[james roffey]

In the short time i have been carpet cleaning i have come to dislike certain aspects of the job and love certain aspects of the job, i love the sound of silence when you turn your machine off at the end of a hard day
But some things although trivial in the great scheme of things bug me , like wrestling with my 50ft hose that always wants to go the opposite way when i am trying to roll it up it's like a giant Anaconda , recently i had a problem with my solution hose which i had to replace so for a while i used the vac hose without the solution hose attached with cable ties i found the vac hose much easier to roll up and i wondered how many of you guys use them seperated or keep them both attached.

Also any ideas about my other little irriations like

1: Leaving gear in customers home.

2: Forgetting to add de foamer

3: Placing furniture protectors under heavy furniture in inaccessible areas.

4: Running up and down stairs all the time just to change wand to handtool.

5: Rolling up hoses

6: Barring salesmen from ringing me, when my mobile can do a million things i dont want, but cant do something simple like block numbers

More to follow :

[Bob Robertson]

All of the above until you injure yourself and cant work for months , then you realise that you have no income and the bills don't stop, then you think! I miss all the things I hated

Bob

[Nigel_W]

James,

"4: Running up and down stairs all the time just to change wand to handtool."

You need to get some shut off valves. Running up and down stairs is not necessary. You can buy these from most suppliers.

Nigel

[wynne jones]

What do you love about carpet cleaning?

[james roffey]

I still love the job but yesterday as i was doing the stairs i realised my handtool was not in the van it was at the previous customers house and thats not the first time either, and how many of us have had to drop tool leave the customers house to find some yank who is selling advertising

[Mike Halliday]

my 2 biggest irritations are cleaning single bedrooms on the top floor of 3 storey houses & jobs like i did on Monday.... full house, all the carpets pristine condition  none of them looked any different after I'd finished.

[Joe H]

Get some remote control plugs from the likes of B&Q - 3 for about £20. Allows you to be on the top floor and your machine at the door and you can turn vacs and pumps off without running downstairs. As long as you took the hand tool up with you then you can change very easy.

Re leaving bits behind at a customers. Get into the habit of putting things in the same place everytime in the van. Mentally you then have a chance of remembering you have loaded all back into the van.

[jasonl]

Cleaning the  pile of 10 skin sheepskin rugs I have just started , full of grit and grass.

[james roffey]

Wynne, what i love about carpet cleaning!

The money when i'm working is very good, the freedom being my own boss gives me, i answer to noone (exept the taxman) i dont have to do anything i dont want, if i dont like the job or the person, i walk.
Anyone who has had a boss before knows the importance of that, the challenge of running my own business and making it grow, the relationship i have with my customers, i chat with them it's sociable compared to what i used to do which only allowed me to see the worst in people.
I had a call this week from a guy in London he sounded upset his elderly mother who as well as being 83 is partially sighted and deaf  she had had "an accident" and he wanted me to go round and clean this up, on the face of it it was not a nice job, but the guy needed help and said he was not worried about the cost, although advised on here i could charge £85 per hour i said to him that it will cost more than the usual carpet clean as i have to take precautions and would have to sanitise everything after i charged him £55 per hour.
I went around to her home and within two hours it was sorted she was a lovely lady and so grateful, and her son phoned me and also thanked me in a letter i got this morning along with the cheque
so i got paid well, and got rewarded financially and personally most of the time people are very apreciative and who doesn't like to be apreciated i know i do and if they pay me well then even better.

[wynne jones]

Jason,

Put them in the washing machine if the missus will let you.

Comb them out after.

[jasonl]

They are 10 skin!  that means they are 4x3 metres  each!  The 6 skin one just fitted into the biggest machine I could find at a launderette, still lots of pet hair to remove from that one though.

[derek west]

got home from my adventures on the crocky trail with the kids to find 2 messages on my answer phone, one was an enquiry and the other was a long thank you message from a lady i cleaned for yeaterday, she was moving into a house and left when we started, she told us to post the key through the door when we left, she also said the carpets weren't that dirty. the message was nothing but what a fantastic job we'd done and she couldn't believe they were the same carpets, (wool berbers as well).

now thats what i love about the job and thats what i strive for everytime i get to a job.

what do i hate about the job?

the phone not ringing.

[james roffey]

Blimey Derek i forgot to put "wool berbers" on my list :  still the trickiest carpets for me to do what did you use as a prespray and extraction

[derek west]

what do i always use?

yep, thats right, you guessed it, good old powerburst,(don't forget to acid rinse)  and we bonnetted in front of the settee with some splitter, came up a reet treat.

[wynne jones]

They are 10 skin!  that means they are 4x3 metres  each!  The 6 skin one just fitted into the biggest machine I could find at a launderette, still lots of pet hair to remove from that one though.

Sorry Jason I read it as a pile of 10 skins. 

[happy mondays]

got home from my adventures on the crocky trail with the kids to find 2 messages on my answer phone, one was an enquiry and the other was a long thank you message from a lady i cleaned for yeaterday, she was moving into a house and left when we started, she told us to post the key through the door when we left, she also said the carpets weren't that dirty. the message was nothing but what a fantastic job we'd done and she couldn't believe they were the same carpets, (wool berbers as well).

now thats what i love about the job and thats what i strive for everytime i get to a job.

what do i hate about the job?

the phone not ringing.

Bet you all needed a good bath after the crocky trail mate with all the rain weve had  good day out though, years since ive been. Hope your keeping busy? hows the pressure washing side getting on?

They are 10 skin! that means they are 4x3 metres each! The 6 skin one just fitted into the biggest machine I could find at a launderette, still lots of pet hair to remove from that one though.

The 4 skin ones are much easier to clean 

[derek west]

didn't rain til we were leaving so it was a cracking day out, got some good video's of my wife on a big pole while i'm shaking it up and down. but thats another story, yeah good day and lttle joel loved the spider trap.
.
not too good on the power washing front at the mo, not really had time to push it with all the carpet jobs, might of been a step to far. might see if i can push it for next season allthough theres still time if we have an indian summer.

carpets, leather and hard floor side are keeping me busy though. 2 more years and i think things will be massive for affordable.

sall good

what about you, you gonna give up and sub out to me instead i know, i wish.

[David Rogers]

Jobs you hate doing =

I've never liked doing suites, and I'm not fond of wool carpets but they're a mere inconveniance next to;-

Filing and organising expense receipts!!! 

[happy mondays]

  sub out, never (only windows and ovens at the mo) i'm at last happy in my work  

I enjoy it mate, its a break from the main part of the business, i'm happy with a few carpet jobs a week, I just take my time and try to do a good job, I even got a £20 tip the other day, think the lady felt sorry for me cause I said my boss was a slave driver  

Btw the pole vid should be on youtube  

[Mark_Jubb]

Not keen on doing Upholstery, although it's usually well worth it when I do because I keep putting the prices up.