What Add on for 2010?

[White Collar]

I really want to get trained and start doing a profitable add on for 2010. I was thinking water damage, Hard wood refinishing or carpet repair and restrectching.

Which one would be recommended and what is the best way to get to get trained for that certain add on? I understand I can always take a iicrc class but I've heard there are other ways to get trained and maybe better ways also.


Thanks,
Nick.

 

[Brian R]

I really want to get trained and start doing a profitable add on for 2010. I was thinking water damage, Hard wood refinishing or carpet repair and restrectching.

Which one would be recommended and what is the best way to get to get trained for that certain add on? I understand I can always take a iicrc class but I've heard there are other ways to get trained and maybe better ways also.


Thanks,
Nick.

Money is in the Water Damage but the easiest to get trained on is the carpet repair.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Water damage is more of a who you know instead of what you know racket. My advice is to find a local repair guy that is good. I can do most repairs but it is nice to have someone on the job with more experience for tough situations. I hate stretching carpet but I seem to get my better jobs and referrals just because I offer the service. Fixing a couple door strips and redoing a seam or two can add a couple hundred to an invoice quick. You can charge a lot for repairs and not feel guilty because you are providing a valuable service. Think about this. How many carpet cleaning ads do you think average homeowners see on a regular basis. If you advertised carpet repair and stretchwork as your specialties and not just as an additional service, you would probably get more work than just advertising cleaning services. Also you are not going to learn carpet repair in a few weeks. I have been on several hundred stretch and repair jobs and they are all different and it just takes time and experience. You never know what installers will leave for you to find. So find someone local and have this person meet you at job site and you can help. Pay them good while still making some yourself. You will slowly learn and should get some good referrals. I wouldn't go out and spend a lot of money on dehus and blowers expecting to make a lot of money in restoration. Well that is my advice.

 

[joeynbgky]

Dog and cat bathing. Some of the older customers need there toenails cut. and they wander why there loopedberber has strings in it lol

 

[alazo1]

If you're thinking hardwood Bona Kemi has 4 day classes for 100 bucks. I'm scheduled for March.

Albert

 

[Jack May]

Easiest add on with least expenditure would be repairs... but not for everyone.

You could get a copy of Steve's DVD course, pick up some second hand equipment from the likes of ebay and probably not require any additional cover on your insurance policies etc.

John

 

[SFC]

Hardwood by far is the easiest. Try your best not to get into sanding. You need equipment for that. Recoats only. You probably own the equipment.

 

[MikeS]

My totally unbiased :roll: opinion is - COLORSEAL!

The actual colorseal part doesn't require much, if any training. It is just a mater of practice to get your production rates up to the point where the profit is killer. But you do need to know the ins & outs of T&G cleaning. It's just like cleaning carpet, except totally different. What I mean by that it may look easy to an outsider, but there are plenty of little, and not so little, things you need to know to make money and stay out of trouble.

Vendor classes are OK if they are near by and free, but for a real education spend the time & money on an independent class. And for ColorSeal, get a starter kit and do a few freebies in your house, friends, neighbors, etc. Some people pick it up right away, and a few never do. It takes several jobs and some time to figure out if it is right for you.

 

[J Scott W]

Here is a link to a diversification Scorecard. It can help you decide which particular diversificationis appropriate for your business and your circumstances.

http://www.interlinksupply.com/index.ht ... 0000113000

 

[Ron K]

A profitable add on for 2010 is raise your prices 10% . No training or cost involved.

 

[harryhides]

A new green start up in my town has me really worried.
He is offering many services including these -
Car cleaning
Concrete cleaning
Allergen removal
and
Moss removal !!

I can only assume that it is GREEN Moss !!

But in his defence he is using a very good product Ecogent made by Chemspec.

 

[Jimmy L]

Gutter cleaning and installing gutter guards
Pressure washing decks and siding.

Window washing

Maid service

Doggy waste removal service

Port A Potty rental service

Snow removal

House painting

Dog and Cat removal service

 

[rwcarpet]

Butt kissin'.........if it pays well.

Colorseal will be my main concentration in the new year. With the new color mixing system out there, it will make it a little less costly to buy and keep pints, quarts, and gallons of color seal that you may never use again.

 

[Steve in Omaha]

A profitable add on for 2010 is raise your prices 10% . No training or cost involved.

