Home | Join | Find Service | Courses | Log-In | Help
Storm Damage Update 5/18/24 - We are experiencing high call volume. To find a certified water damage restoration service near you please click here.
IJCSA Updates & Industry News
Eric Quintana, owner of Performance Maintenance Inc. in Española, is pictured at his warehouse last week. Since Quintana and his wife, Celina, began running PMI in 1994, interest in environmentally kind products and services has grown. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
If Española’s Eric Quintana had a marketing director, Quintana might well be known as Northern New Mexico’s clean-green king.
But he doesn’t. So he’s just Eric, owner of Performance Maintenance Inc., for two decades suppliers of janitorial services and supplies based in Española.
Prior to stumbling into the janitorial business when he agreed to clean a doctor’s office for extra Christmas money, Quintana was the safety compliance and human resources officer for Española Mercantile Co.
Quintana and his wife, Celina, have been running PMI since 1994, when, except for the scattered “canaries in the coal mine,” far fewer people who needed things cleaned, brushed and polished gave much thought to the harmful effects the products they were using were having on their health and their environment undefined particularly air and water.
When they began, Eric Quintana said, 90 percent of the products they used and sold were petroleum- or chemical-based cleaners, polishers and sealers undefined many of them classified as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, a large group of often dangerous carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperatures. They are now greening at 60 percent or 70 percent of their services and products.
VOCs such as acetones, benzene and ethylene glycol, to name three commonly used bad boys, are found not only in building materials such as carpets, sealers and solvents, but also cleaning and home-care products. They include such often-used items as air fresheners, disinfectants, and paint and varnish products.
“It’s the Mr. Clean theory,” Quintana said, referring to the muscular bald guy on the cleanser bottle. “Many customers still want the chemical-based cleaners so they can “stand back, squirt it on and undefined ta-da! It’s clean,” thus avoiding all the critical thinking, moral reflection and elbow work that comes with the less-toxic cleaners and solvents.
The ingredients in the green cleaners tend to be on the softer, gentler side, including soy, flowers, sassafras, sugar cane and other plant-based products.
Increasingly over the years, and especially in the past seven or eight, the Quintanas have been listening more to the canaries, those who find themselves coughing, wheezing, scratching or irritated in some way by chemical-based cleaning products.
“We have become very versed in the multiple facets of [green] cleaning,” Quintana said, “and we also look for products from manufacturers where you don’t throw the bottle away.”
A few years ago, Quintana came up with a six-step guide for establishing a green home environment that serves as his green bible for building and operating PMI. They are: The use of green seal and solution products; deploying high-performance entry matting systems; use of cleaning equipment with less of an environmental impact; development of low-environmental-impact cleaning habits; use of microfiber technology for mopping and whipping; and use of recycled paper products.
Sometimes, Quintana said, his customers and the ever-greening times led him to more environmentally kind products and services. Other times, he brought his customers along.
As the business offered more products, he said, “My customers automatically became more green-oriented. They changed with the times as PMI did.”
But Quintina hasn’t come back from the chemical side entirely. Some of his clients still insist on the “petrol punch” from the more abrasive, toxic chemicals.
“We are still using some traditional methods,” he said. “With green, they have taken the petroleum punch out of products. So now it’s back to elbow grease.”
Although most of his clientele are residences, Quintana also provides janitorial services to larger institutions, including Los Alamos Medical Center and Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. PMI employs 30 people in Texas and 50 in New Mexico.
Quintana’s most immediate plans include constructing an expanded warehouse distribution center in Española, followed by cash-and-carry operations in Las Vegas, N.M., Santa Fe, Taos and Rio Ranch as well as several “fill centers” where customers can refill containers with cleaners rather than throwing them away.
He is also backing an effort by Los Alamos city leaders to ban the high-metal content in floor finishes used by many commercial operations to prevent contamination of area rivers and water systems.
“What I really want to see is more people using environmentally preferred products,” Quintana said. “I hope it’s not too late for our planet.”
On the Web
Performance Maintenance Inc.: www.pmigogreen.com
Comfort Services announces the release of their new website, www.comfortsvs.com.
Comfort Services today announced the launch of www.comfortsvs.com as an information portal for Denver metro homeowners to find information about janitorial services and carpet cleaning solutions. With articles being added almost every day and an online monthly newsletter of home improvement tips, the website is anticipated to quickly become Denvers primary resource website for janitorial services and carpet cleaning information.
Future plans include educational guides on selecting a janitorial services and carpet cleaning contractor, professional advice from local experts, and a question and answer forum for Denver homeowners.
