Have you diversified away from carpet & upholstery cleaning?

« **on:** June 21, 2009, 10:57:49 am »

Hi guys,

I think in this day and age it comes as given that offering more than one service is the way to go. I am sure many of you on this forum can survive with just offering the traditional c & u cleaning but others including myself have and may need to diversify to stay solvent.

It would be a good idea to tell us what other services you supply so that we can get some ideas?

Thanks for all your input in advance

John

« **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:14:23 am »

Hi John
It falls to me to be the first to reply which is unfortunate.

As the years have gone by I have retrenched and offered fewer and fewer services.

The business is exclusively carpets and upholstery and as I've specialised I seem to have got a name to that effect. I'm as busy as I've ever been.

I'll be interested to see the results of the poll though.

Roger

« **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:35:25 am »

Hi John In the past I have done oven cleaning which was ok ,the thing is when you have add ons some people dont take you as a serious carpet and upholstery cleaner , not all mind you but as in my case my rivals pushed it that I was just a jack of all trades . hope alls well in cramlington,will be up there soon to see me mate .will give you a bell ,will have to meet up its about 2 years now since I saw you at extracta.
regards Ady

« **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:54:31 am »

Hi Ady

Yes I remember you well! Hows it going?

Most of my work comes from carpets & upholstery but my add-ons are now pressure washing and upvc cleaning. Almost all my advertising is done with leaflets. The leaflet is dominated by my carpet & upholstery work and with a much smaller area dedicated to the other two services.

Yes give me a shout when your up my way and we can exchange notes!! Do you still have your Extracta machine?

John

« **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:13:47 pm »

Tiles/vinyl/wood/leather.

« **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:34:06 pm »

I cant see any problems with offering other services as long as they involve cleaning. Take me for instance im a tiler (walls/floors) i offer tile/stone cleaning, then people asked if i do carpet cleaning, so i added that on and last week i was scotch garding a settee, and the customer asked if i do polishing oak floors as she saw what i did on my van, so i have got that job to do now. But if i offered painting & decorating or gardening i think you would be called a jack of all trades. I think once you have cleaned a customers carpets and the have got your trust you should take that opportunity to offer other things, it works for me.

« **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:48:28 pm »

We provide carpet & upholstery cleaning, window cleaning, soffit/facia & guttering cleans, spring cleans & end of tenancy cleans too. We are pretty dead at the moment!

« **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:50:26 pm »

i plan to add leather cleaning and restoration inthe near future after i have completed the training

« **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:58:21 pm »

I clean leather (pigmented) but do not do the restoration side. I've always been a little hesitant as to how much work there is out there for it? Maybe some of you will comment?

« **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2009, 01:04:40 pm »

Suffolkclean

How much do you charge to clean out gutters? What do you think of a £1 per foot?

John

« **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2009, 02:31:31 pm »

Am on the same line as roger on this and thankfully keep busy with just carpet and upholstery cleaning the only service i offer..

Did think about other add on,s this year as i did expect it to be queit with the slow down but have been busy as most of the work comes om my regulars and rec,s.

Think if i had to get work from the web sites i would strugle :

« **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2009, 02:47:14 pm »

I prefer to stick to the basic carpet and upholstery cleaning aswell and thankfully do awlright from it that is why we call ourselves specialists isnt it by specialising in a couple of specific things .

As has been said I think if you diversify too much you can be considered as a jack of all trades master of none, that is only how the customer could perceive you of course not my opinion.

The only other things I do are leather and curtains but this would come under the same bracket . I even have a guy who pressure washes my block paving I have done his carpets and upholsery for many years ,so when he started doing the pressure washing for a living thought I would give him the business.

Regards Andy Locke.

« **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2009, 03:15:17 pm »

Quote from: suffolkclean on June 21, 2009, 12:48:28 pm

We provide carpet & upholstery cleaning, window cleaning, soffit/facia & guttering cleans, spring cleans & end of tenancy cleans too. We are pretty dead at the moment!

Maybe you've spread yourself too thin and need to refocus?

« **Reply #13 on:** June 21, 2009, 03:25:19 pm »

I think that when you do a carpet cleaning job at someone's house you can sell your other services to the customer while your there. It may seem a simple process but I think we could be on to a real winner with this approach!!

