If you had 10k to start a carpet/floor cleaning business, what setup would you buy?

scotty747

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Oct 19, 2006
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836
I paid 1,000 for my used truckmount. 1980 Hydramaster still going strong. Of course its just a Onan 20 horse, cat pump and blower so not much to fix. Beware of ''perfect" running truckmounts that make someone so much money they want to sell it and upgrade.
 

encapman

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Oct 7, 2006
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St Petersburg, FL
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Rick Gelinas
If you are going to be doing commercial carpets, buy a Cimex and learn how to use it. Buy a single cord portable for stairs and spotting. The hos vibe is also a good encap machine but a Cimex will give you more cleaning ability for the money. Buying a used truck mount for under $10,000 is risky unless you're good at wrenching on things. There are some bargains out there.

Excellent advice there!

A Cimex or a Vibe along, with a small portable, can get you started.

A Cimex is weighted for developing a primarily commercial carpet & floor business. The Cimex is like a bulldozer for serious commercial work. For your 60K casino, the Cimex would be the way to go.

A Vibe can crossover between moderate commercial and residential carpet care - plus floor work. The Vibe can be used for straight encap or bonnet/pad cleaning. And it can be used on a variety of hard floor surfaces.

And a small portable can handle upholstery work, stairs, and spotting.
 

Droid1226

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Jul 19, 2019
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8
Location
Cleveland
Name
DougF
I forgot one major point. Our window of access is 2 hrs a night before the building gets locked(don't ask, they won't budge on this) & we have access all day on Satudays. I'm looking at Cimex machines. It's a warehouse, not a casino. I was just explaining it as gaudy, low pile carpet..To get this amount of carpet cleaned by our staff, we'd have to pick at it every night through the whole year(possibly hire a part/full time worker for this). I'd like to avoid setting up and breaking down hoses just for 2 hrs of work each time. Whereas Cimex machines would be less work to pull out and put away every night..And yes, they expect a volume discount. We are at .14/square ft now with the crappy company that currently (tries to clean) the carpet now. I'm assuming this would have to go up for encapsulation. I've experimented with a couple Cimex machines before but haven't timed it out like I have the HWE method.

Thanks a lot. You guys are great.
 
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