[paul@scc]

Hi this is another question for all those TM user

 When my last portable went to the big carpet in the sky(may she rest in peace). I looked at a TM but on paper i couldnt justify the price markup to finace the machine. Even if i did by 1 how would my customer react to the increase and the third thing was a mass increase in my motor insurance

 So this is for those who made the change over did you if any change your prices and if so what percentage and how did the regulars react to it. Plus how did this affect your insurance

[Mike Halliday]

A £12k truckmount on a 3yr lease will cost approx £80 a week, if you work a full five week with on average 2.5 customers a day you'll have to increase your prices by £5 per customer, if you are cleaning the suite or 2-3 carpets then they customer won't even notice the increase.

if your insurance doubles is still will only work out be a few pounds a week.

when you start writing down the maths anyone working full time, charging reasonable prices can afford a truckmount, the only time it gets difficult is is you have to also buy a bigger van

Mike

[Nigel_W]

Paul

Mike is right the incremental cost of a TM is not significant if " you are working full time" When I purchased my TM 8 years ago I did not find it necessary to increase prices sttraight away. The TM was paid for by increased productivity on larger jobs. This meant I could fit in more jobs therefore creating incremental revenue.

If you are not already "working full time" you are introducing an element of gamble.  Will the investment pay off. For some it has worked spectacularly and for others it will result in a lower income because of the increased running costs. 

In general clients will bear price increases if they are very happy with your service and if they have formed a bond with you. This is especially so if they "perceive" you are doing a better job with your shiny new truckmount.

If your cleaning standards are high and you have good people skills you are likely to increase your business turnover  by moving to a TM. As has been said many times before a TM is just a tool and there are many more elements to building a successful carpet cleaning business.

Good luck


Nigel

[Karl Wildey]

Will all large purchase from time to time, ie new van. I found that when I had paid the £240 per month, for the new van I had spare money, to top that I was making too much money and did not have enough hours in the day. Too much profit means too much tax, so I purchase atm to cure all 3 problems.
I never felt the extra outlay as I had budgetted for the van and I just continue that. The tm allows you to complete bigger jobs a lot quicker so you end out with spare time and its a lot easier using the tm so you have more energy.

I purchased my tm from alltec, although this might not be your choice of call, Robert at Alltec is an expert on leasing deals, and has a booklet that explains how to lease a tm.
I think I have a spare booklet I could post to you if you do not wish to ask them.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Paul have you got work on all year round? do you turn work away because you can't fit it in within the customers time scales?

A TM is an impressive piece of kit providing you can sell the benefits to your potential customers, it will speed up the cleaning time on most jobs and dry carpets quicker than your last HWE but it won't go out and knock on doors for you or tell the customer that it is going to do the cleaning as I have stated above.

But if you have got to a stage when you could do with a helping hand but don't want to employ anyone a TM is a cheaper alternative than an employee and it will look far more impressive, the amount of conversations I've had with passers bye and customers about my TM, it's what Ken would call kitchen sink marketing but by the road side.

Shaun

[paul@scc]

the main reason i was considering a Tm was due to the state of my back and aslong as i could get a light weight wand would consider adding this to our company i dont think i can sit at the end of a phone and deligate work its so boring

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Another consideration would be an 'orbital pad' machine, it's basically a buffer that has an offset centre spinning the pad in different orbits and giving better agitation than a standard buffer and very light on your back!

Go to www.cleantalk.co.uk and ask Paul Elliott who is Admin about them he will put you in contact with Stephen Haywood who uses and sells them he's a good bloke.

Shaun