good job of negating the spread of the virus. It just gives my an insight into the mindset of stores when they do open. Window cleaning will quickly fall to the bottom of the list when it comes to money, seen it happen so many times before, I don't think they will stop it fully but absolutely there will be cut backs. Hence why i'm looking into other avenues and maybe sanitising might be the way forward.

So in short, f**k knows lol. 

 

[Chris34]

@Karlosdaze @Chris34

I've been doing a bit of research over the last week, there are fogging/misting machines which I was looking into originally but a lot of them were used for pesticide and the outdoors and seem very powerful, lot of liquid spray etc. I have been looking more into cordless electrostatic sprayers, bit more subtle but certainly a fair bit more expensive and in short supply. It gives a charge to the solution so it you get full coverage on whatever you are spraying and can evenly wrap around it as oppose to fogging which just sprays where you direct it.

3 times more coverage on whatever you are spraying but they as I said, they are very pricey and hard to get at the moment. I've seen a lot of employers in the states that own gyms/creches/care homes/hospitals etc getting using these for their staff to use. Probably a great thing for an employer to buy as staff can use more regularly and so little time and effort in comparison to spray bottle and cloth. Clean and sanitise in one. Also, the US have a different mindset to us at the best of times so it's hard to gauge.

I looked at Steramine tabs which have been used by restaurants and pubs for years which is non caustic and can you go on clothes, food prep equipment, dishes, glasses etc so not as harsh as peroxides etc. Kills covid in 10 mins, other dissolvable tabs Purtabs kill SARS-CoV-2 in 1 minute but not specially covid 19 just the family it comes from. So you aren't saying to people listen leave the building for a few hours kinda thing, just don't touch the surface for 10 mins. Now all this sounds good and it's probably potentially could be a nice side business considering that mass paranoia will stick, a little add on to offer commercial sites along with window clean but there' a few things that i'm not sure about.

1) This is all the rage now because of one thing and that's not the virus as such, it's making money. Massive hygiene demand and lot of people trying to cash in on a global pandemic. Will that always be the case or will people just go back to normal when this dies down? Was it big business before all this? 

2) I've already invested a ton of money over the last 4 years so spending another couple of grand i'm not sure about and with an impending recession on the horizon? Me and the missus are comfortable enough for the time being but long term I dunno.

3) The most important one for me.. Lack of knowledge. Simply put, I have zero experience in this, theory is great but nothing beats practical experience imo. I can read the literature and watch the videos but really and truly I would like training and a course in this to feel confident about approaching big businesses making claims. At the end of day, I would be essentially saying to customers "Hey, i have a sanitising machine that kills covid 19", that would be my sell. That's a big statement to make, so making sure that firstly, it does that effectively and secondly what I am doing and using is not dangerous or harmful is something that would worry me at the moment. There is also the insurance aspect, I would have to speak to them about it.

That's just off the top of my head. I don't do anything unless i'm absolutely sure about it. No harm in looking and doing a bit of research but it's a big deal imo spraying any chems in someone's business or home and one that I will have to think about. I'm not worried about missing a trick with stores I do now, as to be honest most the f**kers are still closed lol, so nothing I can do. The ones that are open likes of chemists, specsavers, garages, health stores etc like everybody else are watching their bottom line. It just gives my an insight into the mindset of stores when they do open. Window cleaning will quickly fall to the bottom of the list when it comes to money, seen it happen so many times before hence why i'm looking into other avenues.

So in short, f**k knows lol. 

I fully agree with you and it's the exact same thing that I would be concerned about a] will it harm anybody b] can I say it's virus free.

When I was doing the contact cleaning I said to the people coming in what I was doing but I made it clear to them that it doesn't mean it's safe to touch everything as it will never be 100 percent safe, but it was doing everything we can to make it safer.  You still have to follow all the advice of washing your hands before you eat etc.

If I was to go into doing the fogging service I would probably approach it from the same direction and try and distance myself from saying it kills every virus in the room.  I'd also feel a lot safer just doing outside work, doing pathways etc.

Like you say though, window cleaning for you might take a massive hit, so as in all businesses they say 'adapt or die', if the fogging service keeps you going then it would be worth it.  

I'd be more concerned with my own health, breathing in the chemicals and also the effectiveness of the fogging.  If I knew it improved the cleanliness even by 80 percent then I'd be happy and if it had no long term effects on my own health then that would be enough for me to do it. 

