I've got 10k cash or less to spend on a truckmount, suggestions welcome.

[Lee Stockwell]

A clean used major brand (Prochem Sapphire HM) especially if checked out by a reputable place will do you better than a new garage built. Before you pull the trigger check back with us on specific models.

Yes I did buy two new ones out of TX. Let's not go there.

 

[FB7777]

Yeah, but didn't you buy those under duress?

Remember when WFB came at you pretty hard on his bulletin board?

Laughed my ass off.

 

[Chris Howell]

Damn .. $1.50 - $2 per sq foot .. for cleaning? WOW !! And booked out for 2-3 months .. super wow !! Forget about how cheap you wanna go on equipment .. Im impressed with your ability to rake it in and be so busy !! How do you do it?

That's for dyeing, not cleaning.

 

[Chris Howell]

The question asked at the top of the thread was about an under 10k truck mount.

Note the sales spin of the 2 salesmen who didn't HAVE one to offer.

Nope. Don't have one to sell. Never needed one. Never will.

 

[ronbeatty]

So how many carpet cleaning jobs do you have to do to pay for a truck mount, even a $10,000 unit? Honestly, I can't understand for the life of me why you people spend this kind of money on a machine that cost so much to purchase and so much to maintain, yet is so prone to breakdowns. On top of that you're competing with umpteen other companies to get the job, meaning that you'll likely have to slash your prices to get it.

The most expensive piece of equipment that we use for spot dyeing to repair bleach spots is a $40 shop vac.

Can someone please enlighten me here?

Chris,

If I spend $120,000 for an Aerotech and then I do $265,000 a year for 5 years and then sell it for 60 percent of what it cost, did it cost me money or make me money?????

 

[Chris Howell]

Chris,

If I spend $120,000 for an Aerotech and then I do $265,000 a year for 5 years and then sell it for 60 percent of what it cost, did it cost me money or make me money?????

Purchase price
Cost to operate
Maintenance & repair costs
PHYSICAL WORK involved

Not worth it to me

But if you're happy with all of that, that's awesome. I'm not knocking it.

 

[SamIam]

Chris,

If I spend $120,000 for an Aerotech and then I do $265,000 a year for 5 years and then sell it for 60 percent of what it cost, did it cost me money or make me money?????

FATSTACKS YO!

 

[SamIam]

I think Chris is mislead on the downtime and cost of having a quality machine?

 

[Cleanworks]

Purchase price
Cost to operate
Maintenance & repair costs
PHYSICAL WORK involved

Not worth it to me

But if you're happy with all of that, that's awesome. I'm not knocking it.

Actually, Chris, you are knocking it. If you wonder why you get a lot of grief on bulletin boards, you might want to look at the tone of some of your posts. It seems like anyone who owns a truck mount must be a sap who just doesn't know any better.

 

[SamIam]

You know what's worse then owning a truckmount????


Not owning one!

Porty life is harder work!

 

[Cleanworks]

Just ask Willy. On second thought don't. We'll have another 10 pages of portable vs. tm's

 

[steve_64]

So how many carpet cleaning jobs do you have to do to pay for a truck mount, even a $10,000 unit? Honestly, I can't understand for the life of me why you people spend this kind of money on a machine that cost so much to purchase and so much to maintain, yet is so prone to breakdowns. On top of that you're competing with umpteen other companies to get the job, meaning that you'll likely have to slash your prices to get it.

The most expensive piece of equipment that we use for spot dyeing to repair bleach spots is a $40 shop vac.

Can someone please enlighten me here?

Every house and building is a potential customer versus an extremely small market.

 

[Mikey P]

Chris do you have ten other examples of companies that are doing color correction full time?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Dyeing dirty carpet

 

[Spurlington]

That's for dyeing, not cleaning.

Ooops .. I missed where you said it was whole room dyeing for $1.50 - $2 per sq ft. Ive always wondered about whole room dyeing .. Will every scenario (color damaged from anything) result in one solid color after a dye job. Im going to assume it would have to be a solid color carpet .. or atleast end up a solid one color result. How long (sq ft per hr) would an average job take to dye? Im assuming there will be a deep extraction first and neutralizing or acid treat.? Im guessing taping off walls and thresholds.

