Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: charles911 on June 26, 2012, 04:09:15 pm
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ive been working on and off as a carpet cleaner now for about 3/4 years. my uncle was a carpet cleaner and i used to help him 2.
Thing is, before xsmas and defo after, my phone aint rang much and my flyer get about 1 in 600 (not good)
I was speaking to someone in a carpet cleaning shop when i was looking at a machine who said they were lookin for someone on a full time basis as they purchased a rug cleaning plant and have moved it to nr where i live as they own a business park about 10 miles away from me.
he gave me his number and said if i wanted a job to think about it and give him a call.
so what i can remember he said I'd be working in a rug cleaning plant and not only would i get the chance to go on free courses but i could also train as a furniture re upholsterer if i wanted as they are merging their existing businesses AND if i wanted after training,i could take on overtime on commercial work at weekends/nights
After i was fully trained I would start on £13000 a year which would increase if I like it, wanted to stay and proved to be good at my job!
thing is, I dont have to answer to anyone and im my own boss which i have liked. I am strapped for cash but when its thick with snow on the ground i dont have ny one screeming down the phone cos im not comin in lol
what woud you do? ;D
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I can see the appeal of a fixed wage, but £13k is only net £190 per week
Can you live on that? Seems a bit low..
Craig
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For 190 a week? No. I'd rather drop leaflets for 3 days a week, that should fill up the remaining 2 days with carpet cleaning jobs. I would make more than 190 a week this way, work for myself and build my own business.
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Would you not be better to get a part time job 12 to 16 hours per week to help you through
13k wont go far and you might slave for the money
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Is that even legal minimum wage?
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Sounds like the security of a job and money coming in regular..
Maybe as jim asaid get a part time job to help and leaflets ..
Good luck..
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13k a year is £250 a week, unless you mean £190 after tax.
Shaun
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Jonny is that 13k plus company van and kit.Will the owner be ok with you doing a bit for yourself at the weekend.In short find out exactly what is on offer and if any perks can be negotiated at the start like if you get some new work do you get a percentage etc as most things are negotiable especially if your new employer sees you as a person who brings something extra to the party so to speak.................Go and have a good long discussion if the offer still stands..................just my opinion though ............Alan(swindon)
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Charles where are you based?
Do you have any advertising out there? Yell, website, leaflets, customer database?
Shaun
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we are talking about offering a skilled, married(?) man £13k a year........ do we need to say any more
I pay my 18yrs old son more
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Mike you could take the job then go off on the sick :o
Shaun
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£220 per week after tax if you use your personal tax
allowance on that income.
No overheads at all though, still not enough for me though.
John
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Mike
Depends what the hours are.
John
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If you strapped for cash I can see the attraction, why not use it to get to get fully trained for six months then renegotiate the salary or leave to further your career..
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Would you not be better to get a part time job 12 to 16 hours per week to help you through
13k wont go far and you might slave for the money
this is one of the things i think! I one of the things i intend to find out! 6am is a no which is what time they start wtf lol
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Jonny is that 13k plus company van and kit.Will the owner be ok with you doing a bit for yourself at the weekend.In short find out exactly what is on offer and if any perks can be negotiated at the start like if you get some new work do you get a percentage etc as most things are negotiable especially if your new employer sees you as a person who brings something extra to the party so to speak.................Go and have a good long discussion if the offer still stands..................just my opinion though ............Alan(swindon)
Intend 2 mate. I think there is a van inc which would be perfect for my own ideas @ the weekend. going up this weekend. so ill know more then.
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Charles where are you based?
Do you have any advertising out there? Yell, website, leaflets, customer database?
Shaun
Yeah ive done loads of leaflet drops. got about 10 domestic and 3 commercial on my books booked in for a 12 month repeat.
Had loads of bad look with vans which has set me back abit. just moved to a place called eckington. thought about a web site but dont have the money atm. its an idea tho
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Yes I ment net but I based it on 25% I forgot about personal allowance though so it's more like net £220 As jands said.
Still very low pay, you would have to have a very low mortgage or paid off to survive on that.
