Duct Doctors

A happy John Schoen, in front of his growing fleet of duct cleaning units! The reflective lettering on the trailers is a Schoen trademark.

As told to James Ellison

In July, 1995 Fuel Oil News ran a cover story on John Schoen. John talked openly and freely about starting up in duct cleaning: how he did it, how it was a new experience, and how well he was doing. At that time he had two crews working six days a week and was going to gross a quarter of a million dollars that year. Now, two years later, he has four crews working six days a week, is booked six weeks ahead, and is looking at twice that gross.

Major department stores in his market area offer duct cleaning for as little as $79.95. How does he get four times that amount, consistently? How does he gather more than his share of commercial work?

Secure in procedure and certified by NADCA, the emphasis is on selling strategies and commercial proposals. Is there a factor that stands out? Yes! Old -fashioned common sense! It sells! Read why the Schoens clean outside the ducts and you'll see what I mean.

Here are the answers, in their own words, from John, son John, Jr. and son in law Mark Zarzeczny:

Industrial Duct Cleaning:

Start with systems that are small and work up.

Don't be afraid to get help. I had a job where there was an air handler made by Trane that I didn't understand, so I called them up.

They faxed me 24 pages of instructions within an hour.

If we get the bid, I do my homework before we start.

It's good to get a set of blueprints from the building manager. You make a copy of it and then there are no surprises.

Containment is a big part of corporate duct cleaning. That means keeping dirt off product, away from people and where they work. The dirt that causes the problem is often dirt that has collected on the top of drop ceilings; drop a tile and the dirt falls out and can be a mess. While the vacuum contains the dirt in the ducts, we will use drop cloths (if possible) or even isolate the immediate area by dropping plastic sheeting from the drop ceiling to the floor, then working inside the room we've made. We know this, some of our competitors don't.

NADCA has a certification program. If you haven't learned how to do it (clean ducts) properly, they have manuals you can buy and study that show the correct way to clean ducts. You need those to take the test to become a certified cleaning specialist.

Government jobs often demand a certified ASCS (Air System Cleaning Specialist) supervise the job.

If you belong to NADCA (and you should) you can call on the experts in NADCA if you are stumped on a certain aspect of the cleaning.

Every duct cleaner has to be willing to learn. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something. You have to be creative, because some solutions to problems never get into books. We've had enough experience that we know when we've solved a difficult problem. It's very pleasing to do it.

Selling Strategies

When we are faced with the $79.95 offers, we tell them how we do it. Have they volunteered any information on how they do things? In most cases they haven't, and they don't know. We really bring in the operation and power of the Duct-Whip. There is no question that it does a better job. With the trailer, our suction is at least twice theirs.

We tell the consumer what to ask other vendors. Some vendors price to only clean returns. We like customers to know what they aren't getting from those people.

We take the homeowner through what we do, pointing out that it takes a hard working crew about four hours to do their house, but when it's done, it's done right.

When we do the job, we put a light in the duct so we can see the dirt fly as the Duct-Whip attacks it. We'll ask the home or business owner if they'd like to see what's going on. It's an impressive demonstration that what we do is working well. They can stay over our shoulder all the while we are there if they want to. We'll suit 'em up and put em to work if they want to-and every now and then someone takes us up on it.

If we have a new home owner the first thing they'll do is scrub everything-the bathrooms, the kitchen, the cabinets. We point out that the ducts contain some of everything that was ever in that house: dogs, cats, parrots, diseases, smoke.... They can't do the ducts. The same applies to offices, even more so if they have made anything that could get in the ducts, like powders or small pellets.

When you call a department store, you don't know who you get; when you call us you get a family business-members of NADCA--not a franchise, not held back by franchise limitations.

You remember grammar school? Round peg, round hole; square peg, square hole. Round brush in square duct misses the corners. The Duct-Whip gets in corners, is quicker.

We work houses for one price, which we give over the phone: $300, plus $10 per register after 14. Our average residential ticket is $340. Corporate or commercial work is always done to an estimate, because each commercial setup is different. We've thought a lot about being able to somehow price such jobs over the phone, and it just doesn't work.

The Duct-Whip®

Time is money, the Duct-Whip is faster. Not only is it quick, it's thorough at what it does.

We've had a chance to look at everything; could use anything we want. The Duct-Whip is the best.

Proposals

We bid all commercial jobs in writing.

Facilities managers aren't educated in cleaning ducts, so they often don't have specifications for what they really want to do. I detail the specifications from soup to nuts, all the aspects of their conveyance system: the returns, the junction boxes, the turning vanes, all the return boxes, the VAV boxes....

Then I detail exactly what we will do. That's what sets us out from everyone else.

We help the facilities manager put what they want in words. It shows them what they want and they're grateful to learn it-and they use us because we're the vendor who knew the business and acted professional.

When I write my specifications for commercial jobs, the fact that I'm a NADCA certified systems cleaning specialist is at the top of the list. We put the certification numbers on each report.

Advertising

I was happy to spend $40,000 on advertising last year. It pays to advertise. Even when we are busy, we advertise. I wouldn't be put out to answer the phone at midnight if I had to. We answer from 8:30a.m. to 8:30p.m.. But if we are home (in the office) I'll answer whenever anyone calls. I'd be happy to be spending $80,000 a year on advertising because it would indicate that I was getting a good return on it.

Before we got into duct cleaning we spent maybe a hundred dollars a year in advertising. When we bought the first trailer, it just sat there. Then we started sending out colored flyers tucked into newspapers. We use bright colored paper (note: use warm colors, blue and green don't work!). Since the page is separate from the paper, people don't have to cut them out. Then they get saved on the fridge, often for months, until they call us. We track them; a two month old flyer is not unusual.

