Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on May 18, 2013, 09:02:32 am
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Do you think we will be working just the same in 20yrs?
My wife and I are just sorting out our retirement options, my wife has a brilliant pension that she has paid into from leaving school, but it still will only pay out what I earn In just one and a half days a week. I don't have a pension but believe I can earn a good income just from working very part time.
My son is planning on taking over from me,so even if I just sit in an office and just do quotes I can earn a god income.
Will carpet cleaning change that much in the next 20 yrs, will carpets be self cleaning? Or not even exist
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The mechanics might change, machines, heat, chemicals. It's changed a lot in the 20 odd years i've been cleaning, but i'm 45 and we still use a sink to wash up, a shower to wash and a washing machine to clean laundry. Machines and detergents are better but the process has not really changed much. Maybe advances in dry cleaning powders and encaping?
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In the 25 years I've been cleaning carpets all that has really changed is that we leave them drier, when I cleaned carpets all those years ago I believed that I was doing the best job taking a lot longer though to remove soiling but still leaving a cleaner carpet, products and machinery have made things easier but not too sure on better.
Shaun
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I was talking to mark at dp ensign last week and he's adamant that carpet cleaning is a dieing market, literally!!
Our core customers are older people who believe in cleaning rather than buying new, as these people die they are being replaced with people of 'the throw away society' who just throw it out and buy a new one.
Unless we look for emerging markets there will not be enough of the people who use carpet cleaners to sustain the amount of companies in our industry.... More companies fighting over a diminishing market.
We're all dooooomed I tell yea!!
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............. ahhh but Mike , more and more younger people are getting patio,s and block paving so you will kept busy.
Geoff
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lots of my customers are younger :-\
Mike, did you not make a post not long ago but not being a negative thinking person? ;D
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Dawg....
I'm actually incredibly positive, I see the downturn in our industry as a positive thing, I'm comforted by the fact that most carpet cleaners are lazy and will happily watch themselves fail rather than put some effort into becoming successful. ( look at CIU you can see them here...... pitifully moaning they have no work)
The beginning of this year is a perfect example, with a prolonged winter it made 3 of my local competitors call it a day. They spewed out negativity about how all marketing was wasted because no one wanted ther carpets cleaned in the bad weather. While Every day i was walking the streets putting out leaflets and earning good money
A smaller market will make more of them give up.....until I'm the only one left :D :D
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But Mark is always like that, hes a great lad but it's all doom and gloom he needs to have a week with John Hunter that'll sort him out ;D
Shaun
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Did you know johns in hospital?
He is one of the 3 I mentioned, he's sold up to mike toomy and is using the money to live in Thailand and is going to work as a teacher of English
..... That was until he fell off a roof and broke half the bones in his body ::)roll ::)roll
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I can't work it out I'm doing the same amount of work financially as last year but I'm home earlier in the day.
Shaun
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Oh no is he in hospital in Thailand?
Shaun
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Twenty years is a looong time to second guess anything. By then your wife might have to wear a berka or you will be in a Chinese labour camp for 'speaking your mind'.
On an optimistic note :) is there something you would do anyway, even if retired, that you could find a way to make an income from?
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Shaun, No he did it here a week before he was due to fly out.
I think he had paid for for the teaching course and flights. Not a bad idea he had really, £1500 for a 6 week course including accommodation and they guarentee you a job on completion of the course.
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I don't know, my turnover has increased year on year for the last five years, i've slowly offloaded valeting and now mainly do carpets etc as well as adding domestic and commercial cleaning with two people doing that for me. I'm on a hard floor course in two week and i'm actually going to start leather cleaning which I have always just dismissed. I've always done pressure washing but recently really pushed it and bought all new gear. I'm hoping that I will just do one or two days a week max valeting by the end of the year, which will be my bread and butter and are just high end customers. That would be my perfect scenario.
Even considering the step up to a truck mount but i'm worried about the step. This week has been my highest ever earning week, I have worked like a trooper though, could of done with an 8th day.
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I'm glad he has had the accident here at least he'll get looked after properly, £1500 for a course may only give him £1500 for the year over there :o
Shaun
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Ladyboys on tap though Shaun! ;)
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What ever rocks your boat, they'd be alright trying to get money out of my wallet I can peel and orange in their by telepathy.
Shaun
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I can't work it out I'm doing the same amount of work financially as last year but I'm home earlier in the day.
Shaun
Thats just because you eventually paid to have your watch fixed.
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I took the watch aperture I found the hands trying to get in my pockets.
Anybody would think I'm tight reading this I'm not of course just thrifty.
Shaun
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Mike I don't understand , If you are running your own business why has your accountant not advised you to start a private pension , and use the tax advantages ???
If you are paying tax each year you can afford to pay into a pension pot, the fact that you are not doing seems like really bad accounting advice !!! :o
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Pensions are crap I have one and the returns are rubbish, if you like the financial merry go round then Doug has the best idea I have done something similar I wouldn't put all of my eggs in one basket infact you could always buy another business and just manage it not work in it we have a dry cleaners and it will work out to be a nice provision.
Shaun
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So Shaun is hiring out rug doctors ;) ;) lol
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I think I'd do bouncy castle hire, website and send 2 lads out only in the bank.
Shaun
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Not a bad idea Shaun you can buy the small ones for a grand and hire them out for between £65 and £80 a day .i think the large bouncy slide could be best for you they pay per go it would be like a waterfall of pound coins ;) del
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Back to the subject. Two TM'ers in our area have packed up in the last 2 years along with even more porty users. I get some ref's from the two ex TMers. Having been working this area for nearly 34 years I think I do most of the residential CC'ing that there is to be had, however it has been quieter for me the last 18 months and is no coincidence that most of the others have packed up within this time.
What it will be like in 20 years time? Well obviously different I would think.
I remember the days when there was a residential professional vacuuming service, before most of the general public switched on to purchasing their own machines. Possibly DIY machines will become drastically better with most people purchasing them instead of calling the Pro CC, combined with far easier to clean carpets.
OR maybe when this downturn is finally over and there is a massive upturn, people will become even lazier and Pro residential carpet cleaning will be busier than ever - who knows.
One thing I know I wont be cleaning carpet then! (Possibly)
Dave.