[Stevie Mac]

Hi everyone and Happy New Year just registered with the forum today and been having a look around. I would like to start up a carpet cleaning business in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland and I would like to make sure I am getting the right training and using the right equipment. I was looking at "Ashbys", " Alltec" and "Cleansmart" who all do training packages and supply equipment etc, etc.   Any advice on this guys.

[Billy Russell]

Your no relation to Big are you?


Sorry couldn't resist,  

Welcome to the forum, i'm sure you'll get some great advice here! machinary and equipment is a huge topic to cover, but if you use the search function i'm sure you'll find loads of info! if not fire a question off! i've never dealt with any of these companiy's but i've heard good thins about cleansmart and alltec!!

[Stevie Mac]

Lol. No relation. Cheers ill have look around and get some questions out there

[MAX Carpets]

Best, truthful advice...................wait a couple of years!

[derek west]

whats your budget stevie?

[Colin Day]

Best, truthful advice...................wait a couple of years!

I disagree... Just have low expectations as to how much work you'll get and work hard at getting your name out there... Then once things do pick up, you'll have a couple of years or so under your belt.

If you can do a part time job too, this may help financially in the quieter times....

Buy the best equipment you can afford and as long as you leave peoples carpets clean and dry within a few hours, you'll go far.....

[jim mca]

Stevie

I would start at business gateway get on the sales & marketing cource then do your research carpet cleaning is a very saturated market in central scotland so make sure you know what your getting into.
The nearest regular training cources are run by restormate in the newcastle area and the trainer is derek boulton who also does the training for cleansmart if you decide on new equipment to start up then most supplier will give you  free training to get you started if you are going second hand then post on here and have a look at ebay if you let the guys know your budget you will get better advice on equipment but the real business is marketing the best kit on the planet is useless with no work.

Jim   

[sezzle72]

I have an ashbys sensei with an extra vac boost { not much good without the vac boost} good machine. as for training it's all about pushing there products chems etc. I didn't learn as much as i had hoped to on there course.
sarah

[Chris Hawkes]

Read every thread going back the last year or two on this forum and "the other place" and you will get the gist of what its all about - machines, tools, solutions/chemicals, techniques, marketing, running a business.  Look up the NCCA for unbiased training.  If you've got another source of income try to keep that going and run the CCing alongside it until the CCing becomes viable on its own, if indeed it ever does.  Keep your options open, keep learning and keep diversifying.  Good luck with all that.

Chris

[Stevie Mac]

Thank you for all the replies. All noted, think I will go on the NCCA course and take it from there. ie what equipment  i might need etc.

[Stevie Mac]

whats your budget stevie?

Hi derek. budget would possibly be £3000 after the training. I wont be making a move until march roughly

[Buckland]

With that budget in mind - You will need three basics - you might just get these for just over 3k (plus training costs)

1. a good twin-vac or triple vac electric machine - Amtec or Cross America or Ninja or Prochem - twin-jet wand and hoses etc

2. plus electric agitation machine such as tm4 gen4 envirodri twin counter/contra revolving brush machine or sebo duo

3. I suggest the best additional purchase even at this early stage would be the Zeta hot water pressure washer like the ones on sale on the other site! Colin Day has one - you get good pressure and apparently hot piping water and it should get you very good results with the right chems

I only contribute this because I wish I had known this when we started out (although no. 3 was not really an option then)

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Your no relation to Big are you?


Sorry couldn't resist,  

are you related to JACK??

[JandS]

Don't bother with 2 and 3 to start with.
A good carpet brush will do to start with.
I still use one most times on domestics.
A good porty like the Ninja will give you
red hot water with it's in tank heater.
Those things can come later.
With your money get a good machine and
plenty of hose and a decent wand.
Get all the tools you need to make the job
easier, decent hand tool etc and a good selection
of chemicals.
I'll stick my neck out here and say I'd buy a drymaster
tool before an agitation machine and Zeta.

John

[Billy Russell]

Your no relation to Big are you?


