Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Ryan Smyth on December 22, 2008, 10:03:36 pm

Title: The journey?
Post by: Ryan Smyth on December 22, 2008, 10:03:36 pm

A survey or questionnaire out of curiousity,how did everyone end up in this profession?
did you start off in it?come to it later? etc etc
I asked so il start....
served my apprenticeship bricklaying done it 10 years,started to get bored p**s*d off with the whole thing but realised i had to continue being my own boss (irish temperment) nearly bought a carpet cleaning franchise (no names ;D) investigated further,decided to try it myself and low and behold....I love it!!!! and of course forums like this with all you learned,wise and p*ss taking gentlemen (and ladies you know who you are ;D) have a good sense of comraderie,fellowship and general something..iv run out of big words,ah well its christmas and thanks to all who have took the time to offer advice and to have a laugh 8) 8)

Ryan

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Andrew Briscoe on December 22, 2008, 10:09:46 pm

I was in the carpet retail business with my brother.

People used to ask me if i knew anyone who cleaned carpets, think there was only CD in my area so started up part time that was 89.

Andrew

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Jim_77 on December 22, 2008, 10:10:29 pm

If I ever catch up with the bloke who got me into this, I'll bloody kill him ;D

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Andrew Briscoe on December 22, 2008, 10:21:58 pm

Just wish i had the internet and forums like these,

think i would be 10 years advanced from where i am now,

will have to retire at 55 instead of 50 :(

Andrew

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: derek west on December 22, 2008, 10:35:14 pm

i feel an auto biography coming on.
might serialise though. otherwise i'll be here all night.
derek

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus) on December 22, 2008, 10:52:21 pm

Have supplied and fitted carpets and flooring for 27 years.

Did the prochem course and bought the equipment 12 years ago - but only ever offered cleaning as an add on. I could kick myself when I think of all the hundreds of clients I supplied and laid for and walked out of the property without ever mentioning cleaning or maintenance.

Decided 18 months ago to set it up as a stand alone business - if only I had done this 12 years ago, I wouldnt be wasting my time talking to you lot  ;D

Only kidding - Merry Xmas everyone, thanks for all the help and advice this year - I wish all of you an extremely prosperous 2009.

Steve

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: carlton care on December 22, 2008, 11:49:15 pm

Started by accident when clients in my property maintenance business started asking for their windows, then carpets to be cleaned. That was in 1983.

Done a lot of other things, mainly self employed since 20 years old.

Interesting year ahead.

robert m

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Ian Rochester on December 23, 2008, 05:46:53 am

Got made redundant 6 years ago and went round my aunties for a cup of coffee in between sending off job applications, she'd spilt a glass of red wine on her carpet and the local CC was booked up for weeks ahead, saw there was a gap in the market and went for it. 

Started with an Extracta Exel, now got Prowler TM, makes the job so much easier.

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Susan Dean (1stclean) on December 23, 2008, 06:26:53 am

well my dad run the buisnees many years  befoure i came on the planit so i guess that ive always been around cleaning , after a few years of liveing in essex with my partner who was doing the doors down the my farther took ill and died with in a week and we never went back to essex which was one of the in one way sad but a god send in anthor

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: M.Acorn on December 23, 2008, 08:22:14 am

Got made redundant  ;D wife and brother in law ran a cleaning company ,and were subbing all the carpet cleanng work out,spent redundancy money on carpet machine,went and asked Barclays for a loan,they said no ! which i am pleased about now  ;D
5 years later still going strong

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: clinton on December 23, 2008, 08:28:35 am

I was doing car valeting in late 80s then my mums neighbours did c cleaning so they asked me to help one day so never went back onto valeting and started c cleaning :)

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Doctor Carpet (Ret'd) on December 23, 2008, 11:20:05 am

Like Victor Kyam and the Remington Razor adverts from the 70's and 80's.

"....I thought so much of the product I bought the company"

Doctor Carpet was one of my clients when I was a bank manager. The owner wanted to emigrate to Spain, and I bought the business off him.

The business was 10 years old then and I shall be celebrating doing this for 10 years in April 09.

