[clinton]

Have had a word with the guy with the buton joe and its getting turned off today 

[Ricky M]

we deal with a few carpet fitting shops and they are saying that they very quiet at the min and have been for a time, so I guess that at lot of our new clients are just not willing to make a big spend on new and opting for a clean.

1 of the suby fitters we used for the 1st time yesterday said he was down by 23k last year ( com work and domestic )

So it means its going to be good for us in the cleaning industry.

 

[M.Acorn]

What we need to do is find the person with the switch and zonk him/her before it gets turned off.  

If you could Joe,that would be nice !!

My logo tops have paid for themselves this week,had 2 different jobs from being grabbed in the street this week !
Just booked a sofa clean off someone i used to work with ,through Facebook !
Got a reg custy this morn,my 2nd visit this year there,one for the agency tomorow,Fri arvo free at the mo,then one Sat morning.
Then 2 jobs every day next week,apart from Wed,month ahead with my outgoings,need to try and keep it like that,as i was way too close to going under this year,one of us usually has cash,if the other is broke,but my wife has also been very broke too,and have had to bail her out.

Not really doing any advertising either,tiny cut down basic add in yellow pages,yell . com,all the free internet listings etc etc and my website,that`s it

[Phillip Mold]

Not a chance!!, just nipped home between jobs, had three calls today from previous customers, three more bookings!

[MAX Carpets]

If youre not busy July/August you never will be!

[Joe H]

I dont find that to be a true statement Emclean.
July and Aug last year were below average months, Sept was a good one for a change.
School holidays are part July-Aug-part Sept.
Who wants carpets cleaned when kids are running in and out or its holiday time.

[derek west]

If youre not busy July/August you never will be!

anyone wanna buy a truckmount and van.

all though theres still august, flingers clossed, sorry eating a chinese.

[wynne jones]

I reckon some people will be busy and some won't. For everyone it relates directly to what they do to get work in the long run.

 

[Cleanbright UK]

We too are fully booked for 3 weeks now, Its good for us but the customers are not taking kindly to the wait, Not lost a job yet from it but its only a matter of time, I also agree that people seem to be wanting the next day alot more now

[Colin Day]

I've had the call I've been waiting for... I have a solid weeks worth of work booked in too. I have been told I can do it in my own time to fit domestic custy's in too.... Result

[DanielWelford]

I guess it depends on how many jobs you do in a day. If you are doing 1, then 3 weeks in front aint such a big deal, and vice versa.

Me, I have got 21 jobs booked in to do.

Dan.

[Jeremy]

Its Winter here in Cape Town so things are slightly different for us. Having said this, I remember having a meeting with my accountant in May 2009. We where raving about the growth in the business at +- 50% year on year for the past 3 years.

Xmas 2008 I had 4 teams consisting of a driver and technician running portable machines and 1 team of 3 guys running our Prochem Everest. Thats 11 guys. I had to hire 2 vans.

I walked out of the meeting with my accountant feeling really chuffed about life. I got back to the office and it was as though the phones had been switched off.

I now have only 2 guys working for me and had to retrench the rest. I still have all the machinery. It's month end now, so we are doing about 5 jobs per day. We have about 6 jobs booked for next week.

having said all of this, I can see that the economy is improving but have lost so much ground, I can see me catching back up to previous years for a while.

So the message to you single operator cleaners. Don't try to expand to quickly.

[Helen]

Have always found that July/August just ticks over. As Joe said school hols, people away etc etc. We class "manic" as being fully booked every day for 2 weeks with calls coming in that we can't fit in. Haven't been like that at all this year, but it will come back one day and we'll be ready

[MAX Carpets]

July/August have been our best months by far for over 10 years. It must be down south, I know Neil Granger is always busy now as well. I call busy 3 Vans, 3 men 3/4 jobs a day each. (I am one of the men though)

[Pristine Clean]

We are busy. But we dont just do carpet cleaning. If we did just carpet cleaning, I think I would be very poor indeed.

I know people who have purchased TM's for huge amounts and even after years later they have had to go into presurewashing, other types of cleaning just to get by.

We are lucky to have contracts, tied up from 12 months to 3 years. So its different for us. I would not want it just on bookings alone as that is not stable enough, especially when you have a work force to find wages for each month.

People either need to diversify into other areas like we have done or be extremely talented and lucky to do just carpets or one type or work.

For us we were seeing a downside a while ago and im not afraid to say it was worrying. But we got through it and have grown considerably in the last few months by winning more work and taking on a few more staff.

Dave

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I am nearly always busy and thats not meant to be flash but it did take a long time to get to that position.

The internet changed things for me as I could create a massive advertising campaign for a fraction of what it would have cost in the print media.

Up until then I had a team of leaflet distributors which worked quite well but was quite expensive and time consuming.

I was not adverse to doing other cleaning in my earlier days as this helped me survive.

Cheers

Doug

[sherco]

If i only had 2-3 weeks work booked in i would be seriously worried....

[Joe H]

Sherco
Dont take up carpet cleaning then 

[M.Acorn]

I was not adverse to doing other cleaning in my earlier days as this helped me survive.

Same here,when i first started i was doing domestic and office cleaning,as the work picked up,i dropped them,have 1 left,a nobel prize winning professor of economics,5 hrs fri mornings,they are never there ,so brekfast,papersand push a vac round for a bit,get paid in lump sums every few months,this has got me out the shizzle on a number of occasions !!

Did have tomorrow arvo off,but got a last min job from the agency now,then one more on Sat at 8.15,2 job Monday and a quote,wed is free at the mo,but work booked every day..

[sherco]

Sherco
Dont take up carpet cleaning then 

I do a bit...if I'm asked.  Think i would struggle to survive just carpet cleaning.....