mattressfabric

People and businesses are moving from homes, apartments, and offices on a daily basis.  As people and businesses move, they either need their old location cleaned or want to make sure their new location is clean before moving in.  Your cleaning company can fill this niche by providing what is known as move-in/move-out cleaning.  It can be an added service that your cleaning business provides, a way to give employees new skills, and a great way for your company to make more profit!

Move in/out cleaning can be cleaning a building after an old tenant moves out or before a new tenant moves in.  The type of clients looking for move in/out cleaning includes residential and commercial property owners and managers. Commercial move in/out cleaning can vary from small, quick jobs of just a few thousand square feet to large office buildings of 15,000 square feet and up.

A good place to start when looking for move in/out cleaning accounts is to contact property management companies.  If you happen to be located in a college town there will probably be no shortage of work.  If you have been cleaning commercial buildings, your clients will no doubt ask you to provide move in/out cleaning services when they move into a new office or building.

When first starting out with move in/out cleaning it may be necessary to meet with the property manager on-site to give an estimate on the time it will take to clean the apartment, office, or building. Once you establish a relationship with the property manager you may be able to skip doing an estimate and just bill for your time.  They will most likely need floor cleaning services too (carpet, tile, wood).  These are specialized cleaning services, which you will charge separately for. Offering these specialized services will also add more profitability to your cleaning company since you will charge more for these services.

The prices charged will vary depending on the type of facility you are cleaning, but you should be able to bill $20 - $25 for your services.  Apartment buildings tend to be less profitable than commercial buildings because many apartment managers have a budget to adhere to, so they like their cleaning contractors to bill a flat fee because it's easier to stick to their budget. Cleaning contractors need to be cautious about bidding this way. Some apartments take much longer to clean than others so you don't want to lose money because you underestimated your time.

No matter if you are cleaning a residential apartment, home or a commercial building there are several steps you should take to guarantee your success and your customer's satisfaction with your move in/out cleaning services.

      Use teams of 2 chiffon fabric to 4 people for apartment cleaning, depending on the size of the apartment. Larger teams may be needed for commercial locations.

Team members should be specialists in the tasks they are performing. For example, in a two person team, one person will be assigned to dusting, windows, and vacuuming. One person will be assigned to bathrooms, kitchens, hard floor vacuuming, and mopping.

The team leader is responsible for making sure that all equipment and supplies are brought to the job site and gathered when the job is complete. Put all tools and chemicals into a plastic tote.

        Before you begin check with the client to make sure the job site has working utilities.  You cannot clean without running water and you need electricity to run a vacuum.  If it is the middle of the summer, you should make sure the building's air-conditioning is working properly.  Cleaning chemicals and drying times can be affected by heat and humidity.

        Begin cleaning by removing all trash.  Pick up all trash that is too large to vacuum. You will be able to vacuum more efficiently as you will not have to stop and pick up large objects.

        Use a microfiber flat mop for cleaning ceilings, walls, baseboards, and doors.

         Proper vacuuming is an important step in move in/out cleaning.  Using a backpack vacuum with the proper attachments can speed up the tasks at hand and make work easier on the cleaning staff.  Remember to vacuum from high to low, including light fixtures, window tracks, blinds, and along the baseboards.  It is also much easier to vacuum out cabinets and drawers than wiping them.

Some of these items will need to be wiped down after vacuuming; light fixtures, insides of cabinets and drawers, ceiling vents, heat registers, and blinds.         Windows and patio doors should be washed with an applicator and squeegee. Use scrapers or #0000 steel wool to remove stickers and bugs. Be sure the window is wet when using these tools or you could scratch the glass. Frames and tracks should be vacuumed and then wiped down.

        After picking up trash and vacuuming, start cleaning the stuck-on grime and dirt.  Chemicals to have on hand include: bowl cleaner, fume-free oven cleaner, window cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, degreaser, neutral floor cleaner, stainless steel polish, and furniture polish.  Save money by using concentrated chemicals rather than RTU (ready-to-use) chemicals.

Spray spots and make sure you give dwell time so the chemicals have time to work.  It is important that you have enough air movement so employees do not breathe in fumes. Make sure that your employees have the correct personal protective equipment (gloves, goggles, etc.) when working with chemicals.

        Deep cleaning. If you need to loosen build-up, use the correct cleaning tools - paper towels, terry cloth rags, microfiber cloths, pads, brushes and scrapers.  Use caution when using these tools - you don't want to damage surfaces.

       Use paper towels, terry cloth rags, or microfiber cloths for most cleaning tasks.  Use a green microfiber cloth for dusting; blue for windows, glass and polished surfaces; red for cleaning restrooms and yellow for countertops, sinks and walls.

