A Serious Question for you Humorous Guys

EnviroClean

EnviroClean

Member
Ok I am the newest of new guys here. I have a serious question. If a guy was interested in getting into the Hood Cleaning Side of the Business where would he go for training and certification? I am down in Sunny Tropical Puerto Rico and know of only 2 companies doing hoods. I think the potential for $$$$ is great the Island has 4 Million people and all of the chain resturaunts. Hey i know who wants to come down and train me???? Seriously though I have seen this Rust ACE dude from the Kitchen Hood Cleaning Supplies website who want's $9K to be certified is this worth it?

Serous answers would be appreciated, I love your comedy and will cut it up with the best of you once I learn about the business. Thanks in Advance.
 
Matt,
Are you ready for a "business trip"??
 
Go to all four boards and do a search on Rusty Ace. Pay attention to the various claims he has made. There was some confusion about his knowledge and experience. First he owned or not owned a hood cleaning business, then he did or did not clean hoods, then he did or did not work for his father-in-law cleaning hoods. His claims included being a member of NFPA, he was not. He is on the 96 committee, but apparantly does not attend many meetings. In fact, he did not attend the last meeting concerning the new 96, he did try to obfuscate that particular fact. He does have the only certication that includes hands-on training. I cannot vouch for the course content as I have not attended the expensive class. The only person who has attended the class and posts on the boards is "Dodnish". His latest venture is a class on fire supprssion systems. I have no information as to who is going to teach that class and what their quaulifications, training and experience are.
 
Douglas Hicks said:
The only person who has attended the class and posts on the boards is "Dodnish".
Click to expand...


You spelled my handle wrong, and made an incorrect statement. There are several CHDCA members who browse and post on this and other boards.


www.hoodcleaningschool.com

Rusty and his associates in Tennessee are good honest hardworking people. I have grown and currently operate a successful kitchen exhaust cleaning business as a result of the training and support I recieved in Nashville.

Rusty has been steadily attacked from post numero uno from several people on these boards and in this field who can not accept that his program works. If you visit his site you can listen and view several testimonies from successful students. If you call Rusty he will supply you with phone numbers of people, including myself, who will share their success stories with you.

Do your research, maybe you can work out a deal with Chris or Matt. Their certifications seem to expand daily.;)
 
Please put your information in your signature line EnviroClean :)

Thanks,

Celeste
 
I attended Rusty's school about 2 1/2 years ago. I received hands on training cleaning hoods in his customer's restaurants.

With the training I received, I built the business up to almost 300 customers. I now have an offer to purchase my busness for enough money that I don't need to work again. (Hopefully the deal will close in May.)

I don't know whether the other hood cleaning schools are better or worse than Rusty's. I can say his worked for me. I had no prior experience operating a pressure washer let alone cleaning hoods.
 
My advice:
1. get a job with another KEC. Learn as much as you can about how to clean. Learn how to work with a crew. Learn how to work with the equipment and the chemicals. when you go out on your own, don't solicit your old employers customers. You want to leave on good terms and turn him into a mentor.

2. after you work in KEC go get certified. You will learn something and the certification can be turned into a marketing tool.

3. Cleaning hoods is only a small portion of the business. You have to learn how to schedule, bid, market, and supervise employees. turn your first employee into a "lead technician." You act as his helper. Then you can hire a helper to replace yourself. Your job is now supervision, scheduling, selling etc
 
As mentioned only 2 Other known Hood Dudes on Island. Approched 1 already he won't hire anyone he says plenty of work but good help is hard to find. He uses family as labor.
 
One thing that has been over looked here.You don't need to be certified to clean hoods.I have been in the business 20 years and am not.I have only been asked if I was certified once( about 18 months ago).That was by a customer.I told him no,but I have been cleaning hoods for 18 years and he accepted service and is a regular customer to this day.
To get trained you could offer your self as free labor to a company on the mainland.You may have to pay for hotels but if you go to rusty you would have to pay that anyway on top of paying him.My only beef with rusty is that he tries to sell you on the one man job thing.Kec is not a one man job.You can do some alone but you can't have a serious business with one man,you will need a helper.
 
john zema said:
One thing that has been over looked here.You don't need to be certified to clean hoods.
Click to expand...

I didn't think it was the issue. If you are trained by a school, any of the schools, you will be certified by that school.

One thing you might check into is whether or not you can get insured without having certified experience in the field of KEC. Or whether the AHJ's in your area are looking for certification.
 
