[Joe H]

Just read C&M magazine on line.
Looking thro the list of those displaying at the NEC next week.
Some big c/c players not there
ie Hydramaster, Solutions UK, Ashbys, Alltec
Prochem are there, LTT, Dryfusion, Host, Envirodri

Very disappointed, is it worth going?

[clinton]

Hi joe

Just read your other post on the general section.

Its disapointing all the no shows.

Might not bother with the day there

[Mike Halliday]

but CC companies will just show us all the things we already know about.

 we need to look for things that will cross over from other areas of cleaning to solve problems in our industry.

or add-ons to our business. pressure washing, oven cleaning, shot blasting, commercial toilet cleaning
ultrasonic blind cleaning etc

[clinton]

Good point mike

There are two other c cleaners up here near me that have gone into other cleaning as well as the c cleaning was not enough for the company to make decent money.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Unless you want to grow your business into a large concern with staff then not all of these services and costs to set up are viable, we only have so many hours in a day and also some services can command more money per hour than others ie oven cleaning, the cost to set up compared to the cost to make monet may not make sense.

Ideally you need to be looking at services that will make you the same amount or more per hour/day etc will little set up costs and also has a good market in your area.

One other thing is that you don't want to be seen as a jack of all trades so you do have to pick carefully.

Shaun

[Gerry Styles]

Not many carpet cleaners there. Tho cost is very high £20k plus. I think that last show that Hydramaste thgought that the money would be better spent on thier family day in August. Now tat is well worth a visit & Cornwall is a lovely place

[Joe H]

Good point Gerry.
Alltec have decided not to go but to "spend" their £20000 on customer giveaways.
That to me seems a brilliant idea.
Attract more of us to buy from them. Keep the money flowing.
Just wish more would do it.

[clinton]

Think the shows will become less important and the suppliers will do there own thing in the future

Like most of buisness now things are changing.

We all might have to go into another line to add on to our services

I know if i had not had a good client base i would be strugling as it takes many years to build a c cleaning buisness up and seems to be less work than there was up to 5 years ago

[daysdeepclean]

Multi tasking isn't such a bad thing Shaun as long as you apply the same professionalism, effort and investment to each service you offer. I am not saying that you should cover the whole spectrum of the cleaning industry, because that would be too much.,But to fill in the gaps with a service that requires comparatively little investment and training compared with carpet cleaning opens new doors, literally.

Every time I clean an oven I explain that we also offer carpet cleaning and on several occaisions I am asked to carry out a survey and give an estimate. I would never have otherwise entered these peoples houses as they weren't looking at getting their carpets cleaned, just their ovens.

Cheers, Colin  Day

[derek west]

my own views are, there are enough carpet out there to be cleaned to keep me booked up solid for the rest of my life without diversifying to much, i want to add leather cos i like doing it and the moneys the same as cc work.
the hard work is finding the carpets and making people realise its me they need to use to do the job. so for me, its marketting i need to diversify into, not other things to clean.
derek
ps... not saying its wrong to move into other avenues. you go girls.

[daysdeepclean]

I always wonder if Richard Branson would be so successful if he stuck to selling records from his flat

That's all well and good Derek and I can fully understand and certainly respect your stance on this subject. But sometimes (I feel) you have to roll with the punches, I'm happy that I decided to take the plunge when I did and get into oven cleaning. Perhaps I could well use that time I clean ovens to try to generate more work through marketting.... But the money comes in handy paying my huge advertising costs.

[derek west]

carpets upholstery and leather first. like a lot of advice i was given in the early days, i must learn to walk before i can run. and i'm confident i can fill my books with cc work, when i get to that stage i may consider ovens and driveways, or i may just push on with a second truckmount.
did a quote for a massive office today, offered a freeclean in the vestabule where it was really bad, fingers crossed as its over a grand.
derek

[clinton]

Derek

Ovens are hard work mate 

Good luck with your quote mate 

Get yourself a l systemor dry fusion  for the offices and they will love it that you can clean it in the office hours

[markpowell]

Derek,
keep away from the ovens mate if i was you, seen them guys graft for 3 hours and only get about £50.00
Mark

[daysdeepclean]

It's not for the faint hearted, granted. But if it takes 3 hours they must be using a tooth brush and a bottle of Fairy

[clinton]

The oven franchises are good as the one near me has jobs from cheshire life mag and john lewis etc so a nice top client base etc 

I would like then green thumb one here when it comes up :

[Joe H]

For oven cleaning proper, dont you need protective gear and face masks etc. and a chem tank in your van etc?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I like teh green thumb one, there's a franchise near em but they do it on population count so you will find that to grow your business you will have to buy extra areas as you may find that your area is quite small.

The idea of it is to provide an affordable regular maintenence service and keep customers locked in but you need staff for definate and also it is quite seasonal so you would have to lay staff off in the winter but IMO there are other income streams from it ie Pressure washing, tidy up for the winter, freshen up for the spring and once you have the customers tied in then you just either look for more to grow the business or sit back and look after the ones you have also it's a very saleable business once you get fed up.

Shaun

[daysdeepclean]

Obviously the correct PPE is worn at all times with oven cleaning, as with carpet/upholstery cleaning and protection : : :

[Shaun_Ashmore]

To me the NEC is a waste of a day,

1. there aren't that many companies selling cc equipment as you may think
2. even less cc suppliers this year

It's a full of pure water or brushes or general chemical and buffers, I think Carpex would be better not sure when that is though.

Shaun