Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: cleantime services on November 28, 2006, 12:10:11 pm
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We run 13 hire machines and most of the time they are out working for us. We charge £15per day hire, which includes detergent. We charge an extra £10 for delivery & collection. Does anyone else do this? We are not popular with our local carpet cleaners, but hey, we're also out there to make money. I'm going to expand in other areas as this market is booming. Why pay £70 to have your lounge carpet cleaned when they can DIY from £15?? Anyone else hire out machines and have you found also that it's a thriving untapped business??
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Cleantime,
As a new member could you fill out your profile. I doubt you will get any responses otherwise, as some people might think you are not what you seem and your posts may be ignored.
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but hey, most carpet cleaning firms dont charge 70 to clean a lounge ;D more like inbetween 20-40 pounds ,and most custys only want maybe 1 or 2 carpets cleaned, and we do the sweat bit,use our know how, and dont leave a carpet flooded and not cleaned proper rember custys dont no a thing about chems and dont no how to use a machine proper,how many times i had a custy who has used a hire machine(rug docter from supermarket) ruined thier carpet (most time left it soaking wet and minging) phoned me up to help them put it right and then relised for couple more pounds they could had me (a proffesional cleaner) with 10 times better eqp and chems come and do it in quarter the time it took them to bulls it up ? LOADS !! i wonder how many custy who hire these machines ever recomend them to other people or ever hire them again ? but hey do i really care no not really if u making money out this good luck to yourself it only sends more work ourway ;)
P.S ROSY NICE TO C U BACK LMHO ;D
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but hey, most carpet cleaning firms dont charge 70 to clean a lounge ;D more like inbetween 20-40 pounds ,and most custys only want maybe 1 or 2 carpets cleaned, and we do the sweat bit,use our know how, and dont leave a carpet flooded and not cleaned proper rember custys dont no a thing about chems and dont no how to use a machine proper,how many times i had a custy who has used a hire machine(rug docter from supermarket) ruined thier carpet (most time left it soaking wet and minging) phoned me up to help them put it right and then relised for couple more pounds they could had me (a proffesional cleaner) with 10 times better eqp and chems come and do it in quarter the time it took them to bulls it up ? LOADS !! i wonder how many custy who hire these machines ever recomend them to other people or ever hire them again ? but hey do i really care no not really if u making money out this good luck to yourself it only sends more work ourway ;)
We use extracta spirit 2's, have all our detergents and de foam measured out for the custy and our repeat business is great! For £15 they can clean there whole house if they want to -would you work for £15 a day, I don't think so. Our machines are well serviced and maintained!
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Clean time,
Can you tell me about what insurance you will need for hiring?
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To test hire market 2 years ago I purchased a complete domestic Carpetmate hire package from prochem approx £1.200 for five star machine plus some detergents, pre-treats etc and loads of start your own business paperwork.
Used to charge £25 per day including delivery but not detergents for which i charged an additional £6 per litre. Packed it up because to many people expected it to make carpets well past their sell by date like new again,plus all the hassle with disclaimers,product liabilty insurance etc
At the rates you use i would have had to hire out at least a 100 times in first year just to break even.
you must be doing something right so good luck. :)
Pangash
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Clean time,
Can you tell me about what insurance you will need for hiring?
Hi, we have normal business insurance, public liability £2M, employees liability and extra premium for machinery etc. We have used the same insurance company for years so we have got premiums down, regards, :)
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To test hire market 2 years ago I purchased a complete domestic Carpetmate hire package from prochem approx £1.200 for five star machine plus some detergents, pre-treats etc and loads of start your own business paperwork.
Used to charge £25 per day including delivery but not detergents for which i charged an additional £6 per litre. Packed it up because to many people expected it to make carpets well past their sell by date like new again,plus all the hassle with disclaimers,product liabilty insurance etc
At the rates you use i would have had to hire out at least a 100 times in first year just to break even.
you must be doing something right so good luck. :)
Pangash
I don't really call it work. I just sit at home and wait for the phone to ring. Great, cos I can do all sorts at home and still earn a decent living :D
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:-X
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first the customer hires a machine and cleans their own carpets, then they call me to put the mess right.
