[Rat-race]

Dear clean-it up members
Thank you for accepting and allowing me to be part of this exciting forum.
However I need your very valuable expertise, here it come.
I am currently employed as a professional engineer and hence a good wage, however I feel it has come to a time to come out of rat race and join the hard working earner instead of seating in front of computer the whole day, (trust me is very boring). After exploring different avenue my mind keep bringing me back to carpet, floor cleaning service and I have my mind this is the route I will follow.
Unfortunately I have very little or zero experience of cleaning floors (apart from our house), can you please advice the best start-up kit in the market. I have being thinking of truck mount machine but I am not sure, which one will be better? I will really appreciate any kind of advice or constructive critics.
In addition to my question above, allow me to ask a personal question, how easy or difficulty to make a living or what are average earning for a hard working carpet cleaner? I understand this is personal question please only answer if you are comfortable.
Very kind regards

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

you for real ? stop where you are its that simple , what are you takeing home a month now ?

[Rat-race]

annual salary £32500

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

annual salary £32500

if thats takehome pay after everythings been took off then stop there , borrow some cash from your house buy a loads of cheap houses do them up and rent them out , then pack your job in a years time as you will be to busy counting rent money

[Neil Williams]

annual salary £32500

That much with all the perks that come with being employed, and you want to give that up in this climate.
I admire the 'want out of the rat race stuff' but I'd stay where you are.

[AshWhite]

I quit my £35k a year job (+ fuel +car) this time last year. I enjoyed my job, but the days and hours were killing me.

[Rat-race]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate.

That is gross before tax, take home is an average £450 a week. hence just under £1900 a month.

Can I break even in this game and have time to spend with the family, physically tired but not brain drained due to boredom and 17" screen the whole day.

[Rat-race]

AshWhite
How did you cope and which route did you take? Truck mount or portable?

I will like to hear more from you guys, as I believe you will all be my guiding angel.
regards

[Kev Loomes]

I would take Susans/Neils advice, your far better off where you are. This industry is hard enough regardless if your new or been going for a while, and and there are cleaners out there going bust.

You'll have no holidays, you cant go sick and you'll be busting a gut to get anywhere near what your earning now.

You would probably need to have sales of approx 5k every single month (which is virtually impossible as a new start) to end up with a net profit - to match your current 24k wages.

Then factor in investment of Truckmount that you mentioned, van, other eqiupment etc (20-30k), you'll be on a loss in your first year.

Sorry for the doom and gloom, but better to be honest than sugar coat it.

If you go ahead I wish you all the best.

Kev

[Rat-race]

Thanks Kev, for your advice. (Just modified my profile to show the name as rat race)
I understand it will be hash, difficult and sometime nasty, but if it continue the way things are in the office I will probably have a mental breakdown. In addition it seem like there is a redundancy around the corner anyway and I don't think I will like to go through that again. 3 months of agony not knowing if you are going or staying.
It was like waiting for a terminal illness result.

But point taken, serious consideration is required.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Whilst I too would exercise caution we know very little about the gentleman.

We don't know what life skills and experiences he can bring to it and remember we were all once hell bent on doing what we are now doing and nobody was going to stop us. Were they?

He may also have other assets behind him and/or a partner who can support him.

He doesn't give his age so we don't know about drive/experience etc.

Remember Derek gave it all up including selling his house to allow him to commit to cc. Derek certainly burn his bridges. Has Rat-Race got the "gonads" to do the same?

Rat Race

You fill find if you search this forum many posts from others who have decided to make cc their new career. Go in search. See also how many posts they made and long they lasted. During your search you will find answers to all the questions you first raised. Happy hunting and I look forward to answering your more specific questions once you hjave found out more and realise what is involved.

Rog

[Robin Ray]

You can make more money cleaning if you work hard and can get the work. One thing to consider is carpet cleaning does not produce repeat work for quite a while so marketing really is the biggest investment.

As for equipment a truckmount is a very big investment so unless you are absolutely sure you can get the work I would not go down that route straight away. I personaly would get a top end portable machine which can be truckmounted this will give you the greatest flexability. Something like an Airflex Storm sold by Cleansmart or a Jaguar sold by Solutions Cornwall. Another prority before any actual work is training.

All that said though if I was starting out now I would not start with carpet cleaning as getting a customer base from scratch at the moment I can imagine is very difficult. A service like Water Fed Pole window cleaning is a lot easier to market and produces a customer base which needs that service every month. Once you establish trust you can then offer all manner of services from a solid basis.

