LAHH Team Group Photo
Contributed by LAHH



A 13-week field evaluation conducted by Walker Foundry found that changing vacuum equipment increased average measured vacuuming productivity by 88.9 percent while maintaining reported cleaning quality and improving worker experience.

The field study examined the ProTeam GoFit 3 Cordless Backpack Vacuum in a daily cleaning operation at Building D in Torrance, a 5,700-square-foot office facility, serviced by Los Angeles Habilitation House (LAHH). About 4,700 square feet of the facility is cleanable space, consisting of roughly 95 percent carpet.

Walker Foundry evaluated the GoFit 3 within LAHH's existing Team Cleaning program. Staffing levels, cleaning routes, and service expectations remained unchanged during the study, allowing the evaluation to examine what happened when the equipment changed inside an established cleaning process. LAHH rotates its specialists weekly; several different cleaning workers participated in the study.

Across four measured periods, average vacuuming productivity increased from a baseline cleaning speed of 7,015 square feet per hour to 13,249 square feet per hour, an average improvement of 88.9 percent. Productivity gains ranged from 60 to 139 percent, with recorded improvement over the initial baseline in every measured period.

Most importantly, productivity increased without sacrificing cleaning quality or reported worker fatigue.

Cleaning quality, soil removal, and overall appearance were rated "Excellent" by LAHH in essentially every tracked week, while supervisors reported no visible debris remaining on carpet from week three onward. Cleaning workers unanimously reported that the increased cleaning speed did not require them to push themselves harder and rated comfort and fatigue as "Much Better" than with the previously deployed equipment at every survey checkpoint.

In particular, the worker response was notable because the GoFit 3 Cordless weighs 15.7 pounds compared with the 9-pound backpack vacuum used before. Despite the difference, workers reported that the GoFit 3 Cordless felt lighter and easier to maneuver than its listed weight would suggest. Workers fully adapted to the unit by week two, and the reported comfort improvements stayed consistent throughout the 13-week test period.

"What caught our attention wasn't simply the productivity number," says Ben Walker, Founder of Walker Foundry. "Workers were covering substantially more ground without feeling like they were pushing themselves harder. The work actually felt easier to them. When you can improve productivity, maintain quality, and improve the worker experience at the same time, that deserves a closer look."

The time saved on vacuuming translated into more time for additional cleaning tasks throughout the shift. After completing the daily vacuum route, LAHH's Vacuum Specialists could thoroughly mop hard floors, spot-clean entrance door glass, detail-clean elevators, and provide additional detail cleaning in break rooms. The added capacity also gave the Utility Specialist more time to address entryways and other first-impression areas that could not always receive daily attention due to time constraints.

"This study confirmed what we hoped: the GoFit 3 let our team clean to a higher standard while working more comfortably and safely—and just as important, our Specialists felt genuinely heard when ProTeam asked for their input as the people who actually use the equipment every day," shares Guido Piccarolo, CEO and (OS1) Trainer of LAHH. "We're also grateful to Walker Foundry for their guidance, knowledge, and engagement with our team throughout the study."

Walker Foundry concluded that conventional specifications, such as equipment weight and motor power, may not, by themselves, predict how equipment will perform in a cleaning worker's hands. Factors such as a standardized cleaning process, cordless movement, hose length, equipment fit, and maneuverability through spaces may meaningfully affect real-world performance.

The evaluation used a single GoFit 3 Cordless at one facility. Operator rotation changed weekly during the study; the pre-deployment cleaning speed remained a constant baseline across measurement periods. The first measurement period relied on observation and estimation rather than formal, timed tracking. Walker Foundry recommends replicating the study at additional facilities to establish individual comparisons.

"For cleaning managers, the larger question isn't just whether one vacuum is faster than another," Walker says. "It's whether the way we do the work—including the equipment we use—is taking more staff time than it should. Before cutting cleaning frequencies or removing work from the schedule, studies like this can help us understand whether there is additional time hiding inside the process."

Read the complete white paper here.