Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: andrew stone on March 07, 2012, 05:54:21 pm
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Like many i think, i much prefer cleaning carpets to suites.
my mate today said he would gladly clean 2 suites per day 5 days per week if he could get that volume of work 48 weeks a year!
myself 2 per week does me.
at his current charge of £150 per suite cleaning 480 suites per year he would gross £72000.
assuming expenses of £10000 this would leave a pre tax net profit of £62000.
i said he would be completely knackered after 1 year of this amount of suites.he thinks not.he takes about 3 hours per suite.
purely hypothetical do you think you could do it? i know i couldnt!
out of interest what percentage of 1 man band carpet /upholstery cleaners make a net pretax profit of £62000?
in your estimate.
i know i dont!
andrew
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suite are about 30% of my business, to do suites full time i would have to refuse a grands worth of carpet cleaning..... its just no viable
i could clean 2 suites a day, most of the suites I clean have a maybe bad arms and a bit of head grease i never get really minging suites, did one today, i only cleaned half of it.... thats all it needed
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
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:o :o
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I could clean 2 suites a day 5 days a week, no sweat. And still fit in a house full of carpets :)
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
This is meant to get a rise out of us, right?
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I used to do quite a few but thankfully it's mostly carpets now I just kept putting the prices up to get rid of the mass amounts this lasted until I couldn't sell at any higher price you do need to get some of them but to take up the slack I pushed carpet cleaning, best thing I ever did as I tend to earn more and work less.
Shaun
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
This is meant to get a rise out of us, right?
I had to double check my diary to make sure it wasn't April the 1st.... ;D
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Whilst I'm not keen on doing suites on there own, I do quite a lot of whole house and suite jobs in nicer properties and just make a day of it. :)
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Lewis
one and a half days to clean a suite?!
no offence meant but what do you do with them?
i average 3 hours and get quite a lot of repeats and recommends.
andrew
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I would be more than happy to clean 2 suites a day, in fact I'd love to clean 2 suits a day, and like Jim would be happy to do a carpet job in between.
Man I love upholstery ;D ;D
PS. 1 & half days to do a twelve cushion dralon :o :o :o :o :o maybe there is a typo and put days when meaning hours??????????
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What a bloody boring job it would be just cleaning suites , must be brain dead to want to do just that all day every day !!
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Gents I think Lewis is in the latter part of his cleaning career, and maybe does things like upholstery cleaning with more traditional ways than many of us. Maybe those two things combined together mean it takes that long :)
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Maybe an updated version on "watching paint dry"
Watching a dralon suite dry ;D
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
Slow down man, what's the rush ;D
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can i ask why guys don't like cleaning suites?
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I can't stand them either.
Derek I think when I started there was more dralons around which was easy and great results.
All I seem to get now is polyester chenille s that do come up but take huge amount of effort and recleaning and the cusions on the bottom that are sat on often don't clean so well, ground in denim dye ect.
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I don't mind cleaning them but I prefer carpet cleaning as it yield better/more money.
Shaun
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I can't stand them either.
Derek I think when I started there was more dralons around which was easy and great results.
All I seem to get now is polyester chenille s that do come up but take huge amount of effort and recleaning and the cusions on the bottom that are sat on often don't clean so well, ground in denim dye ect.
what sort of chems you using?
i have never put any real effort into cleaning suites, pre spray, dwell, tickle with a brush, dwell, rinse extract, then touch up what dint come out with a different approach chem. jobe le doon. (sorry, just had garlic) job done. ;D
ps... i stand corrected, those really really big cushions are a bit of a pain on your back when doing the rinse run. and i sometimes get lactic acid build up in my anterior delts but apart from that. peace a pee.
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What a back aching time consuming job suite cleaning is, even if you do take short cuts like just dealing vacuuming back and sides.
The trouble is getting the price and today was another example.
Phone call from asian sounding person "How much you charge to clean sofas?"
Drag out of her it's fabric and a 3-2 suite and sounded like stool too.
£140 says I (and keep quiet - he who speaks first and all that) ;D
About 10 seconds later she says "does that include vat?"
I went with "yes." (and kicked myself for missing the chance to boost it 20%)
Another 10 second pause ;D before the words "I'll phone you back" were said.
So if you could get 480 suites at £150 I still wouldn't be interested in wrecking my back, and what I'm also saying is you'd be lucky to find enough people to pay it anyway.
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It's only because it's relative to carpets. When you think what some people do for a living we have it pretty easy.
When you don't need to do them though, you can just put your prices up to make it a pleasure.
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Derek, yes I sometimes get MMF in deltoids.
Fabric restorer. Agitation, CFR. 5"
(Momentary muscular failure) for those not familiar with training terms ;D
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Derek, yes I sometimes get MMF in deltoids.
Fabric restorer. Agitation, CFR. 5"
(Momentary muscular failure) for those not familiar with training terms ;D
never got on with fabric restorer. tested it once along side 4 other chems on an acrylic mix suite and it came last. might be worth experimenting craig. just a thought me young/old (delete as appropriate) ;D, if you can let the chems do the work for you with just a minimum of agitation then it makes the job easier and all thats left then is to get comfy with the rinse. i find cleaning suites no harder or easier than cleaning carpets and still earn the same hourly rate.
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Ermm younger I think, 35 ? what upholstery chemical have you found best? Il give it a try..
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Its the upholstery manufacturers esp DFS who make cleaning suites difficult.
Mark
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Hello Mark, good to see you back.
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What a bloody boring job it would be just cleaning suites , must be brain dead to want to do just that all day every day !!