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well jst split up with the ex so im now living with my parents again ( :-X) I give ma mum about £40.00 a month 4 ma washin n that. i pay for my gym membership n food n everthin else so id pretty much end up with about £900 a month to play about with (i think)
Jst text him and he rang me back to arange goin up which is tomorrow now! jst googled his address and its like a propa mansion wtf lol
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after reading that i suggest you take the job
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Most carpet cleaners can't earn a fulltime living just carpet cleaning, they either offer other services or have another unrelated job. There simply isn't enough business out there for everybody to earn a good fulltime income. I read somewhere that about 70% of carpet cleaners were effectively part-time or used it as an income supplement.
If you're down on your luck and somebody is offering you a job that would boost your income, it's always worthwhile seriously considering it. You might not earn much to begin with, but if you can negotiate some flexibility with your hours, you should still be able to fit in some carpet cleaning working. Also, if you can get permission for some private use of the company van, that would be a massive perk. There's nothing to stop you working for someone else and developing your own business alongside it; best of both worlds.
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I know eckington well we have a shop in Dronfield are you doing work in that area or where you used to live? Btw where abouts in the rug cleaning plant? I may be able to pass work your way as I offer the service but sub it out elsewhere.
Shaun
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So when you think back to when you started up how did it feel? Was there some particular thing you got excited about achieving or was it something that seemed easy to do and no one would employ you?
A J.O.B. is associated with security, but that's a very old fashioned ideal that doesn't pan out in 2012.
If you can't get excited about carpet cleaning do something else that does. If you take the J.O.B. in 6 months time you will feel worse and regret you sold all your kit for pennies I bet you.
But only you know the correct answer.
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Tell him your interested by your put off by the pay as you would struggle on it, maybe you can get him to push it up to 14 or 15k
13k sounds tight arse, but then I don't know the going rate for a tech.
Be wary if he's had a high turnover of staff as you can bet the ones before you have jacked as the pays to low and the works crap.
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I'd get a cloth and a bucket with some ladders and get a window cleaners round as an add on can't be that hard ;D
Shaun
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CRAIG... Do you have the equipment?
Get a good leaflet sorted and go drop Walton and Holymoorside in Chesterfield. These are good areas and you should pick up some good jobs. I also know a guy in Chesterfield who wants someone on hand as he has a Property Maintenance company and gets asked about carpet cleaning all the time.
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Mick *Charles, wake up.
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Everyone's obsessing on the £13k salary but that is stated as an introductory amount - I would imagine after a few months it would either be re-negotiated upwards because Charles is showing his worth and the guy wants to keep him, or they'll part company. That's the way I would play it anyhow.
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Take the job and start/build your own business at the same time. Using his equiptment working weekends and after work. Drop leaflets, talk to people while on the job etc. <<< Thats why I dont employ :)
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I' glad I posted on here before I went othrwise I wouldnt have asked so many questions, which I think was a good thing so thanks to the ppl who posted! ;D
Well, I went to address he gave me and it was a huge propa old country estate mansion. I parked next to a DB9 and went to the first door i could find. I thought the butler answer'd the door but it turns out that was this guys stepdad lol
met the guy and talked for about an hour and a half and got alot from him. this is what i got
I would be billing him as a sole trader to @ min wageto begin with until I have gone down the ncca, iicrc and leather care courses.
before and during I will be helping out with moving the rug plant to chesterfield and a reupholstering business from london andto be set up these units when the leases end on both. Until then I will be doing things like driving to london 1-3 times a week in a mercedes sprinter and/or helping out with carpet cleaning contracts but wont be doing the actual cleaning until the prementioned.
If I like it and think its for me I can get involved with rug cleaning but I will have to do alot of traning before im trusted with anything like that , then he showed me the photos of the machinery he's moving and tbh I dont think I'd know where the rugs went in and came out!
If i liked it by the time the new premises were set up I could train on the rugs or train to learn to re-upholster the two businesses will be under one roof. There is a distribution company for mining chemicals which will be across the road maybe next year so I would prob be asked to do a fork lift truck as a backup for the storesman.
at that point I will be contracted down to bring home about £1200 after tax through the company
I will have the use of a mercedes sprinter, vito with tinted windows which looks cool or a new vito van!
