Yellow Pages

[Chris Howell]

Just received a copy of the yellow pages in the mail today. There are 164 carpet cleaning companies in the tiny town next to me! I actually feel sorry for them. They are all competing for business, offering the same service. Some of them are advertising $40 per room. Seriously? How can you make money like that?

No wonder they're looking rather thin and frail.

 

[Chris A]

I believe $40 a room are where the vast majority of carpet cleaners (including me) are priced and there's plenty of money to be made at that price point, and even lower

 

[Chris Howell]

I believe $40 a room are where the vast majority of carpet cleaners (including me) are priced and there's plenty of money to be made at that price point, and even lower

OK. If you're making money, that's awesome. Just seems incredibly low to me.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Chris A]

Ask the guys at Hagopian if they make any money cleaning carpet at $25/room they'll tell ya.

 

[Chris Howell]

Ask the guys at Hagopian if they make any money cleaning carpet at $25/room they'll tell ya.

I'm sure they're making money. Just doesn't seem like very much. We charge $1.50 - $2.00 per sq. ft. for our dyeing services. Spot dyeing is charged at an hourly rate. $375.00 per hour for residential and $900.00 per hour for commercial.

But once again, if people are happy with $40 per room then that's great!

 

[Able 1]

Good god, where's Robison!? I miss him!

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I'm sure they're making money. Just doesn't seem like very much. We charge $1.50 - $2.00 per sq. ft. for our dyeing services. Spot dyeing is charged at an hourly rate. $375.00 per hour for residential and $900.00 per hour for commercial.

But once again, if people are happy with $40 per room then that's great!

I think we all know what you "charge" by now.

 

[Chris A]

It's the "instructor mentality". Tell all the newbies how they need to be charging at least $.40/square foot while hosting a class at a distributor that's trying to sell them a 60k truck mount package. Setting most of these poor guys up for failure. I had an instructor at a class a year ago tell the group that if they were gonna be running a truck mount they better be pulling at least $1000/day or they were losing money... Lol. I told him he was an idiot.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Bingo

 

[Desk Jockey]

You don't have to worry about them Chris, nobody uses a phone book anymore. Hold on to that thing it will make a nice museum piece for your grand kids.

 

[Chris Howell]

It's all good. Fortunately I don't worry about other people's comments or opinions. If someone is happy charging $.45 a square foot I'm happy for them.

Just glad it's not me.

 

[jcooper]

Some of them are advertising $40 per room. Seriously? How can you make money like that?

If it's an "average/normal" 40$ room I'll be done in ten minutes... Maybe...

OK. If you're making money, that's awesome. Just seems incredibly low to me.
Thanks for the reply.

I do agree, for Maryland that does seem low. Gallon of milk is probably 7 bucks by you... I'm sure they are measuring. So any "phone book" info I'd take with a grain of salt.

 

[SamIam]

Guys it's not how much you make but how much you keep. Seen lots of big sales guys go broke. I hope everyone does well.

But I'm not seeing a demand for dyeing carpet and if I did they wouldn't pay government prices where money grows on trees.

 

[Chris Howell]

No demand for carpet dyeing? Do you offer and/or advertise dyeing services? Of course you're not going to get calls for something that you don't advertise or provide. We never get calls for septic pump-outs because we don't offer that service.

Think there's no demand for carpet dyeing services?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Chris if there was a demand, there would be dozens of company's offering it.

Low entry costs, $600.00- $800.00 an hour earnings and THREE months backlog awaiting service. Who wouldn't jump on that?

Its a nitch, not main stream. If you have the population, the client profile, it could be a match made in heaven.

 

[Chris Howell]

Chris if there was a demand, there would be dozens of company's offering it.

Low entry costs, $600.00- $800.00 an hour earnings and THREE months backlog awaiting service. Who wouldn't jump on that?

And that's absolutely fine with me. No competition.

Imagine if you were the only one in your state who was offering the services that you offer?

Think about that.

 

[Desk Jockey]

You'd be 3-months backlogged?

 

[Chris Howell]

Think about it. I live just outside of Washington, DC. There are NO other companies who are providing the same services that we do.

Our ColorClean process alone keeps us busy (our process that cleans and restores the carpet color in one step).

 

[SamIam]

When people hear dyeing is about half the cost of new and usually the carpet has other problems then just simple discoloration.

But still a used carpet, there are some that might jump on the color restoration.

But most will pull the trigger on a guaranteed, result new flooring. That's where I steer my customers.

I hope you do well.

How does your process work
With all the solution dyed carpets olefin and polyester?