     Use hand brushes for scrubbing showers, sinks, stoves, and refrigerators. Use grout brushes for cleaning up grout on countertops and ceramic tile floors.  Toothbrushes can be used for detail cleaning around faucets and around the rims in toilet bowls.

      Use white pads for surfaces such as glass, chrome, stainless steel and plastic. This is because white pads are not as abrasive as green pads.

      Green pads are good for greasy areas including cabinets, toilets and scrubbing shower stalls. Be careful when using green pads however, as they can scratch surfaces.

    Use a 2" utility scraper for build-up and adhesives in kitchens and bathrooms.

      Save time by spraying the inside of the refrigerator and showers/tubs with a pump-up sprayer rather than using a spray bottle. When cleaning kitchens, be sure to pull out the stove and refrigerator. Clean the walls, sides of appliances, sides of cabinets, floor, and vacuum the coils. Also clean the oven hood and filters.

      Clean floors last. Use the backpack vacuum to give the floors a final vacuuming, and then mop all hard surface flooring.

Offering move in/out services is one way to start your cleaning business. It also provides a way for an established cleaning company to provide added services to their existing clients while putting extra dollars onto the bottom line.

This is meant to be two quick and reusable ideas that can change the entire look of a room if several pillows and lamps of varying sizes are decorated in this way.

PILLOW MATERIALS

A decorator pillow (new or used) 
Fabric (holiday or Seasonal) enough to cover the pillow, envelope style 
Cording or braiding to trim completely around the edge of the pillow 
Any other embellishments you want 
Glue gun and glue sticks  
Needle and thread, or Velcro strips or Velcro dots

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Place the pillow in the center of the wrong side of the fabric and fold all sides to the front center of the pillow. If you have to, tuck the edges in tightly and create an "envelope"-fold-over.

2) Glue or sew this flap onto the fabric to "seal" the new covering of the pillow.

NOTE: If you're using Velcro, attach the strips/dots of the Velcro to the underside of this fold-over flap and the opposite pieces of the strips/dots to the fabric beneath this fold-over flap. Velcro can be attached by gluing.

3) Decorate the pillow by gluing any embellishments onto the side of the pillow that you wish to use as the "viewed" side. If the folding has been done neatly, you can glue or hand sew embellishments onto the center of the fold-over area to cover how you've "sealed" the covering (covering the stitches or any visible glue).

NOTE:  Whenever each holiday is over, carefully cut the stitching, or cut around the fold-over section to remove the fabric from the pillow and re-cover the pillow with the next fabric. Save the removed fabric to either use on a smaller pillow, or use on smaller craft ideas the following year.

LAMPSHADE MATERIALS

A lamp and shade 
Fabric to cover the shade 
Velcro strips or Velcro dots 
Glue gun and glue sticks 
Fabric or craft glue (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1) When making a flat "skirt" to cover the lamp shade, measure the height and diameter of the shade and add 1 inch to the height and 1 inch to the diameter. This allows for two 1/2" seams horizontally and vertically, making double-fabric seams on which to attach the Velcro dots in order to attach the skirt to the shade.  (The instructions say "dots" but you can also use strips.)

2) Lay the fabric on a flat surface, wrong side facing you.

3) Fold the top and bottom horizontal edges over 1/2" and fabric-glue (or craft-glue) each seam down.  Repeat with the two vertical seams of the fabric.  Allow to dry.  (You can use hot glue instead of craft glue.)

4) Hot-glue the Velcro dots, evenly spaced, onto the two newly created horizontal seams.  Hot-glue the closing dots to the vertical skirt seam Satin Chiffon fabric Manufacturers (place them on the "wrong" side of the fabric so they won't show when you finish attaching the skirt).

5) Hot-glue the opposite (closing) dots, evenly spaced, around the top and bottom outside horizontal sections of the lampshade.

6) Hot-glue more Velcro dots vertically onto the lampshade, evenly spaced, for the one closing side seam of the skirt to match (reserve the closing dots for hot-gluing onto the fabric's vertical seam).

7) Wrap the fabric skirt around the lampshade by matching the Velcro strips/dots and attaching the skirt to the shade.

8) Hot-glue items onto the lampshade that pertain to the holiday or season and that also match the pillow(s).  You've then created a wonderful decorating statement.

When the holiday or season is over, remove the skirt and replace it with another one that you've made for the next season or holiday. The Velcro dots remain on the lamp shade in order to attach the next skirt to it. If the heat from the lamp loosens the glue holding the Velcro dots on, simply glue them again.

What is this thing called cross stitch? Well...in a way, cross stitch is just like embroidery or needlepoint. But that one statement will often bring many handcrafters to the boiling point. Die hards from each type of craft think that their own craft is the best and they just don't like being compared to the others.