Sorry couldn't resist,  

are you related to JACK??

Yes, thats my uncle!!!!! He loves a bit of Dogging!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barry Livingstone]

Steve, Give cleaning System uk a shout Jamie is on this plus you wont have to travel as far, they are In Cupar fife.

[Ian Gourlay]

When starting a Business advisors tell you to enter a market you know.

So Why Carpet Cleaning

Are you experienced in Marketing , have you ever sold a service or any other product?

There are lots of other Business areas you can enter at low cost besides Carpet Cleaning

So have you been seduced by cleverly written copy by Alltec , and Ashbys


In my opinion Ashbys course is good a grounder when I did mine there were Guys who had done NCCA first but wished they had done Ashbys first then moved on to NCCA

You will not go wrong with Restomate , Cleansmart or Alltec.

Personally I prefer Alltec but its the closest to me and I  know the way. 

But the correct answer do not just do one course                     

In this day and age you need to consider offering other services such as Oven Cleaning alongside your core business

How motivated are you what are you going to do when phone does not ring.  Watch Neighbours or Homes Under The hammer , Wanted Down Under etc etc yes  day can soon go .

How much do you need to make a week to pay Mortgage , Rent, feed kids you go hungry etc etc

do you sleep at night , because until you get regular sales that is no longer a luxary you will have , just look on here at all the posts after midnight or early in The morning

[creighton foyle]

if you are going to wait until march go to the carpex show, you will get the opportunity to meet a number of suppliers all in one place and they usually have some good discounts just for the show.

re training, if you are not intending to join the ncca then do the free course that you get from some suppliers when you buy their machine the cleansmart one for example is almost identical to the ncca one and the money you save from the course can be used for marketing or on equipment.

finally if you are not buying a truckmount which is probably the best machine to have do not discount buying a host or dry fusion machine or similar to start with instead of a hwe machine as they have lower start up costs and can give excellent results.

I have an airflex hwe and did not use it at all last year , i would not sell it nor would i have bought it if i knew then what i know now , not because i think there is anything wrong with the machine (its a great bit of kit) just because i dont use it much. i have not had many mingers so my host or df machine are usually man enough for the job and are a lot quicker though i need to add that with the host i usually use surround or m power in conjunction with the sponges as i do not find them man enough for the job on their own. I do have a mighty one for spotting and sometimes use it on stairs


now i am going to duck

[Colin Day]

Don't bother with 2 and 3 to start with.
A good carpet brush will do to start with.
I still use one most times on domestics.
A good porty like the Ninja will give you
red hot water with it's in tank heater.
Those things can come later.
With your money get a good machine and
plenty of hose and a decent wand.
Get all the tools you need to make the job
easier, decent hand tool etc and a good selection
of chemicals.
I'll stick my neck out here and say I'd buy a drymaster
tool before an agitation machine and Zeta.

John

This is only an opinion...

I don't own and have never used a Drymaster tool, so I couldn't possibly comment whether I would buy one before the Zeta....

What I will say is, you need an extraction machine capable of dealing with a minimum of 400psi of water pressure if you ever opted for the Zeta....

But, the agitation phase is where the magic really is, this is where you have pre-sprayed and you are brushing the solution into the fibres. All too often the customers will be wowed at how the stains on her carpet are disappearing before her eyes... Also, if you buy a TM4 for instance, you immediately have an agitation machine that also doubles up as a VLM (Very Low Moisture) machine.... A good agitation machine supersedes the other 2 options John has given you by miles and miles....

Looks like my next purchase might have to be the Drymaster tool, I've gone nearly 4 years without one so maybe it's time.....  Then again, I've done pretty well hitherto....

[Colin Day]

Actually... If you bought a TM4 alone along with the appropriate encapsulation products, you could start cleaning carpets immediately without the need for any other equipment, offering Dry Carpet Cleaning. It'd be even cheaper to buy a suitable rotary and offer LM carpet cleaning....

I'm not keen on either method TBH, but they do work and there is demand for these types of carpet cleaning....