Hello all!

[Hackalar]

Hello all I'm new here and in needs of lots of info :-)

Im new to carpet cleaning and this forum. I am a long time multi business owner with over 50 techs in one of the business I own. I am currently looking to start a carpet cleaning company but have no experience in cc. I live in a small city that has roughly 40-50k people and no cc company. Also have several small counties next to me that doesn't have cc company either.

Question is, is it possible to pull this off with no experience? I have plenty of money and time and would make sure it was ran right. Customer service would be top notch. Where should I start??

Thanks!!!!!

 

[renegade_cowboy]

You should buy a vortex. Rumor is the walk up alone will get you 1-2 jobs a day.

 

[John Watson]

I had a friend in Canadia, small town of 5,000. 5 or 6 other cleaners, He was grossing over $1,000,000.00 per yr in the 90's.

He did what ever was necessary, closet town was 25-40 miles away, he scheduled special times and days for them cause the travel time killed him..

 

[Ron Werner]

how can there be a city of 50K and no cleaner in the near area?
Rural Ont has 2 large companies and a few owner/operators serving an area with 20K within a 1hr drive (hwy speed)

 

[The Asian Sensation]

If true, That town's carpet must be a mess!

 

[Dolly Llama]

I live in a small city that has roughly 40-50k people and no cc company.

50,000 residents ain't all that "small" of a city




welp...I did do a quick search on the city.
It's a small town

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickson,_Tennessee

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 12,244 people, 4,934 households, and 3,300 families residing in the city. There was 24,325 people in the 37055 zip code. The population density was 743.4 people per square mile (287.0/km²). There were 5,280 housing units at an average density of 320.6/sq mi (123.8/km²)

The median income for a household in the city was $34,549, and the median income for a family was $42,632


a yellow page search turned up a few CC'ers

http://www.yellowpagecity.com/US/TN/Dic ... +Cleaners/



I'm curious what business(s) you own/run?
It must not be a "research" service company..... :shock: :mrgreen:

(sorry, couldn't resist)

and welcome

..L.T.A.

 

[green gurl]

Here's your potential competition: (there's three in dickson and more in the surrounding area who would prolly drive to dickson for a job)

Dickson Carpet Cleanersmaps.google.com 205 Robinson Road, Dickson
(615) 446-5257 (615) 446-5257 Place page

Crystal Clean Carpetsmaps.google.com Dickson
(615) 441-4673 (615) 441-4673 Place page

Carpet Shoppemaps.google.com 207 Henslee Drive, Dickson
(615) 446-6415 (615) 446-6415

Stars & Strip Services Incmaps.google.com 1132 harmony lane, La Vergne, Tennessee
(615) 646-3800 (615) 646-3800

www.baneclene.com/ 254 Harpeth Hills Drive, Kingston Springs
(615) 952-2808 (615) 952-2808 Place page

Ann's Carpet & Upholsterymaps.google.com 300 Harpeth View Trl, Kingston Springs
(615) 446-7134 (615) 446-7134 Place page

Ann's Carpet Cleanermaps.google.com 300 Harpeth View Trl, Kingston Springs
(615) 952-4715 (615) 952-4715 Place page

American Services LLC - Contractor Nashvillewww.americanrenovationandservices.com/#cid=glbc 8120 Sawyer Brown Rd Ste 109 B, Nashville
(615) 356-6662 (615) 356-6662 1 review

Classic Carpet Cleaningmaps.google.com 5128 Tennessee 100, Lyles
(931) 670-6515 (931) 670-6515 Place page

Advanced Carpet Cleaningmaps.google.com 1043 By Boulevard, Bon Aqua
(931) 670-6597 (931) 670-6597 Place page

 

[TimP]

If the cleaners suck I might do it. But if your competition is competent there isn't much money in a population like that. That's basically what my population I clean for is and I can tell you I'm not getting rich. And I don't have a ton of competition that's worth a flip.

 

[Hackalar]

Dickson Carpet….. never answers and doesn’t even have a vm…
Crystal Clean carpets …. never heard of them been here over 13 years
Carpet Shoppe… sell carpet only
Stars & Strip Services didn’t know they were here… again been here over 13 years
www.baneclene.com/ Didn’t know they were here either
Ann's Carpet
American Services LLC – Charges gas for driving unless it’s a big job..
Classic Carpet Cleaning No answer no vm…
Advanced Carpet Cleaning wrong number and they have never done carpet cleaning


Basically i have been here for years and never heard of any of these people. i do believe this area has been over looked and there is no advertising going on here. Also there is several several smaller cities/towns to the west that have no coverage either. There have been post on craigslist from customers begging for somebody to come clean their carpet. I am not looking to get rich just want to offer a good service and make some extra money, as well as a fall back. the business I’m primarily in is a rough unstable one that could end at anytime.

My main question is. Can someone with no experience pull a business like this off? Is their training courses i could take as well as the person I’m putting in the van?

 

[Brian R]

Yes, as long as you get the training or experience you need to do it by yourself.

Most figure it's an easy business to get into...and it is
But they will also find out that it's hard work and it takes a certain type of person to be a BDCCer

Good luck...no sarcasm.

