[daysdeepclean]

I am seriously considering doing a carpet fitting course. I have found "The UK Flooring academy Ltd" and their 5 day course is £480. I'm looking at combining the cleaning with fitting and employing some poor soul to do the oven cleaning side of the business.... Any thoughts, experiences are appreciated!

[sherco]

Go onto the Carpet fitters forum, should get some advice there.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Colin

I would reccomend using courses run by the NICF/Fita.

I've been fitting carpets for 27 years and the one thing I would say is that unlike carpet cleaning, it is one thing to do a fitting course but another thing to take a knife to a clients carpet.

Most fitters are time served and were not allowed to even touch a carpet until they had spent months just perfecting their prep work. A lot depends on what you intend doing though and certainly a training course is a good start.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[daysdeepclean]

Taking a knife to a custy's carpets I'll see if I can go out on a couple of jobs a week for a few months until I feel I'm ready. Thanks for the advice Steve!

[daysdeepclean]

Sherco, that was bad advice you gave mate Went on the Carpet Fitters Forum and got shot down to sh*t. Proper unfriendly bunch, unlike us Carpet Cleaning types.... One accused me of wanting to steal his job

Suffice to say, I've put the fitting idea well and truly to bed!

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I know what you mean Colin - I've been on that site and others like it and they are really bitchy.

I do think our trade is unique - you go on the forums and ask a question and people queue up to give you advice, you don't get that on a lot of trade forums.

[clinton]

Maybe they think you are going to take work from them

Was thinking the same people on here are always helpfull even if that person is in your area

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I've just read your post on that forum Colin and yes, you got a bit of a mauling from some of them.

But what a lot of them were saying is pretty much the same advice I gave earlier, although not so polite. A training course won't make you a carpet fitter overnight.

[daysdeepclean]

They actually suggested that us carpet cleaners are good at business which was pleasing to read.... Or were they being sarcastic The mention of shake and vac made me giggle

I was thinking about it last night and I think I'll concentrate on perfecting C/Cing, which is also a skill which isn't picked up over night. Thanks though Steve, it's good coming back to a friendly forum  

[daysdeepclean]

Collin

Why dont you go out and do some work with a carpet fitter rather than go on that course

Because I'm sh*t scared of carpet fitters now, sod that mate

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Colin

If I had been Carpet Cleaning for the last 27 years, rather than fitting, I believe I would be comfortably well off by now.

Fitting is a hard game and a young mans game, you dont make any decent money unless you are supplying the materials as well.

Like you say mate, put your money and your efforts into building up your cleaning business.

Steve

[murky]

Colin,

I know a guy that owns his own carpet shop near me, ex Allied salesman. Made redundant and bought his own place.

His fitters would say 'cant fit/do that/wont work' etc etc.

He found out that Brintons did a fitting course and went on it. No it didnt make him a fitter but he knew what to do and what could be done, and as he said you need to know what you are doing when you are presented with a £40 per yard Brinton.

You get to work on the real stuff there, seaming etc etc. At least if you screw up its in the workshop not in someones home.

I dont know if they still run them, its only a call away, I went round Axminsters factory about 4 years ago on a trade tour and I think they had a training facility there as well, they are much closer so again only a call away.

Good luck.

Oh and anyone else if you get the chance to go on a carpet factory tour they are very very interesting you see the wool come in off the wagon, see the whole of the manufacturing process through to finish and see the carpet rolled up into the warehouse.

You can then talk to the custy with genuine knowledge about the difference between Wilton, Axminsters, warp, weft, weave, twist etc etc.

Murky




, 

[sherco]

Why don't you go on a tiling course, i get loads of carpet cleaning work from people i tile for...And i get tiling work from people i clean carpets for. Tiling takes a while to get up to speed, and i very frustrating but once mastered you can earn a good living. How many houses do you go into that have tiled floors that need cleaning or repairs ... Go onto www.tilersforums.co.uk we are a friendly bunch on there, loads of advice about training etc.

[daysdeepclean]

Thank you Sherco, It's something I've done on a DIY level at home a couple of times and to be honest, I enjoy tiling
It's something to think about!

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Sherco

I'm doing the IICRC Stone, Tile and Masonry course in a couple of months.

I fancy getting into this as I'm seeing more and more hard flooring going into peoples home, often instead of wood/laminate.

Did you do any courses yourself or is it just a natural progression from laying the stuff ?

Steve

[sherco]

Just learnt over the years, mainly only do natural stone floors these days better money if you know what you are doing.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Hi Colin

I went on the IICRC carpet fitting course at the Leicester training base where NCCA run their courses.

Two day course and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Why did I do it?

Certainly it was not because I wanted to fit carpets. But with the knowledge gained of how things should be done you are in a better position to avoid prat-falls. You can often spot fitting errors. For example (and Steve, be kind to me here) where you get draught mark lines running across the middle of a carpet can often be caused by the seams in the underlay not being taped over. Or the size of the gutter between the gripper and the wall.