Roger

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: derek west on December 23, 2008, 11:33:52 am

was a market trader for 14 years selling computer games, blank cd-r and dvd-r discs and printer inks, did really well untill the likes of asda and tesco's started taking over the world and killing town centres, also internet shopping didn't help. got to a stage where i was only earning a good living so decided i'd had enough, takings were going down and i knew i had to get out before it stated eating my saving.

anyway, carpet was filthy after my misses moved in with so decided to, errr! to, err!.......... okay okay, i decided to hire a rug doctor, there! ive come out. happy now!
got it back from sommerfield, cleared the living room out and noticed something underneath th RD, turned it over and it was caked in cat hairs and poo and all sorts. rang the shop and told them i want money back, then frantically rang round evry cc i could find in yellow pages hoping one could come out that day.
to be cont.............
derek

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: clinton on December 23, 2008, 12:01:19 pm

Derek

 :)

Roger

Always thought you had been going longer than you have :)I do remmember the other guy who you bought it off mind you and do remmember you when you worked in finance :)
Also my mums neighbour was brian philbin from nu life :)

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: dave123 on December 23, 2008, 04:15:55 pm

I was a Chef for a bank cooking for the Executives until '89 called into office at 2:50 pm out of work at 3:00pm .Applied for about 70 jobs only being offered half the salary i was earning at the bank .Went mini cabbing for about 10 years then one of the guys started doing cc .Went round with him on a few jobs ,joined the same company as him ,got trained up went on Prochem courses and also Ashby's,, sub contracted with the company for a while then went my own way .Still struggling but getting there slowly but surely .

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Dave_Lee on December 23, 2008, 04:41:18 pm

Serve a 5 year apprenticeship with ICI as a maintenance fitter, got fed up worked as a bus conductor in Manchester for 18 months, got fed up, drifted around doing various engineering jobs for a few years until the bad reccesion of the early 70's kicked in and put me on the dole for 3 months. This coincided with my wife giving birth to our son - panick stricken - need for a regular wage and job security, so joined the Army. Stuck it out 9 years, started Carpet cleaning part time for my last year in the army, and went full time on discharge in 1981.
Dave.

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: derek west on December 23, 2008, 04:51:45 pm

previously on decs life story!!!!!
rang the shop and told them i want money back, then frantically rang round evry cc i could find in yellow pages hoping one could come out that day.
to be cont.............
eventually i found one, (should i name names?)
"got a small living room empty, can you clean it today?"
"yes, £65"
"how much" go on then.
came round, (remember i knew nothing about carpet cleaning) didn't vac didn't presparay, switched on truckmount, cleaned carpet, took money damned off. 20 mins.
i was well impressed with the truckmount, blew me away.
"i could do that for half the money"
that was 2 years ago, did all my research and got training, then invested all y money into the business, didn't have a penny left so sold the house to give me time and space to push the business.
doing well i think.
ps..... the carpet resoiled after 2 months. thats my competition, he wasn't very competant was he?

derek

the end, starring derek west, script by derek west, chief grip derek west

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: spindle on December 23, 2008, 06:31:03 pm

been a chef for 18 yrs hotels and private clubs............

8 yrs ago the wife started cleaning business.............as the business grew the need for cc also grew.........

the wife saw the potential of cc............after a few years of handing them to a local cc(without ££)the wife told me that i need to go on a cc course or 2 and buy a machine..........

still a chef.........but slowly doing more carpets.............i  am happy to work 2 jobs espcially now!!(economcally)

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: C A Payne on December 23, 2008, 08:21:25 pm

started about 15yrs ago, 2 mates of mine were already c/c ing, & they got me involved. they set me up with a crappy numatic machine...... then went on loads of courses at alltec, plus did IICRC etc.... was using alltec machines..... then got involved in bonnet cleaning, of which i still perform..... then a couple of years ago i went down the enviro route, with CFR cleaning systems...... love the job, get alot of satisfaction from it ;D  before all that i was a grouter on tunnel boring machines.... regards charlie

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: Len Gribble on December 23, 2008, 09:00:36 pm

Started at the age of 11 as bucket boy, mom & dad had a sideline plus their other fingers in what ever pie :-X (never ask me to make a cup of tea) the workhouse people had it easy, >:( sore the light and moved into banking, light then flickered took what I could (thank you very much fools I signed up under another org contract a contract) 8) :-X ;D


Chris

Noted the wife a lot taller than you (told me you wimp ;D)


Len

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: ollie on December 23, 2008, 11:52:52 pm

I was medically discharged from the army in 1999 and went straight into a job in the water industry thanks to my brother. My brother had at the age 18 worked for a cowboy carpet cleaning company who made all their employees be self employed, gave them a rug doctor and water as stain protector etc. Anyway my brother decided he would start carpet cleaning on his own in about 2003 (when he was aged about 29) as a part time interest , but professionally. He was doing well and I helped him out as we were living together. He then got married and his wife talked him back into the water industry for a steady wage (he is now on 42k) I got fed up of the water industry and realised working for someone else was worse than being in the army. I had seen how much my brother could earn so I started up in this game. I was lucky when i started as I have an army pension of 600 per month and i was given £50 per week by the counci for 6 months as my area is a regeneration area.