 

[Hackalar]

I didn’t say where I wanted to cover, just said about 50k people.. Dickson county is where I am primarily focusing and they have 48K as of 2008. The other county is Humphreys and they have roughly 20k as of 2008. I am almost positive no one is covering Humphreys county.

 

[Hackalar]

Thanks Corky!

Can you point me in the area where i could find training courses?

The next big thing is learning what eq to buy! I perfer used but dont want to get taken either. I have been told to stay away from PTO mechines.

 

[Brian R]

Training for the actual cleaning part can be best found in the real world...but it sounds like that may not be a possibility for you.

The business part of it would be best learned at SFS (Stratagies for Success) sponsored by JonDon and Steve Toburen....or you can just read the hell out of some of the posts here.

I would work for another company for awhile and see if it's for you while earning a paycheck.

How close is your local supplier? They should have a ton of info and hands on demos.

 

[TimP]

I didn’t say where I wanted to cover, just said about 50k people.. Dickson county is where I am primarily focusing and they have 48K as of 2008. The other county is Humphreys and they have roughly 20k as of 2008. I am almost positive no one is covering Humphreys county.

I think that's plenty of people to put a truck on the road if the competition is really that poor. I think the population I cover is about 40,000 people. I have a guy that comes down to my area that's on the boards that is a good cleaner. The rest aren't, that I'm aware of. I do the majority of the work and do OK, but I'm not making a whole lot of money. It's mainly part time work. I'm using my spare time to finish school and then I plan on getting a real job (one with insurance and retirement plan) and use carpet cleaning to supplement my income.

 

[sweendogg]

The IICRC offers great classes for beginners.. most reputable distributers of cleaning equipment will offer courses. You just have to remember that the courses offer the information.. Application of the information is best done through on the job training. That can be difficult for an owner opp. Before jumping into it feet first. Think about waiting for one of the industry seminars like Mikey Fest in Nashville to meet other cleaners. Look at equipment, try out the equipment and garnish as much info as you can from this site and other cleaners so you can make a wise decision.

 

[Hackalar]

That's great! I'm not far from Nashville and in fact I have a office in down town Nashville in my primary business. Any idea what time of year they do that?

 

[joeynbgky]

I cover lavergne, dickson, and those areas... I scgedule them on certain days. I dont like going that far pas Nashville, But we do.. Also have a water damage sister company in Lavergne. http://www.lavergneflooddamage.com/

But I do think they need a carpet cleaning company in Dickson that is more local

 

[sweendogg]

The next Mikeyfest is in March 2011... Check out the postmarks in the clean room for the details.

 

[Brian R]

Buy a new Truck Mount from Jon Don and they will give you the full course...and yes...it's worth more thand the Truck Mount in my opinion.

 

[joeynbgky]

No jon don close by.... but he could go to the cleaners depot and see Chris Pond who worked for them.. He had alot of input on the design on the new saphire scientific machines... And if you deal with him directly, he says no one can beat his price! They are much better than interlink, which is right across the street

 

[Goomer]

Thanks Corky!
The next big thing is learning what eq to buy! .

Before you start looking worrying about what truckmount to buy, start looking into the little things.
Order a Jon Don catalog.
Order an Interlink catalog.
Subscribe to Cleanfax magazine.
Subscribe to ICS magazine.
Keep them all by the terlet.
Alternate your time between reading on the throne, and countless hours late night reading all the old posts on this forum.

 

[Ron Werner]

I started in a town of 4000homes. Had a year and half experience with a hack company.
Find out if there are any local busn directories
Learn how to do the job and do it well. Take a little time first and learn the busn.
If the area is as small as you say, word of mouth will be very valuable. You don't want to be a hack your first jobs.
If you have client lists from your other busn, they will be your first source for marketing.

 

[royalkid]

Like Brian said earlier, try to work for another company...the money you'll save on learning the basics, tips, trade-secrets etc...would be well worth it. If you don't want to go that route, maybe find someone on this board that lives/works within 100 miles or so, get a hotel and ride-a-long for a week or two. Once you get your feet wet, you'll find that this board will help you with the details of your biz, just find out if it's really what you wanna do before spendin' a lot of $$.

 

[GeneMiller]

sounds a little suspicious , hack al ar


gene

 

[Desk Jockey]

It might be much easier if you just hired a manager with experience to run your cleaning division.

The bigger problem I would see is if in all those years there is no visible competition, it could be for a reason. There maybe no market for cleaning there. :idea:

It might be wiser to go to a larger market where there would be much more demand for the services. While there would be more competition, at least there would be more work there too.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I personally know of three well-established CC companies in Dickson and Dickson County TN. It's about 80 miles from my service area.

 

[Hackalar]

sounds a little suspicious , hack al ar


gene

What does that mean?

 

[Hackalar]

I personally know of three well-established CC companies in Dickson and Dickson County TN. It's about 80 miles from my service area.

Do they do well?

 

[J Scott W]

That's great! I'm not far from Nashville and in fact I have a office in down town Nashville in my primary business. Any idea what time of year they do that?

Interlink Supply has their eastern HQ in Nashville on Fiberglass road (just off Polk avenue near the fairgrounds.) 800 715-2295.

They have at least one training class each month. Different topics each month.
February - Water Damage Restoration; Selling protector and carpet cleaning tech are all scheduled. Give them a call for the full schedule.