[clinton]

Some good advice in the above posts mark..

I would take on board what jason posted.

From Your posts you seem to have a good business going so why dont you get a younger vehicle with low milage and a new machine..

You can offset some of it against your tax bill maybe have a word with roger peach

I dont think your van will make it through the winter mate and you will be spending more on it..

[richie]

Trading Standards will get involved regardless of the age/mileage because it has been purchased in good faith.  I had the same problem about 12 yrs ago with a vehicle that was about 8 yrs old.

Richie.

[Joe H]

Mark
Get your van sorted and then think of a new machine - if you getting £500+ jobs then you can afford one, be it a top end porty or a low end TM
ie Prowler £7050 inc vat at 17.5%. That includes 100ft of suction and solution hose and a wand.
Can you afford it - consider this........
It will take 100 £70 jobs to pay for it.
OK you got running costs like petrol, servicing etc but that is not a great deal.
100 £70 jobs.
How many of them do you do in a year?
Spread it over 2 years, or even 3 years and it makes it very affordable.
Your productivity will go up, as will the quality of work.
Top end porty, say £3500 inc vat. 50 £70 jobs and its paid for.
To me its a no brainer.

[M.Acorn]

Going to look into an alltec machine in the new year,they are not far from me,just not 100% sure yet,i do like the look of the prowler,but not sure about servicing parts for it etc.
The box is costing me 4 hours work,inc fitting.
One of the lads who will be fitting it is going to give the van a through going over,and point out any faults,the box had prob been on it`s way out for a while,but it being new to me it didn`t ring alarm bells,now i know it`s gone it`s fairly unmistakable ! Van has done 175 thou,miles.
Going to see what the mechanic says then decide ,if it means punting it on then so be it !

[Carpet Dawg]

Richie, 12 years is 12 years ago! times have moved on and trading standards "might" help but i wouldn't hold my breath!

Take Jason's advice Mark. I ditched my steam pro a few months ago for a powerflite and a airflex as back up. bought with cash. The steam pro was total stressing me out!   You could easly buy a AirFlex 200PSI from cleansmart for £1800 and its a million times better than the machine you got at the moment. bigger tanks, higher psi, more suction etc etc

you'll feel a ton better from the very first job you do with it!  

Same goes with your van! i went from £1000 - £1500 bangers to newish £4000+ vans and the differance was immense! Those old escorts used to stess me out no end when they always broke down   life is too short for that...

like we say to price shoppers on the phone, "buy cheap - get cheap!!"

Tony

[M.Acorn]

It`s just a worry,i have a very large tax bill looming over me,nothing saved to pay it with,no buffwer in the bank now either,drained my isa,coming up to a quiet time of year for me,the letting agy i work 4 are pretty much at capacity now,ie run out of houses to rent !
Estate agy / letting agy i work for also still taking on tenants so will be 12 month plus before i get ,much more from them.
So can`t really commit to anything as yet !
I have been doing this for over 5 years now,and have made a good living,if i was poop or looked Pikey i would not have survived !

[Carpet Dawg]

Dare I ask..... any well off relatives that will bank roll you for a bit? 

[M.Acorn]

My grandad always said "never a borrower or lender be" and i try my best to stick to it !
Don`t really have a family,as such.

[Neil Williams]

I have been doing this for over 5 years now,and have made a good living,if i was poop or looked Pikey i would not have survived !

You clearly have something and I'm not knocking you for that, perhaps you're a great salesman because I would love to have the job prices you are getting, but please tell me that in 5 years you have learnt by now to put 25% of your monthly income away (monthly) into an account for end of year payments.
As for the pikey comment that was aimed at that 'astra circus act van' you kept us amused with for so long. Again how did you get such high end priced jobs if you were arriving on customer's driveways only for a puff of steam etc to follow you up to the doorstep.
Mark we are all here to help each other and key to moving forward in any industry is to re-invest in better equipment. I started with a rust bucket of an Astra van and basic woodbridge hwe but used the money brought in not to lock away/save etc but buy a tex system for low profile and now a Scorpian for top range HWE which remains in the transit as a 'truckmount.'
Yes we sail close to the wind at times with available money but after i have had my spending spree on better kit I then hardly spend out again for 6 to 9 months.