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: spindle on December 23, 2008, 11:57:09 pm

nah len she is tall with those heels on!! ;D
she is 5'10..........i am a tad taller!! :)

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: jasonl on December 24, 2008, 07:47:29 am

Was working  as a relief  manager for a chain of newsagents in 92. I picked up a  copy of Daltons weekly and saw an ad with the headline "They  laughed when I said I wanted to clean carpets"
6 weeks later I had paid my £5k to Chem-dry  and was in business, I saw it as a way to learn how to run a small business from the beginning, as a stepping stone to other things.
At the end of 2000 CD had developed into a company where most of the profits were derived from disaster restoration, and I had 200 plus flooded properties to clean/dry, and not enough equipment to   do them with.
I searched on the internet and found a company called Water out , who had huge drying trailers, to dry properties faster. I paid for the  importation of one  and successfully dried many buldings. Water out then asked for a huge amount of cash to continue with the uk operation. I declined ,and developed my own version ,only better of the same machine. CD did not like this , so I sold my franchise for about 70k in 2002.  Scirocco services was then  born to operate the trailer mounted drying business.
After a successful 2007 carrying out sub contract drying, Scirocco was sold.
In october 2008  I bought  Qualcon mini mix ltd , and 2 weeks ago a new concrete batching plant and 2 new lorries .

I still do the odd cc job and quite a few disaster restoration jobs , purely because I like this kind of work and find it relaxing. I feel the real money is to be made in the mini mix concrete business going forward.

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: will01 on December 24, 2008, 07:56:51 am

Was in the RAF until Nov 99 then went to work in France/Belgium until 2001.

Being ex forces I knew I would find it hard to take orders from Joe Public so I decided to go self employed.

Bought a "Wet n Dry" vacuum at £30.00 from b and q,  a vehicle valeting kit from Autoglym, a pressure washer from some old farmer and carried it all around in my vauxhall Nova .

Then called round all car and commercial dealers offering my valeting services and got a couple of "Steadies" mostly cleaning old transits.

Having soon realised there really was no real money in valeting I took the next step and purchased an ex demo Prochem Commanche and a 1995 citroen c15 van.

The rest as they say is history.   Ah memories...... :)

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: clinton on December 24, 2008, 08:09:25 am

Derek

He was not v competent what so ever ;)  ;D

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: derek west on December 24, 2008, 08:58:42 am

considering ;) ;D
derek

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: carlton care on December 24, 2008, 09:16:37 am

These few sentences tell everyone a lot more than a photo could ever do. I now have a new insight into the "character" of the posters and why they write what they write, well sometimes, anyway.

enjoy your time off guys and gals and good luck for next year

Title: Re: The journey?
Post by: murky on December 24, 2008, 10:06:48 am

Used to be long distance truck driver, up to West Coast of Scotland picking up the salmon from the fish farms, paid holiday really, if it snowed we were snowed in, couldnt get out, used to go up to Tarbert, Malaig, up as  far as Ullapool, Isle of Skye etc etc.
Then take the load over to France, Germany to their food fares, paid holiday really. Firm relocated so had to look around, pal of mine was also a driver but fell off the back of his lorry took his injury payment and bought a ServiceMaster franchise.

I used to help him when I was back from a run and of course asked about it and as I was reaching my midlife crisis at 35, bought one as well. Stayed with them until 3 years ago.

It used to be a brill franchise, got the 3 bed semi out of it, good money doing fires and floods but they lost their way, they didnt see CD and R'bow coming up and they are just pants now.

Now working for myself, no VAT, no franchise fees, go where I want. And the phone doesnt ring at silly hours to go and sort someones cr@p out.

Looking forward to prosperous New Year now. Have a good one everyone.

Murky