[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

18 years ago I started out with a Kirby and 40 own made leaflets. I bought the Kirby from myself as I realized that people wouldn't spend all that money on a vacuum cleaner but would pay to have there carpets cleaned. I used it for about 3 months with Kirby shampoo  then went to Prochem Foam Shampoo, made my money back, then after learning more I purchased my first HWE machine from Ace Janitorial in Sheffield... A Prochem Steameasy 400. It was a great machine and I run it for about 3 years before selling it on then buying a twin vac Prochem Cheyanne. I now run a dual operatored truckmount a multi van operation with various twin vac portables for wet and dry cleaning. I am now also putting my son through a carpet and upholstery cleaning apprenticeship.

[derek west]

most people know my story, got a bum clean off a local, so sold me house and bought a truckmount, the end.

[Ian Rochester]

Mick,

Interested about the apprenticeship you're putting you son through, have you got any details on it that you can email across?

Regards

ian@lionheartcleaning.co.uk

Me, I was made redundant just over 8 years ago and started carpet cleaning till I could find a "proper job" again.  

Just took on employee No 19 today to run our new "Wheelie Bin" cleaning business, if it takes off like I'm hoping then No 20 won't be far behind.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

After leaving a 'good job' in my youth which I had to go through college to get my A levels, to a labourer on a site and snooker table fitter and selling commercial kitchen equipment at the age of 18 and went to work for a ServiceMaster franchise then went to WE Franklins and then a Commercial floor laying company that had an add on cleaning section which maintained the newly laid flooring I then set up on my own 19 years ago next month.

Shaun

[Neil Williams]

Saw an advert for earn £30k being self employed doing carpet cleaning.
It was a con really, unless you worked 70 hours a week and selling hard too.
The company name....Chores and there's a few others on here who have started via them.
Basically we got 25% of each job we did so it didn't take a brain surgeon to calculate that if I could get jobs at half 'their' prices then the customer would be getting it 'half price' whilst I would be getting twice as much as before.
So I suppose I have got to be grateful to them for showing me how you can make money out of this game

[oliver collins]

Hi Guys

Spent 5 years window cleaning and a custoemer who was a carpet retailer who did carpet cleaning as a add on to his business asked me if i wanted to take over from him, i spent a year with him learning about cleaning and most importantly carpet construction, never looked back he had to nag me to do it though, cant belive it took him as long as it did to convince me to dive in.

Fist job on my own was the most nervous i have ever been.

Regards Oliver Collins Rise & Shine Cleaning

[Mark Slaney]

   Same as Mr Williams, bought into the Chores franchise, complete rip off lasted 2 months before went off to work for someone else. Don't regret it though now 11 years on, can't beat working for yourself.

[fitz2kleen]

we both worked for and trained with a rainbow franchise.
parted ways and went to work for another so called fire and flood company, didnt like the way they operated and treated clients so used life savings to set up on our own.

[Warren Aldridge]

Started off last September after 5 years of being an IT account manager and various jobs before that.
Got into it purely to run my own business.

I was looking for some sort of trade or idea when a local carpet cleaner did my carpets one Saturday, he was here for 40min and I paid him £50, he moaned that he had 4 other jobs that day... and then it clicked

So careful what you say onsite while working, you could be getting yourself some competition 

[Simon@arenaclean]

Was a fully qualified mechanic (I love cars and anything to do with them) but got disillusioned so got some summer work at a Yacht builders laying concrete in their yard and got taken on, eventually being in charge of building the 80ft Oyster, later learning guys I was in charge of were earning more than me. Friend of a friend was looking for someone to help in his cleaning business so I went along to meet him. Did not really see it as a career move but we got on really well and I wanted away from boat building. Worked for him from 1989 to 1993 when 2 heart attacks and a divorce forced the govenor to retire and he gave me the carpet cleaning side customer lists as redundancy and sold the contract side so had to rename the company. He moved in next door to me and we were the best of mates until another heart attack took him 4 years ago. We had a 3 year old and another due in July but the wife backed me all the way and I started in May 1993 with a Princes Youth Business Trust loan as I was still 25. Not always been easy but still here 18 years later and would not change a thing.