If you find any part of your job boring, perhaps it's time to move on and find other work.
I like doing suites but only because I find it quite therapeutic and an nice and easy job to do.... :)
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Dtto ...
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Ermm younger I think, 35 ? what upholstery chemical have you found best? Il give it a try..
any good micro splitter on most suites should do the trick, i use split x from cleansmart but most good suppliers will have a decent enough micro splitter, (don't believe the hype there all good ;)) i mix mine quite heavy though, don't eff about with 1 to 120 or whatever it is. about 1 to 8 for me. spray on, give it a tickle, acid rinse extract, usually do all the base cushions first (which gives you some dwell time)then get them stacked up with a blower on em then do the back cushions and the dirty bits on carcus, then finish with just rinsing anything that aint dirty. if cushions or arms don't quite cut the mustard i hit with either citra boost or citra concentrate,(the latter being good on dye transfer) very rare that i need anymore than microsplitter though. hope thios helps, maybe give it a go sometime.
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any good micro splitter on most suites should do the trick, i use split x from cleansmart but most good suppliers will have a decent enough micro splitter, (don't believe the hype there all good ;)) i mix mine quite heavy though, don't eff about with 1 to 120 or whatever it is. about 1 to 8 for me. spray on, give it a tickle, acid rinse extract, usually do all the base cushions first (which gives you some dwell time)then get them stacked up with a blower on em then do the back cushions and the dirty bits on carcus, then finish with just rinsing anything that aint dirty. if cushions or arms don't quite cut the mustard i hit with either citra boost or citra concentrate,(the latter being good on dye transfer) very rare that i need anymore than microsplitter though. hope thios helps, maybe give it a go sometime.
:o it's all gonna kick off now!
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any good micro splitter on most suites should do the trick, i use split x from cleansmart but most good suppliers will have a decent enough micro splitter, (don't believe the hype there all good ;)) i mix mine quite heavy though, don't eff about with 1 to 120 or whatever it is. about 1 to 8 for me. spray on, give it a tickle, acid rinse extract, usually do all the base cushions first (which gives you some dwell time)then get them stacked up with a blower on em then do the back cushions and the dirty bits on carcus, then finish with just rinsing anything that aint dirty. if cushions or arms don't quite cut the mustard i hit with either citra boost or citra concentrate,(the latter being good on dye transfer) very rare that i need anymore than microsplitter though. hope thios helps, maybe give it a go sometime.
:o it's all gonna kick off now!
why Ash , on chems they are the manufactures recommended dilution rates, at a guess when they test this stuff its on shiny new carpets etc and used on spills and stains that are fresh and they want us to feel the stuff will last for ever ;D ;D
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I was taking the mickey, although someone will be along shortly to point out that this dilution rate will probably cause Venus to collide with Jupiter, sending space debris into Earth, meaning the end of life as we know it.
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I was taking the mickey, although someone will be along shortly to point out that this dilution rate will probably cause Venus to collide with Jupiter, sending space debris into Earth, meaning the end of life as we know it.
;)
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It's all Derek's fault ;D
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9129749/Huge-solar-flare-to-hit-Earth.html
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It's all Derek's fault ;D
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9129749/Huge-solar-flare-to-hit-Earth.html
Coincedence? I think not..
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I think the microsplitter Derek's on about states 1:10 as its strongest dilution for restorative cleaning, so not far out really (but you must be made of money using that much of it ;) ). It's only the colloidal cleaners that have the higher dilution rates like 1:120
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Thanks Craig. Didnt really go anywhere just not focused on cleaning these past few months.
Mark
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
This is meant to get a rise out of us, right?
Wynne, there used to be an old guy, Shaun may remember him, "Jack from Tickhill", this is exactly what he used to do, he used to take the castors off, oil then and put them back, take the base fabric off, clean under there and replace it. He was stacked out with high end work all over the Yorkshire area. He's retired now. He was a real gentleman and even wore a butler type outfit, I jest not.
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Allan,now ya would`nt be refering to myself would ya ? 8)
Now I`m not disputing what your writing but I do `draw
The line`at oiling the castors. ::)
P. S.
There`s many a good tune played on an old fiddle. ;D :D ;) :)
All this at 5.30pm on a Sunday morning. :P
Lewis Doubtfire
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Did jack trade as The old English cleaning company?
Shaun
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Andrew,the average soiled 12 cushion suite ( Dralon) takes me
Anything up to one and a half days starting or arriving at the customers
House at no later than 9am.Leaving the customers house at 5.30pm.
On 2 occasions I `ve cleaned an elderly gentlemans 12 cushion Dralon
Suite,both were pipe smokers,one suite was 8 years old,the other was
12 years old.Started Monday morning,finished at Wednesday noon.
Used 200 terry cloths on em`both.Takes ages to launder, the nicotine etc.
The only time I could clean 2 suites in a day would be if they were both
4 cushion cottage suites lightly soiled. 8)
It`s getting the customer to part with £450 plus,even for a superb finish
Without getting the grandkids on ya back. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Suite cleaning it`s horse work. :'(
Lewis Doubtfire
This is meant to get a rise out of us, right?
Wynne, there used to be an old guy, Shaun may remember him, "Jack from Tickhill", this is exactly what he used to do, he used to take the castors off, oil then and put them back, take the base fabric off, clean under there and replace it. He was stacked out with high end work all over the Yorkshire area. He's retired now. He was a real gentleman and even wore a butler type outfit, I jest not.
Blimey Allan, that's a real microniche.
You've given me an idea for an add on for the tick list - Castor lubrication Madam?