[poco]

i have been reading the posting on this site for a while now,looking at the advice that is offered to newbies such as myself and i would like to know if you could lend me some advice as to what sort of machine i could buy for around the £500-£600 mark as i would like to start up  carpet and upholstery cleaning. As i work good shifts i would be able to start up part time and hopefuly gradually build up a customer base and look at buying a new machine i the near future. I live in the brownhills walsall area of the west midlands and i think that there is a place in this area for me. i'm looking to use my estate car until i can purchase somthing more suitable so the machine would need to fit in that. thanks for taking the time out to look and to help someone who wants to get started.

[williamx]

Poco

For £500 - £600 you are not going to get a very good cleaner, have you thought about hiring because I hire out a true professional machine which is less than a year old, and I'm quite close to you, I'm from Birmingham, see this link and it gives all the details on the machine etc

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4405601205&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

[Elite (Ben)]

I bought my prochem powermax with loads of accessories and only 8 months old for £1100, this is truly a great machine. £500-600 wont get you much so i would use that money to rent. You would get nearly 2 months rental for that price, probably longer than a cheap machine would last before money needs spending on it.

Cheers,  Ben

[williamx]

Ben

You are so right about the machine being a truly great machine, and at only £20.00 per day rental when you could book in £250 worth of carpets a day to clean.

I know you can't rent this class of machine anywhere else.

[poco]

Cheers for the advice folks. i'm going to take on board what you've advised me and chew it over. it's nice to know theres people out there to help.Oh by the way, could you recomend any good courses in the west midlands preferbly weekend ones as i'm still in full time work? CHEERS

[williamx]

Get in touch with prochem, they do courses once every six months or so at Wolverhampton.

[rodcope]

Everyone is right you wont get much for £500 and you could get a worn out machine for £1,000 that is always breaking down. If you want to start with domestic carpet cleaning look at the Spraymaster 25 or a Numatic or a cleanfix they are all small capacity machines but will enable you to start cleaning domestic carpets and upholstery.
Don't even think about pub cleaning with these machines however it will get you statred and dont forget training is  most important get yourself on a couple of courses.
 Express cleaning supplies can supply you have a look at their website.

[poco]

What sort of insurance cover should i be looking at to cover me for the sort of work i'm hoping to do?(mostly domestic cleans) I don't want to do it on the cheap only to find out if i do have a problem it's not going to cover me. Cheers all of you for your help on the questions i've asked. i'm currently waiting for prochem and the ncca to get back in touch with me for training dates so i can get cracking. It's not very often you come across such a helpful bunch of people who give there advice so freely. Many thanks..

[williamx]

I think that Prochem are do a training day at Dudley in October, phone them up and ask about this one.

[JS2]

Dear colleague

It's a mixture of training and experience.  Training alone is one important step, getting into the thick of things is another.  Get a good machne e.g. Prochem, Extracta and other majors, to help avoid common problems, then practice til 'you're blue in the face'.  All trades are backed up with solid experience that reading or desire cannot compensate for.

Regards

Pete

JS2

[Bizzie Lizzie]

Hi I have just booked onto the Prochem course which is in Dudley on Tuesday 11th October.  Thought the info may be of some use to you.

Regards
Jan - Bizzie Lizzie

[poco]

i'm going to phone tomorrow to see if i can get on prochem course in dudley and see how it goes. Can anyone tell me anything about these SEMCA K353 that are being advertised on ebay at the moment? any good or not worth bothering with.?