[Daria Taylor]

I have read many topics on here where people are saying Training Is Essential etc, which i agree with 100%,and i notices many people saying do as much as you can,ok fair enough, what would you concider as fair amount of training? go on every course that theres availiable or just 2-3 and learn rest at home from research and experience. I just dnt think that as much training as possible is always best option. it depence on a person.

[derek west]

everybody learns at different speeds, to me, training is about confidence, if your not confident, do a course, if your still not confident do it again, (possible with a different teacher)

it took me 2 goes to get carpet cleaning, after the prochem course i decided to do the ncca, that was enough to give me the confidence, ive done the cleansmart upholstery but am still not totally confident and therefore feel i will benefit from redoing the course or one similar.
i did the iicrc leather cleaning, and then went on to do the ltt4 day resto and cleaning, and believe it or not, i learnt even more about cleaning leather.

i feel i don,t need any more cc training as i learn the bits and bobs from guys on here and pick up tips from everyday work.

however i would like to learn about odour control and elimination, so if i can find a course for that i'll be there.

thats my view on training. when you know what your doing and your confident, then you don't need anymore in that particular field. but then theres the likes of rug cleaning, curtains, flood, crime scene etc...

thers always some training that can advance you further in this profession / trade / poor excuse for a job, (whatever you wanna call it) you just need to choose wisely and then exploit it to your benefit.

hope this helps.

derek

[Daria Taylor]

thanks for ur reply Derek,I understand where you are coming from, i did alot of training in my time in different things to do with business but none in carpet cleaning, as its my husband is in charge of that. i put this post up because i want to see what people think about training, as i just get the vibe on this forum that everyone is dwelling on about training all the time as if they go on one every week. thats why i would like to know how much training people have, those who are proffesionals.

Dash

[Ian Gourlay]

I have always thought the learn at home option is not very well catered for within this industry.

The emphasis apears to be drag people across the country and meet leading trainers in the industry.

This is fine  you are in a group situation  you aledgley get to bounce knowledge of other people etc., and also the instructor.
It sometimes means paying out additional costs such as hotel, meals , bar costs etc, like going on mini break.

I have asked in the past  why not have formalised distance learning.

Could be done  through Webnair  or DVDS no need for elabroate filming

In my opinion you could certainly learn the basics by this method and would be a lot more effective than a c lassroom  and you can always replay bits you need reminding off.

For instance in pictures and sound you could explain problem carpets. 

Ideally this serris eeds tobe endorced by Ashbys, Prochem Extracta or Alltec

Or a major truck manufacturer



Or perhaps  all that is needed is say The Craftex Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Manual

There are also  others available

But I have not seen them

For example Funiture Clinic sell a leather cleaning manual how good is it, is it.

Contributors on Forums apear to have lots f knowledge how much is self taught and how much from formal courses.

I have been told that  Forums are The Blind leading The Blind 

[Peter Sweeney]

Hi Ian

I don't think online learning is that far from a reality. They do it alot in the states but unfortunately it is often done with a big sales angle.

Pete

[james roffey]

At the moment i am less confident on upholstery and identifying it, on the NCCA course we were given samples etc and the usual tests to carry out but i have only so far cleaned about 4 sofas and one of them even the NCCA could not identify i took pictures of it sent samples to them but no idea they had never heard of it!
So that knocked my confidence a bit, the results i have had have been good but i dont like doing them they should have a book that carries all the materials to identify, the same with carpets would not be a bad idea but those are easier to do.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Jim the trouble with upholstery is that it can contain several fibres and it would be nigh on impossible to determine the relative proportions even with expensive analytical tests.

For example a fabric may contain Viscose, Polyester, Acrylic, and Nylon.

In my view it is better to see how it wets out and it's colour fastness rather than get to bogged down in composition.

How  something wets will good a good indication of whether there will be pile distortion issues.

Cheers

Doug

[Daria Taylor]

Ian,

Online courses vary depending on the subject, however i must say when it comes to sometthing like carpet cleaning it's hard to apply that thoery tpo practice as things can go wrong etc, you then need to know how to mend it, which proves that online studying for hands on jobs is good and bad at the same time. It works for some and not forthers like many other hins in life.

However my argument is that it doesn't matter which way you choose to learn eather self tought or go on every course that theres out there, it still depends on what you can take from it and how you will choose to apply these to practice, and my argument is that alot of newbies here are beeing critised for not havin enough training etc, therefore people get put off by doing it all together.   

Thanks,

Dash

[Daria Taylor]

At the moment i am less confident on upholstery and identifying it, on the NCCA course we were given samples etc and the usual tests to carry out but i have only so far cleaned about 4 sofas and one of them even the NCCA could not identify i took pictures of it sent samples to them but no idea they had never heard of it!
So that knocked my confidence a bit, the results i have had have been good but i dont like doing them they should have a book that carries all the materials to identify, the same with carpets would not be a bad idea but those are easier to do.

