[Chris R]

I have been so busy this year - its gone crazy
With a lot less spent on advertising, I am still way busier
So is it just me or is the country in general having a good year?

Chris

ps and will the bubble burst next year

[rioclean]

Hi guys

Yes your are right, but do you think laminated floors have made any differance to the cc trade generaly.  Another thing I have found in the last year or so is that more people have light carpets and they show the dirt more. Could anybody give me an opinion on this.

Regards Dave.

[Phil Marlor]

Yes its true Dave, beige & cream are very much the in colours these days along with chocolate coloured furniture.

I  like cleaning beige carpets, always seem to give good results.

Done much less advertising and this calender year has easily been my best.

Booked £300 worth of work yesterday by people just seeing the van.

Didnt have a holiday this year and its begining to tell, wont do that again!

Phil

[lee_gundry]

i think laminate floor are good for my business as i clean more rugs.I charge more for a 6*4 poly prop rug than a average size lounge.I clean the rugs off site & usally the customer brings the rug to me.


don,t like cleaning suite,s on a laminate floor.


Lee G

[paulchambers]

Been going for 10 months , 5 months in a new area . Earnt more in the first 5 month of carpet cleaning then i have in the second 5 months.

But will plod on and one day look back and laugh about the struggle.   Paul

[Ian Rochester]

This time two years ago I was a Factory Manager on £38K, got made redundant aged 37, decided to invest some of the money in an Extracta Excel machine to keep me occupied until I found a "proper job" again.

Now coming to end of second year in business, just bought second van and machine to keep up with demand and have been training someone up to run that.  

Got asked about window cleaning last June whilst cleaning their carpet, bought some gear and now have a round worth 40K /year and growing, mainly domestic, two lads working full time looking after that.  

Recently bought a Reach & Wash system from Cleantech for commercial jobs, still not 100% convinced with it yet though.

Now that I'm on broadband I have discovered all these wonderful sites such as this one and Cleantech (yet to find anywhere better for price, advice and quality of service).

I 100% agree with Lee's comment, I hate cleaning suites on laminate flooring too!!

Never want a "proper job" again, totally love being my own boss and getting recommendations from previous customers.

Still spend a small fortune on advertising, yellow pages, local papers etc, but recommendation will always be the best and cheapest advert everytime.

If you do a good job they will tell 2 or 3 of their friends, if you do a bad job they will tell 10 - 20!!

YES it's turning into a good year so far.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

Business is bouyant here too.

However next year is election year and goverments always try to engineer economic booms at this time.
I would say ,  just be careful with taking on too much expediture , as taxes will rise once any goverment has it's 5 year mandate.

I hope I'm wrong and lets enjoy it now, anyway.

Cheers,

Doug

[Mike Halliday]

I had a good year, but it seams the more money I earn the more ways I find to spend it :

I've got a shed full of little knick-knacks which I've bought and used only once or twice.

ebays been my biggest downfall!! I'm on it more time than on here always buying useless items ( bought a steam pressure washer today, god knows what I'm going to do with it)

the next get together we should have a jumble sale.

Mike

[Phil Marlor]

We look forward to your crap useless item car boot sale Mike.

Phil

[Dave Parry]

I'm having a cracking year so far. As its only my 2nd full year, thought it was just the building up process, but either way hope it continues. Just done my best day so far £ 870. hope theres more like that.

[ashplays]

just wondering /   are these comments completly honest as i hav been going 10 years and hard floors hav hit us big time in my area of essex   weres i do say 3 carpets for a reg client iam now down to hall stairs landing  and can say that is with more than 50% of my regs  also dramitic drop in 3pc cleaning due to people buying leather  regards gaz

[eclipse]

My first year in business too
the past 3 weeks for me have been really quiet hoping that the xmas business starts coming in soon is anybody else quiet at the moment and when when does it start getting busy again

[Dynafoam]

Ashplays,

Welcome to the forum.

I cover much of Essex but overall have noticed no difference to turnover as a result of laminate flooring or leather suites. My average waiting list has shortened slightly but I see that as a welcome lessening of pressure.

Like Lee_g, I have seen an increase in rug cleans, and the pricing structure I have evens out turnover. Curtain cleaning is also on the increase as a result of people removing the household 'filters' in favour of fake wood.

What part of Essex do you hail from?

[ashplays]

hi john   i cover braintree areas 
i must just be crap at cleaning then lol

[ian richards]

Hi, just comming up to the end of my first year in business, and its been tough. Iv'e had my fingers burnt far to many times with advertising and the blisters on them are still being burnt!! I have definatly lost money in my first year of trading, but most of that is down to the fact that i have had to take a loan to support myself. I have ploughed all my income back into the business to get the business looking as professional as possible.
I am aiming at the top end of the market so i'm not that cheap, and as soon as i go outside of the afluentional areas i can't convert into sales, so i'm going to reduce my prices in those areas. I do love this industry and i am covinced that it's going to come good, i just need that damn telephone to ring!!
As William Shakespere once said "Much rain wear's the marble" We will see???
Ian Richards
 

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Ian

Good to meet you last week. Our paths will cross again (soon I hope).

I seem to be knackered all the time, so it must be a good year. I've even declined the opportunity to renew my multi £K bonnet cleaning contract, so it must be a great year.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

PS Yippee, no more bonneting

[ian richards]

Hi Ken
It was great to meet you too.
I met so many good and interesting people last week, it felt like it was one huge family!!
Please, please dont turn work away just push it im my direction.
I will be ringing you in the near future to talk about your mentoring program
Good to hear from you.
Cheers.
Ian.   

[Phil Marlor]

Some of you 1st year carpet cleaners need to be patient, you cant expect big returns so quick unless you get lucky with a big contract.

Its unlikely you have seen one repeat customer yet, this will kick in after about 2/3 years.

Believe me if you enjoy this business and you are good at it "YOU WILL SUCCEED".

My first year was poor but as each year went by it got better & better, to be honest I never thought things would get this good, but it has.

Ian, it is very difficult with regards to advertising, still not sure what works & what dosen't, in my opinion 95% of advertising dosent work, for me the van, recommendation and most of all repeat business gets more work I can cope with, in the early days it was YP, local paper, parish mags.

I too was ripped off by an advertising company called FREEPHONE PAGES, paid them £400.00 then they decided to run away.

I even tracked down the person responsible in North Wales determained to come back with my money, but they called the Police who then moved me on.

I learned a lesson that day, pay for nothing until you receive the goods.

Phil

[paul@ctcs]

Now in my 2nd year and can honestly say i love it!
 There are very few jobs which give so much job satisfaction, i spend most evenings on this forum learning from the clean it up gods, I take a huge amount of pride in my business and probably plough way too much money into it too
 A bulk of my work comes from word of mouth, which is great as i must be doing a good job and comercial contracts are building up fast. 

All in all had a great first year and high hopes for the years to come.

Paul

[Len Gribble]

Ian

I know what you are saying regarding areas, let me give an example today done a job in Peckham just of Rye Lane some say the pits = low income, the chap was a doctor not known till after I cleaned the carpets.

Yesterday asked to quote Farnborough park (own security) approx the same area similar price to dear, what dose that tell you!

Ken

Although we only spoke briefly, what LM system do you use may be interested in equipment by the way I take the other view I don’t seem to be knackered using the rotary system.

Len