[CLEANCARE WC]

Evening gents & ladies. I am a window cleaner predominately and I would like to be able to offer carpet cleaning to my existing customers as an additional income. thing is...i know nothing about carpet cleaning! I was hoping you experienced chaps might be able to suggest a good (hopefully cheap  ) entry level machine? and any other advice would be greatly appreciated. or if this ground has been covered before could someone please post a link for me to have a read? many thanks, Dan.

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Hi with respect Carpet cleaning is a different ball game to windows, You're first priority is training, before you even think of starting. You will also need fully comp ins for what your working on. do a search on this site and you will get some answers.

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Buy second hand from Flea Bay. Loads on ther at mo. No need to spend more that needed £500 - £750 to start. lower if you are lucky. My advice is go on a carpet cleaning course (Prochem or equiv.) to learn the basics otherwise I suspect you gonna have a few claims on your hands. Oh don't forget the insurance and include treatment risk.

[CLEANCARE WC]

thanks gents. after i posted this i looked through this section of the forum a bit more and realised training would be needed with all the different types of carpet belgian waffle etc, didnt expect to find that in a curry house  alot more complex than window cleaning with all the different techniques and  different surfaces to clean. I know another window cleaner who has been doing it fo years he does well, but want to find out about  it for myself without hassling him.

[jasonl]

Carpet cleaning is dead easy , nobody has ever failed at it because they did nnot know how to clean carpets well .

People fail to make a living because they do not have the cash available to promote themselves with a steady stream of work ..

The machine you need is a marketing machine , get that sorted before you even look at training or a machine of any sort , which is largely irrelevant.

What make of freezers did they have in the supermarket last time you shopped ?

No one knows or cares , all the supermarket wants is you in the shop spending , and that is what tescos spend 2 million quid a week trying to do, get you through the door.

[CLEANCARE WC]

thanks jason just had a look at your website, bet you wondered what this post was about! totally coincidental  As i say i have a large customer base to tap in to to get the ball rolling if/when i am up to speed and kitted out. amtech are advertising a training day on this site would that be a good one? what course would you gents reccomend?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I agree with Jason's comments whole heartedly and the fact that you have to keep them coming back, they don't usually come back like window cleaning customers they aren't tied in or compelled to have you unless you make a good impression also if you a local window cleaner you charge say £10 and that could be a simular rate to another window cleaner where as carpet cleaning the rates vary dependant on many things like quality, experience and the way you can handle your customer.

Shaun

[clinton]

The outlay is a lot more mate for setting up..Or as mick said in his above post buy a cheapie from fleabay and maybe do your own carpets and some friends after you have done some training

[Simon Gerrard]

If I were you I'd look into this very carefully indeed. You already have an established window cleaning business which is good, but if you add carpet cleaning to your services and are not that good at it you could lose a lot of customer very quickly. Domestic carpet cleaning is fraught with potential problems and if you don't know what you are doing you could end up in a world of pain.
Do the training - go out with a professional carpet cleaner for a few days and get a proper idea of what it is all about.

Simon

[CLEANCARE WC]

Thanks gents all good advice and i will indeed listen to it. thanks very much for your replys

[Paul Heath]

If you spend over £1000 on a prochem machine you will be offered a free training course