[chrisrobson45]

Hi all,

Please help.

I currently looking into setting up my own carpet cleaning business.

What sort of portable cleaning machine would i need to get me started, i have heard that no less than a 135psi pump with a twin vac motor would be ok. Also that the single wand is better than a twin as it does not loose pressure.
Is the prochem power max any good?
I only wanted to pay approx £2000 pounds to get started then see were i go from there, but i did want to make sure i get the best machine to start with, as any good business it is all word of mouth.
Any advice would be great.

Cheers Chris.

[Neil Grainger]

Chris

All I would say is that if you are going into this business make sure that you have at least 12 months funds available to pay your self.

The outlay for machinery is cheap compared to the cost of marketing the business in the first few years.

In my first 2 years I spent £40000 on marketing to get the business name out their with not alot of profit made.

I also suggest that you go on a NCCA training course because this will give you alot of information about Carpet Cleaning and also whether you really want to do this. Do the course before you spend any money though as they have a wide range of equipment on show at the courses.

Its a rewarding business but it is also very tough and pretty much saturated with CC's in most area's. You have to be good at Sales and be different from the rest.

[paul wright]

NO DONT DO IT !!!!

[Cleaning Resource]

Thats some positive feed back aint it,  I have a steempro max it has never let me down so I can only say good things about it although there are people on here who would probably disagree. I would advise you get the heater to go with it.

As for spending 40k on marketing you can if you want (or if you can afford it) but I spent my time visiting commercial premises and got going without spending any more than 3k, I would say it depends on weather you want to spend a fortune on the type of marketing that will allow you to sit back and wait for the work to come to you or you want to go out actively chasing work and spending a lot less.

Anyhow best of luck 

[Joe H]

Hi Chris,  you will find it tough starting out from scratch, thats for sure.
Carpet cleaning is very satisfying but the rewards are not always brilliant. Yes you will hear of £40 - £50 per hour and that is attainable (and more) but dont multiply that by 40 hours per week and think you will be rich - does'nt work that way - too many dead hours in between.
You will need some finance behind you to cover living for at least 12 months as you get going.
Advertising can be expensive and takes time to get results - my advice would be to get on a good training course, get to see some demos of various machines, dont dismiss buying quality 2nd user gear but make sure the stuff is up to scratch.
Get round everyone you know, family, friends, neighbours and offer to do carpet clean at reduced prices (like £30 instead of £60) - this will get you 1) experiance 2) income 3) possible other leads.
Get smart with some sort of uniform - does not cost a lot for cotton trousers+jacket and gives a professional look.
Free business cards from the internet (vistaprint is one).
Read forums like this - lots of experianced c'cleaners.
Hope it works for you.

Joe H

[spindle]

my advice would be to build your business slowly......

keep a f/t or p/t job for those quiet weeks

until you build up your customer base

dont buy equipment that you are not going to use!!!!

ask all suppliers(chems) to send samples of their products.........

this way you can try different methods/solutions without  great cost to your limited budget

most suppliers will send something!!(best bit is its free)

dont ask dont get!!

[chrisrobson45]

Thanks guys for all your advice, much appreciated.

Will definatelly get on a few training courses before purchasing equipment etc.
What training courses are the best and who runs them?

Cheers Chris.

[Phillip Mold]

I did the NCCA course, enjoyed it and it gave me confidence to start up.

Membership since has also paid for itself by way of jobs referred!

[Art]

I started off with an ashbys course which is straightforward and not overly technical.The only downside to the Ashbys and any of the other suppliers courses is that they are as much a sales pitch as they are a course.

 After that i went on a 2 day IICRC course.
IMO if you go for a NCCA or IICRC course first, most of it will go over your head.

Cleansmarts do introduction courses. The teacher is Derek Bolton who is or was a NCCA director, with years of experience and knowledge. So if your near Nottingham that's the one that i would recommend.

Arthur

[vangaurd]

unless you have guts, and a healthy bank balance,
forget it mate , try something else trust me!

[Joe H]

What would you advise Chris to try instead of carpet cleaning.

Every business you try to start up has its headaches - some more then others perhaps. So lets be positive about things.

I started doing carpet cleaning 15 years ago when I was 45 - still making mistakes (especially advertising) but it wasnt until 4 years ago I started to get it right and now, especially after joining these internet forums, I have got it a lot better (thank you everyone for giving me the opportunity to draw on your experiances).

I have learnt inparticular that it is important to vac, prespray, agitiate, waiting time, extract.

So you need a good vac cleaner (I have a Karcher similar to the Sebo and Lind), get the right prespray fluids (microsplitter etc), good brush (mechanical is desirable but more expense), patience (waiting time), and a extraction machine as already posted previously ie twin vac, 135psi min.

Couple thousand pounds should get one going - add on as you get established.

As I said in my previous post - get cleaning neighbours, friends, relatives for experiance and referals - dont do freebies, good discounts yes, just to get going.

Joe H

[maxcarpets]

By some knee pads!