Battle of the centrifuges !!

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Since I resurrected this.. and to my knowledge I haven't read this anywhere else to answer this exact question.

Lisa, Ken, Hyde and any Oz. Ron K and David VB can chime in as well.

I think it would be fun to hear.eerrr read what your idea of how a new rug cleaning business would evolve on a physical level.

It seems most of you would agree that low initial investment in equipment and good training are step one. But lets hear what you think the next logical steps would be from there as the volume of rugs would increase. Assume the Marketing plans are in place and working and the volume of rugs will continue to increasse as much as you want. You can express the need to raise prices to stop volume growth in Lisa's plants case. Each of you will have a different opinion. But get specific on how you would build and expand your physical wash plant. From a small building or garage pit to a full wash floor, to centifuges to wringers. to fully automated washing equipment. And express how many rugs you would need to be cleaning to justify the purchase of the equipment. Ie the time savings vs. the labor investment. I think alot of new ruggies jump on equipment band wagon and never access how many rugs they need to be cleaning to justify a piece of equipment.

I can move this to a nother thread if need be as well.

I put everything in my report I give away for free it's at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37967161/Rug- ... EPORT-2010

If you have the know-how you can do great work with low-tech, and going high tech allows you to be more productive/profitable.

The problem with the rug business right now is that you have people making big promises, selling big equipment, and sucking in those who can't make their own carpet cleaning business profitable thinking rugs will "save" them and plug up their poor business habit holes.

Get your core business running right and profitable - then other big services, like rugs or like restoration, becomes the gravy not the miracle-maker. If you do not have good business skills, it does not matter what piece of equipment you have, it will not work and be the solution FOR you.

At least that's my opinion. =)

Lisa

 

[Lee Stockwell]

This has turned into an excellent thread. I like David's take on it, as well as Ken and Lisa's actual experience.

 

[sweendogg]

Since I resurrected this.. and to my knowledge I haven't read this anywhere else to answer this exact question.

Lisa, Ken, Hyde and any Oz. Ron K and David VB can chime in as well.

I think it would be fun to hear.eerrr read what your idea of how a new rug cleaning business would evolve on a physical level.

It seems most of you would agree that low initial investment in equipment and good training are step one. But lets hear what you think the next logical steps would be from there as the volume of rugs would increase. Assume the Marketing plans are in place and working and the volume of rugs will continue to increasse as much as you want. You can express the need to raise prices to stop volume growth in Lisa's plants case. Each of you will have a different opinion. But get specific on how you would build and expand your physical wash plant. From a small building or garage pit to a full wash floor, to centifuges to wringers. to fully automated washing equipment. And express how many rugs you would need to be cleaning to justify the purchase of the equipment. Ie the time savings vs. the labor investment. I think alot of new ruggies jump on equipment band wagon and never access how many rugs they need to be cleaning to justify a piece of equipment.

I can move this to a nother thread if need be as well.

I put everything in my report I give away for free it's at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37967161/Rug- ... EPORT-2010

If you have the know-how you can do great work with low-tech, and going high tech allows you to be more productive/profitable.

The problem with the rug business right now is that you have people making big promises, selling big equipment, and sucking in those who can't make their own carpet cleaning business profitable thinking rugs will "save" them and plug up their poor business habit holes.

Get your core business running right and profitable - then other big services, like rugs or like restoration, becomes the gravy not the miracle-maker. If you do not have good business skills, it does not matter what piece of equipment you have, it will not work and be the solution FOR you.

At least that's my opinion. =)

Lisa

Nope Rule One Lisa.. no marketing... assume the marketing is autopilot. Assume the business is in rug cleaning for the right reasons.

Think of it like a Game. You are starting over to build rug cleaning plants. The amount of rugs you clean steadily increases. Now slowly build your plant on paper including what features you would include, what you would not. Be creative and have fun with this. We will not hold you to this plan. But it offers some core insights to some of us here.

 

[The Great Oz]

The simple answer is to let your increasing volume drive you toward increased space and purchase of labor saving equipment. Where you stop would depend on your service area and your own comfort level.

A more accurate answer for a particular owner would depend on quite a few variables, as there's no perfect scenario that would work for everyone, everywhere.



PS: If I tell you now how do I retire to the guru industry? 8)

 

[rhyde]

exactly,..you have to buy my marketing program Ivebeensold


If you plan on staying in a building for expansion make sure the water service can handle the wash load it can be very expensive to run a large water line.
i would build a bigger wash floor make it as big as possible for the space 50x 50 range would be nice

 

[sweendogg]

Ok fine... :mrgreen: How about this for FUN!!!

If you went to eachother's plants.. what would be the first thing you would change... ASSUMe you are taking your business model to someone elses plant..

Now come on and have fun with this!

 

[rhyde]

Come on Sweeny! I've never been to DA burns or K. Blatchford's how can i comment on what they should change ?


list details about your business and some photos and we can comment

 

[Ken Snow]

A few years prior to my time here that is what was done. Our first true rug cleaning plant was about 4000 sq ft or so built on to the back of the Hagopian's old family home in the early 50's. Prior to that rugs were cleaned on a floor in one of their homes using tons of water from garden hoses, brushes & squeegies, a pot belly stove and old floor fans to dry them.

