That's bullshit Greg. In order to legally subcontract for you (for tax purposes) they had to be their own company, which meant they paid all operational expenses; equipment and upkeep, truck and upkeep and repairs, insurance, damages, business licenses and fees and taxes, food, clothes, etc. and everything involved in processing the work. Their actual net was about 1/3 to 1/2 of the less than 1/3 of gross you paid them Greg, after ALL their expenses. And in order to maintain that 900-1300/day load they had to scramble and upsell and bait and switch and take enormous crap along the way every day. No wonder you felt they would burn out and not last 20 years. It's a wonder they could last 5 years of that. That's not carpet cleaning, that's a recipe for bankruptcy and depression.
I guess you are an authority because that's the operation your family ran back in the day ?
Any business owner has expenses there pal. But you clearly don't know how to use a calculator? 1/3 of the gross they received? Laughable suggestion. Damn- you really are a shitty businessman aren't you? Learn to better manage your expenses?



Insurance for a O&O doing those numbers runs about $800-$1500 a year. Entry level truckmount- $8-$10k. = $250 a month payment. Van- $20k - $400 a month.
4 jobs within 5-10 miles of each other? $40-$60 a day in fuel. maintenance: $200 a mo. major repairs - $1,500 a year ( reserves). Cell phone: $70 a month. Business license - $150 a year.
Taxes? after deductions, etc- maybe 20% - **S-corp owners take their pay from the corporation as dividend and avoid paying the 15.3% (7.65x2) for SS and medicare.....
food- ( not a business expense) - clothes-( we gave free shirts)- you have to wear pants anyways- NOT a business expense....
LOL I don't even do this anymore and I'm defending the model. The days of coupon discount carpet cleaning are way in my past..... BUT was a great business model for a VERY long time for me.
Several of the guys that used to contract from me still contact me asking me to do it again. They were starving- could'nt get work...... I've personally backed ( actually gifted) 5 of them in their own businesses and taught them how to obtain (NON-COUPON) work. 4 are doing fairly well. They NOW have the headache of scheduling, software expense, marketing, etc.... BUT can feed their families..... Even so - they STILL make less than when they contracted from me...
My experience was that smart cleaners subbed work for a few years until they got their own businesses established.....
There were about 12 that had exceeded the 10 year mark , 3 that had hit 15, and one that hit 20+