1. Go to www.ikeca.com and read through the manual. Its free, is very extensive and you will get many different views from different companies on how to do the work.

2. Buy the $50 DVD from Delco on Kitchen exhaust cleaning. It gives great demonstrations on how to pressure wash hoods. It makes it look almost too easy because of the type of systems and lack of heavy grease buildup but you will get good visuals of what is involved. You can also play a fun drinking game with your friends, every time they mention "Delco V-500" or "Delco V-501" degreaser have a shot of your favorite libation and see if your not f-ed up by the time Larry Hinkley shows you how to install an access panel. If you watch closely when the guy is spraying the filters outside you will see his chemical sprayer explode (I think they should have spent more time on this explaining why you should always wear the proper safety gear while using chemicals).

2a. Watch these videos to see what it is REALLY like to clean a difficult system:

http://media.putfile.com/Greasy7183
http://media.putfile.com/Look-how-thick-this-is
http://media.putfile.com/Hi-kids-how-are-you

3. If you think you are ready, try a small system. If not move to step 4.

4. Get someone on the mainland to let you go out with them for a couple of weeks and offer to pay them or buy them dinner every night. Most guys will probably do it for very cheap, your only cost will be flight and room and board and of course whatever you will lose by not working those weeks.

5. If you are still not comfortable on your own take a hands on course from Delco or Rusty. You can also buy franchises from Dunnwell or Industrial Steam Cleaning and they will train and certify you.

You can get paper certified first but unless you have the actual training to go with it you will be very frustrated.
 
Hey Matt,
I am originally from SoCal ( Big Bear!!!) Can I come out and work with you??
 
You mean there are guys doing hoods that don't look like that after a job?????
 
Hey, my picture didn't post.:mad:
 

Attachments

  • aftercleaninghood.jpg
    aftercleaninghood.jpg
    59.2 KB · Views: 68
Dodonish,
I have had insurance for 11 years and no one has asked about certification ever!As far as AHJ's, or anyone else for that matter I'll type this again.In 20 years servicing hoods both as an employee of a national company(Prism) and in my own business I have only been asked if I was certified once.It was a customer that I got anyway.
I may certify myself and my employees next week.20 years in the hood biz should qualify me to do so.I will make some nice certificates on my pc and have a little party to celebrate.
 
John,

Youdon't have to repeat yourself. It was perfectly clear the first twenty times I've read it. You have not been asked about certification, nor have jumped on the certification wagon for 20 years. You apparently were a new company 11 years ago, things have changed a bit since then. Actually since 4 years ago when I obtained my insurance policy. I have heard some new cleaners having problems getting insurance. Before you invest time and effort into starting a KEC company it would be a good idea to see if you will have any problems obtaining insurance, certified or not.

I hate to run the certification issue into this post, but it seems to be calling for it.

Let's see if I get this right. You have been in this business for 20 years, cleaning hoods for 18, and running your own (uncertified) company for 11 years. Good for you. This gives you plenty of ground to stand on.

Mr. Grogan wants to start a cleaning business, but has very little experience. "I've been cleaning hoods for 2 weeks, trained by a guy who's been doing it for 20 years", or "I'm the new guy in town, just completed certification through FCNA and am a CFCS. I've been trained and tested on NFPA standards." I know which one I would feel more comfortable having service my hoods.

I still haven't figured out though, why certification burns your rear so much if it is such a non issue for your market.

BTW, you can run a successful one man exhaust cleaning business. If you couldn't Rusty would be out of business.
 
Dodonish,#1 I have never heard of anyone not being able to get insurance due to certification.
#2 Yes My company is uncertified,SO WHAT! So is everyone else here.
#3 Who trained you does not matter when soliciting business.It will not come up unless you bring it up.There are 2 factors people consider, price or reliability.No one ever asked or cares about who trained me.
#3 Certification doesn't "burn my rear".I am just giving Mr. Grogan the truth.I think that burns your rear!You got suckered in to thinking Rustys piece of paper is worth something in the real world and now you are bitter because others were not.
#4 yes you can run a one man business.I wouldn't call it successful.I have many accounts that could never be done with one man.Many others that could be cleaned with one man but the customers would not want it.They won't stay an extra hour or 2 because you have no helper.It is also unsafe.
I can't believe people that think certification is so critical would then say it is ok to have an unspotted ladder,or someone alone in the middle of the night(on an unspotted ladder),or would go on a roof and spraying down a duct with out someone in the kitchen watching,ect.
Rusty may be in business,but I bet 95% of his graduates have helpers including you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top