[JS2]

Hi Folks

On a lighter note.

I visited Morrisons in Folkestone this afternoon. On the way out I witnessed a custy loading a popular DIY carpet cleaning hire-machine into his wagon.  5 minutes later when I arrived at Homebase I saw the same thing again.  I've never seen this happen so frequently.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[derek west]

i give them a card and say, give us a call in a couple of weeks when its dirty again and i'll do it properly for you.
derek

[derek west]

even on lightly soiled carpets it doesn't rinse properly.
what happens then eh?
derek

[Mike Osbourne]

How about giving them a card and saying once they have 'cleaned' it you will do a lttle demo for them and see whether any more dirt comes out. 

[derek west]

mike
you have mail.
well u will have in about 2 mins
derek

[Mike Osbourne]

Spot on Derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I cleaned a carpet for someone who had cleaned their carpets with a Rug Dr and I didn't need any pre spray or anything, it just cleaned itself with me rinsing with just hot water.

Shaun

[The Great One]

Hi

For some customers is doesn't matter if it re-soils quickly, at say £24 they can do the whole house as often as they like, for them in these times it still is a better option than a professional clean.

Some people couldn't care less about all the training, equipment and time and effort put in. They have an option for doing it as cheap as chips and some people will take that option.

Regards

Martin

[clinton]

Think your right on that martin.

Like most things now its all focusing on how much things are and not quality.

From holidays,restraunts,shops,hotels its all the ones that offer value for money that are busy..

[derek west]

Hi

For some customers is doesn't matter if it re-soils quickly, at say £24 they can do the whole house as often as they like, for them in these times it still is a better option than a professional clean.

Regards

Martin

they'd soon get fed up of soaking wet carpets and have you tried cleaning with a rug doctor, its bloody hard work, do you really think some people wouldn't care about doing that every couple of months.
think ya wrong martin. well i think, the some people your talking about are probably 1 in a million.
derek

[daysdeepclean]

I agree with Derek and actually think that if they are cleaning their carpets every 2 months, it wouldn't work out too much more expensive to have a professional clean, as it would only need doing once every 12-18 months!

It also has to be pointed out that the chemicals work out to be quite expensive too, a box of Daz would be cheaper

[richy27]

at the end of the day if people want to hire an rd they will becuse its cheap. but how many dont hire one again thats what i would like to know.

[daysdeepclean]

I once hired one out years ago Rich.... "Once!"

[derek west]

i hired one and thats how i got started, (long story)

took it back cos it was filthy.

got a professional in, well i thought he was a professional the rest is history

derek

[Matt Lindus]

I tell it as it is, so listen.
 
At £24 its quite good value and I believe you can have the machine for the day. I'm certainly not one of the rug doctor haters as it suits some people to nip and hire one if they have a quiet day.

Carpet and upholstery cleaning deals in wonderful raw cash and should be only really be used as a wallet top.

Get training in something serious, go to Business Link and see an adviser and draw up a realistic plan with projections and slowly build a proper respected business that is VAT registered and sustainable.
£800-£1500 per week in a very small business (window cleaning, ice cream, carpets) is fine if the cash is used for holidays, cars and bric a brac ect. Use your paid salary from a serious business source to fund your mortgage, pension, savings and all the things that matter.

And before you say "I'm happy on my 40k Turnover with £25-30K nett", you sit back and think how much effort and marketing has gone into achieving this low result. If you were to put just half of this time and attention into a serious venture you could multiply that turnover of 40k, twenty fold at least.

Matt 

[sanjuro]

its not just £24 there is the cost of the cleaning solution as well

[JS2]

To bring this back into focus, the aim of my posting was to enquire if others have noticed an increase in DIY carpet cleaning (a seasonal thing perhaps ?) and to exchange thoughts on the impact of this on the professional business.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[The Great One]

Hi

For some customers is doesn't matter if it re-soils quickly, at say £24 they can do the whole house as often as they like, for them in these times it still is a better option than a professional clean.

Regards

Martin

they'd soon get fed up of soaking wet carpets and have you tried cleaning with a rug doctor, its bloody hard work, do you really think some people wouldn't care about doing that every couple of months.
think ya wrong martin. well i think, the some people your talking about are probably 1 in a million.
derek

Hi I feel it's far more than one in a million. Although we care about quality, training equipment etc, most customers don't care, they just want it done. some will go for the pro, others will want or feel it's cheaper to do it themselves.

yes it's a false economy, so are landlords who replace every 6 months with cheapest polyprop instead of a quality 80/20 that will last them years, they don't want to listen either.

Regards

Martin

[Mike Osbourne]

Matt

What a load of rubbish, about the rug doctor.

But the other stuff you talk about makes total sense.

Carpet cleaning is great to go from 0-£70k but the effort to make it scalable seems to be very tough compared to many other business models.

Maybe take your cash out the business and put it into something associated that scalable, partly so then it's pretax money and secondly because you at least have some idea what it's about without starting over.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I use spare money for business opps recently I put some money into a fireplace showroom and got a good return also I have used money to buy 2 houses I rent out but they are the good ones I want to tell you about I'm not going to tell you about the wedding car hire business although I did drive around in a RR.

Keep on moving or you'll stop (or even go backwards!!)

Shaun