Agree! Do you detail vacuum every job?

 

[White Collar]

Very interesting stuff, thank you very much.

I have raised my prices, I did enjoy doing a job for 238 instead of my normal 160 today.
Also, I do vacuum.

I'm gonna look into those ideas and see which one is best. leaning towards color sealing and hard wood. I am just not not sure how many actual color sealing jobs you can get for the money that you would need to charge for doing something like that.

 

[Greg Cole]

I really want to get trained and start doing a profitable add on for 2010. I was thinking water damage, Hard wood refinishing or carpet repair and restrectching.

Which one would be recommended and what is the best way to get to get trained for that certain add on? I understand I can always take a iicrc class but I've heard there are other ways to get trained and maybe better ways also.


Thanks,
Nick.

Carpet repair and stretching. There are very little costs associated with getting started and the work is already there....

 

[Zee]

Seriously..
with all that crap they try to sell you on, in all those classes, why not just pick up the whole season of CRAZY GEORGE's DVDs! ha! :mrgreen:

Dude instant success! :shock: Look at the prices that were talked about a couple of months ago in that article with Duuffy. :shock: you wanted profitable add ons??!!??

 

[Spurling]

Color sealing is totally amazing looking when you're done .. the whole floor pops and looks like a new floor .. you can actually promise a customer their floor would look like new with a color seal .. you could offer a 7year guarantee as long as they have you clean (only) every 12 months .. and you would include color touch ups where it might get nicked or as needed .. we get $3.35 psf to clean and color .. Ive done about 6 this year and each one looks brand new .. and the response you get after the customer sees the finished product .. is an amazing feeling ..

now if I could just speed it up a bit I would reduce the cost and sell more .. like every clean would end up a color seal .. Ive cleaned and clear sealed some jobs that kinda looked choppy/shaded and wished I would of colored it ..

Its only $35 per pint which goes along way .. so if I have left over that last too long , I dont have a problem throwing it away and getting new stuff for future customers ..

 

[White Collar]

Ok I have a question about color sealing. Sounds really good. When I do clean grout (which isnt often) I usually have to resort to an acid to get most jobs looking good, does that strip the seal off. Would I have to reseal each time I cleaned?

I've tried cleaning with cobbs, the 02, and viper venom, but almost every time I have to bust out the viper renew to get the results I want.

Any way, just curious.

 

[Spurling]

Ive cleaned color sealed grout with a light application of alkaline and the dirt just slides right out of the grout like no tomorrow .. Ive never had color seal clean off the grout .. YET .. if you clean a floor and you know it was color sealed , you may not even need to use a grout brush .. try it without first .. I usually use a deck brush to brush the whole floor first .. Ill try to clean the floor with the SX12 and if the grout isn't looking new , Ill stop and scrub the grout with a grout brush .. the color sealed floor I cleaned, I didn't use a Gekko grout tool .. the SX12 got it all .. I haven't really done a lot with the color seal ,so I haven't experienced the bad if any, but when I do work with color seal, its amazing .

Anyone who is new at it, might hate it .. you will LOVE the results, but the effort is long and hard .. the more I do, the faster I'm getting .. once you get the hang of it , you will then love doing it.. and be very profitable.

 

[MikeS]

White Collar, you have just explained why colorseal is such a great option. When you try to clean bare grout, it's like cleaning your driveway. It has soaked up gawd knows what and you break out every chemical and tool on the truck in an effort to get a clean uniform appearance. The last resort is an acid which doesn't clean, it just eats away some of the grout.

Cleaning a good colorsealed floor on the other hand is more like washing a painted wall. A neutral to mildly alkaline cleaner and minimal force (in terms of pressure or scrubbing) and you quickly get back to a uniform color. At the end you may have to dab up a spot here & there with some new color because of a high spot that wore away. Much less effort and chemistry involved in the cleaning for sure.

Does that mean your custy will never call you back to clean their floor? Unlikely. They still won't clean the floor properly and dirt will build up in the recessed grout lines. The maintenance cleaning on these floors is easy money for a team with a TM or a good porty. Provided of course you use a good colorseal and install it properly.

 

[Ron Werner]

have to watch when adding things, to not become, whats that saying, good at many, master of none.

Oh thats it: Jack of all trades, master at none