All the brst in whatever you decide to do.
Rob

[Kinver_Clean]

If you think you are going to be made redundant hang on and get the pay off. This has just happened to my son. They would not pay him 3 months notice as a lump and wanted him to work the time. He pointed out that all he had to do is go through each screen of boat hull fittings and alter one or two numbers for everything not to fit together. They paid him monthly but he left in November and got a good job elsewhere so he had 2 incomes and a lump sum at the end. In your case this would pay for marketing and perhaps a machine if you have not already got one (see below)
Things in general are quiet at the moment- I don't think many of us are flat out, I am quiet as well. Not the best time to throw everything in the air.
In the meantime see if you can go out with someone to see what it is about and then get some training- it makes things easier when you do take the plunge. If you can get a secondhand machine and start playing around with it until the other half gets mad and then do your friends and relations, by the time things happen you will know what you are doing and can think of the bigger picture rather that worry if you are making a mess of things.
32 years ago I started one day a week then built up to full time now i'm down to 2 or 3 days again with a week off every so often.

It is not easy succeeding- the easy bit is doing the carpets- the difficult bit is getting the work.

[AshWhite]

My salary was largely commission based (Business Manager for Main Dealer). The last full month of work, they changed my pay plan to effectively cut my pay by approx 30% (although I had already decided to leave at this point, and put a deposit on the equipment) - as it was such a busy period, I earnt £8600 in my last month - this went a LONG way to getting me on my feet.

I read and read and read this forum - one thing I noticed was that in all the TM vs Portie debate, is that Portie users (in the majority) were putting off upgrading to a TM due to the cost, and would they recoup it? - so I kept looking for a deal on a TM, I figured "Whats the point in spending £4k on a portable, when for £7k you can get a TM in a van?" - and that's exactly what I found (and I've seen some even better deals since!).  I've also spend a small fortune on other equipment, training, marketing, as well as supporting me and the family over the last 12 months - if you haven't got enough to live on with NO OTHER MONEY coming in for at least 6 months, then don't do anything until you're in a stronger financial position.

My Mrs works in a job she loves, but the money is pants - but if it wasn't for her, and some wheeling & dealing we've both been doing, I can imagine that I may have had to go back to employment several times over the last few months. One day you're getting a few enquiries a day, the next the phone doesn't ring for a week - it really is that irregular, can you survive with that?

It has put a strain on my relationship with the Mrs, but not as much as when I was never here because I was working 60 hours a week - so there are pros and cons.

Sorry for the long post, it's an awkward decision, and one you have to make for yourself.

Oh, and another thing - If it all goes t*ts up for me, I can walk into another job and start Monday - can you say the same?

[Rat-race]

Thank you Rog - maybe the name rat-race doesn't appeal a lot, but, please let me guarantee you and other member of the forum they have nothing to worry, I can understand is not always wise to spill the beans to a complete stranger, but I hope we will be in a position to know each other through the forum.

Thank you Robin, fully appreciated the advice.

Point taken as that is another avenue I can explore to start with (window cleaning).

regards

[Rat-race]

Kinver,
Weldone him, (your son) and I wish him all the best, allow me to ask, is there any reason your are only doing 2-3 days or is it because you just want to slow down.

Ashwhite
Wow, I take the hut down for you. I can probably get another job with a bit of travel or relocation, but employment is difficulty, especially when it comes to family matters when they really need you there but because you can't get hold of the boss, you have to go to the office, and hence the reason why I want to get out of the system.
I am considering to take your advice and look for second hand equipment and probably before resigning try to do it on weekends first b4 I write the letter. I will keep an eye on the deals and also I will book a couple of training to start with.
Thanks for your advce.

[terrymaloy]

I also left a job on 25k a year. Car production line.
In my situation however, I worked part time carpet / upholstery for 18 months in between my shifts. Hard work I can tell ya !
I bought a portable machine, cheap van, training course, chemicals  and marketing...budget around 6k

The work slowly but surely came in. I also had the backing of my wife who earned a decent salary and was understanding. That was 12 years ago and have never looked back and business is good.

Like any business, its difficult when you first start, and you need to build a business / customer clientele.
Leaving a well paid job to attempt the unknown without financial backing is risky to say the least.

Good luck all the same
TM

[mark_roberts]

Why did you think of carpet cleaning??  What do you know about it??

The biggest asset youll need is personality and salesmanship.  Two things that cant really be learnt.  If you have those in abundance then youll do fine.

BUT Id wait for a few years until things pick up or at least go part-time.

Mark

PS. you also need a strong back.

[Rat-race]

Thanks Mark and Terry.
I really appreciate your advice,
Terry, to start with, about 15 yrs I used to run a food business and I think I have the 2 part you mentioned, but I wanted to get qualification and get employed, but employment is not currently working, I get very bored and hence stressed and depressed.

Mark
Thanks and great advice, I think I will go part time to start with, maybe weekends.

Why do I thought of carpet, nearly every home in west europe have a carpet and therefore I think there is still place for more CC.

Thanks again and regards

[mark_roberts]

Yes thats the dream that all carpets will one day be cleaned but maybe 10% ever do.

Thats why you need to be a good salesman and marketer.

Mark