Wondering how many of you do carpet cleaning as well as window cleaning and pressure washing. My father owns a flooring store and wants to pay for my business partner and I to go to class and buy a van for us to run. Any unit is appreciated. If it matters we already offer floor refinishing. Thanks.
I do carpet cleaning too. Not near as interesting or challenging as WC but in this small town I need to be versatile.
I do floor work too, but if I wouldn’t mind dropping that service when the rest of the business grows. I don’t have very much enthusiasm for any job that requires wearing a mask (except for being a stunt double for Zorro or Batman).
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I purchased a carpet cleaning vehicle about 3 years ago fitted out with carpet cleaning gear, after being a commercial window cleaner for 15 years I thought it would be good to expand my services.
I hated it, jobs paid less, took more energy with moving furniture and just using the 5’ wand all day, and there are so many carpet cleaners around, I dropped it and got rid of the gear within 6 months biggest mistake I ever made in business, but that’s just me
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The biggest advantage I we is that we sell floor covering as well. I know the market very very well. Do you think that would help? I know what the difference in padding, backing, and fibers are.
I have a janitorial business and rent my carpet extractor from Home Depot, decent machine comes with a hand tool for furniture and is easy to maneuver in/out of the van. Keep your overhead low when starting off, you might not like it but its easier the stripping and refinishing hard floors.
Were do you plan on going with this. Do you want to have a crew doing the work for you ?
Like Steve said its hard work , it’s harder than window cleaning .
Moving furniture pushing a wand back an forth . Doing stairs gets back breaking.
Could it be profitable of course it could be. Equitmwnt is costly . Truck mounts are expensive . Yes you could go portables good ones are costly too.
There Is a lot to learn just like anything especially when getting into upholstery cleaning , but most off you need to think about the labor
@wws knows a lot about the industry
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Yes he does!
We do windows and carpets. Carpets cleaning is tuffer then people think thats for sure.
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Is it worth it in the slow times?
We just started windows 6 months ago. So carpets for us is big we average
130 hr 5 to 6 days a week with 2 vans about 10 to 20 jobs a day
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Dang well good for you guys!
Those are some good numbers.
How long have you been cleaning carpets and what state are you located in?
I only think that you have a small advantage unless he’s going to put it on his website and try to push it for you. People typically dont clean their carpet for quite a while after theyve had the carpets installed. They will most likely forget who the installers recommended by the time they have it cleaned.
Believe it or not but carpet cleaning is seasonal just like window cleaning. They have the same down times. Though you should be able to pick up a little more work in the winter than window cleaning
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That’s what I’m really looking for is a little more in the winter.
I get that and it’ll help out a little I’m sure. But how are you going to be able to balance your current serviced with carpet cleaning when they both surge in the spring?
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Would you consider carpet cleaning a one man operation? I know I can move most couches by by self with the correct equipment
I worked many years by myself. There are advantages to having a two man crew though. keep in mind that if that floor wand isnt moving you arent making money. Having someone moving furniture for you so you never have to stop moving that wand and you will be more efficient. If there isnt any furniture to move they can hold the hose behind you which will reduce fatigue for you so the hose isnt just hanging off the end of the wand and you arent dragging it around. If you invest in a strong enough portable unit or a truckmount you can use an rx-20. Much easier than pushing a wand around.
Similar to a water fed pole in the window cleaning industry there is a very low moisture (vlm) process used in carpet cleaning called encapsulation. I say theyre similar but in the sense that its not for every job. Encap is basically spraying a solution down that encapsulates the dirt and is vacuumed out afterwards.
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