Steve
You really have to analyse what's being said here and consider what you expect / plan to do in your first year.
A fair number of people are spending, or appear to be spending huge sums on marketing, purchase of equipment, etc.
Before you spend money " unwisely " you have to consider what you will have to spend in order to generate income...............this is where we all have our favourite methods of marketing, but, if you consider the basics..........
You want to get people to purchase your services ! Why should they use you, rather than another ?
If your budget is £50k, you can become a franchisee and let someone else do your initial marketing, on the other hand, if your budget is limited, you can buy a secondhand machine and find out, whether or not you are suitable for this life. ( not everyone is )
It's fairly common, for people to purchase a machine and start part time while still in full time employment. Some would say this shows a lack of confidence or commitment, others would say it shows good common sense.
As with most things, there's no guarantee you will be successfull, as it depends on you and unfortunately, you could be a crap cleaner, with a bad attitude, giving poor value for money and still be very successful in this business.
The time taken to do a particular job will vary, from person to person...............some will thoroughly vacuum the area then prespray, rinse and protect, might even add a turbo drier to speed op drying times. As this will be time consuming it would have to be charged at a higher rate than, another, who would simply set up his machine and clean with chemical in the tank, accepting the result as their standard and charging anything, from, the minimum wage rate, to what others appears to be absolute rip off prices..........
Whatever route you follow, I wish you good luck and follow your instincts, but avoid unnecessary expense, especially at the start up.
