[greg2040]

Hi I hope someone can help me out and offer a bit of advice. I currently run a domestic cleaning company and am looking at getting a carpet cleaning machine so we can offer this service to our customers. Initially I am looking at getting a second hand machine to see how popular the service will be. I have come accross this one on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alltec-Twin-Vacuum-Carpet-Cleaning-Machine-with-water-heater-/170918777051?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27cb8d90db

Could anyone shed some light on which model Alltec this is as I cant seem to get a response from the seller. Is this likley to be a good starter machine and what are the good and bad points of this model?

Suggestions and advice are welcome.

Thanks
Greg

[Jamie Pearson]

Its an Advance machine. Not sure what spec pump though.

It will be a decent enough bit of kit.

[Jim_77]

Suggestions and advice are welcome.

Plenty of that on here, everyone knows better

My turn first

Seems as you appear to be already in possession of a worthy customer list, why have you not done some market reasearch by contacting them and asking if they would be likely to use your carpet cleaning service?!

Buying a machine isn't going to tell you if you have a market for carpet cleaning!

You do realise you need one bloody hell of a lot more than just "a machine" to provide competent, professional carpet cleaning services?  You need to invest quite a few thousand on all the kit and most importantly training.

Try and do it on a shoestring and you'll be putting your cheap machine on ebay before 12 months are out because you'll just never get it off the ground.

Next

[Robin Ray]

Hi Greg,

That looks like a good machine to start with.

Don't listen to people who try to put you off. Yes you do need to do more than just buy a machine, some form of training is essential! But you don't have to go mental spending money. The main thing is getting work. A good solid established customer base is a good place to start. Using it as an add on is good but I wouldn't want to be starting from scratch just doing carpets at the moment.

You will need:-
Training

A machine with:-
135psi pump of above
Twin vacs

50ft of vac and solution hose
A wand
A hand tool
A carpet Brush
Some terry towels
A descent Vacuum cleaner
Two buckets
Chemicals (find out about them with training)
A spotting kit
Foil or plastic squares to go under furniture

You can buy a Truck mount later....

[alldon]

dont listen to some of the crap on here we all have to start some where build slowy and find your feet first   

[Andrew@Approved Carpet Cleaning]

You can buy a Truck mount later....

[john martin]

 I think that very machine was discussed on cleantalk a few pages back  , i recognize the tape on the handle , its not worth looking up though .

Its a good machine with quality  engineering and design integrity that make some others look cheap and flimsy   ,  could be upgraded later if you were into that ...
Just don't get carried away and pay over the odds for it though .

[greg2040]

wow, thanks for all the great replies so far.

Just to clarify I am fully aware that buying a machine is not the same as running a business so no problems there.    The client base we have at the moment is not huge however as we do a large amount of leaflet drops per month I feel it may ake sense to get another delivered with them advertising carpet cleaning. It would also mean we can offer the service on our end of tennancy / one off cleans rather than passing the work out. 

Anyway back to the machine. Any idea how old this model is and what would you suggest it would be worth?
Thanks again
Greg