[Mike Halliday]

I've noticed over the years that some of the gear I buy for carpet cleaning is very exspnsive, little pieces of metal or plastic cost £10-12 ( jets) farmers buy jets for their crop sprayers, they buy them 50 at a time. do you think they pay over a tenner for them? ....... Or 500gms of spotting chemical cost £17.

I bought a gas regulator last week, when you look at it you can see it's a complicated well made piece of kit it cost £23,  I'm sure is this had been for a truckmount it would have cost £120

Some hand tools cost £400 if you look what you can buy for £400 in other industries you would be amazed.

Is it because carpet cleaning is a small industry so we don't have mass production or is it we are seen as a soft touch?

[gwrightson]

Got to agree Mike,

I been looking for a new upholstery tool ,the prices for what is basically a simple thing amaze me.

I am now resorting to try and source a new head for my drimaster1 , even that is proving difficult just to get a reply from Hydramaster, tried calling "will get somebody to call you " replying via their leave a message option , and still nothing  .

I sometimes wonder if they really want the business.

Geoff

[CleanerCarpets]

yes i agree - look at Sodium Percarbonate - cheap as chips for everyone to buy - the manufacturers box it up, call it a booster and charge us 5 times the price!

Its apparently because of the research that goes into the product first - like drugs i suppose, normally cheap as chips to make but cost thousands to develop initially which is what you pay for.

Thats understandable, but not in a lot of circumstances when the product has already been developed and its just being rebadged for us and sold at a premium.

[Radek Jablonski]

Robbing ...... 


Hmmm you just said what I always thought.
Most of items are sold in thousands worldwide so I dont think so its about small quantity.
I am fine myself to spend more for proper equippment that will work for years for me. But all those small items, essential tools, accesories are too expensive.

[jasonl]

We need an "adaptables" thread , things we use but are cheaper and easier to source by laterally thinking.

[derek west]

its supply and demand.

how many hand tools are sold each year?
how many fridge freezers sold each year?

not a clue to the answer but lets say 100 HT's and 100,000 FF's.

And while we're here, are customers being taken advantage of?

Carpet cleaners £50 to £100 per hour (if youre not trying to be stupidly cheap)
Painter and decorator £100 a day.

My personal view, Its all relative.

[JandS]

I speak to quite a few tradesmen as my father and brother are both builders.
The general consensus, in this area , seems to be around £140 per day.
I dare not tell them what I sometimes earn per day.

[Mike Halliday]

You can't compare items with a service unless the cost of the service alters to the individual buyer

If a decorator charges me £100 an hour  but a doctor £130 an hour then it's the same as a company selling jets to farmers for 10 for £30  and them selling a carpet cleaner the same jets for 5 for £30

Which is the point I'm making

[Ben Marriott]

I've noticed over the years that some of the gear I buy for carpet cleaning is very exspnsive, little pieces of metal or plastic cost £10-12 ( jets) farmers buy jets for their crop sprayers, they buy them 50 at a time. do you think they pay over a tenner for them? ....... Or 500gms of spotting chemical cost £17.

I bought a gas regulator last week, when you look at it you can see it's a complicated well made piece of kit it cost £23,  I'm sure is this had been for a truckmount it would have cost £120

Some hand tools cost £400 if you look what you can buy for £400 in other industries you would be amazed.

Is it because carpet cleaning is a small industry so we don't have mass production or is it we are seen as a soft touch?

Are the nozzles like this? These are the ones we send out to farmers with Knight's sprayers or basically any sprayer ATV mounted or otherwise.

[Mike Halliday]

They are the basic design, although most have SS  or ceramic  insets  so they are more durable. The ones we use are either brass or stainless steel

I have those type in my low pressure  sprayers

[Ben Marriott]

The plastic type are 75p the brass type are about £4.20 plus vat you are quite right - carpet kit seems to be the most expensive in terms of parts etc

[Carpet Dawg]

look at the price of dyegone! I recently paid £37 (and that's before VAT and p&p) for a small valve trigger for a prochem hand tool. Just a lump of brass with a spring.

[derek west]

fast movers have lower profit margins, slow movers have higher profit margins.  some things sell faster in other industries than in ours and vice versa.

i can promise you that some of the stuff farming suppliers stock will have extortionate mark ups because they dont sell many.
its all relative
You cant have something taking up space sat on a shelf for 6 months of the year and still sell it with a 25% mark up.  But at the same time, to be a good supplier you have to stock everything for convenience to your customers.

so you either shop around and waste your own time looking for cheap products elsewhere (which asks the question, what is your time worth? or you just pay the extra price a slow mover insists on.  (me personally!! sometimes i shop around  and sometimes i  take the easy option and just stick it on my list)

[JandS]

Slow movers might become fast movers if priced accordingly....I would like a crb machine...but the price for 2 spinning brushes and a vac is extortionate when you compare the engineering that goes into a rotary at nearly half the price.

[Carpet Dawg]

you don't even get a vac with most crb's John.

[Mike Halliday]

Another thing I find strange is how certain items last 20 years but others only a year, look at rotories I bet most of us have seen them 20 yrs old and still going  strong, why do their  motors last so long but we are lucky to get a year from a vac motor

[Radek Jablonski]

Its called ageing.
Of course they could make motors lasting years with proper components.
There are documentaries talking about this. It started with bulb light.

They dont want to sell you items lasting your life time. They want your money.

Mercedes once did a car that can do 1 mln kilometers and engine still works to hit another 1mln that was their mistake they will not do anymore.

[john martin]

Shop around  , look for special offers . there are lower prices out there , support guys like the carpetcleanersstore who would be about 30-40% cheaper than most suppliers ,  if anything prices for parts etc are probably down , dont see anyting too expensive on the likes of restormate  .  Imagine before the internet , didnt people give like 300 for a fitted motor to the likes of extracta .

When i look through a machine like the enforcer , all the parts , mounting plates , immersion parts , electronics to be fitted , i doubt i could be bothered making it myself for what they charge , doubt they make akilling on these machines .
why dont vac motors last , probably because of the imperfect environments and abuse they get  . They are made semi disposable using cheap mass produced ultra cheap windings etc
Many of us are capable of earning the cost of an expensive hand tool in a day or a crb in a week or two so probably shouldnt complain .
SomeChemicals are probably a rip off  for what they are , but many CC seem easily douped  .....   microsplitter 

[John Kelly]

I'm actually surprised how long most good vacuum motors do last. They are usually pulling against a blockage when the tool is on the floor or fabric and they are sucking through moisture laden air.
If things lasted for ever, where would everyone work?

[Kev Martin]

I think it matters what industry you are in. If you think Carpet stuff is expensive try Floor Restoration.  One set of Metal Bond Sintered Diamonds that in our industry are classed as consumables cost over £500 Inc VAT.  Derek makes the point really,  that if you earn good money you need to spend it on the best IMHO.  If the best costs more then so be it!  Floor cleaners cost £1 in a Pound Shop!   Would I use them?  Never!

I don't know much about TM & Porty Vac Motors but the ones we use for vaccing up stone slurry last for years so if they don't last long in your industry and they are Ametek like ours then perhaps / maybe  there is a ventilation issue!!!