Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on July 09, 2012, 08:40:08 am
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I added pressure washing into my business 4yrs ago, best decision I've made.
From May to Sept I earn more from the PW than carpet cleaning, and it has encouraged me to increase my prices as the time it took me to clean a suite @ £120 I could earn £200 PW.
My best £ per hr I,ve done with the PW is £300 for 1.5hrs, this was a big drive which by the size of it £300 was a fair price. it was on an angle that made all the dirty water run straight out into a drain which Was directly at the end of the drive.... The perfect situation :)
£100/hr is often achieved PW not because I'm charging daft high prices but because of the amount of area you can clean with the right equipment, I can clean in 2 hours what a homeowner would take all weekend to clean with a little electric machine, so they will happily pay £200 as it gives them the weekend off.
Powerwashing ..... Best decision I made
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hi mike,sounds like a great add on, did you do any formal training..
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Buying my first Truck Mount - changed the face of my business and took me to placed I would never have dreamed possible, being a lowly carpet cleaner.
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Nope just a bit of practice at home, P/W is really about having the right equipment. I use a big bowser pressure washer which looks really 'industrial'
I can honestly say in 4yrs I have had only 1 customer who was not highly delighted with the result, it's not like carpet cleaning were sometimes you can not see a big difference.... With PW you always get a massive difference.
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Mike
Did you teach yourself?
Thought you needed to know what to do when grout or sand collapes sealing drives etc.
Think I will just tick to blinds Even avoid canopies just in case one falls and bops someone on the head ;D ;D
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Best decision we made was entering contract cleaning market.
In 7 years have gone from just me to 14 staff, in that time we have lost contracts due to the recession (104k) :o
however we have never been down month on month, always steadily increasing the amount of work.
We now have a portfolio of businesses we work for, and have carried out builders cleans for a Greggs factory, Booths supermarkets, Cumbria fire and rescue hq (current) a 300 yr old listed building, next week we start 41 new flats.
All this brings in a steady income every month, we operate throughout Cumbria and North Lancashire, all the work places we cover use us to clean their carpets, we also supply all their consumables, this has helped our carpet cleaning division, we do 65 % commercial and the rest is domestic.
So this was our best business decision, also getting up every morning and treating each day as a challenge to find more work.
Andrew
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My best decision came from keeping in touch. When guys first start out I think there is a hesitation with keeping in touch with customers which is just a lack of confidence, the same goes for approaching high end clients. I continually kept in touch with the 4 star hotels in my area hoping to get at least one of them. It eventually paid off and they are now my no1 client. From there a local chemical supplier who supplied the hotel recommended me to one of the most exclusive dept stores in Norwich. They are now a good client too. It took 4 years to get the hotel but I also do 3 others now, all independent.
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Mike, thats really alarming, thae fact from May to Sept you made more on pw than carpets. Thats the best time of year for carpets and the amount of leaflets you have put out over all these years for your carpet and uph cleaning im supprised you have had that much time for pressure washing. Have you not been able to keep hold of your old customers all these years? .
Andy thats a great result, knowing you the past few years its been good to see your business grow so well.
My best descision was to join ciu and have lots of great discussions with my peers. :-)
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Mike, thats really alarming, thae fact from May to Sept you made more on pw than carpets. Thats the best time of year for carpets and the amount of leaflets you have put out over all these years for your carpet and uph cleaning im supprised you have had that much time for pressure washing. Have you not been able to keep hold of your old customers all these years? .
Andy thats a great result, knowing you the past few years its been good to see your business grow so well.
My best descision was to join ciu and have lots of great discussions with my peers. :-)
cheers Paul, i must say, i wish these forums and tinternet where available when i went self employed back in 86 at age 23, have gained so much knowledge.
I must also say, attending the likes of CCDO and your training session days, along with the likes of Dave Ingram, yourself, Doug at CCDO amongst others and not forgetting the legend that is Dave Leahona. Have gained so much knowledge and inspiration, ok, thats enough arse licking :P
Andrew
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Mossy,
You're not a Peer yet, Lord Moss of Chester, has a certain ring to it tho. ;D
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I am so. And later this month im getting knighted ;D
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I am so. And later this month im getting
knighted knotted
fixed your typo for you Paul
;D ;D
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;D
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I am so. And later this month im getting knighted ;D
You mean knighty's giving you one later ;D
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No its only you and Gottsy that he gives it to.
Sticky tape please John as Simon is off again ;D
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Mossy,
You're not a Peer yet, Lord Moss of Chester, has a certain ring to it tho.
Mossy has had loads rings one more won't hurt (well it could do I suppose)
Shaun
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Can we have a yorkshire translater please :)
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Paul, I can work 2 days PW and earn more than 4 days carpet cleaning, over the last few months I've had a deal with another carpet cleaner who has been sharing a leaflet, he has 1 side for the carpet cleaning and i advertise PW. So this has cut down on new carpet cleaning enquiries.
I'm also being really ruthless with jobs I do I won't do crap jobs unless they are an existing customer, they get passed on
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Can we have a yorkshire translater please :)
I think he is suggesting you he may give you a ring a ding ding in the star of David. ;D
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Simon ;D you must go to the same blue oyster club as Shaun. :D
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Simon ;D you must go to the same blue oyster club as Shaun. :D
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Bet decision I made was not to have a closed perspective on what I (or can) be achieved. I am not giving examples because I don't want to look like I'm showing off (as I'm sure some will jump on the band wagon given the slightest chance).
BIG THANKS TO DAVE LIAHONA for changing my thinking and well done to myself for having the operational skills to carry it out.
;)
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Learn copywriting and direct response marketing.