Our new flyers point out that we do residential, industrial and commercial duct cleaning. Which also generates a lot of commercial sales. Just saying we do it makes all the difference!

We mean to do our own brochure for commercial work, something that shows what we've done and how experienced we are.

The important thing is that it does make a difference. The modern office is relatively airtight in the windows and doors, it's closed up. People get headaches and eye irritation, which costs the company money as claims or just wasted time. By spending a little you can save a lot.

We also want to go after more specialized areas. We recently did an operating room where we made a special setup that broke the room into small areas. Not only did we clean each area, we cleaned the drop ceiling, which was the dirtiest part of the job. Now that we know how to attack this, we want to do more, so we'll be writing letters and making calls for this specific type of work. Each specialized job we learn adds expertise that only we have. At the same time, if you really please the buyer, you become their source. They don't want to take a chance on someone else. That makes it worth extra time spent learning.

There are million dollar jobs out there just in duct cleaning.

We don't charge for estimates; we feel fortunate to be asked to bid.

Commercial Secrets

Office buildings usually mean either night time or weekend work; retail means really late at night and special preparations to cover stock. In operating rooms, we even wear scrubs. The dirt contained in drop ceilings or on top of exposed ducts demands special consideration; you aren't just cleaning what is in the duct.

Containment of all the dirt is critical to a happy customer. Preparation time can be critical.

You have to go look at the job, take a nice, thorough walk around and interview a few people to find out what reactions they are having and what complaints they have, and you've got to pore over the blueprints so you aren't surprised when you get into that job. Every job is different! Commercial jobs are like fingerprints, they're all different

Historically, commercial work pays more than residential.

Satisfaction

You've got to be creative. You can't always read a book and figure how to do it. We've never seen anything that's not possible. Every one we do is a major challenge. I can tell you that I stress out several days before a big job but then you get it done and done right and it's extremely satisfying. You call back in several days and people comment that it's clean, that they can see or feel the difference and there's a tremendous degree of satisfaction.

Even in residential, you pop off a grill and you can see the whole return line right there in the living room and you call people to see that it's unbelievable. Then you stick the Duct-Whip down there and they can see it disappear right before their eyes. You know they're happy and that makes you happy.

We went from something that was unknown four years ago to people calling us to just do it because they trust us. We've done entire families: parents, children, grandchildren.

Just getting commercial work is satisfying, because of the work we've had to put into the proposal, and our ability to find answers that work for that customer. Sometimes we are the only company that points out what that customer needs, like pointing out that more than the returns need to be cleaned. We had one proposal for a company that had exposed ducts overhead. We included time for cleaning the outside of those ducts because we knew that if we didn't, dirt from years of just being there would drop down on inventory. It made us look smarter than the competition and got us the job.

That's why we spell it out.

NADCA standards 1992-01 was particularly helpful in wording the specifications for proposals.

Ask yourself what you do, then spell it out for the customer.

If we write the specs, who does it fit better than us....

Business Changes

We are every bit as enthused as we were two/three years ago. We still haven't scratched the surface, not even a nick, even with the other companies that have sprung up. The future is in both residential and commercial work. It's just a matter of time before we have an audited indoor air quality program in business environments.

One note: when I talked to people who buy from the Schoens, I was struck by their loyalty and appreciation for the work done. The company does things intelligently: clean, attractive comfortable uniforms, clean, up-to-date equipment, excellent punctuality, good communication (including a call several days before the job to remind that "you are scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00 am. Is that still OK?) Everyone is friendly, and anxious to please.

John Schoen, President of Schoen Duct Cleaning, can be found at P.O. Box 133 in Beverly, New Jersey 08010. His phone number is 1-609-387-0600. Fax is 1-609-871-5296

The Schoen's duct cleaning equipment was made by PVT Contractor Systems, Inc.

"The Duct-Whip People". Call PVT at 866-312-2634 .

Cleaning a Surgical Center

By James Ellison

Schoen Duct Cleaning got an emergency summons from a nearby outpatient surgical center. How soon could they clean the ductwork?

Mark inspected the center the next day, climbing in the ceiling and on the roof to prepare a bid. It took nine pages to detail specific cleaning actions that Schoen would take.

The job was awarded on the spot.

The system was normal, although large. See Mark in the coils, below.

The biggest secret to this work is not how it's done, it's creating confidence in the client that you are the person.

For instance, a big concern in areas like surgery is maintaining a sterile environment. It's easy to look at that area, from the outside, and ask what could be sterile? Cleaning people are in scrubs, but maintenance people and others wander through in street clothes.

Mark's crews don't. They wear Tyvek jump suits (with hoods so hair nets won't be necessary), booties and respirators.

Hose going in to the job was brand new. Had old hose been used, it would have been washed with a sterilizing cleaner just before the job. Note: older hose can look questionable; a cleaner that smells hospital fresh can convince any doubters that you've cleaned.

As they do on every job, the customer is invited to inspect the work before and after and to be involved in any way.

All this is spelled out in the proposal, in detail.

Why? Because it proves Schoen Duct Cleaning is a serious, professional crew, worth more money.

Schoen is the name administrators pass back and forth, the company that gets invited to present their wares at luncheon meetings and the folks with the inside track, all because they go a few inexpensive steps farther.

This is good marketing, but it's also good duct cleaning. When we encourage you to adopt this kind of marketing strategy, we mean you should also do a good job. Either without the other is incomplete and less profitable.