[shaunkinn]

Hi Everyone, I'm seeking advice and help on starting a new carpet cleaning business in North West. I've saved around £10,000 to put into the new business.

If you were in my shoes, where would the money go and what equipment would you purchase to get yourself up and running?

Is £10,000 enough?
Is there somewhere that I'd get advice and training?

I'm currently self employed in IT, but feel I need a change in direction.

Please, Please, Please can anybody help?

thanks Shaun K  ???

[stevegunn]

contact the ncca they will help http://www.ncca.co.uk/

[shaunkinn]

Thanks Steve that a big help...I'll get myself on 1 of there courses and also ask them if they have any information on starting up.

[strakercleaning]

NCCA will offer you the most un-biased advice  
Check your local competition and decide wether you wish to compete or offer a slightly different service

[shaunkinn]

thanks Chris for advice...there around 6 companies around my area (flintshire) looking in Yellow pages, 3 look big and well established. But I guess thats the same everywhere, you just got be honest, hard working and hopefully the jobs will come your way. If people like yourself are making a good living out of it, then I hope there's room for 1 more.

Will get on the phone straight away...

Is £10,000 a good figure to start this type of business with?

thanks Shaun

[Mike Halliday]

can't agree with any of the answers so far, how can the NCCA help this man, yes they can train him but I think thats where it stops,

he needs to talk to us, carpet cleaners who are out their everyday, perhaps members of the NCCA could give him some advice but when did the NCCA start advising on bussiness start-ups or marketing a new bussiness.


I may be wrong ( if I am I'm sure Derek will tell me )  but its not as if they can start reccommending machines or companies. Get in touch with NCCA about some training courses but I think you'll get better business advise elsewhere.

I keep mentioning this but you should come along to the 'sunny day out' then you could talk face to face with lots carpet cleaners, and its in the north west

Mike

[shaunkinn]

Thats fantastic Mike, when and where is this event? I must agree with your comments, as I've just rang them and they just gave me information on courses. I dont think they had time for anything else.

People like yourself know how hard it is to start off on a new venture, the pit falls and the mistakes. I've been thinking about this for a few months, looked in on some forums and tried to understand the difference between each machine. I'm none the wiser as each person has a different opinion, on machine and materials. I just need guidance in making the correct choices and maybe an overall opinion from all you guys on how to approch this new venture.

It would be great to talk with you, let me know when the next event is.

Thanks so much for your help.

regards Shaun Kinnair.

[mark_roberts]

Why do you want to become a carpet cleaner?

You must know the answer to this question before you can even to start to open a business.

Before you spend your money:

1- go on the sunny day out and network
2 - get a cleaner to take you out for a day to see if you will like cleaning
3- if after this your still keen then get trained by Prochem (for practical) and NCCA (for theory) in both carpet and upholstery cleaning.
4- try and get some marketing training
5- test your marketing to see if theres a demand for this service in your area.
6- buy equipment.  Good 2nd hand would be suitable.

Your now ready to start trading and should only have spent about 5K.

All the best.

Mark Roberts

[Derek]

Hi Shaun

The staff who work at the NCCA offices are employed in administration and are NOT carpet cleaners.

The Directors of the NCCA are all working carpet cleaners and volunteer their time to the Association.

The NCCA courses are generic and give an unbiased introduction to the industry looking at ALL the different techniques available... it is a starting point and that is what you were originally asking.

£10,000 is a reasonable investment but before you spend any of it I would recommend that you go on the NCCA two day course around the twentieth of this month (February)...then make your decisions.

Kind regards

Derek

[eclipse]

hi all every one keeps on mentioning the NCCA i have asked for an info pack from them
i am currently IICRC certified and a BDMA technician are these qualifications worth the paper they are written on i ask this cause i also am in the process of starting a cpt cleaning business up myself so are these qualifications worth keeping up

[felixthecat]

hi there,
im in the same boat as you pal,so what i did was first go on the NCCA course and learn the theory,looked for a machine that would not cause me to much trouble,so i bought a second hand DRY EXTRACTION MACHINE from HOST{FREESTYLE MODEL}spoke to one of the advisers on the phone and he got everything i need to start up for £2900.Bought a van for £2000 and booked a place in the yellow pages in May for £300,so while im waiting i had 500 leaflets printed and 500 business cards printed
getting the van signed this weekend and off i go.One bit of advice thou (everybody has there own opinions on the different machines,so i went for a Host Dry Extraction because you cant shrink a Carpet Colour bleed a Carpet and you can do every Carpet without to much worry.They will also learn you to use it on one of there training courses.I spoke to another Carpet cleaner who uses one and he does very well out of it.