The "new" plant had a Mirza wash system and could produce many times the rugs a week.

Our next and current 20,000 sq ft rug spa was built within the 3 acre parcel that still houses it today along with a showroom/offices of about 10,000 sq ft and our garage/maintenance/paint shop/disaster restoration/warehouse building of another 21,000 sq ft. Whe this facililty was built in 1968 we were cleaning somewhere around 8000 rugs a year (no actual data exists for this that I can find). This year we will end a little north of 30,000 pieces and could easily triple that and stiull function in it, since about 78% get shipped right back to one of our other drop off centers when completed. We would have to add increased drying capacity (mechanical dehumidification and another row of 16 fans) in our dryroom so that we could dry rugs in 4-5 hours vs 8-16 now.

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Just FYI - if you do not have marketing in place, you will fail. I've had a few friends who dug a big fat hole buying equipment and space assuming the rugs would come. That's a recipe for failure because "hope ain't a strategy" ... as Obama is finding out.

We started on the back driveway of our antique rug gallery, washing the rugs, us kids, like a car wash, scrub by hand, lots of water, use a wet vac, shampoo and vinegar. Very low tech on very expensive rugs. Then we moved into a 2000 sq ft building, and have expanded to just under 10K sq ft.

I have been to countless rug plants all over the US and Canada - and NONE have been alike. They are all different in their own ways. That is the beef I have with some who train "there is only one way (i.e. buying "my" equipment) to do it" - that's not true.

My timeline to those I train is this - start off by being more thorough with your current method (make sure you dust and rinse thoroughly if you are surface cleaning with a portable or truckmount), if you do like rugs then get more serious by getting a pit, and then when the volume dictates, move up to a real wash floor and the bigger equipment to allow you to do more work in less time.

The report link I posted lays out those options based on your budget at the end - that's why I posted it. If you can't afford a wringer or spinner - then you get a Rover. $3500 versus $35,000 (and the space for it...) is smarter if you are just doing a dozen rugs a week.

There is no simple answer to this post, and no "right" answer except to let the volume tell you when it's time to move up in the equipment purchases. You can do an excellent cleaning job low-tech, it just will take you much longer than if you had some of the tools to help you get to the result faster. A temporary pit takes longer than a more permanent one (at a slant), and a large floor with a wringer can boost that up from there. But a floor requires the space, the drainage, the drying conditions to get more volume through - and an affinity to the business. If you really don't enjoy rugs, you won't win this game... because the ones who do awesome at it, really do have an appreciation and passion for rugs. That's the secret element you can't buy.

Lisa

 

[T Monahan]

A few years prior to my time here that is what was done. Our first true rug cleaning plant was about 4000 sq ft or so built on to the back of the Hagopian's old family home in the early 50's. Prior to that rugs were cleaned on a floor in one of their homes using tons of water from garden hoses, brushes & squeegies, a pot belly stove and old floor fans to dry them.

The "new" plant had a Mirza wash system and could produce many times the rugs a week.

Our next and current 20,000 sq ft rug spa was built within the 3 acre parcel that still houses it today along with a showroom/offices of about 10,000 sq ft and our garage/maintenance/paint shop/disaster restoration/warehouse building of another 21,000 sq ft. Whe this facililty was built in 1968 we were cleaning somewhere around 8000 rugs a year (no actual data exists for this that I can find). This year we will end a little north of 30,000 pieces and could easily triple that and stiull function in it, since about 78% get shipped right back to one of our other drop off centers when completed. We would have to add increased drying capacity (mechanical dehumidification and another row of 16 fans) in our dryroom so that we could dry rugs in 4-5 hours vs 8-16 now.

It sure would have been exciting to hear Ken talk in person last week at Rug Summit 7 about things such as contained in this particular post.

On another note: I read all the remarks in this thread. It's humorous to read the rants and assertions made earlier on.

 

[Mikey P]

 

[rhyde]

Yeah, what Mike said

 

[Mikey P]

damn Tom, if I didn't know better I'd have to think you were going around intentionally bleeding $49.99 art silk rugs in that glorified Hog Slop trough of yours..

 

[Shorty]

Jeez I'm slow, must the the copper wire in my internet, only just picked up on this.

I'm pretty sure that this was the same show I attended when I briefly met JB, until he turned his back on me and completely ignored me for the rest of the event.

It wasn't too long after that, that I pulled the pin on a Rug 4rum after some dusty old bloke told me that the reason he was no longer active on his forum, was because he sold more equipment via Facebook than on his 4rum.

FYI, I was totally using KY jelly … speaking of Bishop is that him in drag next to me ..... :shock:

Don't think that's him, I met him once in Vegas............





Then I think I saw him later that night, but dressed somewhat different...........

 

[sweendogg]

Still waiting for someone to have fun and play Sim Rug Plant. and I agree with Tom... am truly grateful to get to have known Ken through the board.