You can only become confident in something once you have done it many times.and no guides or samples will do that for us. so may be you will be better of just taking the risk, rather than thinking about it too much?if you have some knowledge and believe it will work. why not use it,rather than just rely on reasurance of someone else?
Dash

[wayne zabel]

Doug I feel the same as James Roffey about the upholstery identification,I have done the NCCA ans intend doing Cleansmart upholstery in November.

Can you elaborate a little on what you mean by wetting out please?

I did a few afternoons training with Roger(doctor carpet) and he said to wet a thumb and and press it against the fabric and see how it distorts - is this the same as what you mean by wetting out?

I have tried doing this on various fabrics but I seem to get the same results - very confusing really.

I'm not yet trading but a mate has askd to me to do his suite and I'm very wary.

Sorry that I have digressed somewhat,I realise the original thread was about training.

[clinton]

Dash

Your right on your post above.

When i started c cleaning I had the good fortune to get most of my knowledge from a very good c cleaner when i first started here in stockport who now has gone on to franchiese his set up.

I used to do 1 or 2 days a week helping this company out and not only did i get paid very well i also picked up so much and learned the pitfalls and mistakes that could have cost me money to rectify my mistakes.

[Daria Taylor]

clinton neylan

Like you said you was very lucky to be able to do it with someone. it's a great advantage because you can learn things without it costing you a carpet replacement to a customers whos carpet you just ruined. Many of people will not get that sort of opportunity these days, but there are always things you can practice on like old  carpet cut off's etc. wanna practice leather cleaning etc? can get old eather suites from charity shops next to nothing and practice on that. I just think these days training is blown out of proportion too much.
I just wish people would be more helpful on this forums to new comers and given a good advise rather than just saying,i tell you what mate you will be better off dong your training, rather than asking this questons. Dont get me wrong I sometimes think why should i share my knowledge with others etc,but then yet again its a carpet cleaning forum where we meant to help each other out with difficulties we facing. But it comes accross abit more like a general chat forum. although i must say i've picked uploads of good tricks from this forum, bu most of them from 2007-2008 postings, not very recent once, as it looks like back than people was much more helpfull towards each other.

[clinton]

Hi dash

The training i think when your a newbie is something you pick up on the way.

As you say i was lucky and do remmember my first suite clean and think it took me 4 or 5 hours lol it was almost dry when i had finished and that was with a single vac set up and no turbo dryer :

As you said you can practice at home on some upholstery and maybe some friends carpets

I still learn and pick tips up from the new guys on here as you can never have enough knowledge and i also pass some good tips on to other cleaners whom i chat to from week to week.

Up to a year or so i did not have any web sites up and from coming on here i now have 4 so the help is still on here if you look for it and many have helped me 

[clinton]

Dash

Did you get your set up- from  d a n services in manchester

[Daria Taylor]

yes why?is there a problem?

[james roffey]

Doug

I  understand the colour fastness etc that does not really bother me as its a straitforward test, But for  any adverse affects as Wayne said he did not understand "wetting out" is that just looking for a reaction to water, i feel a bit embarassd at times that i am asking a question i should know, basic stuff etc but although i have done quite a lot of training at times i think "bloody hell i dont want to do this" usually when confronted by a three piece suite which i am not 100% sure about also to get good results on upholstery in my limited experience is far harder than carpet because its delicate, would you mind taking us through the basic pre inspection you do, perhaps they should publish an idiots guide!!!  

[clinton]

Dash

I have known derek kelshaw the owner of d a n for about 15 years and he is always so helpfull.

Just purchased a spotter machine from him and must say the service is first class

[Daria Taylor]

Doug
I  understand the colour fastness etc that does not really bother me as its a straitforward test, But for  any adverse affects as Wayne said he did not understand "wetting out" is that just looking for a reaction to water, i feel a bit embarassd at times that i am asking a question i should know, basic stuff etc but although i have done quite a lot of training at times i think "bloody hell i dont want to do this" usually when confronted by a three piece suite which i am not 100% sure about also to get good results on upholstery in my limited experience is far harder than carpet because its delicate, would you mind taking us through the basic pre inspection you do, perhaps they should publish an idiots guide!!!  

I agree with you, may be everyone should get together and put a basic guide for idiots(thats f you can call ppl like that without offending anyone)it will help loads of new people, and it could be done as a pdf file which people will be able to download.

[Daria Taylor]

Dash

I have known derek kelshaw the owner of d a n for about 15 years and he is always so helpfull.

Just purchased a spotter machine from him and must say the service is first class

Alright you got me worried then, i though there may be something wrong. yeah they was brill. very helpfull ect. Great company and people.We couldn't wish for a better service.

[clinton]

Dash

Sorry

Ye its a family run company and about 6 other staff