[shaunkinn]

Thanks too all you guys for helping me. Why Carpet Cleaning...Well looked at a few business ideas, but after gaining feedback from friends and relatives they all thought carpet cleaning would have more demand and its doesn't depend on the weather.

I'm currently work as self employed software developer, but this job involves a lot of travel and sometimes doesn't always gurantee work. I've just had my first kid, so I dont feel like traveling anymore.

So there my reason for Carpet Cleaning.

Can someone tell what these Sunny Days are?

Would love to hook up with someone for a few days too a week, just to see what it was all about, gain some valuable knowledge and to see if I was cut out for carpet cleaning.

Does anybody know of any good second hand carpet cleaning places (either internet or not)?

Once again thanks everyone for the help. If anyone needs help with a computer related problem then I'm here to help.

regards Shaun  ::)

[shaunkinn]

Hi felixthecat,

Good look on your new venture and thanks for the advice. I think I'll need a course to understand the difference between each machine....its good to know, that you started up on £5000 and I hope its money well spent.

regards Shaun

[ALEXDH]

Keep that spare 5 k in reserve for selling yourself over the next year or so , when thinking flyers think in terms of thousands not hundreds.

When you do your flyers bes ure to show them to friends and family for a good honest opinion. shoew them a compettors and see which they like best.

[shaunkinn]

Thanks mate, even though I have £10,000, I was looking to spend in the first month.

£1000 on training
£500 on advertising (flyers).
£2000 on a van
£3000 on equipement and materials.

I know where to get the training, flyers and van. But not sure on the equipment, my guess is that I'll get a better idea after training.

Good advice on the flyers, I guess the best people to show is friends and relatives...and to look at other advertising material to find out what works.

Had a flyer the other day about carpet cleaning, they where charging £20 for a 12 x 12 room, is that cheap and how long does that space take? Would like to earn some profit from my new venture.

regards Shaun

[Derek]

Hi Lee

In answer to your question relating to the IICRC and BDMA qualifications... Yes, they are!

If you wish to do Fire and Flood work then your BDMA qualifications will be invaluable.

IICRC (This is not an Association but a US Certification Board) courses are very good and there is now a UK office that has been set up although it has to be one of  the best kept secrets at the moment  
If you have the Carpet and Upholstery IICRC qualifications then this will gain you entry into the NCCA... if you wish to that is!

Regards
Derek

[ALEXDH]

Dont be put off by the cheap flyers they will serve the people you dont want the ;)price hagglers . or they will pressure them into cleaning more .

They may also have on the bottom of their flyers somethibng like £30 min charge or all prices exclude VAT if you are serving domestic you should state vat in your estimates i think.

14p a square foot they are charging : :, how will you get rich on that, I am now charging 35p for a quality service   ;Dminimum order £40 . all clearly stated.

If it was a carpet which looks a pain then increase this as you will take longer use more skill to clean it.

A 12 x12 will not take long 45mins to an hour including setup an 1.5hrs including packing up. depnds on soilage though really.

I want to earn a min of about £25 an hour whilst actually working. I would just beat this on this room charging around £50 pound, protection charged at around 30p a square foot if applied. So if was lucky i could be earning more like £50 an hour.

I only require 50% of the customers they get with there cheapo prices and i still earn more.

I am a newby, the majority of chaps on here know more than me and many have different opinions.

[ALEXDH]

Ps with those prices you will lose customers but it is best to start high and know what you are doing rather than be cheap and know what you are doing.

Main thing for the customer though is that you know what you are doing.

I know of one chap who charges 42p a square foot but he is rather marvellous.

I know another bloke who is also rather marvellous and has great charm and he charges 30p. He could make more in my opinion. But i guess it is hard to put your prices up once you have set them. If i am full of it i can can offer a sale and if i really need to win the work appear to be reducing the price as i am a nice chap.and am doing the customer a favour.

Never tell anyone what you charge per square foot just give them a total price.

[Mike Halliday]

Shaun, give that £1000 to me and I'll train you work with me for 2 weeks and you'll learn more than you will on any course.

do a search on the 'sunny day out' on here and www.cleantalk.co.uk.

what machine to buy  is the last of your worries they are mostly all the same, what you need is a good understanding of carpet cleaning marketing.

most carpet cleaners arn't very good at typing ( this post has took me 10mins ) so they will give limited advise on these chat boards you need to talk on the phone or face-to-face.

Mike
ps I'm sending you a private message

[Shaun_Ashmore]

You'll need more than £500 for flyers to get a steady flow of work! I would definately try Alltecs Fast Track course, it's £3500 but if you ask John Flynn and many others it will save you years of pottering around scratching for a living and get you focused on the better spending customers straight away.

Shaun