[feldon]

Hi I am looking to start up in the new year.  I did a lot of research earlier this year in July / August but was put off by everyone saying how bad it was going to get with the recession. Looking at the various posts lately it seems that quite a few of you are doing better than 2007.

I know it will be hard work starting from scratch, and I am sure there will be a lot of you out there who will be able to offer me advice tell me I must be mad to start a business at this time etc.

However to give me a better idea of what I can expect it would be great to hear from other newbies who started in the last 12 months to share some of their experiences, and to see how you are getting along now.

Richard

[DavidWright76]

I will be starting up in the new year but i won't be giving up the day job to go f/t until i have established myself & bought more equipment, plus as you say, times are hard & people will drop the luxury of professional cleaners. To get regular work, i think you need to give added services, have more than one method of cleaning & give plenty of advertising aswell as be prepared to travel the extra mile.

[benny d]

Even though the equipment will cost X amount of thousands of pounds, thats only approx 25% of it.

Unfortunatly you then have to find X amount of thousands of pounds to advertise your services. Without the advertising you aint going nowhere. Please bare this in mind.
It aint easy, which Im sure you realise.

[Joe H]

As David rightly says - dont give up the day job

start off part time and build up

you need to get on a course - the NCCA.co.uk courses are good and usually a Fri and Sat in Leicester.
Very experianced carpet cleaners as instructors.
Do that as soon as you can.

[Phillip Mold]

Hi Feldon, I'm near Warwick, not too far from from but far enoughh if you know what  I mean!

I started 2 1/2 years ago, so if you want a chat drop me a line!

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Richard

You say you have read lots of posts, but don't forget that we all say that traditionally January and February are usually the quietest months of the year for carpet cleaners.

Roger

[Bob Robertson]

With jobs being lost on a daily basis the industry could be facing an influx of people trying to start up and make a living.


Bob

[sherco]

With jobs being lost on a daily basis the industry could be facing an influx of people trying to start up and make a living.


Bob

He probably would make more money setting up a training school...lol

[russell james]

yes there are lots of people starting up, business link had a record amount of enquiries the last couple of months, people have thier redundenhcy money and want to start that business they've always promised themselves,

unfortunately not many of them have ever run a business before and wont really know how to market it, so most will sell on price, and if you do that, then your only competition will be the price of others, this will put you out of business fairly fast,

you need to find a usp to make your business stand out from the crowd, with the sheer number starting up, this will be your only hope, keep prices sensible and stand your ground.

[richy27]

hi i have only just started up too spent 6 months working it out everyone is dead right on here whilst equipment is essential marketting is paramount .

where abouts are you based i would be happy to share with you the info and contacts i have made.

Regards

Richard

07595727491

[sherco]

I started cc a few months ago but im going to run this alongside my tiling buisness, as i do tile and stone floor cleaning. Every cc job i have priced i have got but i think i takes years to build a good cc buisness up. Looked at a job yesterday lounge carpet, i explained that i also do stone floors as she had a very large kitchen 80sqm, got talking and she said she hates the grout, so i told he i could strip the limestone floor remove the grout, re grout and seal the floor, quoted £70 for carpet and £2500.00 for stone floor and got the job excepted today. There is a market for cleaning conservatory/kitchen floor tiles so you could also ad this service.

[derek west]

I started cc a few months ago but im going to run this alongside my tiling buisness, as i do tile and stone floor cleaning. Every cc job i have priced i have got but i think i takes years to build a good cc buisness up. Looked at a job yesterday lounge carpet, i explained that i also do stone floors as she had a very large kitchen 80sqm, got talking and she said she hates the grout, so i told he i could strip the limestone floor remove the grout, re grout and seal the floor, quoted £70 for carpet and £2500.00 for stone floor and got the job excepted today. There i differently a market for cleaning conservatory/kitchen floor tiles so you could also ad this service.

stuff the carpets, how do i start hard floor?
derek

[sherco]

If you have a rotary scrubber and a wet vac you could easily do tiled floors, you think how many houses you have cleaned there carpets and they have a tiled kitchen or conservatory another ad on to cc.

[Cathedral Floorcare]

Sherco, that's a lot of regrouting mate! Do you use a Fein for it?

Chris

[sherco]

Take to long with a fein, i use a makita 4101Rh its like a circular saw but designed for tiles and has water feed to suppress the dust which you connect to a tap. The tiles are 400x400 Aged Rama limestone 20mm thick the grouting is really crap so im going to remove 10mm then regrout.

[derek west]

wet vac? ive got an rx20, it that the same as a rotary scrubber and a wet vac
derek

[sherco]

The thing with a rotary scrubber is you can use different scrubbing pads/brushes and polishing pads for different texture tiles, a mate of mine has a Rx but it tend to put to much water down and you get a better job with a scrubber as we have used both. got my Numatic scrubber off eBay for £180.00

[Cathedral Floorcare]

Take to long with a fein, i use a makita 4101Rh its like a circular saw but designed for tiles and has water feed to suppress the dust which you connect to a tap. The tiles are 400x400 Aged Rama limestone 20mm thick the grouting is really crap so im going to remove 10mm then regrout.

I love those little Makitas, never bought one myself but nice bit of kit.  Just out of interest, why aren't you using grout colourant? Is it just because it's limestone?

I had a go with Dave Ingram's RX the other day, I was really impressed with it. The cost is the only thing that puts me off really, as my old Victor only cost me £150. The thing I like about the RX is being able to extract and scrub at the same time, it saves hauling the wet vac around and cuts down on two leccy wires (altho it helps if you have a t/m!).

Chris

[clinton]

Derek

You could always pick up rotary quite cheap

[sherco]

Take to long with a fein, i use a makita 4101Rh its like a circular saw but designed for tiles and has water feed to suppress the dust which you connect to a tap. The tiles are 400x400 Aged Rama limestone 20mm thick the grouting is really crap so im going to remove 10mm then regrout.

I love those little Makitas, never bought one myself but nice bit of kit.  Just out of interest, why aren't you using grout colourant? Is it just because it's limestone?

I had a go with Dave Ingram's RX the other day, I was really impressed with it. The cost is the only thing that puts me off really, as my old Victor only cost me £150. The thing I like about the RX is being able to extract and scrub at the same time, it saves hauling the wet vac around and cuts down on two leccy wires (altho it helps if you have a t/m!).

Chris

The grout is about 5mm below the stone in places at the moment as it was mixed to wet, so that why in going to remove the grout on the whole floor, im going to show her the epoxy grout colourant when i finish to help keep the grout cleaner.