 

[Daniel Perkins]

I fully agree with you and it's the exact same thing that I would be concerned about a] will it harm anybody b] can I say it's virus free.

When I was doing the contact cleaning I said to the people coming in what I was doing but I made it clear to them that it doesn't mean it's safe to touch everything as it will never be 100 percent safe, but it was doing everything we can to make it safer.  You still have to follow all the advice of washing your hands before you eat etc.

If I was to go into doing the fogging service I would probably approach it from the same direction and try and distance myself from saying it kills every virus in the room.  I'd also feel a lot safer just doing outside work, doing pathways etc.

Like you say though, window cleaning for you might take a massive hit, so as in all businesses they say 'adapt or die', if the fogging service keeps you going then it would be worth it.  

I'd be more concerned with my own health, breathing in the chemicals and also the effectiveness of the fogging.  If I knew it improved the cleanliness even by 80 percent then I'd be happy and if it had no long term effects on my own health then that would be enough for me to do it. 

Absolutely agree with everything you said. I mean I have asthma myself so it's something I would have to be careful about, strong bleach is not good for it. I think though I will have to do something, I never thought it would go on this long and followed every instruction we had over here in Ireland. It does seem though that most governments really and truly haven't got a clue what to do and what will happen in the future, it really is a wait and see staggered approach, meanwhile businesses are crumbling. At some stage they will have to let people out and about and take the hit, we cannot go on like this forever. 

I was looking at foggers and the Ryobi one looks good and is not mad money, imo it would be a great outdoor option. Cordless, powerful and mid range price. I almost bought it but it would probably be too powerful to use inside a premise. WCW jumped on the sanitising stuff few weeks ago, they have a fogger for £500, the Ryobi one would be nearly half the price, just smaller litres. Lots of them popping up everywhere all the rage now.

 

[Karlosdaze]

I was looking at foggers and the Ryobi one looks good and is not mad money, imo it would be a great outdoor option. Cordless, powerful and mid range price. I almost bought it but it would probably be too powerful to use inside a premise. WCW jumped on the sanitising stuff few weeks ago, they have a fogger for £500, the Ryobi one would be nearly half the price, just smaller litres. Lots of them popping up everywhere all the rage now.

I've been looking at hot/dry foggers compared to all the wet/mist foggers & there seems to be a huge difference & in workload as well. The dry/hot foggers are more than twice as effective & a lot quicker to disinfect getting into every crevice over the wet mist ones. Also.. you would have to dry all the surfaces after the mist foggers whereas I'm under the impression with the dry foggers, it is more like smoke than a wet mist. 

I'm yet to receive my butane handheld unit, but it should arrive in the next few days. I'm just looking for chemicals now & mixture ratios. There is sparse info' online.

Tbh - if you just wanted a sprayer, you could use any backpack, they come with all the nozzles anyway - well they used to. If you order the wcw wfp models they usually have taken them away when they modified them. The videos I've watched, it's the electrostatic sprayers that seem better to disinfect more area than just misters calling themselves foggers. 

 

[Daniel Perkins]

I've been looking at hot/dry foggers compared to all the wet/mist foggers & there seems to be a huge difference & in workload as well. The dry/hot foggers are more than twice as effective & a lot quicker to disinfect getting into every crevice over the wet mist ones. Also.. you would have to dry all the surfaces after the mist foggers whereas I'm under the impression with the dry foggers, it is more like smoke than a wet mist. 

I'm yet to receive my butane handheld unit, but it should arrive in the next few days. I'm just looking for chemicals now & mixture ratios. There is sparse info' online.

Tbh - if you just wanted a sprayer, you could use any backpack, they come with all the nozzles anyway - well they used to. If you order the wcw wfp models they usually have taken them away when they modified them. The videos I've watched, it's the electrostatic sprayers that seem better to disinfect more area than just misters calling themselves foggers. 

Yeah dry time apparently depends on what chem you use. Electrostatic sprayers absolutely better for disinfect and more effective. Curious to know how you get on with the thermal fogger, haven't looked much into them.

 

[Karlosdaze]

Another thing to look at is these new Wagtail Hygenic squeegees. Those units the health inspector used in the video cost a fortune, think at least a 1000 quid. I think the only place that sells those squeegees at the moment & at half price is the WCA. Here's the video: