[Johnnie]

Hi guys I am new to this so be gentle
I am a painter and decorator by trade and the landlord I work for has had me doing other bits and peaces.now he has asked me to undertake the cleaning of carpets in his properties and i am in the process of buying a carpet cleaner and have been reading the reviews on the Rug Doctor machine which seem pretty good for there price range. does anyone have any advice before I go and purchase a new one!!! like are the good? should I get a steam cleaning machine or the deep clean type.Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks in advance for feedback.
Also if i do buy one of the rug doctors machines do I have to soley use their cleaning products??

[davep]

Tell your boss you need training and a decent machine

You can get one off someone here for £1k or so

Or get someone in to do them

[Johnnie]

Thanks for that.Will sort out training. Hes a type landlord that wont employ anyone else (Dont ask) but will pay for training and a half decent machine.

[robert meldrum]

Johnnie

Look at your post and consider how you would reply if this was a Painter and Decorators forum  : : :

Having thought about that for a second or two, consider that virtually anyone can Paint and Paper ( not exactly rocket science ) but they don't...................they clean carpets and would pass on other work to appropriate tradespeople.

Many of us have and do substantial work for letting agents in some cases tens of thousands per annum's worth and we have all come across this type of situation with picky people who simply have to be dealt with in a way that appears to be to their advantage.

Finally................most Painters and Decorators I know live in very big houses and drive big expensive cars which very few carpet cleaners do. Would you not be better earning the much bigger sums from P and D work than risking the cost of replacing carpets if you get it wrong.

[wynne jones]

Mind games Robert?

[expro]

To answer your  question.

Look at this website http://www.prochem.co.uk/ They have training which is free
with all machines over £1k.

While on the site look at the Steempro range of machines.
Anything smaller makes hardwork of carpet cleaning.

The training section is also very informative as to what you NEED to know.
Good luck.

Expro

[creighton foyle]

robert i have been a decorator for most of my working life and i do not know of any self employed decorators in my city  (swansea) who work as one man bands that command the sort of money you are hinting at. there are a few older ones that have a nice car and a nice van but thats because they have worked hard all their lives not because decorating is a lucrative trade. I find i can earn far more ph cleaning carpets than i can decorating.

example

typical tce house two rooms knocked in to one, strip wallpaper , prep walls , line walls, paint woodwork and ceilings,
paper walls, now even if it took 5 days ( i think 4) how many people out there do you think would pay £600 labour only to have their lounge decorated ? . yet there are cc's on here who say they can do 5 or 6 cleaning jobs on rooms this size (30m2?)  in a day . now at £3 per m2 i would rather do the carpets in two rooms this size per day for 4 days than decorate the same size room, its not rocket science if your marketing skills are spot on a carpet cleaner with very little training plenty of work and a little common sense can earn far more money than a skilled time served tradesman and thats a fact .
 

[Johnnie]

whats that all about Robert!!!!!!

It was a simple question.i didnt need king of the hill to send back a bellend responce.What do you think im trying to put you out of business!!!!!
Prat I asked about buying a machine not for you to start banging on about its all your forum and blah blah blah and sling your hook back to the painters forum. In a tradesman asking advice.I am getting asked to provide another service which will involve buying a carpet cleaner.if you aint got good advice dont give me any.

[Johnnie]

The guy is a complete tit.

[Johnnie]

Cheers expro.

that was all I wanted.i will book a course and buy a machine.and a quick one for the bellend who thinks there is nothing to painting and decorating. It takes 20 years to do what I do properly.Im guessing you live in magnolia land and woodchip.you insulting git.
and what a thing to put on your website.a ladies pair of cleaned shoes!!!!!! is it worth the call out or a fetish problem!!!
And why would I want to ask other painters and decorators what type of carpet cleaner to get!!!!
Yeah bellend its called applying logic and asking a group of experts for advice.
think before you type a response next time and stop sniffing the leather cleaner!!!!

[Colin Day]

I once went on a carpet fitter's forum and explained I was a carpet cleaner looking into which carpet fitting course I should do. I was met with swearing and offensive threatening replies, telling me to stop being a greedy 2@...

So in view of that, I think Mr Meldrum's post was quite harmless....

I think in your OP you mentioned the RD word, which immediately puts a lot of people's backs up on here, but you weren't to know that. I'm sure you'll find a brilliant 2nd hand twin vac machine on ebay and when you do, search on here or ask us what we think to find out a bit more before you take the plunge.

You've done the most sensible thing by coming on here and asking for advice, I never did and regretted it after spending £19k on a pile of sh**...

I hope we can all be of a big help fella..

Good luck, Col....

[Johnnie]

Thank you.
It cost nothing to ask.i dont much take to my trade being told all you need is a brush and a pot of paint much like all you need is a machine to become a carpet cleaner which would not dream of insulting anyone here.Its a skilled job and one that is noted which is why i am asking the experts on here
its clear I will need training and a decent machine which is now being sourced.
So in many ways someone or a company on here is going to profit from my asking,which will leave two happy posters to this site.

[Neil Williams]

Having thought about that for a second or two, consider that virtually anyone can Paint and Paper ( not exactly rocket science ) but they don't...................they clean carpets and would pass on other work to appropriate tradespeople.

Finally................most Painters and Decorators I know live in very big houses and drive big expensive cars which very few carpet cleaners do.

If ever there was a moment of "Light blue touch paper then stand well back" this was it

[wynne jones]

There's a guy on here who is a painter and decorator but mainly CC now and I think he did well decorating and has done well cleaning carpets. Maybe it's the 6" between your ears that makes the main difference.

Lots of posts on here about professional entry level machines and the RD is not one of them. Cheapest new one I think is the Grace by craftex, any other cheap entry level machines?

[Paul Heath]

When you have 5 mins give me a call and i will put together a package that will get you up and running and get you on a Prochem course.