Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on May 05, 2009, 09:54:24 am
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how many guys on here are fully confident and qualified to do leather repair. and who were you trained by.
derek
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just me then ???
derek
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Derek
Why do you ask? ::)
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I've done 8 repairs to leather (not including colour repairs) only 4 of them were 100% but with them all the customer was happy.
I've done 6 colour repairs, all were 95% perfect.
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Derek
Why do you ask? ::)
if theres enough positive answers (allthough its not looking good) i'll let ya know mike.
if there isn't, then you'll never know. :)
derek
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Done a good number of leather repairs / recolours , been going to LTT since 2003 periodically for training. As for confident ,well yes , except for colour mixing on site which sometimes goes ok but other times just doesnt.
Anyone who can crack the colour mixing has cracked leather repair end of!
Mike
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On the nail Mike
I've done the courses at both F C and LTT and have been cleaning leather for 20 years but done little in the way of repairs.
However................having just passed my 65th birthday I intend doing very little carpet cleaning and concentrating on leatherwork
Just put together a site for the purpose and about to start marketing my services. My main difficulty has been that I don't wish to get involved in removing furniture from homes to carry out repairs, so I must find a way of spraying without contaminating the customers home.
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did you guys know there are 8000 online searches per month for leather repair. thats a lot of work.
i'm new to repair work but my colour mixing is spot on, all be it only 4 out of 4.
derek
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I thought mine was spot on 'till Andy A showed me otherwise. If you're achieving good colour matches that's brilliant and probably a gift . One we'd all love to have !
Where did you find out about the number of searches................
Hopefully not including Yell or Thomson's !
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bob (i am okay to call you bob aren't i? apologies if not)
just google,
got chris boswell to look into it for me, unfortunately to get a website up in the mix for the uk will cost a lot of money, its just a shame theres not 30 or 40 of us up and down the country who could form a type of network, 3 or £400 each would get us a fair share of that work, but thats just me dreaming i suppose, especially from the responce to this thread.
swings and roundabouts on my gift though cos my filling leaves a lot to be deired, all though that will come with practice i hope.
derek
ps... my wifes colour mixing is just as good and she's not even been on a course, allthough she has got A level art under her belt.
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I went along to ltt in Harrogate and learnt alot, very informative, very friendly and relaxed.
as this was only recently I am no expert but do enjoy this aspect of work and have repaired and coloured a tr6 seats , touched up a porshe drivers seat, and amazed a couple of custys who where having their suites cleaned , and i touched up some minor scrapes :)
just experimenting with a shredded jacket at the moment . and have a bmw seats to trasform from black to red in the pipeline.
I will be booking in more training in the future with ltcc and my thoughts at the moment are to retire to Spain in the not so far away future and keep leather repairs as an earner in Spain.
Geoff
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Derek
There have been a couple of leather cleaning / repair jobs on here recently Doug Holloway posted one on April 30th which was never taken up
There have been others
I reckon it's a lack of confidence or possibly many are put off by the thought that some jobs are best done off site and don't have the premises, big enough van, helper.
If you're not set up to deal with this you won't be able to cope with much of the work.
I'm back at " playing around " with repairing / refinishing to avoid having to take furniture away for repairs.
If I can't get the work done on site I have someone local who can cope with the off site works.
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I'd second the lack of confidence thing. I've done the IICRC leather course and FC workshop. I'd love to do the LTT 3/4 day course. In my part of the world there doesn't seem to be a great demand - shame because its great fun. As regards the repair side it is the colour mixing issue - especially if you have to do it on the customers premises. It would be perfect if you could do all your work at home but, as more and more furniture (especially cheaper end) doesn't have removable cushions this seems to be a rare occurrence.
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bob
i'm lucky as i have an upholsterer friend with a work shop and a big van, he passes colouring work to me and when the time arises will let me use his work shop and will pick the furniture up for me,plus if i need a new panel fitting he will do it, but not everyones that lucky.
it was just an idea i had, as i'm in the process of getting a leather website built, thought there was a lot more of us on here,
he passed this onto me this week and his custy was over the moon with the results.
like i said it was just a thought.
there is a lot of work out there, but you have to chase it, just like you have to chase your carpet jobs.
derek
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Colour mixing is always the hardest part of the job for all leather technicians. Repair techniques are relatively straightforward but it is always the colour mixing side that in general technicians do not have the patience with. There is no magic solution.
Colour mixing services are available but this makes the job a 2 part job instead of getting it done in one go and will never teach you to colour mix yourself.
Pigment coatings/finishes today are getting more and more complex and so colour mixing becomes increasingly difficult.
Photospectrometers are now largely redundant as they cannot read the complex variety of colours used in tinted finishes etc.
We are currently having great success on many modern two tone finishes with a range if tinted finshes which come ready to use in aerosol cans and many times now these are supplied rather than a pigment as they do the job much quicker and easier. Once you have got used to the way they work they can cut down repair times considerably.