Ive done carpet so faded and or discolored with an amazing amount of pile left in great shape that customers want to replace. Ive recommended to them checking into whole room dyeing.

 

[Mrice]

Guys thanks for all the great info posted here. I'll be doing some calling around this week. Original questions still stands, and all your feedback is appreciated.

 

[Chris Howell]

Chris do you have ten other examples of companies that are doing color correction full time?

Yes, Mikey. We've got 222 people in The Dye Lot that are offering carpet & rug dyeing services. Within that group we have more and more people that are getting out of cleaning work altogether because of the amount of physical labor involved and the cost of the equipment, not to mention the heavy competition. For most of them it's not so much the physical work involved as it is the profit margins. Having a niche service (whatever it is) will always result in more money.

Some of the people who take our training do so because they want to make color repair an add-on service. Others do so because they want to focus exclusively on full room dyeing and/or ColorCleans. Still others want to focus exclusively on Persian Rug color restorations.

One of the things that I frequently hear people say is that there's not much color repair work out there. That's true… If you haven't developed the market and advertise the services. You certainly can't expect to get calls for something that you don't advertise.

We spent many years developing our market and now stay busy FULL TIME. As with any business, it will take several years of developing the market in order to stay busy with work booked out months in advance at all times. But the reward for doing so is tremendous. Especially with the profit margin is afforded by having a niche service.

One can certainly make money cleaning carpets. But the profits in carpet cleaning will never compare to color repair because it's a maintenance service, not an alternative to replacing an entire carpet. We are about 75% commercial. The majority of our work is repairing color damages caused by cleaning and janitorial companies. We also do a tremendous amount of work for carpet manufacturers.

Here's a scenario to consider:

The major carpet manufacturers such as Mohawk, Shaw, Masland, etc. all have need of individuals who can perform color repair services such as correcting mismatched colors at the seams of new carpet installations. Manufacturers often have to rip out vast expanses of brand new carpet because of dye lot disparities, causing mismatched color at the seams. Our company, Colorful Carpets, recently corrected a large seam match job in Washington, DC in a law firm where over 12,000 square feet of carpet had mismatched color at the seams. We charged $20,000.00 to correct the issues and completed the entire job in one 10-hour day. Our total material cost on the job was $28.00 So why would the manufacturers be willing to pay this much money for a day’s worth of work? Simple. Their alternative would have been the following:

Pay someone to rip out all newly-installed carpet

Pay someone to scrape all of the glue off of the concrete floors.
This alone would have taken over a week to complete

Pay to have all carpet that’s been removed hauled out, loaded in a truck, and taken to a landfill (where they have to pay to dispose of it). Also, bear in mind that the carpet is non-biodegradable, so it just “sits” in the landfill.

Run an entire new production of carpet and hope that they don’t have the exact same issue again with mismatched seams

Pay to transport newly-produced carpet to job site

Pay to have new carpet cut and installed (glue down)

Wait for client’s approval for new carpet appearance

Deal with unhappy dealers and end users for excessive time that was required to resolve the issue and complete the renovation.

As an alternative to all of this, the manufacturers can get the issue resolved in a timely manner at a fraction of the cost of having to rip out and replace all of the carpet.

 

[Cleanworks]

Also, bear in mind that the carpet is non-biodegradable, so it just “sits” in the landfill.

A lot of carpet can be recycled these days.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Everything is biodegradable if you are patient enough.

 

[Mrice]

@Chris Howell , I like your service and I'm considering taking your class someday. But I'm looking for a truckmount right now (which is why I started this thread). A comment or two is cool but can you not use this thread as a marketing springboard. Thanks.

 

[jcooper]

If you have the 10k in cash, I'd say take out a small(5-7k) and you can have something new(warranty!)... 5-7k will cost nothing in a loan for 2-3(whatever) years.

You should be able to get at least 2-4 years no payment after the loan.

If you don't have the 10k cash, I'd for sure get something new.


Think we put 3-4k down on our 370ss, the payment was like 320$(including taxes, etc.) for 5 years. fyi... One thing about new and loans. You will be required to have insurance on the unit. Add an extra 20-30(whatever) bucks a month.


Good luck!