[Simon Payne]

Just to see how it is out there in the world of cleaning

[Denise l]

Busy for us.

[martin19842]

hi there

there is work out there, like there always has been, weve picked a good number of daily office contracts, along with an increase in build clean site, sites are now starting up again in increased number, however build programs are lot longer than in the past, where some sites 3 years ago were starting and build complete of say 60 units within a year, we have now started sites where 100 plots are being built over the next 3 years, so a lot slower than in the past.

regards


martin

[Cliff Horne]

Just starting to pick up now

[Rick Ward]

grim up north

[Pristine Clean]

Busy as always. Too much work and not enough hours. Even with extra staff in place.

Some of my teams have been starting at 3:00AM and working all the way round to 10PM at night. I'm very tired. Been flat out during the mon - Frid and worked from 5 am till 12 today. Regular as clock work and carpet cleans comming out of our ears.

January is and always has been a slow month for us - but we have lots of regular contracts as well as one off cleans

So busy as normal - I would have to say what recession. Prices maybe a little cheaper due to competition. Not through choice. But any work we get is better off in our pocket than anyone else's right? 

Dave

[richywilts]

hi dave how long have you been in business and how do you promote your business ya seem to be doing something right!!!!!!

fair play to ya

[suffolkclean]

I was going to ask a similar question - would be great if you could let us know what you do for marketing. Dosn't sound like you have much time for that yourself.

Glad things are going well for you.

Barbara

[Pristine Clean]

hi dave how long have you been in business and how do you promote your business ya seem to be doing something right!!!!!!

fair play to ya

Hi Richy,

I don't know if I am actually doing it right as I am up at 3AM. So must be doing something wrong surely!

Been going around 1997 part time then went full time in 2000. Spent lots of money that was truthfully wasted on advertising everywhere.

I had a good start as I had some contacts in place that knew I was going to start my own company and they agreed I would be given the cleaning contracts and get to keep them providing the services were up to scratch & the right price of course.

The only advertising I do now is websites I currently have about 4 websites.

Yes I have lots of work but that does not mean that the business is how it should be. I still make lots of mistakes.

The business has a long way to go to getting it run how I want it to be run. I am trying to get it so I can actually take a step back. But that has not happened.

Mainly because I have failed to hire the right staff in the first instance. That does not mean my staff are rubbish, there not but ideally I need some people that can do better and be 100% reliable to take a managers approach as well as getting your hands dirty and actually clean as well.

I have a 3 year plan set in place  at the moment started in January. Whether it actually pull off I don't know we will have to see.

Ideally I want someone to run the company for me while I live in Spain. Then all I have to do is come back and visit every few months.

Hopefully set up a business out there as well.

One thing I found that helped is that we offer more than one services. We have invested in equipment for office cleaning, water fed pole equipment and carpet cleaning equipment and training and not to mention the company vehicles.  

Don't get me wrong we do get quiet moments and to be honest I am pleased when we do sometimes as I get a break.

The only difference at the moment is mainly Price. So where we were quoting a higher profit margin before we are having to go in a lot lower just to get the work.

There are far to many small & large companies quoting to high. Hence they don't get the work. Lets face facts.

We can all be professional in our approach. We can all have the best machines and workforce. So if we can give the customer the result they want at the cheapest possible price that is all thats sets us apart from the competition. Price has to be right.

Dave

[trevor perry]

hi dave how long have you been in business and how do you promote your business ya seem to be doing something right!!!!!!

fair play to ya

Hi Richy,

I don't know if I am actually doing it right as I am up at 3AM. So must be doing something wrong surely!

Been going around 1997 part time then went full time in 2000. Spent lots of money that was truthfully wasted on advertising everywhere.

I had a good start as I had some contacts in place that knew I was going to start my own company and they agreed I would be given the cleaning contracts and get to keep them providing the services were up to scratch & the right price of course.

The only advertising I do now is websites I currently have about 4 websites.

Yes I have lots of work but that does not mean that the business is how it should be. I still make lots of mistakes.

The business has a long way to go to getting it run how I want it to be run. I am trying to get it so I can actually take a step back. But that has not happened.

Mainly because I have failed to hire the right staff in the first instance. That does not mean my staff are rubbish, there not but ideally I need some people that can do better and be 100% reliable to take a managers approach as well as getting your hands dirty and actually clean as well.

I have a 3 year plan set in place  at the moment started in January. Whether it actually pull off I don't know we will have to see.

Ideally I want someone to run the company for me while I live in Spain. Then all I have to do is come back and visit every few months.

Hopefully set up a business out there as well.

One thing I found that helped is that we offer more than one services. We have invested in equipment for office cleaning, water fed pole equipment and carpet cleaning equipment and training and not to mention the company vehicles.  

Don't get me wrong we do get quiet moments and to be honest I am pleased when we do sometimes as I get a break.

The only difference at the moment is mainly Price. So where we were quoting a higher profit margin before we are having to go in a lot lower just to get the work.