« **Reply #14 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:07:31 pm »

I know where your comming from Mike it may seem where offering too much, but that's a good thing as far as we're concerned as we're not just sticking to one kind of cleaning. Been quiet the last few weeks but it usually works well.

As you said skywalker we can offer a carpet cleaning customer with dirty windows a regular window cleaning service, they may be due to move out of their rental house & we could then quote for the end of tenancy clean. Regards to pricing he usually works out how long it'll take x hourly rate.

Barbara

« **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:43:58 pm »

Started cpt cleaning 20 yr ago, 5 yr ago added contract cleaning and the odd domestic cleaning.
Recently added oven cleaning, hard floor cleaning/resealing, eco supplies, paper products etc.

The way i see it, when it comes to retirement age i will have something worthwhile to sell, other than a second hand machine and van etc.

The last contract i got, my quote was the highest, they told me it was because i had the best package

as we offered all supplies, carpet cleaning and window cleaning, we have even fitted safety catches etc to child rooms.

My contracts employ over 400 staff, and my sign written vans are seen on site everyday, they see you as cleaning experts
not just carpet and upholstery cleaners.

Well thats how i see it

Andrew

« **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2009, 05:33:49 pm »

there is no easy way to say this but i think if you have been in business for more than around 5 years and your not busy in what you do then YOU are doing something wrong. if you do a good job and are good with your 'public' then they will recommend you and use you again and again, if you have to resort to diversifying into 3 or 4 other means of earning a living then perhaps your a square peg in a round hole, try something else for a living,

colin

« **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:15:58 pm »

A bit harsh Colin

Although I don't like the " Jack of All Trades " idea "there's definitely a lower volume of work available right now and it might be worth adding some other means of earning extra £'s while this recession lasts.

Easy for established c/c'ers with a huge customer base built over many years.

Not so easy for newer starts who might have laid out a massive amount of " hard earned " or worse still borrowed and urgently need to generate cash flow.

A good earner which I know some already do, is painting / washing down paint for EOL's

« **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:53:18 pm »

I am definately getting slightly fewer jobs at moment due to recession, however i am still up on last year, and job ticket £ has increased30%.

My customers dont just see me as a carpet cleaner, but someone who can take care of ALL their cleaning needs.

I think this is why my job ticket has increased, one sale leads to another, all my accounts now buy supplies off me,
and people who i supply to now have their carpets cleaned by me, its about getting your name out there.

Non see me as a jack of all trades, infact quite the opposite.

Andrew

« **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:23:30 pm »

I reckon Colin has a valid point. If after 5 years of building up a customer base, with all the repeats & recommendations that come with that, you are finding that the current climate is giving you idle time then maybe you aren't doing something right.

Diversifying to keep you going is one thing, on the other hand expanding you business into other fields is completely different.

No business can afford to stand still. F W Woolworths chose to stand still in the 20th century & look what happened to them.

Over half the houses where I clean carpets & upholstery now have tile/stone entrance halls & kitchen/breakfast areas. High traffic areas which can't be maintained with the daily wet mop, so I expanded into this field years ago as well as exterior hard surfaces. Customers appear to be happy that one business can cover all these aspects for them. Upside for us is that we don't get totally bored out of our mind wanding beige carpets day in day out

« **Reply #20 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:32:29 pm »

I think what it comes down to is the same old thing 'Marketing'.

If you are going to get good at anything other than your main business, make it marketing. If you can't market Carpet Cleaning you will have the same problem marketing leather, rugs or whatever.

If you have a good customer base, then actually these thing can make sense because your existing customers will use you and you don't have to carve out a new market.

The daftest thing is going out and spending money on a new expensive piece of kit and you aint got any customers for the thing yet and the work pays no more or less than a good carpet cleaner.

« **Reply #21 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:39:08 pm »

My policy is to diversify into services which use the same resources that I already own, and in some cases customers that I am already in touch with . Otherwise it is extra investment , which in turn can dilute cash flow.

