[Mike Halliday]

I added pressure washing into my business 4yrs ago, best decision I've made.

From May to Sept I earn more from the PW than carpet cleaning, and it has encouraged me to increase my prices as the time it took me to clean a suite @ £120 I could earn £200 PW.

My best £ per hr I,ve done with the PW is  £300 for 1.5hrs, this was a big drive which by the size of it £300 was a fair price. it was on an angle that made all the dirty water run straight out into a drain which Was directly at the end of the drive.... The perfect situation

£100/hr is often achieved PW not because I'm charging daft high prices but because of the amount of area you can clean with the right equipment, I can clean in 2 hours what a homeowner would take all weekend to clean with a little electric machine, so they will happily pay £200 as it gives them the weekend off.

Powerwashing ..... Best decision I made

[rycalshaw]

hi mike,sounds like a great add on, did you do any formal training..

[Simon Gerrard]

Buying my first Truck Mount - changed the face of my business and took me to placed I would never have dreamed possible, being a lowly carpet cleaner.

[Mike Halliday]

Nope just a bit of practice at home, P/W is really about having the right equipment.  I use a big bowser pressure washer which looks really 'industrial'

I can honestly say in 4yrs I have had only 1 customer who was not highly delighted with the result, it's not like carpet cleaning were sometimes you can not see a big difference.... With PW you always get a massive difference.

[Ian Gourlay]

Mike

Did you teach yourself?

Thought you needed to know what to do when grout or sand collapes sealing drives etc.

Think I will just tick to blinds Even avoid canopies  just in case one falls and bops someone on the head

[Andrew Briscoe]

Best decision we made was entering contract cleaning market.
In 7 years have gone from just me to 14 staff, in that time we have lost contracts due to the recession (104k) 
however we have never been down month on month, always steadily increasing the amount of work.
We now have a portfolio of businesses we work for, and have carried out builders cleans for a Greggs factory, Booths supermarkets, Cumbria fire and rescue hq (current) a 300 yr old listed building, next week we start 41 new flats.

All this brings in a steady income every month, we operate throughout Cumbria and North Lancashire, all the work places we cover use us to clean their carpets, we also supply all their consumables, this has helped our carpet cleaning division, we do 65 % commercial and the rest is domestic.

So this was our best business decision, also getting up every morning and treating each day as a challenge to find more work.

Andrew

[Simon@arenaclean]

My best decision came from keeping in touch. When guys first start out I think there is a hesitation with keeping in touch with customers which is just a lack of confidence, the same goes for approaching high end clients. I continually kept in touch with the 4 star hotels in my area hoping to get at least one of them. It eventually  paid off and they are now my no1 client. From there a local chemical supplier who supplied the hotel recommended me to one of the most exclusive dept stores in Norwich. They are now a good client too. It took 4 years to get the hotel but I also do 3 others now, all independent.

[Paul Moss]

Mike, thats really alarming, thae fact from May to Sept you made more on pw than carpets. Thats the best time of year for carpets and the amount of leaflets you have put out over all these years for your carpet and uph cleaning im supprised you have had that much time for pressure washing. Have you not been able to keep hold of your old customers all these years? .

Andy thats a great result, knowing you the past few years its  been good to see your business grow so well.

My best descision was to join ciu and have lots of great discussions with my peers. :-)

[Andrew Briscoe]

Mike, thats really alarming, thae fact from May to Sept you made more on pw than carpets. Thats the best time of year for carpets and the amount of leaflets you have put out over all these years for your carpet and uph cleaning im supprised you have had that much time for pressure washing. Have you not been able to keep hold of your old customers all these years? .

Andy thats a great result, knowing you the past few years its  been good to see your business grow so well.

My best descision was to join ciu and have lots of great discussions with my peers. :-)

cheers Paul, i must say, i wish these forums and tinternet where available when i went self employed back in 86 at age 23, have gained so much knowledge.
I must also say, attending the likes of CCDO and your training session days, along with the likes of Dave Ingram, yourself, Doug at CCDO amongst others and not forgetting the legend that is Dave Leahona. Have gained so much knowledge and inspiration, ok, thats enough arse licking 

Andrew

[Simon Gerrard]

Mossy,
You're not a Peer yet, Lord Moss of Chester, has a certain ring to it tho.

[Paul Moss]

I am so. And later this month im getting knighted 

[*Hector*]

I am so. And later this month im getting knighted knotted



fixed your typo for you Paul

 

[Paul Moss]

 

[Simon Gerrard]

I am so. And later this month im getting knighted 

You mean knighty's giving you one later

[Paul Moss]

No its only you and Gottsy that he gives it to.

Sticky tape please John as Simon is off again 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Mossy,
You're not a Peer yet, Lord Moss of Chester, has a certain ring to it tho.

Mossy has had loads rings one more won't hurt (well it could do I suppose)

Shaun

[Paul Moss]

Can we have a yorkshire translater please 

[Mike Halliday]

Paul, I  can work 2 days PW and earn more than 4 days carpet cleaning, over the last few months I've had a deal with another carpet cleaner who has been sharing a leaflet, he has 1 side for the carpet cleaning and i advertise PW. So this has cut down on new carpet cleaning enquiries.

I'm also being really ruthless with jobs I do I won't do crap jobs unless they are an existing customer, they get passed on

[Simon Gerrard]

Can we have a yorkshire translater please 

I think he is suggesting you he may give you a ring a ding ding in the star of David.

[Paul Moss]

Simon  you must go to the same blue oyster club as Shaun.