There are far to many small & large companies quoting to high. Hence they don't get the work. Lets face facts.

We can all be professional in our approach. We can all have the best machines and workforce. So if we can give the customer the result they want at the cheapest possible price that is all thats sets us apart from the competition. Price has to be right.

Dave

that was a good honest post pristine

[richywilts]

cheers for the post dave its nice to know how people go about building there businesses and where they want to take them,i currently have about 350 domestic window cleaning customers on 8 weekly,which i have built up over 2-3 years.

 im going to change them to 6 weekly in the next month (not sure how some will take it) iv got two employees to carry out the work at the moment and try and build up another 350 customers and put another van on the road so each employee has a van.

im going to then begin targetting commercial window cleaning on a large scale, iv tried going down other services  route like roof coating,driveway cleaning,kitchen cleaning but iv not been able to focus on them fully and it takes my eye off the ball with the window cleaning. so iv been trying to run before i walk.im just going to concentrate on window cleaning at the moment and im also having a cafe built in the unit iv taken on at the moment.

how does the carpet cleaning tie in with window cleaning?? do you get many customers using bioth services???

[Rob125]

Hi Dave,
impressive stuff - just for general interest - what are your websites - i typed in pristine clean into google and there a few companies with a similiar name??
cheers,
Rob

[Pristine Clean]

Hi Richy,

The carpet cleaning actually fits the bill very good.

At present my entire market has been commercial. No residential customers except for Carpet Cleans.

We perform a lot of window cleaning both WFP & Traditional. Traditional is best in my opinion and WFP is hype. But hay we invested in it about £12,000 so I keep telling myself its the best.

The carpet cleaning came in as we do a lot of move in cleans or EOT Cleans again commercial only.  We use to sub it out but found it expensive.

So we invested in both Hot Water Extraction machines and Low Moisture Machines, The Cymex machine being very versatile on low profile carpets.

Then we had training as we needed to be confident that we were not getting ahead of our selves. Training is a must especially when you have staff.

Now we are carpet cleaning several times per week thats about 5 - 7 machines on the go constantly with operators. The last 6 months we have picked up a lot of show homes both for windows and carpets. The machines at a guess as I have not got the paper work in front of me was about £12 - £14,000 worth of investment - Not all in one go this was over a period of time.

Carpet cleaning is not rocket science despite what some may say. Its very easy. No special skills required.

We now offer Package deals which seem to be grabbed up by our clients.

Dave

[Pristine Clean]

Hi Dave,
impressive stuff - just for general interest - what are your websites - i typed in pristine clean into google and there a few companies with a similiar name??
cheers,
Rob

www.kentcleaning.com

www.maidstonecarpetcleaners.co.uk

www.kentcleaning.net

www.maidstonecleaning.co.uk


Type in

office cleaning maidstone

there are other key words that will help us be found but just as an example.

We have offices now so I have not got around to updating the location for new offices in Kings Hills.

Dave

[richywilts]

cheers dave

i actually went on the carpet cleaning section when i considered it n said iv had carpet cleaners round me house from rainbow n it doesnt look like rocket science n i was slaughtered by them all haha

could ya send me a link to the machine you use please i suppose commercial carpet cleaning ya dont need to be as specialised for offices etc coz its just general dirt where as in the home its more wine spills and food spills.

this is avenue i may go down coz weather aint good for the window cleaning all year round

[Pristine Clean]

Well

For commercial

Hot Water Extraction take a look at

http://cleansmartsupplies.co.uk and purchase the Airflex Turbo - Best one you can afford

For Low Moisture

You could start with

a basic rotary or invest in a thermadry

http://www.cleansmartsupplies.co.uk/acatalog/Craftex_Thermadry.html

If its really dirty

http://www.vicol.co.uk/shop/product.php/1049/0

Cymex - Thats encapsulation

I hope this helps Richy.

To be honest if you are just doing domestic you dont need the best of the best. But I would certainly get the best you can afford as its about the drying times.

Don't forget you can also purchase 2nd hand. With have plenty of standard speed rotary's that we purchased at around £250 - 350 that do just as a good.

If you go down the carpet cleaning route just fire me an email or telephone and I will be more than happy to help.

You also dont need to purchase a Truck mount system. Again I have talked to the manufacturers - as in some of the Owners. Over marketed Hype - You get the same result with a porty - might take you a bit longer due to the fact you might need to refill or empty. That depends on the setup.

I agree if you enter the carpet cleaning section they are either helpful or will shoot you down. They seem to think they belong to a secret society and form sects that you have to join and train to get a ticket in. Sad! Oh dear don't want to offend anyone. Oooops.

Dave

[Adam P]

great post dave as always. very motivating.

[Terry Klymkiv]

it's been a little slow this winter, but now since we are getting closer to the spring things are starting to pick up a little bit, hopefully we will sign a few regular office contracts soon.