[Mark_Jubb]

Back in 1984 I was married with 3 young kids & working in the motor trade in Doncaster. We'd just sold our little terraced house to move to something a bit bigger, we came down to visit the outlaws for Christmas & my brother-in-law said that the Carpet Cleaning company that he worked for wanted to take someone on. Met the boss between Christmas & New Year, said yes to the job, went back, handed in my notice, completed on the house sale and 4 weeks later we all moved in with the outlaws and I started out spending 2 weeks with a fitting team from the largest local carpet supplier, learning about carpets, underlays, fitting etc. Then spent 18 years with the company, both out on the tools and later in a management position. The owner sold the company in 2003 to a large national cleaning company and it seemed if the job didn't have 3 noughts on the end, they weren't really interested, so I left at the end of 2003 and set up on my own. So I've now been back on the tools for the past 7 and a bit years, still enjoying it, no plans to become a millionaire (unless my numbers come up), but happy providing a good service, at a fair price, meeting different people in different places every day.

[MAX Carpets]

Derek

How did the local clean ya bum?

[M.Acorn]

I am a fully qualified chef,back in the day's of city and guilds,did a 4 year apprenticeship at Pembroke college in Cambridge.
Have worked in just about every type of catering establishment from hospitals to my dads pub.
Did win the N.H.S Employee of the year back when I worked at Papworth hospital,as I laid on a buffet for Lady Di ,when she came to open a new ward there.
Last job was as head chef at a new motorway service station,was head hunted by them,started off ok,as they wanted to be the first to do real food,all freshly prepared with local ingredients ,lasted for a few months like that,then the frozen stuff started coming in,managers were all twits,company was French,say no more.
Meanwhile my wife had started up a cleaning agency,she was constantly on at me to leave,but I kept saying I was sticking it out for the redundancy pay off,as I knew they were going down.
About 8 months later I got the letter and the pay out I was expecting,so put the money into a machine and all the other gear,I am in my 7th year now,and love my job,when I am busy,not so much when it's quiet.

[derek west]

Derek

How did the local clean ya bum?

with a crevice tool, what else.

[Ian Gourlay]

Saw an advert for earn £30k being self employed doing carpet cleaning.
It was a con really, unless you worked 70 hours a week and selling hard too.
The company name....Chores and there's a few others on here who have started via them.
Basically we got 25% of each job we did so it didn't take a brain surgeon to calculate that if I could get jobs at half 'their' prices then the customer would be getting it 'half price' whilst I would be getting twice as much as before.
So I suppose I have got to be grateful to them for showing me how you can make money out of this game

There was a Franchise Company in your area called Chores  They cleaned peoples homes and charged £15 an hour nearly 20 years ago.

I understand they were taken over by My Home which was part of Uniliever but then sold on again.

PS did this company teach you how to upsell.

About Me.

I do not Clean Carpets i have been winding you all up for the past 8 years.
 

[jasonl]

Bought first Chem-Dry franchise for 5 grand in Late 92, aged 23 , bought and sold several  until 2002 when I had got bigger into water damage and fire work. I developed a drying trailer which CD head office tried to claim was thier intellectual property , so sold the remaining 2 franchises for 70k and  set up on my own doing water damage all over europe , dip into carpet cleaning when I want to , building business , then selling them on as I get bored with them.
Will prob do the same till I keel over.

[Colin Day]

When I left the Navy for the first time in 2001, I cleaned carpets and upholstery for "Raysons" (Taty) in Cockermouth for 12 months. I decided to rejoin the Navy as an Aircraft Mechanic and in 2008, I was booted out on a full war pension for having a cyst in the bone of my knee.

I decided that carpet cleaning would be a good thing to get into after I rang 2 or 3 local carpet cleaning companies to come and clean my carpets who said "We can come round sometime in the next couple of weeks" I decided that I could at least offer a better service than that, so I invested my lump sum of money on starting up.

If I'd rang Goron or Neil47, I'm pretty sure they'd have offered a 1st class service

[Dennis]

From school worked in engineering for just over 10 years in ceramic capacitors, camshafts and heating elements. Final 6 months in a proper job, as a buyer for a marine window manufacturer.

July 1990 - Jan 2001 owned 2 Chem-dry franchises (yep another one   )
Jan 2001 - now, independent.

[Steve Rothwell]

Colin I thought you were a WAFU?

[Jamie Pearson]

It was my destiny!!!!!

I am 4th generation of my family in the cleaning industry.

In my school days one of our contracts was the cleaning for Littlewoods stores and I would manage the carpet maintenance in the evening after school (at the age of 14) picked up at the gates in a van, work all night then back to school in morning.

Stayed til my 6th year at high school then took up the admin job at the now Cleaning Systems UK but would still be out on site until finally becoming contracts manager.

At 34 I have been cleaning carpets for best part of 20 years.