It's not that I am against encapping, I've got all the gear for both LM and encap, Cimex R48, rotaries, pads, brushes, chemicals etc.
But I also have a whole range of other equipment and tools, a TM, portable extractor, the means to agitate with both brush and pad, the means to scrub small areas with a Minitex and a wide range of chemicals.
From my perspective, it is our mission to arrive at a job with the means to clean any carpet, regardless of age or condition and to choose from the available options the best system or technique to get that carpet, not just nearly clean, but really clean. So I could not imagine having only an encap system available to me because I would be selling both myself and more importantly the customer short in terms of producing the best possible result - but that is just me.
Are there top class exponents of LM, you bet there are, Hector being a prime example of that.
What seems absurd to me is that the part the whole encap system relies on, removing the encapsulated soil when the carpet is dry, is missed and passed onto the customer, who may or may not do it and even if they do may not do it properly, leaving potentially harmful residues in the carpet and as Hector says, that makes cleaning it a complete waste of time.
Let's not forget, our number one goal as business people is to have the clients we serve come to see us as, 'their carpet cleaner,' and we do that by the quality of the work we do and the level of service we provide to them, so that we can build a successful business for the long term.
Simon