[Jonathan Tait]

Hi everyone,
 I have a small commercial & domestic flooring company & have recently been to a couple of jobs where there has been an opportunity to get some carpet cleaning work.

One was a hall in a TA building where we replaced the anti slip vinyl in the bar area and there was a carpet tile area around 150m2 which they told me they were going to get prices to be cleaned.

Another was a big house that belonged to the church where we replaced 100m2 of carpet but there was another 100m2 which again they wanted cleaning.

So I'm looking at getting a machine but as it's something new for us I'm not going to go mad and buy the best until I see it making us a decent profit. Would be great if I could some suggestions on a decent machine that won't cost the earth 

Thanks & sorry for the long first post 

[derek west]

my advice, get yourself on a 2 day training course and find out what is involved before deciding on whether you want to expand into cleaning flooring. it aint rocket science but theres a bit more to it than a good machine.

hope this helps

[jim mca]

You would be better to find the best carpet cleaner in your area and pass work to them and in return they would recommend you win/win

[Mike Halliday]

You are In a perfect position to  start offering carpet cleaning, you just need to  have a bit of confidence that it will succeed and produce a good profit .

You already have a data base of past customer to market to and another business that will produce enquiries , imagine if every carpet you lay you tell the client you can also clean any other carpets with in the home at the same time.

I think you need £5k to invest ( and it is an investment)  buy the best machine and get some training, try and get a dedicated employee to do the carpet cleaning who can do the  training  courses .

If you are a one man band then it still will work.

To answer your actual question buy this........

http://new.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=194958.0

[tim handley]

as above, no easy, quick way into it... that way lies madness.......
first thing is training and LOTS of internet research,
maybe get to go out with a cleaner for a day,
then think how much you want to spend, are you just going to do commercial, or are you going to do domestic as well,
you will need a few bob.........!!!!!

[Simply Business]

Hi Jonathan

Seems like a no-brainer to offer cleaning services as well! As long as you're willing to invest time into training/learning and money into the equipment, it could be a real winner

One point to keep in mind, if you do start offering additional services, you'd be wise to alert your insurer beforehand just in case you're not covered for those activities currently

Best of luck with it all!

[Karra Barford]

Hello Jonathan,

Like Derek said, Training is a great place to start.  We offer some free hands on training days to new start-up's.  If you are interested in coming along to one of these give me a call on 01763 208222.

There is also lots of information you might find helpful on our website www.startcarpetcleaning.co.uk

Karra

[Jonathan Tait]

my advice, get yourself on a 2 day training course and find out what is involved before deciding on whether you want to expand into cleaning flooring. it aint rocket science but theres a bit more to it than a good machine.

hope this helps

I'm not convinced with taking a course at the minute as i don't think you can really learn that much in a day or two, i think getting hands on will be the approach we will take.

You would be better to find the best carpet cleaner in your area and pass work to them and in return they would recommend you win/win

As a carpet cleaner yourself do you often get opportunities to pass flooring work on?

You are In a perfect position to  start offering carpet cleaning, you just need to  have a bit of confidence that it will succeed and produce a good profit .

You already have a data base of past customer to market to and another business that will produce enquiries , imagine if every carpet you lay you tell the client you can also clean any other carpets with in the home at the same time.

I think you need £5k to invest ( and it is an investment)  buy the best machine and get some training, try and get a dedicated employee to do the carpet cleaning who can do the  training  courses .

If you are a one man band then it still will work.

To answer your actual question buy this........

http://new.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=194958.0

This is what I thought. I'd prefer a new machine though , can I realistically get a decent machine for less than a grand?

Hi Jonathan

Seems like a no-brainer to offer cleaning services as well! As long as you're willing to invest time into training/learning and money into the equipment, it could be a real winner

One point to keep in mind, if you do start offering additional services, you'd be wise to alert your insurer beforehand just in case you're not covered for those activities currently

Best of luck with it all!

We will definitely be doing that 

Thanks everyone for the replies and advice

[jim mca]

Yes I regularly get asked about other services and pass on details of other trades that I use or who give me work

[Steve Gerrish]

Hello Jonathan,

Like Derek said, Training is a great place to start.  We offer some free hands on training days to new start-up's.  If you are interested in coming along to one of these give me a call on 01763 208222.

There is also lots of information you might find helpful on our website www.startcarpetcleaning.co.uk

Karra

Hi Jonathan,

This course Karra has mentioned is great, a real good insight of the basics, really good trainer (Paul Pearce) and is held at Alltecs base, and best of all its free! No brainer if you want some free insight/advice