Development of other community minded features for www.comfortsvs.com are already underway and new user awareness guides from expert janitorial services Contractors are already being added on how best to beautify your home with any budget, guides on maintenance and repair, to what everybody should know about the latest carpet cleaning and janitorial services materials and designs before starting any property improvement project.
The website will be an invaluable resource for homeowners in finding accessible information to address their janitorial services, carpet & rug cleaning, and upholstery cleaning needs. Information will be efficiently categorized for easy navigation.
The owner of Comfort Services, Olga Kotof stated, Our goal is to be the best home and family resource center and information portal for assisting all Denver homeowners with their cleaning needs. The depth of knowledge and resources at www.comfortsvs.com is simple, concise and offers every homeowner some information about their home.
NEW CASTLE -- Students with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders or mental health issues will be able to participate in an Extended School Year program this summer offered by Lark Enterprises, Inc.To participate, students between the ages of 16 and 21 in Lawrence, Beaver, Butler and Mercer counties had to be found eligible by their school district and be placed in an Individual Education Program.
Lark Enterprises’ Shenango and Neshannock Township locations will offer the program from June 23 to August 14.
Program supervisors, Susan Lautenbacher (Lark's chief executive officer) and Wendy McCutcheon (Rehabilitation Services unit director) are beginning the program based on what they say is great need in the community for an ESY program.
Lautenbacher said the program is integral to the educational success of students who contend with these disorders.
“We want to maintain the skills and knowledge these students learned in special education,” Lautenbacher said. “We don’t want them to lose any of that over the summer and programs like that prevent that from happening as quickly as possible.”
Students in the program will engage in a variety of activities including production work, screen printing, cooking, janitorial working and recycling.
Each of the activities offered is designed to help students maintain their progress in areas such as functional academics, social skill development, community integration and employment skill development.
Lautenbacher said that without this maintenance, these students will fall behind and risk losing progress made during the school year.
Program specialists and a job coach will also work one on one with students to help them retain vocational skills through the organization’s prevocational program.
Assessments will then be conducted throughout the summer to ensure that progress is being made and that the student’s predetermined level of support is being met.
“We’re really working hard to develop strong transitional programming for these students so they can continue to meet success in the adult world,” Lautenbacher said.
The organization also provides similar services for adults with disabilities or individuals experiencing employment barriers, including vocational evaluations, training and employment services.
As adults, students from the ESY program can make use of these services, working with Lark staff to continue and maintain success in a workforce environment after leaving school.
More than 200 individuals have been using Lark’s services and supports annually to achieve real-work experience since 1957.
Organizers are expecting a smaller number of students for the ESY’s first year, but meeting the needs of the students, no matter the number, is what matters for them.
“How do you make sure that you don’t lose all that progress made during the school year,” Lautenbacher said. “That’s what we’re hoping to solve.”
For more information on Lark or the ESY program, call 724-658-5676.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., April 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. was founded in April of 1989 to address the emerging need for commercial and residential duct cleaning services. From humble beginnings with 80-hour work weeks, President Michael Vinick worked diligently to educate consumers on the importance of maintaining indoor air quality by offering the highest-quality cleaning, inspection, maintenance, and restoration of ductwork.
In February of 1990, barely a year after it was founded, Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. joined NADCA, the HVAC Inspection, Maintenance and Restoration Association. Upon joining NADCA, Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. was informed they were the first company to join who used portable HEPA vacuums in the cleaning process. This milestone was the first by a company to recognize the need for the highest quality work.
During Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc.'s first 25 years of business, many milestones have been reached. Vinick's devotion to fairness, honesty and a global perspective have allowed the company to grow its reputation by providing highly-certified, reliable, quality service for duct cleaning, inspection, maintenance, and restoration of duct work. Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. moved the corporate office twice to accommodate its growth. The last move in 2002 resulted in the development of a corporate office in Springfield, MA. Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc.'s professional reputation and physical coverage has resulted in work being performed all over the country.
Today, Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. is proud to have a client list which includes government agencies, municipalities, state governments, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, health care facilities, universities, colleges and homeowners. Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. understands how to enhance the overall effectiveness of the duct cleaning service, and provides added indoor air quality related services specifically related to HVAC inspection, maintenance and restoration.
For more information or to request a quote, contact Duct & Vent Cleaning of America, Inc. at (800) 442-8368.
CONTACT: Michael Vinick (800) 442-8368
© Copyright 2004-2024 International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association "The Home Of Professional Cleaning Companies"