« **Reply #22 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:39:48 pm »

Andrew I need my carpets , Leathers, Curtains , loo rolls ( really we are out !) and will you fit us some catches to keep the kids OUT ! Quote me Happy pls

I now off site clean Rugs , Leather resto, Hard/resilient floor and counseling ( 1 of Long story)

« **Reply #23 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:49:03 pm »

Quote from: Mike Osbourne on June 21, 2009, 08:32:29 pm

I think what it comes down to is the same old thing 'Marketing'.

If you are going to get good at anything other than your main business, make it marketing. If you can't market Carpet Cleaning you will have the same problem marketing leather, rugs or whatever.

If you have a good customer base, then actually these thing can make sense because your existing customers will use you and you don't have to carve out a new market.

The daftest thing is going out and spending money on a new expensive piece of kit and you aint got any customers for the thing yet and the work pays no more or less than a good carpet cleaner.

Spot on , Mike

« **Reply #24 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:57:59 pm »

It's not that I diversified really, carpets and upholstery is still my main business, but I have added on leather and I clean coach interiors. I also clean hard floors but have been doing that for years now.
I stopped cleaning car interiors and very seldom sand a wooden floor anymore. My own choice, as I am not as young as I once was

well none of us are really, and I can earn enough to get bye quite well.

« **Reply #25 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:23:16 pm »

Staring up just over a year ago, I always planned to incorporate oven cleaning which I have had the chance to do very early on! Do I regret it? Not at all, it's actually helped me secure some very lucrative carpet cleaning jobs and it's certainly stopped me from going under a couple of times.

I aim to build it up to a point where I can either employ someone or even sell the oven cleaning business for a good return. Whether you think it's right or wrong that diversifying is the way ahead, it's very much a personal choice. Some people can multi task and others can't, as long as you know your own limitations you should go as far as you can without letting any part of your business suffer!

« **Reply #26 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:37:50 pm »

I have an Ariel, Sat, Alarm & CCTV installation business which is my main source of income. This generates a very comfortable life style for me and my family and has also enabled me to employ a fantastic bunch of hard working staff.

I run a very small one man, one van set up for Carpet and Upholstery cleaning. I find it to be a nice little wallet filler for weekends or holidays. The rest of it covers my guys wage. If things die off, or if he comes back early from cleaning, he's off up ladders fitting and tuning Ariel’s.

Matt

« **Reply #27 on:** June 21, 2009, 09:41:55 pm »

Matt

Do you think people will still have Sky dishes in five years time what with VOD over the interweb etc?

« **Reply #28 on:** June 21, 2009, 10:13:53 pm »

Mike,

VOD can often be poor quality because it is using an average of 2mbps bandwidth and uses ADSL technology. Yes you have the option to watch more and watch when you require, but quality and clarity of the viewing is still paramount in most people’s eyes, which is why sky still on top.
Take the analogue to digital switch over as a good case. We had all the boffs stating it will eliminate interference and bring us into a new age of reception technology. How many millions of people are now having blocky or freezing screens because of poor frequency volts conflicting with the vast amounts of lesser air-born signals.
Yes we have all had trouble with the old analogue reception, ghosting, banding, snow etc, but at leased the thing you were watching was still there and audible, with digital its either all or nothing at the moment regardless digital ariel upgrade.

If you could see all the signals and wavebands passing through the air at the same time you would be speechless.

Matt

« **Reply #29 on:** June 21, 2009, 10:29:29 pm »

And let's not forget the Murdoch factor!

Governments plans for fibre are woeful compared to other countries. I think we will have dishes for decades

« **Reply #30 on:** June 22, 2009, 01:11:11 am »

Andrew top class posting, i think you have it sussed. I myself am looking to go down the same road as you and have been watching your posts on this site and others

if you have an opportunity i wouldnt mind picking your brains for a half hour( cheeky i know!!)

Ryan

« **Reply #31 on:** June 22, 2009, 07:22:44 am »

I still supply and fit carpet, laminate, wood, vinyl sheet and tiles and even recently ceramic tiles. After 27 years of this I am happy to see the cleaning side overtake the supply, but it is still a good opportunity to talk about supply when cleaning and vice versa.

Last year I added leather cleaning/repair and this year I added stone, tile and grout.

