[Richard1967]

Hi all, I'm sure these questions get asked all the time, however I can not find any in recent threads.

I am thinking of starting my own carpet cleaning business, considering training and machines from the following companies:

1.  Alltec
2.  Ashbys
3.  Cleansmart

My preferences in that order, but any advice greatly apprecitated.

Also has business been effected by the dreaded "credit crunch" and if so how much?

I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who has done Alltec's marketing package, anygood?

cheers

Richard

[kinder clean]

Hi Richard

As a fellow newbie I will give you the same advice I got - Fill in your profile, let people know where your from as some people will consider you competiton but there are many members who will help you.

Re - credit crunch - I am just starting myself and I think you get out what you put in, this trade requires very heavy marketing, more than most, be prepared to send out 1000s of flyers every month and choose where you spend the rest of your marketing budget wisely.
Best advice is to scan this forum archives.

I did my training with Cleansmart, found them very good and not too pushy on selling you there own equipment. 

Paul Kinder Clean

[Joe H]

If you have not already done so, I would recomend you look at the Scorpion machine from Solutions UK.

IMO this is the portable machine that gives a carpet cleaner the best chance of doing the best clean (implying operator skill is in the equation too).

Recomend the National Carpet Cleaners Association training course as well. www.ncca.co.uk

If you were to be looking for a Prochem machine and training then the sponsors of this forum are Prochem distributors.

[Richard1967]

Thanks for the advice, I have updated my profile, Warwickshire / Oxfordshire border nr. Banbury. 

Paul, I have looked at Cleansmart, what's their marketing pack like? Hey I saw pic's of your van on another thread, very impressed, like web site too!  Are you starting to get regular work in or is it a bit hit and miss?

Joe, I will take a look at the Scorpion, not heard of that one yet, I will be doing the ncca course, but I will do the free training offered when I buy my machine first.

[Joe H]

I bought a machine off Matt at Cleansmart and find him very helpful. Did'nt do the course.

I have a Scorpion now and find they are helpfull too.  worldofclean.co.uk

[Phillip Mold]

Richard - I'm near Warwick, but do not go near Banbury, closest I go is Southam. If you are intrested we could talk.

I did the NCCA course 2 years ago, and currently use a Ninja from Ashbys.

I use Solutions UK and Cleansmart for solvents.

[Darren O]

Richard when buying a machine make sure it comes with sort of heater cleansmart do some good machines, you will not go wrong with Hydramaster Raptor brilliant machine.

[Joe H]

Have you ever used a machine without a heater Darren? If yes, what was the problem?

I used one this mornng, my Scorpion,  used the customers hot water tap - we do have hot water south of the border. 

The brass QD connections were quiet hot - hot not warm.
Trashed carpet - came up real good , probably because I had 3 (yes three) three stage vacs in the machine as well as hot water.

How many vac motor does your Raptor have then?

[Darren O]

Joe i think your full of crap ive used so called warm or hot tap water the time it reaches the wand its no way near hot enough.You might get away with that nonsense on craptalk but not on here you wont.

[Darren O]

Joe maybe the mpower you used made the water hot hot hot,i

[Joe H]

Carpets still clean though - no matter what you say 

[HQCS (John Kastrian)]

Joe,you are not "full of crap" m8.
Any experienced CC can clean a carpet using warm/hot or even cold water if there is no hot available,we have all done it at some point and never had any complaints.
Contrary to popular belief you do not need scalding water to clean a carpet.
I think any negative comments you receive in this thread are because you dare to mention "the other side".
John

[Darren O]

The point of this post is about somebody starting out new to carpet cleaning in my opinion i said they should get a machine with a heater to me heat makes the job easier and i have cleaned carpets using cold and warm water.Joe comes out with the usual rant about the scorpion and the 3vacs and he knows fine well the raptor has only 2 vacs so i dont see the point in his rant about using a heater.

[davep]

It was hardly a 'Rant'  :

[kinder clean]

Hi Richard

Thanks, I'm really pleased with the van, just need to make a few alterations to the website.

Its a slow process getting in work when your starting out, the guys on here that have been established have a customer database from which they can get repeat business, we need to be trading 2-3 years to reach that stage, that's providing you offer a good service of
course. I just had 2 adverts go live on Yell.com 2 days ago, already had 3 phone calls from them, then when the website has been on for a couple of weeks and the google rating settles should get some work from that.
I personally think Yell.com is preferable to yellow pages, as do a lot of others on this forum, tried local papers, didn't work for me, but others swear by them, just don't waste silly money on one advert.
If you wanted to try a local paper, try and find one that has some alphabetical trade listings as the ones that are scattered here there and everywhere, to me anyway are a complete waste of money.

My advice is marketing marketing marketing!! get a smart looking vehicle & some decent kit, buy the best kit you can afford and remember you will need to budget for marketing, like I said its none stop when your starting out.
Have a smart appearance and always wear a smile, don't under-sell yourself, offering £20 carpet cleans won't make you rich.

I did research & read as many threads on here as possible and chose to market my business via:

Flyers (with some kind of special offers)
Yell.com adverts
Refferals from satisfied customers (offer some incentive to customers to get work from their friends and family)
Aim for some commercial work too, personalise each letter/flyer to each business you aim at.

One last tip - Don't offer to clean heavily urine stained rugs cheaply - anyway I'm off now to clean a heavily urine stained rug!!! Oh I forgot - you learn by your mistakes!!  :


Drop me an e-mail and I will send you (try to  :: as my computer skills are limited) some marketing stuff.

Cheers Paul

[gwrightson]

Joe ,
answer to your question .
the raptor has 2 vac motors, the heat is as good as any you will find on a porty, its easy to work with , and is well built.
unlike a flimsy , plasticky think that can be bought.

I still have a raptor as a back up. great machine.

as for cold water cleaning  Do we really need to go down that road again?

geoff

[lands]

Richard

I would contact as many CCs as you can so that you can get as many opinions as possible. Philip has kindly offered to talk to you as do I.

Pete

[Neil Grainger]

Joe, take the up Nick's bum hat of for a secound  

Richard go and see all the distributors and talk to them all then talk to us about your concerns and possible direction you want to take.

Ashby's Alltec and dare i say it Sollutions do good machines for newbies, but dont get sucked in to buying everything from one company or being brainwashed for a particular companies machines and chemicals.

The best thing about this business is that you dont start learning until you get out their cleaning.

Find a supplier that is close to you has good machines that you can get serviced without having to travel half way accross the country.

[Richard1967]

Hi thanks for all your replies. Only found out about this forum last night, I wish I found out about it earlier!  All your advice has been really helpful and I can see that its a great community on here. 

Richard

[Len Gribble]

Richard

Buy as local as you can, all companies mentioned have excellent machines, from experience an internal heater help.

Len