No it doesn't make you an expert carpet fitter but compared to a customer you can speak with more authority. You are also less likely to being dragged in to doing a minor repair which then goes pear shaped. COnversely on little repairs which you are confident of undertaking you can charge some really hefty prices even if they only take a few minutes. For example putting a couple of missing tufts back in a carpet worth say £1000 could be worth upto £100 to do. Customer is delighted that the carpet is saved and doesn't have to go through the hassle of trying to find a fitter who would deign to come and do such a job whilst you were already on site.

Roger

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Hi Roger - glad you got something from the course.

Like most things the training is just the first part - when I do the stone course I may acquire some knowledge but I then have to fork out on more equipment and start marketing it, to make the training worthwhile.

Same with the fitting course, if you are going to attempt any sort of fitting or stretching then you are going to have to budget for £ 200 - £ 300 worth of tools. I've got over £ 2000 worth of tools to cover all the types of fitting I do.

You're right though, a fitting course will make you look at a carpet differently once you know what was involved in installing it. I walk around people's homes with my eyes on the floors, oblivious to everything else around me as I've been involved with carpets for so long. You are also able to spot poorly installed carpets instantly.

Horses for courses really ( excuse the pun) - training for training's sake is fine if you can afford it, but to add on another service it is usually the start of a lot more expenditure.

Steve

[Dave_Lee]

I have eased off on the carpet fitting side over the last few years. I still do the odd job for custys who know that I do it, but have never really pushed that side of things anyway. Like Steve said, I only made real money out of it when I used to supply as well, but packed that up when the wholesalers became awkward about supplying the sample books because of pressure from the retailers. Still when fitting out a full house of carpets that they have aquired elswhere,over a leisurely 2 or 3 days, good money can be made if supplying the underlay as well. There is also a market for relocating a good but used carpet to another room in the house, it will also need cleaning too.
Dave.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Going off at a bit of a tangent, but Dave and Steve I do value your comments. Yes, I probably did it more from a "training for training sake" although i already had much of the equipment anyway.

Dave you mention underlay and of course I'd forgotten about that.

Quite a few times customers have said words to the effect that a carpet was "shot" when it wasn't. It was just the underlay that needed replacing. You could tell that by the feel of the carpet around the edge of the room.

Often the customer has come back having had new underlay and felt pleased with their own cost saving. You look good in the customer's eyes and you probably get to clean the carpet again sooner than if they'd replaced it. Of course, even if the carpet is shot they won't have the expense of further underlay as they will have recently replaced it.

Of course if you can wangle to do the underlay replacement job, then really you are laughing considering the mark-up on underlay and the profit on uplift and re-fitting.

[JS2]

I can understand how the response to Colin's enquiry got savaged by those who have gone through the challenging time served apprenticeship of carpet fitting.  But to have just a critical amount of skill or knowledge to rectify, or comment, on problems affecting the responsible carpet cleaner is another matter.  How often is it necessary to engage the services of a carpet fitting professional after a well performed C/C job ??

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[1 man band]

colin listen my friend why dont you go on a karndean course, its easy , its good money, and im sure your more than capable of doing a specialised job, don't put the fitting to bed ,most carpet fitters wouldn't  touch a bit of vinyl work, because you only get one chance at the cut, carpets you cut them a bit short an you can stretch them up, so go on my friend go for it, 

[robert stubbs]

 I went on the( UK Flooring Academy Ltd ) course and it was very informative. I can stretch Belgian Wilton now .
   Kevin Bunting runs the course and also fits Carpets for himself, he said I could tag along to get experience if l wanted but l didn't take up the offer.
    The course makes you very aware of the British standards you have to keep to when fitting and you notice Carpets that are not correctly fitted when cleaning after you have done the course.

 Regards Rob

ps I've fitted five square rooms since doing the course.

[murky]

I used to do carpet reports and you wouldnt believe the cr@ppy jobs we used to see done by fitters at the carpet sheds, honestly there are fitters out there who did 3 months work with a proper fitter and learnt how to do the basics, they only lug the underlay  and grippers round first off and then build up their experience and then go off by them selves with a knife and some bits and pieces.

I was at Allied once and they were desperate for fitters at Xmas and they were giving work to the fitters mate and anyone who walked in with a basic knowledge, just to get the stuff down. And was said some people dont know the difference between a good and indifferent job, put the furniture back leave the cuttings every where and off you go to the next job.

Go on, ask a fitter how he started and they nearly all say the same 'worked with a bloke for a while picked it up and after while I went by my self'.

1 man band is right, go on an Amtico or Karndean course, now that is good money, trouble is you are on a cold hard floor all day and your knees will be shot in no time.

Murky

[daysdeepclean]

The reason I was kicked out of the navy was on medical grounds, for a recurring knee problem.... I wear knee pads in my Panoply's but even now I end up in a lot of pain! But I'm a Northerner so I just get on with it