Last week i was asked to quote for protecting 345 m2 of new carpets in a new house, this turned into a £2500 job when I informed the client that all their new carpets had been laid on an underlay that was unsuitable for their underfloor heating. Got the job to uplift all the carpets, lay new underlay, re-fit and then protect.

Very lucrative job for me and have probably saved the client thousands in wasted fuel bills as their underfloor heat would not have permeated through the existing underlay.

No problem with being a jack of all trades when you are a master of them

Steve

« **Reply #32 on:** June 22, 2009, 07:59:39 am »

Hi Guys

For most in there early days , flexibility is key and offering hard floors is an obvious add on.

I also did the odd kitchen deep clean.

Now like most of the established guys I only really do carpets and upholstery , although I am cleaning a few curtains on a large , 'moving in' job today.

Cheers

Doug

« **Reply #33 on:** June 22, 2009, 09:48:14 am »

Me and my partner started our business deliberately offering a lot of services - domestics, eol, windows and carpets so that we can have a customer base who we do all of these services for. This is working to some extent and I don't feel that we look like jack of all trades - although this may be helped by the fact that there's two of us and my other half runs the domestic side and while I run the rest.

« **Reply #34 on:** June 23, 2009, 12:37:47 am »

I have always been diversified.

Into services away from cleaning.

Although I like variety Im not sure if you really want to build a substantional bussiness it is theway to go.

As each thing I do requires a diffrent focus.

If I wasa diffrent personality I would concentrate on one company I believe thiswould be the quickest way to grow.

So do not do as do

« **Reply #35 on:** June 23, 2009, 08:52:28 pm »

A little while ago I cleaned somethings for a guy who technically owns an airline, a rail franchise & a number of other businesses & he was actually there while I was working.
Believe he started up with a record store. Seems to have made a success of the diverse companies he currently owns & made a fortune out of some of those that he sold.
So, Ian, diversification is not necessarily a bad thing; far more exciting & oh, how much less of a bore one is. You only live once

« **Reply #36 on:** June 23, 2009, 09:57:39 pm »

Smart Ass !

But ...........all of Branson's energy went into building his original business which then funded the ones he added MUCH later emulating the Greek guy ( easy this , that and the other )

Cleaning, fitting, protecting, repairing, renovating, etc, are really all inter related and if you're good enough at them, fair enough.

Just reckon if you want to build something...............KISS is king or maybe queen

« **Reply #37 on:** June 24, 2009, 02:32:38 am »

Some one mentioned that we are not carpet cleaners but business men/women. In order to make money as a businessman, you have to constantly look for opportunities.

We started off as carpet cleaners 4 years ago. Then we looked at Hard surface cleaning, then ceiling cleaning, then a laundromat, then window cleaning, then home maintenance, then building maintenance. SOme of these have been successful and some have not. SOme we have made good money out of and some have lost us money.

I have a big mouth and am always asking the customers what they need. For example, a customer asked who she could get to hang a new door. I new a friend, phoned him and he did the job.Next minute, I was submitting quotes to a large multilocation custy to do all the small maintenance jobs.

That friend of mine now runs around fixing doors, windows, changing light bulbs, fixing plumbing leaks every day. I pay him for a call out fee and an hourly rate and I get good money without doing a thing.

WHen times are tuff, ask yourself, "Can I afford to sit around with no income". use your connections and try things. You might also be the next Richard Branson.

Jeremy

« **Reply #38 on:** June 25, 2009, 03:34:25 pm »

Quote from: elliott cleaning on June 23, 2009, 08:52:28 pm

A little while ago I cleaned somethings for a guy who technically owns an airline, a rail franchise & a number of other businesses & he was actually there while I was working.
Believe he started up with a record store. Seems to have made a success of the diverse companies he currently owns & made a fortune out of some of those that he sold.
So, Ian, diversification is not necessarily a bad thing; far more exciting & oh, how much less of a bore one is. You only live once

But Branson was smart in the early days he had young people dossing down in the house he got virtually rent free working in his companies

ie Student Mag

Students advisory service etc for free.

He got his record shops rent free for 6 months

Failed to pay Her Majesties Government Purchase tax Avoided Prison

Got Nectar way below Market Value

Does the type face go all over place when posting . Keeps jumping about

Poll

How many of you offer more than one service apart from carpet & upholstery cleaning?