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A friend of the wife’s has me clean her carpets regularly bur due to being busy i couldn’t fit her in as soon as she wanted so she hired a Machine .
Guess who she rang next time.
she said the usual carpet’s wet for a long time and to much like hard work ;D
Neil
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we lose alot of biz to these crap. i often have custys say they have used them or should they use them, course i tell them there a waste of time.
but with the rug doctor you can see the size of the market, there every where lately >:( we need to do all we can to educate customers not to use them.
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I agree with you Craig and the number of people that say " We hired a machine but wasnt happy with the results" if you do the job full time you use better equipment etc.
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hire them out at your peril what
about your reputation when a customer shrinks her carpet
and gives you bad press?
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I clean carpets at a builders house, well you know builders they will have a go at anything so he tried a DIY machine, he fused his electrics with it as he didn't empty the machine.
Guess who paid for an electrician to come out to fix the problem?
Same as if I'd cleaned the carpet for him with a porti I'd have got the blame.
Shaun
PS it wasn't a new fuse board and the elecricity just kept tripping even when the machine had been un plugeed after.
Machines fault or not, who get's the blame?
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This guy hires machines to customers, he is not a carpet cleaner. The customer is, it would be of more value to hear their feedback.
I would suggest he has no place on this board.
Nigel
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We've had non carpet cleaners on here before, I believe he's more than welcome to put his ideas across.
Perhaps it may make us work a bit harder to make us better at our jobs so customers can see what we offer differently.
I for one welcome his input.
Shaun
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Here, here Shuan
p.s Thanks for the job you sent my way the other day and good result for the blades last night eh, real six pointer.
Dene
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Need more points than a pin cushion, it's gonna be tight.
If you give me your tel no I'll keep passing them on, I'm booking in for January so some custoners won't wait.
Shaun
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i just had 2 bed full house c/c come in, the only reason this guys using me is cus tesco's rug doctors are all out! cus of christmas, and he moving in sunday,
just goes to show how much we do lose to the rug doctor :(
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I'm sure most of us have been called in to reclean carpets that have been "cleaned" with rug doctors etc.
I can remember one in particular where an outgoing tenant had hired a machine and cleaned her carpets,the agent called us in as it wasn't up to standard,the carpets were a mess,had a job to see any evidence of cleaning,so don't think these hire machines are a threat to our businesses,the tenant ended up paying twice.
John
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Had a call to re-stretch a carpet(not usually my thing but i went anyhow?) three days later and its still wet!! Custy states i gotta good deal as i did it with a -you know what for 15 quid. Me laughing states-"not such a good deal love as i would have charged you x amount" to which she replies well ive saved money then! To which i reply-not when ive charged you for remedial work! The carpet was still filthy black and she is now a regular customer ;D happy days 8)
Damian.
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I think you will always have the DIY people, so why not let become a CC for a day?
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Why DIY when you can have it DFY?
The do-it-yourself boom has finally COLLAPSED, replaced by the phenomenon of DFY- Done For You.
Article in daily mail yesterday.
That the route I now take far too busy.
Len
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Totally agree with you on that Len, too many ways of bodging things up by D.I.Y.
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What machines are you hiring out for 15 pounds a day
Vernon
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He says they're Extracta Spirits which are going to have to be very busy indeed, just to "break even"
robbie
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we lose alot of biz to these crap. i often have custys say they have used them or should they use them, course i tell them there a waste of time.
but with the rug doctor you can see the size of the market, there every where lately >:( we need to do all we can to educate customers not to use them.
Think long term, Rug docter hire machines and the like are used by people that either just don't have the funds (so not wasting your time) or people that swear by them for a few years until their backs go from the repeated re-hiring to try a keep up with the amount of extra dirt thats trashing their soft furnishings with each extra s-t-i-c-k-y shampoo wash ;D What goes around - comes around! These guys deal with all the annoying little jobs over 'n over and we get the big ones every now and then!
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Most of these people will continue to use them until you, start marketing to them, first it was the Vax now the Rug doctor, As someone from Chemspec said to me only 30% of the carpets cleaned we cleaned professionally, so that leave 70%. Get marketing.