[John Rimmer Marshall & Rimmer Ltd]

Would it be to much to ask Andrew if you have ever cleaned a carpet in you life.
I dare say not, but then again with your pedigree of businesses you would not need to would you. With all that lovely money you and your wife are making i am
surprised you have not phoned me, promise i wont over charge you. As for quoting Richard Branson dont make me   you are like one of his aircraft
tyres FULL OF WIND  

                                                 Take Care John

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Potential wear should be noted by the rep on his/her visit, realistically the tech should have half of his job done for him before he/she gets there ie carpet fitted properly, staining possibilties of removal, furniture pre moved etc etc

Getting the REGULAR work is not as easy as you think, YP ads are costly and the phone rings all at once it's not staggard ie 10 a day.

Shaun

[Paul Forster]

As  a non carpet cleaner I have no axe to grind. It seem some of you are making personal atacks for nothing more than jelousy. The proof of the puding will be if in Seven years Andrew has a viable business.

[Jason Hedges]

Hi Andrew,

I admire your enthusiasm and eagreness to get into this business although god only knows why! There is good money to be made but its very hard work and takes years to build up a good business. The problem is it doesn't happen overnight no matter how much money you throw at it!

I've only been in this business for a couple of years now and am learning new things every day. There are people on this forum that have been going for a lot longer and are still learning. Its not the cleaning, thats the easy part, its the marketing and selling your services for the best price thats hard.

The problem with employing carpet cleaners is that unless you are charging top dollar and paying them a weekly wage of £400/£500 they will work for themselves. Add on to that vehicle expenses, advertising, insurance, supplies, equipment wear, tear and maintenance etc. you've got to expect them to earn you £1000 a week minimum to earn you any money. Not easy week in week out.....

I'm not trying to put a dampener on your ideas just being realistic, you're obviously successfull in other businesses and as I said before I admire your enthusiasm.

If you are serious about getting into this business you'll need to get someone on board with experience in the business who can guide you through and take the reigns. Also not easy because if they're any good they'll have their own business up and running!

If I were you I'd stick with what you know. If you do decide to go for it then all the best, be warned though that jumping into a business you know very little about could be nothing more than an expensive headache.

Kind regards,

Jason.

[John Rimmer Marshall & Rimmer Ltd]

I can assure you Paul jealousy has nothing to do with it, what have i or anybody
ells on this forum got to be jealous about. What you seem to forget is that some of us have been doing the job for a long time and therefor know what the pitfalls
can be. Just by what this man is saying  regarding the job of a carpet/upholstery cleaner ( Bearing in mind i have yet to be convinsed that he has ever cleaned a carpet in his life) tells me and others on this site that he does that he does not have a clue.

                                                 Take Care John

[therapist]

..............

There was a guy who ran a similar operation in the Central belt of Scotland, but he knew the business, worked in it and got a high volume of business through advertising in six weekly papers, plus Y/P and Thomsons.

He used experienced c/c's and quality machinery and as I said knew the business.

The operation being talked about here is a concept in someones head and may or may not work.

If I had the resources available to Mr Chrysler I would be looking at other ways of building my empire.

However..............good luck Andrew, think you might need it.

[AJCleaningServices]

Could I say how I see it:

Andrew knows what his is doing:

He has got the business skills, he has the money or he knows how to find them (banks, loans etc) and he is prepared to learn how to clean carpets, so he will get an understanding of what it likes to do such business.

He joined this forum to share his business experience and to get advice when he needs it. 

What is wrong with his will to get into this industry?

Good luck Andrew!

Regards,

Arthur

[garyj]

Could I say how I see it:

Andrew knows what his is doing:

He has got the business skills, he has the money or he knows how to find them (banks, loans etc) and he is prepared to learn how to clean carpets, so he will get an understanding of what it likes to do such business.

He joined this forum to share his business experience and to get advice when he needs it. 

What is wrong with his will to get into this industry?

Good luck Andrew!

Regards,

Arthur

I wish you wouldn't, but its too late now. But at least you didn't mention the CFR uses recycled water this time :

[therapist]

was going to respond to this posting by Arthur, but there really is no point as he clearly sees the world from a different perspective and there is nothing to be gained from striking brick walls with your head.

rob m

[stains-away]

Tell you what i'll do,£600 a week and a caravan for me maah in periwinkle blue and il come and do some repping for ya!

[the red carpet]

Andrew il give you my opinion.
Carpet cleaning is a good buisness to get into when you think of the money that can be taken per hour or day, as it pays better than virtually all the other cleaning trades and you can take home a better wage for yourself than on a lot of other jobs.

That makes it a good buisness to get into for yourself as a one man band as you have the potential to earn more money than the average person.

However if you have no desire to do the work yourself and you are willing to take the stress of employing a team of people i would not choose this as a buisness as there are imo a lot better choices.

Your allready existing car valeting is not a bad one.