[M.Acorn]

.28 p is not that high around here,there are a few people round here that charge a lot more,there are also many that charge a lot less,but i have been called back to clean up after those guy`s !
Will also be increasing my prices .30p in Jan,have not put them up since i started !

[garyfindlay]

I`m thinking of upgrading to a prowler sometime in the new year, on a lease basis. £50 per week looks a good deal to me, and will save setting/packing up time too.

[M.Acorn]

It`s since having the bigger van ,i have done a couple of jobs and left it in there,much less hassle,that`s what got me interested

[richie]

It appears that some people on her think that 28p a square foot which if i am correct is just over £3 per square metre is a very high price.  Obviously pricing varies between carpet cleaners & the areas they work.  Most carpet cleaners i know charge between £2 - £3 sqm for domestic work.  Yes some charge £1.20 - £1.50 but these CCs are very few yet others charge upto £4.50 sqm.  Personally i think £2.50 - £3.00 is a reasonable amount to charge for domestic work.

Richie.

[Jim_77]

Starting to get repetitive on this subject but I have a sliding scale so a tiny job they'll be paying (not joking) up to £9/m but at the other end a big commercial might be as low as £1.20/m, under £1 for bonnet work (not that I do much).

It's not the rate per m² but the value they see in the price that matters.  My humble opinion

[M.Acorn]

If it`s a big one like i priced the other day 1750 sq ft ,then i knocked off 2 seperate sets of stairs.If am am doing a job for the agy,then i tend to knock around £25 off depending on if they or the custy is paying.
Need to re accumalate some money to pay for this gearbox !
Bloke who was getting me one 2nd hand got wrong one,the one on my van is very rare box to get 2nd hand ,as they all go !
So on Wed i had to order a new reconditioned one with uprated dif (pins came out of my diff and punctured the casing,that`s why it lost all it`s oil) cost me £776.26p ! Then clutch £80,and possibly another £200 + for a new dual mass flywheel !
Wish i had listned to you guy`s
It`s costing me as much as i paid for the bloody thing,dealer won`t honour warranty,trad stand won`t do owt,consumer direct say same.
Only option is to send the boy`s around !

This is where it`s coming from,check out the damage to some of them on the bottom of the page,mechanic at the garage said i had a very lucky escape,it coud have just locked up any time ,sending me in whatever direction the wheels were pointing at at the time...


http://www.volkswagenspares.com/page.php?page=Gearboxes

[clinton]

Mark

You could have had it aa inspected before you bought it

There must be some sort of warranty..

[Joe H]

It`s costing me as much as i paid for the bloody thing,dealer won`t honour warranty,trad stand won`t do owt,consumer direct say same.
Only option is to send the boy`s around !

So you have a warranty from the dealer - presume a written warranty.

Is your gearbox not covered?

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

Didyou know that if you have your own mechanic inspect a car before purchasing, be it a friend or AA etc. you wave your rights of returning the vehicle due to mechanical failure!

Cheers Goron

[Joe H]

No I didnt Goron

Thats seems peculiar, and some garages already have a 3rd party inspection form on the windscreen of cars being sold - doesnt make sense.

[M.Acorn]

No written warranty just verbal !
I really am pretty much screwed now,consumer direct were not much help,it`s different as it`s business to business.
All i can do is send him copy of recipt and a covering letter rec del,and see if anything comes from it !
Got a call from the place where i ordered the box from,sorry courier didn`t see it and has not puicked it up ! Won`t be with you until Mon now,lot`s of swearing later,ok will be with you in the morn !
So now looking at Mon earliest to collect it !

Starting to think i am cursed,i am a pretty good judge of charecter,but think my radar must have been on the blink on Oct 9th when i bought the van  .
When i spoke to him the other day he had a comeback for everything i said ! So must have known it may have been on it`s way out !
I didn`t pick up on it as it was new,and it takes a bit to get used to a new van,so it was prob on it`s way the first time i drove it.
Got to see if i can get my kit in the roc now,may involve removing passenger seat,got 2 jobs this arvo,both just down the road,bioth 1 beds,so not too bad