This might help someone

Al

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Oct 9, 2006
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1,310
In 1995 I got screwed in a sporting goods store deal, long story...anyway it was primarily fishing and hunting and one of my clients sold electrolux vaccums.
He was a good guy and we fished together he new I was having problems with my partner. He mentioned that when he was out demoing a vac and shampoo machine he would often clean rooms for 15 or 20 bucks
on the side.

He let me borrow the shampooer and vac, I did my house and some friends houses. They looked great! I took out an ad in the paper at 14.95 per room.

By now I had lost my shirt in that Sport shop and was trying to keep food on the table.

Soon I went up to 20 bucks per room and got some letters on my Subaru wagan. I remember doing 7 jobs one day and making over 600 bucks with 10 bucks gas and a quart of Electrolux shampoo.

I was doing furniture, whipping up a foam in the pan shown bellow, then you remove a soft brush and brush and towel the furniture. I was cleaning expensive pieces without knowing shit.

Oriental rugs would shine after a cleaning!

My son who was eight at the time and I cleaned a 10,000 sf publishing company with the electrolux and I still have a letter from the owner saying we did a better job than Stanley Steamer! took us 8 hours and we made 2000 in cash or 4000 worth of advertising in church bullitins. I took the ads.

Didn't know about any of this fancy CC stuff or I would have been mortified! Customers loved it, everything was good.

Untill........................one day my carpets didn't come clean? In fact they looked worse they were brown! I was confused. I rented a rug doctor and eventually fixed my carpet. I was looking for a portable machine and discovered a company called Jon Don. I told the guy what happened and he said it was called brown out.

Now I was concerned that If i continue with shampoo I would brown out the whole town and i couldn't afford a porty so I rented. I new the electrolux did an awesome job so I would use that first and then rinse with the porty. That's when I invented the scrub and rinse system. LOL

Hey I thought I did.

The whole reason I posted this Is because it may help others, we have never stopped using the electrolux.


I know how good it is because I had pleased many clients with it as a stand alone cleaning machine.

We presrub all residential with it, it is light and has soft brushes (this may help with the CRI thing).

It has a shampoo tank so after pre spray we keep some encap or TLC in it so when you are pre-srubbing and hit a bad area you pull the trigger and give it a little more juice.

You can even pre spray with it if you want and we have one dedicated to rubbing in protector.

It is awesome for scrubbing stairs, we still use it stand alone from time to time on certain things.

I think it is one of the reasons our carpets dry fast, We have never pre scrubbed with anything else in a residential setting. (Except at home)

Sometimes I hear guys say they wish they had a light scrubber. This is it!

I buy every electrolux shampooer I find at flea markets and yard sales, I have made thousands off a 3.00 dollar one. The guy wanted 5.00 but I talked him down. I have paid 200. for a new used one. The one in the picture is in new condition and was 20.00 dollars at the flea market yesterday! I was testing it this morning and figured it was time to share.


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I have never, ever had a customer say one negative thing about it.

AL
 

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Rambo

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Oct 9, 2006
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162
Great info Al. I did not know that Cimex had a baby. I can see plenty of applications for this type of machine. And Thanks for sharing your start up story, I loved it.
 

Wandslinger

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Oct 7, 2006
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Location
Simi Valley
Name
Tom Meyer
Nice runners. A must for residential cleaning. I use them on every job. No more cleaning up foot prints on tile and wood floors.
 

Al

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Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
1,310
That's the floor of my "man's room" / testing area but the runner is an awesome Idea.

They have it on a roll by the foot at lowes it rolls up small and nice too, great idea. I'm going to do it!

AL
 

steve frasier

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Location
portland oregon
Name
steve frasier
I have one of those, great little machine

I personally wouldn't support the flea markets, around here it is just a way for the thief to sell their stolen goods
 

Wandslinger

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Oct 7, 2006
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Location
Simi Valley
Name
Tom Meyer
I bought mine from pro-tect.com. Best investment on my truck. The top is made of a non-slip material and the back has plastic on it so nothing leaks through. I bought a 50 foot length, 3' wide (hallways). I cut it up into one 5' length for foyers, (2) ten foot lengths and (1) twenty foot length for long runs. The custys are always amazed! But I must say, it's the no clean up issue that I love. Also great for covering carpet if you have a kitchen tile to clean and you don't want to walk on or drag your hoses over the carpet to get to it.
 

GRHeacock

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Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
1,406
Ya gotta start SOMEPLACE!!

Then as time goes by, you learn, add other equipment, chemicals, etc.

A few months before I started my own business in 1977, working for a large rug cleaning company, I bought a Clarke Micro-Mist shampooer at a garage sale for $20.00.

Worked fine, but slow.

When I actually started my business, I had a machine that worked, and could earn money with it.

Then it paid for a portable. The portable paid for a used truck mount. The used Truck Mount paid for a new truck and Truck Mount.

Gary
 

Derek

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Oct 7, 2006
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Location
NY
Name
Derek
excellent thread Al, thanx for sharing :)

--- Derek.
 

Russ Goddard

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Nov 22, 2006
Messages
102
Great ideas guys. Al, thanks for sharing. I've been wanting something light and easy to maneuver for prescrub when necessary. I'll start looking for one of these.

Love the runner idea also. Headed to Lowe's tomorrow to check it out!
 

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