Respect to Customer's Homes

Anyone have anything they do while at the customer's home that they do that protects the carpet or otherwise?

I'm going to list a poll to see if anyone follows a few...


Leaving the job cleaner than the way it was when you arrived is a good motto to follow.

I know it sucks and it is time consuming....but never give the customer an excuse to complain for whatever reason.

You make a huge impact on your customer base because more than likely they've had "others" and if they walk in your home smelling like a

cigarrette and wearing the last sewer clog on your boots, you are telling them instantly that you're there for the almighty buck and clean
my mess up.

Too often I see the remains of what I call shoddy workmanship. Leaving trails of solder down your newly installed copper piping system,

flux to green and corrode

solder balls all over the top of the water heater or burning up a wood floor or linoleum.

I've been to homes where the last water heater that went bad is sitting there next to the NEXT one needing to be replaced, box, flue pipe, everything.

My customers have no complaints when I drop those large cloths on their wood floors in front of their kitchen sink or lavatory. Sometimes just moving your feet around
on those floors can scuff a black mark on them.

It won't kill you to walk into their yard and pick up their daily newspaper either; they'll appreciate the kind act. Just don't get into their mailbox and get their mail, that's a no-no.

Here's a biggie

It's outside the home but makes good sense....


If you are in a subdivision and you are driving who and what you represent, by all means


Stop at the stop signs. You are normally in a neighborhood with kids and those customers looking out the windows or in their yards watching you drive by see this.

They pay attention to the fool rolling through stop signs and disregarding the safety you just violated because you are in a hurry to get to your next paycheck.

Set of new brake pads isn't going to kill you to come to complete stops, the next paying customer will remind you of seeing you in the neighborhood.

Rugged...that is completely my take on it also

I never have cleaned the door handles or shop vac'ed the area, but I always take a broom and dust pan and clean up ..lay down a clean cloth for my toolbox and NEVER lay a tool on the counter........and don"t oogle his trophy wife. .(only I can do that, but very very discreetly). ....and watch our language and say "sir "and "ma'am"(I'm a southern boy)....never picked up their paper but I have carried in a bag of groceries
most of my service work is in a couple gated communities and repeat customers and referrals keep us quite busy..

I'm with you guys ,,,,,,,, image & personality are 70% of it !

Keep it clean , Be nice , Do your job well ==== WORK !

on a note about shoes-- Have bought the same diehard smooth bottom boots from sears for 27 years . Throw down one of my towels when I walk in, wipe these great boots off a few times ,,,,,, you can almost hear the customers say , " Wow" . Still , I want to buy the booties with SLIP GUARD ! the regular ones will kill ya !

A footnote to one of your post: As you are driving 20-25 MPH through one of your neighborhoods , Make sure you give the folks who are walking or out in the yard a smile and a wave . They will most certainly look hard at your truck and remember you . Works ALL THE TIME.

Cal

Know I've posted this before ,,but I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS PRODUCT

www.carpetsaver.com

of ALL the drop cloth types I've used ,,,,this is the BEST STUFF !!

Cal

if you know what you are doing......

If you know what the ehck you are doing,

you dont need drop clothes or booties....

booties are for sissies...

just kidding........




I have use lots and lots of water heater cardboard to
make runners through the home if needed....

they work great and seem to be easier to
roll in and out water heaters on.....
they are ultra clean and work like very heavy duty runners...



I tell them I cant do a thing about the stairs....

I am not gonna get myself or someone hurt
trying to navagate a water heater up a filght of
stairs with visqueen on them...

You can tell when you got a total neat freak on your
hands.....they can be a trip to deal with.....kinda of fun
sometimes....

on the other hand
some people I go to are so damn filthy dirty and nasty
that I want to wear booties and overalls
just to keep myself clean while I am in their
hell hole.........

I take my shoes off and clothes off at my door before I
step into my own home.....

those people I usually let clean up the mess for me....

and of course they never do....and it just lays where it fell...

We use alot of painters type drop cloths at work, light canvas 4' by 16'. Work great for stairs. Seems that everyone has white carpet around here.

'Leaker' water heaters get a diaper (garbage bag or two on the bottom, lol).

Tyvek booties always make a good impression. (although they usually tear when I try to fit them over my size 11 Wolverines) My boots do not come off until I'm at home, period.

Sweat joints I always wipe down. I clean and 'put a bit of polish' on everything I put in or work on, for it's only gonna look worse from here on out.

A bright, shiny faucet on a POS sink can somehow make the bill more palatable for the customer.

I always pick up the newspaper for the customer. Why walk over it when getting to the door?

Service with a SMILE! I've never bought booties. I almost always wear good clean tennis shoes with velcro straps ($10 at Walmart) inside the house and if I need to do the bootie thing I wrap visqueen over my shoes and tie it with duct tape. NOTHING get dragged across a corner or a bare floor or carpet. When I meet the customer I try to use the shortest route to my truck with the least turns and furthest from fragile items.

I get aggravated here at times with the way *some* of the pros treat the weekend-warrior... but I have to say, this thread is very nice to read and impressive.

Last night into the wee hours I had to replace a sewage ejector pump...

customer had me drain the water heater I replaced in 05 which proved useful to let her hear the new S.E. run.

I cleaned the dust off the top of the heater and as soon as she saw me start to do it she exclaimed " I was going to do that but it would take a ladder for me...been like that for a year!"

Also when I was nylon strapping the electrical feed for the pump, she asked if I would mind strapping up a cable wire that electrical tape wouldn't hold the last 5 times she tried to do it herself.


No ladder, 3 minutes later I solved a minor problem that gave her peace of mind and appreciation for the miniscule task.

For the most part, people are good natured. Yes, plumbers are expensive but I don't recall being immune to the nasty filth I dealt with last night.

That's high hazard pay. What helped in her scenario last night was I sent her a $20 gift certificate with no expiration date to use on her next plumbing service.

Sure enough, first thing she mentioned when I got there and I have no problems with their use. She spent $700 with me last time I dealt with her and rightly so, deserves the discount.

OldPete said:

I get aggravated here at times with the way *some* of the pros treat the weekend-warrior... but I have to say, this thread is very nice to read and impressive.

Click to expand...

Ironic, I was just thinking the same thing. How impressive and professional. Demonstrates concern for other peoples furnishings.

Hats off to y'all!

So, where do I find the plumber with these qualities in Woodstock, Georgia?

as i look in the mirror....

I'd add one more thing to the poll. Don't smoke in the customer's house. As a non smoker, I don't want my house stinking of tobacco smoke. I changed mechanics because he and his partner both smoke in customer's cars. Many years ago I worked in an auto repair shop and my boss always stressed to do something that was not part of the repair job and write it on the repair order at "no charge". It paid off.

I had a plumber who not only smoked in my bathroom while fixing it, but, then tossed his butts out the window onto my deck. Well, one burned a hole in the umbrella and one, on the deck itself. When he asked if he could smoke prior, I did tell him no, because my son has got severe sinus problems. Nice eh.

^I would have tossed him out right on his head

seriously....
on his head!