[richywilts]

we have been giving it some thought recently about adding carpet cleaning to our window cleaning business as we have a solid base of now nearly 600 customers. we would like work for indoors for bad weather etc.

i went down to barmouth at weekend and looked at dave washbrookes hydramaster truckmount system as was very impressed. im going to enrol on training courses etc following some market research ringing round our clients.

do people recomment going for a truckmount or mobile unit, i was told truckmount are more powerful and produce deeper clean.

just for help wat is an average figure one operator makes on average daily, day in day out. obviously you can earn ya good day amount and a bad day amount so just want average medium.

we will be pushing this service and expect a lot of interest.

cheers guys

[Neil Williams]

we would like work for indoors for bad weather etc.

Suggest you bdo some more research because it doesn't work like that

following some market research ringing round our clients.

Don't believe everything your customers say. We fell into that trap thinking that 600 window cleaning customers would become 600 carpet cleaning customers. The actual figure would have been less than 100.

just for help wat is an average figure one operator makes on average daily, day in day out.

£72.10 why else do you think I am posting at this time of day.

BTW Richie, I suggest you get your overall business working right, going by a lot of your posts on the window cleaning forum, starting with you need to be Vat registered. And dig your heels in as much as you want at present with you don't need to, but you sure will need to be if you're taking on carpet cleaning too.

[richywilts]

neil i understand what everyones saying regards to vat but first few months this year havent yielded that much money and we have winter coming so i dont expect to need to go vat reg just yet.

i havent said i expect 600 customers to convert to having carpets cleaned, i said i was going to call all customers and research how much interest there was first before making any decisions, we have number of commercial clients already saying they would be interested, and word of mouth from providing a good service from even 100 of our customers would hopefully bring in new work for the first year alone, even if we brought in 500 pounds worth a week that would be 26,000pounds and help cover a large chunk of money for a truckmount.

we already have a full time canavasser too who will be pushing carpets as well as the windows which would bring in a number of job each week

[JUST GUTTERS]

rich why dont you set up an of shoot to your window cleaning business.. I would change the name about to give you a broader appeal....  clean direct  window cleaning...
 then another  clean direct cleaning solutions.. keep them seperate keep the vatman away

As for carpet cleaning just do the course first and get as much info as possible before you splash the cash on something that is not needed in the short term

[Neil Williams]

.. keep them seperate keep the vatman away

Sorry but it doesn't work like that, and I'm not going to explain it either.

[JUST GUTTERS]

yes it can ask you accountant how to go about it...

[Neil Williams]

yes it can ask you accountant how to go about it... other business may have to go in wifes name but can be done...

Ok then have it your way because we did that for a while until a fully qualified accountant told us otherwise.
For this to work you need (1) different people running it (2) from different premises (3) with different business names.

Put it this way and at the time I had the carpet cleaning turning over £50k. My wife had the window cleaning turning over £60k. We risked the IR classifying the two as one and we would have been liable for vat going back to the point that the two combined would have been below the Vat threshold.

So you do it if you want but don't come crying on here if it all goes t-ts up for back calculated Vat.

[JUST GUTTERS]

It can still be done...A cheap monthly postal address and tha wife and new name as above...

[Simon Gerrard]

Crikey, not another one. I think we should all start window cleaning rounds, see how they like it

[Steve Rothwell]

Now you come to mention it 

was wondering what to do with a few spare hours a week...
chamois and a bucket what more do you need ??

[Simon Gerrard]

Erm, some ladders, perhaps. Oh, and a bad attitude 

[Steve Rothwell]

only going to do bungalows...   

till I've had a look at a training course to use the ladders......

[Simon Gerrard]

Be a step up for you then 

[Neil Williams]

Erm, some ladders, perhaps. Oh, and a bad attitude 

And don't forget the ability to undercut helps too, that's probably why so many make the change because they think that doesn't happen on this side :

[richywilts]

iv built up a well known brand in window cleaning in my area and with me nearing the vat threshold i was looking for something else to bring in regular money which we could advertise on the back of our window cleaning, dont know why so many carpet cleaners feel threatened when a window cleaner shows interest in becoming a carpet cleaner. what i like about carpet cleaning is i presume because you book in a time for the clean etc to take place i presume you get paid at end of the job for domestics,

im worried that when i go vat reg for windows your relying on payments coming in etc and vat is a huge payment too pay

[Helen]

yes it can ask you accountant how to go about it...

From HMRC site today, Have highlighted how a separate address will not suffice

Do not avoid registering for VAT by artificially separating business activities
If you run more than one business the sales in all those businesses must normally be added together to determine whether or not you must register for VAT.

However, if you are involved in the running of several separate legal entities, you may not need to combine the sales of those businesses to find whether you need to be VAT-registered.

If HMRC decides that you have artificially separated one business into smaller parts to avoid registering for VAT, it can decide that the entire business is a single taxable person and therefore must be registered for VAT. See the description of 'taxable person' in the section in this guide on who can and can't register for VAT.

Situations that HMRC may consider a single taxable person for VAT purposes include:

•Separate entities selling to registered and unregistered customers. The VAT-registered entity sells only to VAT-registered customers, and the entity not registered for VAT sells to customers who are not registered for VAT.
•The same equipment or premises being used by different entities on a regular basis. The premises and/or equipment are owned by one of the parties, who charges rent to the others. This situation may occur in businesses such as launderettes and takeaway food operations.
•Splitting up what is usually a single sale. This is common in industries such the bed and breakfast trade, where one business supplies the bed and another the breakfast.
If you deliberately avoid registering for VAT, you may be liable to a penalty. For serious offences, the matter will be investigated and you may be prosecuted.

[Steve Rothwell]

Be a step up for you then 

training  ?

quite right....  

[Helen]

iv built up a well known brand in window cleaning in my area and with me nearing the vat threshold i was looking for something else to bring in regular money which we could advertise on the back of our window cleaning, dont know why so many carpet cleaners feel threatened when a window cleaner shows interest in becoming a carpet cleaner. what i like about carpet cleaning is i presume because you book in a time for the clean etc to take place i presume you get paid at end of the job for domestics,

im worried that when i go vat reg for windows your relying on payments coming in etc and vat is a huge payment too pay

Have mentioned it before, you need to understand how vat works. 

[Darren O]

Go for it carpet cleaning is a doddle if you have the money get a truckmount but saying that there is guys on here earning £750 a day with bottom of the range portables

[richywilts]

rich why dont you set up an of shoot to your window cleaning business.. I would change the name about to give you a broader appeal....  clean direct  window cleaning...
 then another  clean direct cleaning solutions.. keep them seperate keep the vatman away

As for carpet cleaning just do the course first and get as much info as possible before you splash the cash on something that is not needed in the short term

regards to the name change
this is something we are going to look at changing when more established and maybe when we go limited as it is one dimensional being called window clean direct