Kim Ball reports An enthusiastic crowd attended the fifth annual WA Carpet Cleaners Expo late October in Bassendean. According to organisers the event was the biggest gathering of carpet cleaners, equipment providers, chemical manufacturers and training organisations in Western Australia. Coordinated and hosted by the Advantage Group of Carpet Cleaners Inc (AGCCWA), the expo boasted […]
Kim Ball reports
An enthusiastic crowd attended the fifth annual WA Carpet Cleaners Expo late October in Bassendean. According to organisers the event was the biggest gathering of carpet cleaners, equipment providers, chemical manufacturers and training organisations in Western Australia.
Coordinated and hosted by the Advantage Group of Carpet Cleaners Inc (AGCCWA), the expo boasted 10 exhibitors including PowerClean, Nations Training, WA Cleaning Equipment Repairs, Prochem, Bennett Direct, Whiteley Industrial, Commercial Cleaning Equipment, Jena Dyco International, Performance Engineering and Aqua Mix.
“It is encouraging to see such quality displays and clearly shows how the WA carpet cleaning industry is growing and developing,” stated Advantage spokesman Kim Howson.
As well as showing off industry wares the expo provided attendees with the opportunity to listen to and participate in a variety of information and training sessions.
Topics included information about nationally recognised qualifications; products and innovations; occupational health and safety; tile and stone care, maintenance and problem solving; treating wool carpets safely; and methamphetamine lab decontamination information.
Howson explained that the expo’s aim was to showcase the standard of equipment, products, training and service set and encouraged by Advantage Group members. “Invitations were sent to hundreds of WA carpet cleaners with the intention to entice untrained carpet cleaners to see the value training provides.
“There are less and less carpet cleaners without certificate training these days due to increased market exposure and the fact that a cheap price is not the most important factor attracting customers.
“Advantage members are certainly not the cheapest carpet cleaners around but they do provide quality work.
“That means we are attracting and producing the upper echelons of the WA carpet cleaning industry.”
Another feature of the expo was the best van/workstation competition, which was judged by Col Nation from Daniel and Associates, Roland Loumeau from Prochem and Advantage Group committee member Frank Preo. The winner was Craig Edmondson of After Hours All Hours Carpet Cleaning.
Advantage Group members held their annual general meeting just before the Expo. The AGM saw the election of committee members; and discussion of constitution amendments, recruitment and mentor procedures and probation member guidelines.
Elected Committee members boast decades of specialised carpet cleaning, treatment and repair experience between them.
According to Howson, committee members are keen to pass on what they know and have new and younger members move in to the committee. “The Committee and its members are a well oiled unit,” he noted.
“We take our business seriously. That is why we have a one year probation policy for new members with assistance and supervision from a mentor.
“The policy includes completing an OHS&E Management Plan and/or participating in various training, electrical tagging sessions and other relevant workshops.
“The enforcement of this and other policies is why Advantage is the largest group of trained, independent carpet, upholstery and tile cleaning technicians in WA.”