Scarlet & Gray Facility Services is a cleaning company serving more than 50 schools in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. The company cleans nearly 2000 classrooms and more than 300 restrooms each night. From carpet to concrete to vinyl composition tile to luxury vinyl tile, the team of 230 custodians uses ProTeam backpack vacuums to get the job done.
Mark Cappel, President of Scarlet & Gray, started the company in 1991 and began using a collection of vacuums to clean area schools, some of which were from ProTeam. By 1993, the company’s fleet consisted of mostly ProTeam backpack vacuums, and by the late ‘90s, Scarlet & Gray was using ProTeam solely. Today, their fleet of more than 250 ProTeam Super CoachVac backpack vacuums is used to vacuum more than 5 million sq feet of education space.
Three Decades of Reasons to Use ProTeam
Cappel has chosen ProTeam for several reasons. First and foremost is the level of cleanliness these vacuums provide. “Using ProTeam, we found there’s not a ball of dust in the facility,” said Cappel. “You couldn’t find dust with a search warrant.”
With so many schools trusting their students’ health to the Scarlet & Gray team, Cappel takes every level of cleanliness seriously. Indoor air quality is a major indicator of how well ProTeam vacuums work. “Not only is it impossible to find dust balls, there isn’t any visible dust in the air after we clean,” stated Cappel. “It’s always been that way with their vacuums.” ProTeam’s unique method of suction vacuuming cleans carpets, hard floors, and other surfaces without stirring up dust — school environments stay cleaner, and operators can work without breathing dust-filled air.
The Super CoachVac that Scarlet & Gray uses is the original ProTeam cylindrical backpack vacuum. Cappel can attest — this unit is a real workhorse; his fleet of Super CoachVac’s has been helping the Scarlet & Gray team keep classrooms virtually dust-free for thirty years.
Nearly three decades of use has given Cappel a lot of reasons to use ProTeam.
Completely Versatile and Highly Efficient
In addition to the vacuuming power of Super CoachVacs, Cappel’s employees have put these vacuums to use in a variety of ways to help reach new levels of cleanliness and efficiency. Like many ProTeam users, the Scarlet & Gray staff vacuums vents, air intakes, windowsills, and hard-to-reach places like corners and floorboards with the wand extension and attachments.
However, this group of custodians takes detail cleaning to new levels. The suction of these backpack vacuums is so powerful that they suction out unplugged pencil sharpeners and vacuum chalk and dust off chalkboards and whiteboards. They even use the Super CoachVac to help add life and performance to their dust mops.
In addition to multiple applications for vacuuming, efficiency is key in Cappel’s reason for using ProTeam. “They do a great job and do it in less time,” said Cappel. “Using them is kind of a no-brainer.” Cappel attributes the efficiency to not only a better product but also optimal comfort. “They fit well, so employees don’t need to spend lots of time adjusting the vacuum.”
Easy Adoption for New Employees
The versatility and efficiency of ProTeam vacuums combine to give Cappel another reason to choose them — new employee adoption. When Scarlet & Gray hires new employees or acquires a new school, the custodians new to the team often have a history with upright vacuums. According to Cappel, they are always amazed at how much difference a backpack vacuum makes.
Recently, Scarlet & Gray added a new district to their client list, and the custodians from the district joined the Scarlet & Gray team. This particular district had used only upright vacuums to clean their schools. “When we had the new team members vacuum their schools with some Super Coaches, they were amazed how much dirt was pulled from floors that looked clean,” said Cappel. “They couldn’t believe the suction and loved getting more work done in less time.”
Using Another Vacuum Doesn’t Make Sense
Combine versatility and efficiency with the fact that new employees readily adopt the use of ProTeam Vacuums, and it’s no wonder Scarlet & Gray has used ProTeam for nearly 30 years. Cappel said, “They’re just the best. Using another vacuum doesn’t make sense.”
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