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Could I possibly ask what equipment you use ?. I have been looking at the Jet stream drive clean packages, but I am unsure as to their suitablility
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Peter if that question is aimed at me it might be best to just view the gallery on my P/W website, it show my equipement
http://patio-drive-cleaners-hull.co.uk/Drive-and-Patio-Cleaners-Hull/gallery.html
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Can't you get a bigger one of those round thingy's to make the job quicker..
(You can probably tell I know a lot about driveway cleaning ;D )
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do you mean like the one he has in image 19??
;D ;D
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That one is 12 inch, you can move it along the ground 3 times faster than one that is 24 inch... So it's no quicker using a bigger one
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Nope just a bit of practice at home, P/W is really about having the right equipment. I use a big bowser pressure washer which looks really 'industrial'
I can honestly say in 4yrs I have had only 1 customer who was not highly delighted with the result, it's not like carpet cleaning were sometimes you can not see a big difference.... With PW you always get a massive difference.
Hi Mike,
Which bowser pressure washer do you have?
What attachments do you use with the pressure washer and do you run it from a generator?
Thanks
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Best business decisions were firstly to diversify into other avenues (window cleaning, contract cleaning, pressure washing, leather restoration, flood and fire restoration, commercial kitchen cleaning, wheelie bin cleaning, etc etc), secondly to employ good staff to help grow the business, thirdly to purchase our new 3200sqft workshop two years ago.
You often need to speculate to accumulate, buy things when nobody else thinks they are necessary or they are at a good price.
At the moment we have window cleaners who cannot get out to do their job due to the rain, but they are flat out doing flood work and leather work instead, I have just invested in 5 dessicant dehumidifers, 3 large 65ltr refrigerant ones as well as a 1100 ltr per minute water pump and a pile of other drying gear. It's all due to be delivered tomorrow and most of it will be out on jobs by tomorrow night.
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Well I've really enjoyed reading some of these success stories.
And some really great stories to be told. Hats off to all.
Is it coincidence that my recent comment provoked such a thread?
You often don't realise what your best decision was until hindsite kicks in. I've had some huge successes but there again sometimes small, but incremental decisions lead you to a place where you look back and it appears as if one big giant leap was made.
Funnily enough (and this is what makes life so interesting) I'm the opposite of Ian R. Rather than diversify I've contracted the services I offer which has allowed me to concentrate on my core services and concentrate on getting them right and at good prices. Obvioulsy it's a different model to Ian's so it's ne4ver a case of he is right and I am wrong.
An early but important decision was to make sure I took holidays. I started this business one early April, but took a main holiday in late August. I was panicking but it was the right decision because if you don't take them you'll always be frightened of taking time off in case you lose business.
Rog
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Mike,
How do you go on with all the tachograph rules with your set up ?.
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You don't need one if working within 50km of your home base.
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Do you charge per square metre Mike? If so, how much if you dont mind me asking.
Looks like the ideal work to put an employee incharge of? Less to go wrong and easier than carpets and upholstery?
How much would that set up cost?
cheers
Tony
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don't work it out of a meterage, too many variables that make a difference, so work out how long it will take then charge by an hourly rate.
the equipment cost from about £1450. my unit cost about £2000 but i had it custom made from parts I bought on eBay, the same units cost around £4000.
this is an ideal add on if you have employees as it is only semi-skilled.
But!!! like everything else its all about the marketing to get the work. i already had in place an organised leaflet campaign that the pressure washing was easy to add into.
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Can you add a heater to yours Mike?
A guy I know has a heated pressure washer and in the 'off season' he's just as busy cleaning underneath coaches and cleaning engine bays for a bus company. Not my idea of fun but if someone else is doing it, it don't matter.
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don't work it out of a meterage, too many variables that make a difference, so work out how long it will take then charge by an hourly rate.
the equipment cost from about £1450. my unit cost about £2000 but i had it custom made from parts I bought on eBay, the same units cost around £4000.
this is an ideal add on if you have employees as it is only semi-skilled.
But!!! like everything else its all about the marketing to get the work. i already had in place an organised leaflet campaign that the pressure washing was easy to add into.
Mike, what make and spec of engine and pump do you have.
Andrew
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don't work it out of a meterage, too many variables that make a difference, so work out how long it will take then charge by an hourly rate.
the equipment cost from about £1450. my unit cost about £2000 but i had it custom made from parts I bought on eBay, the same units cost around £4000.
this is an ideal add on if you have employees as it is only semi-skilled.
But!!! like everything else its all about the marketing to get the work. i already had in place an organised leaflet campaign that the pressure washing was easy to add into.
Cheers mate!
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don't work it out of a meterage, too many variables that make a difference, so work out how long it will take then charge by an hourly rate.
the equipment cost from about £1450. my unit cost about £2000 but i had it custom made from parts I bought on eBay, the same units cost around £4000.
this is an ideal add on if you have employees as it is only semi-skilled.
But!!! like everything else its all about the marketing to get the work. i already had in place an organised leaflet campaign that the pressure washing was easy to add into.
Mike, what make and spec of engine and pump do you have.
Andrew
18hp kholer engine running a 3000psi 21lt pump. The twin axle bowser carries 500gl (I think) this as big as you need to do domestic powerwashing.
I do have a hot box that I could use with it and I'm looking for ways to use the power washer unit in winters.
Ps: Andrew were you driving across the m6 (Penrith junction) on Tuesday morning around 10.30am? I saw a van with your name on it, I was waving like a nutter
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Cheers Mike, if van had my name on then it was probably one of mine,
it was probably an Expert van with a bloke n a woman in it, they finish about then at the Highways agency. There are lots of nutters here ;D .
Where did you stay for week.
Andrew
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Mike
Just like to say thanks for the information you have given. Its already proven a great help in my decision making process.