The trouble with carpet cleaning is you allways have to find new customers (allways) and when you dont your in trouble with car valeting once you have found a customer they are regular every week or every other week, you can just buy the equipment, very quickly build a round employ someone to work it and sit back and collect your money.

And theres a lot less things to go wrong cleaning a car than a carpet.

So although theres more money in carpet cleaning, i would rather have 6 car valeting vans on the road than 2 carpet cleaning vans.

Good luck whatever you decide.
Daniel

[AJCleaningServices]

...there is nothing to be gained from striking brick walls with your head.

rob m

Rob,

Please, do not try it  : at home.   

Regards,

Arthur

[Ian Gourlay]

Andrew,

I am a bit amazed,

Why have you got Rug Doctor and Windsor Passport,

Ok for Hire Machines perhapsOk for for very Cheap Clean.

My research at Job Centre Plus indicates £1200 to £18000.


I posted elsewhere where I got those rates from.

As you are not short ofa bob or two It might be a good idea to invest in Marketing

Alltec do Fasttrack but you can now buy the Bridgepoint modules, There is .

also the Joe Polish Kit

See you in Nottingham

[cleaning co]

hi andrew, i think u need to hav a really good think again about your plans for three cleaners and a rep, unless u hav some really big contract work lined up, u must hav looked into the money u need to make a week for this kind of setup  for starters u need to put out a min of 15000 leaflets a week to try and keep them in work and be very competive on price, they would earn more money than u imo  the costs involed are huge 3 vans ,3 lots insurance, tax, mots ,eqp,chems,huge advertising costs leaflets,thomson,yellow pages and a rep !! do u relise how many carpets u need to clean a week to make this work? u put three workers on a wage how fast u think they going to work ? how long would it be before they are missing the last job of the day whats your profit for the day ? how long before they are putting them extra carpet cleans on a job in thier pocket?  imo u would lose 10s of thousands pounds before u made this pay even if by chance u found a good group of cleaners, but hey best of luck

[andrew chrysler]

Thanks to everyone for their advice and encouragement, and thanks for some of the questions raised.... they all help, especially the negative comments, because I really have to think about them hard 

Why have you got Rug Doctor and Windsor Passport,

Ian, I bought them 2nd hand before I found this forum.... in the days when I thought CC would be easy hey we all make mistakes! Never mind, no harm done, because these can be offered for rental, or sold again on ebay

My research at Job Centre Plus indicates £1200 to £18000.

I was thinking of a basic wage around £11,500 with a bonus scheme to increase this to around £17,000 based on performance, attendance and workmanship.

 

would rather have 6 car valeting vans on the road than 2 carpet cleaning vans.

I see your point, Daniel, but unfortunately when it rains or snows, the car valeting comes to a halt. Maybe I would be best with 6 car valeting vans on the road in Spain

trouble with carpet cleaning is you allways have to find new customers

Getting the right sales rep is absolutely crucial to the success of the business model.

i have yet to be convinsed that he has ever cleaned a carpet in his life

At least nobody has said "who does he think he is.... Richard Branson" but RB doesn't fly his 747's, he employs experts for that. I need one expert cleaner and 2 good ones, and a superstar rep. I have cleaned a carpet, with a Passport, and it was a rotten result. That's why I thought that I needed to learn more, looked at this forum, and booked some training.

Potential wear should be noted by the rep on his/her visit, realistically the tech should have half of his job done for him before he/she gets there ie carpet fitted properly, staining possibilties of removal, furniture pre moved etc etc

Thank you Shaun, that is excellent advice and I will adopt that procedure straight away.

[andrew chrysler]

i am
surprised you have not phoned me, promise i wont over charge you.

With no advert in Yellow Pages, Thomson Local, the Midweek Visiter or the Champion, where would I get your phone number from?

Only joking... These are all avenues of advertising I have also rejected, and I am sure that after 12 years you have sufficient repeat business to keep you busy.

Thank you, John, for your frank opinions. I am expecting a challenge, I am looking for a challenge, at the moment I am bored for half the week, hence I have time, probably too much time, to be on the internet and drink coffee.

[andrew chrysler]

If youve got that sort of wedge  then your going about it in the wrong way my friend. Then again you might be full of c rap

Nick

Come on then, Nick..... tell me the right way. 

[andrew chrysler]

Even Hitler started from the bottom with his plan for world domination!

But his plan failed, maybe he should have started from the top!

[andrew chrysler]

it would also be an idear to pay them extra on jobs that they find themselves say 50% of total job price at least you get something out of it.

What a good idea, Davy. It might just avoid the temptation to do "foreigners"..........

Also means that on a quiet day, they have some work to get on with, looking for jobs.

Thanks!

[HolmansUKLTD]

If youve got that sort of wedge  then your going about it in the wrong way my friend. Then again you might be full of c rap

Nick

Come on then, Nick..... tell me the right way. 

166 posts in less than 2 months tells you something my balloon fondling friend