Getting back to colour mixing - this always comes with time and practice but technicians (even the most hardened ones) will still have good days and bad days.
Have you created your own colour chart? These are a great way of
cutting down your colour mixing time and they also teach you what the colours do - there is no point in using a colour chart created by someone else as all colour systems will be different (even if they have the same name). Stick with one colour system, create your colour charts and you will find the process a whole lot easier. They are also great for carrying with you to give you a starting point in a customers house.
LTT also do a standard range of 'creams' now which can cut down on colour mixing problems as creams are generally the ones that people struggle with the most.
Derek good to see you getting stuck in the repairs are looking good.
Andy
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Andy
Have you not considered mail shots to your list of trained tech's with " new products " innovations, etc, which is bound to result in business.
" Milking the list "is probably the least expensive form of marketing around and by using the free facility of the e'mail it's even more cost effective.
A number of carpet cleaning suppliers keep us informed of " what's new / what's on offer / interesting stories, etc "
I do a fair bit of leather cleaning but have only done a few repairs, but being a geriatric, I'm looking at developing the leather side as it's physically easier, which I hate to admit.
As mentioned, I hope to find a way to " finish " without contaminating peoples homes. I know there's a way of doing this but don't remember the details.
rob m
www.carltoncare@aol.com
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I've done a few repairs but not had much business so it's s bit chicken and egg.
I hope my course in a couple of weeks will rectify that because part of it is learning how to market leather repair.
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which course is that one mikey boy?
derek
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I cannot say Derek as this causes agro for the mods and I would prefer to save them the grief.
You are welcome to email or phone me though for further information.
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I dont think it would cause any agro for the mods !!!
they dont mind saying what type / or who with they are going to .
DO THEY ?
geoff
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I believe it would Geoff and I respect the Owners privilege to restrict advertising for non subscribing courses, even if they would benefit some members.
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I think there is defiantly money to be made from leather repairs. The only thing is, its a very risky business and I can imagine there is little margin for errors.
I could imagine doing something like this in a customer’s house, then suddenly having the blood draining from my face as 'THE' self-inflicted disaster slowly unfolds, then demonstrating a fake calm whilst panicking like hell under the surface trying to rectify the bas**d you have created.
No Ill leave it to the experts and the brave.
Matt :)
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I thought that Matt and what I've found is quite the opposite in fact. The key is knowing what leather it is. So long as you are working with pigmented leather you can balls it far more than carpets or suites have a cup of tea and start over.
Think of it like repairing a dent in a car body, it's near to that in many ways.
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Certainly has to be treated with respect as you will find while training with Andy or Ben. There are many stories of what can and does go wrong even to the highly experienced and fully equipped repair centre, but they can resolve almost anything and can still be earning from other jobs while degreasing or drying takes place.
I've two leather jobs to see tomorrow, one on a headboard ( not your average DFS quality ) the other an analine suite that's been demoted to the kids playroom.
I expect to resolve the headboard easily enough but they want the analine suite to return to it's soft texture. Not too bothered about appearance.
Mike just posted before me and makes a relevent point .....................you CAN waste a lot of time on leather
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That in my opinion is what puts us carpet cleaners off leather work - were used to going to a job and doing it knowing to the nearest 10mins how long its going to take.
With leather repair its different and difficult to estimate timing so how long do you put in your diary for it.Your day can go pear shaped,but eventually theoretically you should get better and crack it.
Mike
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Is this mainly in the colour matching?
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This aint going to go down well with some !
Derek ive done 15 leather repairs ( cat scratches rips etc ) and 3 full colour changes ( best 1, back seats of Audi TT for a pro boxer ) I forget the pics some time but got a few nice B4 an afts,
got 3 ranger rovers and a Vintage Porshe on the auto side but its getting busy
NO COURSES AS YET !!!
Only been taught by 1 man , Mr Moss , that guy has spent time for free and coached me over the phone when ive flapped for no reason , he has litetrllary put money in my pocket for free .
The work im doing with leather at the min knocks me out.
Think I know where your going with this post Derek
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Ricky
You should give yourself a pat on the back as well. You've gone out there and you've got the business. Paul didn't do that for you, he just gave you the skills.
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Mike I aint gone and pushed it anywhere just yet but ive mentioned it to clients while cleaning which then led on to recos with a bit of a touch of supplier of sorts .
so i think ive been kentucky wooky lucky
see you at the boot camp
Are jumping 1st ??
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As it's mainly car work you mention I wondered if the products you used were specifically for that market and well done for having a go.
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Ricky, no you go first to find out if it's a puddle. ;D
Did that in Croatia year before last whilst doing ww rafting. It was only afterwards I thought it might be a bit dodgy.
Looking forward to a bit of kayaking, haven't done that in years.
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Looking forward to a bit of kayaking, haven't done that in years.
i'd get that seen to mike, i'm as regular as clockwork. ;D
derek