So...to simplify things lets say that cross stitch is mainly stitching with planned x's like this xxx or angles like this ///// or this or lines like this ----- with loops and controlled knots. Now you just put the stitches together and you yourself can create some of the most beautiful gifts you have ever given to anyone.

Let's Look at Some Basics

Cross-Stitch has become such a popular type of handcraft that you often find the crafters no longer use a kit for their projects, they create their own. But, before you can go out on your own and start creating your own art, you will need to know more about the fabrics, thread, needles and frames. That's why most Crafters start out with a kit. Also when you buy patterns or kits, sometimes you decide to use different fabrics and threads than what is mentioned in the projects. The following will help you to understand and adapt the patterns and materials for your own needs.

Cross-Stitch Fabrics

What is called counted cross-stitch can be stitched on just about anything that will allow you to make consistently even sized stitches. I have even seen people use an iron on pattern and an iron on grid to insure the even stitches they wanted. (Like on T-shirts)

Aida Cloth

Aida cloth is the most common of all the cross-stitch fabrics. Look close at the fabric and you will see that the woven threads are grouped and separated by little tiny spaces. This makes a pattern of squares so that even a beginner will be able to see exactly where their cross-stitches need Shiny Spendex Satin fabric Wholesalers to be placed. Aida cloth comes in 6,8,11,14,16 and 18 count threads but 14 count is the most often used thread count for the beginner. Aida cloth comes in a variety of colors and threads counts and for the beginner they even have (in the white cloth only) a removable grid of pre-basted threads. Now how about that for being helpful?

Linen

Over all, because of the price, linen is considered to be an excellent fabric to work with by the more experienced cross-stitchers. The threads that they use to weave the linen cause a slightly irregular thickness to work on. And when you buy linen you need to remember that most designs are stitched over two threads so, 28-count linen will work out a 14 stitches per square inch. Linen is made in counts of 14 to 40 count so at 14 you would have 7 stitches per square inch and at 40 you would have 20 stitches per square inch.

Sweaters

Sweaters are an excellent background for cross-stitch. Just by basting a grid onto the sweater you will be able to have the even consistent stitches you want. But don't try cross-stitching on knits without the grid because knit stitches are not square. They are wider than they are tall and your design will appear broader and shorten than the pattern you are working from.

Burlap

Burlap can be counted and stitched as easily as any other traditional cross-stitch fabric. And if you are working a country style pattern it will give you that little extra something we all look for in the work we do.

Evenweave Fabric

The recent popularity of cross-stitching has created a need for specialty fabrics. These fabrics are called evenweave fabrics because they are woven from threads of a consistent diameter. Most of the evenweave fabrics are counted by so many threads by the inch and are worked much like the linen fabrics.

Needlepoint Canvas

Quite often needlepoint canvas is used for cross-stitch, especially on clothing and things that are not suitable alone. In fact waste canvas is designed to unravel when dampened. And the count runs from 6 1/2 to 20 stitches per inch.

Hardanger Fabric

Now hardanger fabric is used for the extra fine cross-stitch. This is the traditional fabric used for the famous Norwegian embroidery of the same name. This weave produces 22 small squares per inch.

Threads for Cross-Stitching

Most threads used for embroidery can be used for cross-stitching, just separate the threads into ones, twos, threes, fours, etc, etc. The more threads you use the richer the work will look, the less threads the more fragile it will look. The rayon or silk floss will give your work a shine or slick look but sometimes they are more difficult to use as they tend to tangle. Pearl cotton is also a high sheen.

Flower Thread and Other Specialty Threads

Flower thread is 100% cotton with a matte finish and is used as a single thread (same as two ply). Over dyed threads are introduced on the market almost everyday. Most of them give that one of a kind appearance because of their irregularly variegated colors. All of the threads I have mentioned so far are available in this form also. They are great for when you want to change colors without having the need to change threads.

Yarn and Ribbon

When working with the large projects you can use yarn, ribbon and even strips of fabric to give your work your own personal touch. The larger the squares the larger ply thread you can use.

Needles

Generally blunt pointed needles are better for working on most cross-stitch fabrics because they slip through the holes and threads without snagging and splitting the fibers. There is one exception to this rule, when working with waste canvas you will need to use the sharp embroidery type needles. And a lot of companies sell the blunt needles labeled "Cross-stitch" but they are identical the the tapestry needles which have a much larger selection to choose from.

The First Pattern

Your first pattern should be something small and simple, so you would be better off starting out with a small kit. It's kind of like using training wheels on your first bike... it will give you a little security. Besides it comes with needles, floss, fabric and anything else you need to complete your first project.

Good luck and happy stitching.