I cannot use these for my own carpet cleaning jobs but I can get my own new custom while im working but i cannot take over from the company or break my contract. seeing as I'd be working for a family of solicitors i wont be doing anything like that lol
Hours would be 9-4ish 5 days a week until the plant opens and then i may be asked to start between 6-8 and finish from anywhere between 3 and 6pm depending on what im doing.
He asked me loads about what i had been doing and how i would clean different carpets and attach things like urine, red wine, blood wax, oil and ink. and then talked about rugs for ages (think he likes rugs lol) He went somewhere in america last year to do with rug cleaning and said it was amazing. (that would be good if i could go there lol)
then after all that I was asked to join his family for a bbq which i've just got back from. I've sat in his mothers DB9 and may have even drove home feeling alittle tipsy :-X
Seems really down to earth and just a nice guy to work for with lots of opportunities. Anyway he said I should have a good think about it and get back to him before he goes to kenya to teach english which he does every year
wat u rek?? thinkin of goin for it?!?!?!
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I think I want to marry this guy.
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I don't know if it been mentioned are asked but how old are you?
I would be billing him as a sole trader to @ min wage to begin......... you are self employed and he want to pay you min wage?????
how i would clean different carpets and attach things like urine, red wine, blood wax, oil and ink. and then talked about rugs for ages ......... he expect you to have specialised knowledge of stain removal but still only wants to pay min wage
this post is so ridiculous I'm starting to think it's a wind up
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A family of solicitors? Have a mansion and DB9.. Why would they want to be involved in carpet cleaning? you can do ok in this industry but not get rich on that scale. Also why's he trying to impress you? He might just want cheap labour, and your falling for it.
All sounds a bit weird to me. No wait, a lot weird.
What's his company called?
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If you haven't made it after 3/4 years, then maybe running your own business isn't for you, in which case employment would seem a good option.
However, this isn't employment is it ?
This is you being expected to drive all over the country, helping to move this blokes businesses, all for minimum wage. You seem to be ignoring this fact because you will get to drive a nice van !
£1200 a month ! Slave labour !
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Yeah have to say sounds like a load of old bollix now....
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I'm sorry but I agree with above he's having you self employed for all that I'd want double without being greedy don't forget if you work for one person/company exclusively then you may want to look at this http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cis/subcontractors/advice-pay.htm
He can drop you at anytime with no warning and pay you no redundancy, no sick pay or holiday pay no pension.
Who is holding the insurance? You spoil a rug and who pays? Being a solicitor I bet he won't!
If you are about 18 years of age it's not bad you could have a giggle but IMO its a short term job £13k may turn into £15k but self employed with tax deductions and insurance to pay and no benefits I think he's taking you for a ride (in a db9)
It's a big fat no from me.
Shaun
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I "rek" it sounds like a big load of hairy balloix! :D
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The set up he is proposing is illegal as far as tax is concerned.
You would be classed as employed as he is your sole source of work and he is supplying the gear to do the jobs.
He wou;d then be liable for all the employers dues and demands re NI and tax.
It a no no.
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Solicitor, re-upholsteror, rug cleaner, mining chemical supplier, teacher in Africa. Am I missing soemthing here?
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In the words of Dragons Dens Peter Jones " Sorry but this just won't work, so i'm out "
;D
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I most certainly would NOT do this on a sub contract basis. All legal/tax issues aside, as already mentioned it's the fact that you could be dropped like a hot potato and out of work with no notice and no severance pay.
On a salary, the ball game changes completely.
To be brutally honest, if this guy is TRULY looking for a linchpin employee to become a major working part of his business, and is prepared to put you on a salary and develop you... absolutely go for it, because once you prove your worth to an enterprising employer the sky's your limit. You could end up as the guy in the sharp suit sitting in a big office with a fat cigar in your mouth one day.
From what I've heard he wants to take advantage of you.
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You normally find people like this are rich for a reason , and it isn't through being kind!
Steve
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Solicitor, re-upholsteror, rug cleaner, mining chemical supplier, teacher in Africa. Am I missing soemthing here?
Yeah he also runs Barclays bank but won't be taking his bonus this year, so needs some extra income hence starting a rug washing business. :-X
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You normally find people like this are rich for a reason , and it isn't through being kind!
Steve
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/04/us-billionaires-half-fortune-gates
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Sounds like Pilgrim Payne, they do re-upholstery well as the cleaning.