 

[Chris Howell]

When people hear dyeing is about half the cost of new and usually the carpet has other problems then just simple discoloration.

But still a used carpet, there are some that might jump on the color restoration.

But most will pull the trigger on a guaranteed, result new flooring. That's where I steer my customers.

I hope you do well.

How does your process work
With all the solution dyed carpets olefin and polyester?

Half the cost of new?? HUH???

We are saving our customers an average of 70% of the cost of new carpet. That's what drives our business.

I teach how to repair color issues on Polyester and Olefin carpets in our trainings. It's a different process, however.

We have no problem dyeing most solution dyed nylon carpets.

Thanks for your kind words.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Think about it. I live just outside of Washington, DC. There are NO other companies who are providing the same services that we do.

Our ColorClean process alone keeps us busy (our process that cleans and restores the carpet color in one step).

View attachment 68797

View attachment 68798

Take it easy patting yorself on the back there.

I'm purty damn sure they will construct a monument of your likeness....ponytail and all.

You're done well there son but not everyone will be able to duplicate what you've accomplished. You need the population and clients willing to pay for the service.

 

[Chris Howell]

Take it easy patting yorself on the back there.

I'm purty damn sure they will construct a monument of your likeness....ponytail and all.

You're done well there son but not everyone will be able to duplicate what you've accomplished. You need the population and clients willing to pay for the service.

Ponytail and all?? Toooooo kewl!

 

[Desk Jockey]

you're too much! lol

 

[Cleanworks]

This board used to be all about Chavez. Now it's all about Chris. What happened? Is someone not so mighty anymore?

 

[Chris Howell]

you're too much! lol

You're interrupting my hockey game here!

 

[Jamesh921]

Regarding $40 per room - it all depends on demographics and logistics as well as cost of living depending and location. In my area (rural Oklahoma) $40 per room would be on the EXTREME high side. I just raised my prices from .20 per sf to .22 per sf. In my area that equates raising my price from $33 per room to $36 per room. In the northeast, that is super cheap. Down here where you can rent a 3 bedroom house for $550.00 per month, you can make a living at those rates. Everything is subjective depending on the surrounding elements.

 

[Jamesh921]

Pig farmers can make a living at $5 per room as long as they can sell Scotchguard on every job. lol (not really, jk)

 

[BIG WOOD]

Half the cost of new?? HUH???

We are saving our customers an average of 70% of the cost of new carpet. That's what drives our business.

I teach how to repair color issues on Polyester and Olefin carpets in our trainings. It's a different process, however.

We have no problem dyeing most solution dyed nylon carpets.

Thanks for your kind words.

Are you saying that you can re-dye a whole polyester or olefin room?

That would make the demand from all my property managers rise, because they constantly have ruined, cheap poly carpet.

My prices average about $40/area. If there's a beige or light brown piece of poly carpet that needs that, how should it be priced. That's the market...$40/area, so don't give me the ridiculous numbers that the Instructors tell us at the seminars that @Chris A mentioned above

If poly can't be fully dyed from wall to wall, you're wasting your time on this forum, because Nylon is few and far between, and the comments are correct above, it's better to replace a worn out, stinky piece of carpet, than to dye it, UNLESS it's a rental

 

[BIG WOOD]

And as for the money part of this conversation... @Chris Howell you live in the freaking middle of Washington and Baltimore with an estimated average income of $195,124!

Knock off about $150,000 of your number and you get my hometown's estimated average income. Now....how the hell can I mark my prices up to your numbers and expect to get ANY business?

You have a lot of New and Old money in your area, which is great! and I'm happy for you. Most of the money in my area is old money. Have you noticed how much harder it is to profit off the old money customers than it is to profit off the new money customers . It's a night and day difference.

So before you go off on a speech of how easy it is to make $100/a room and how profitable you can be to dye nylon carpet...think about most of the viewers on here who live in a shithole of a town and most of the carpet they have is that crappy Polyester. Not all of us live next door to the damn capital

 

[Chris Howell]

Are you saying that you can re-dye a whole polyester or olefin room?

That would make the demand from all my property managers rise, because they constantly have ruined, cheap poly carpet.

My prices average about $40/area. If there's a beige or light brown piece of poly carpet that needs that, how should it be priced. That's the market...$40/area, so don't give me the ridiculous numbers that the Instructors tell us at the seminars that @Chris A mentioned above

If poly can't be fully dyed from wall to wall, you're wasting your time on this forum, because Nylon is few and far between, and the comments are correct above, it's better to replace a worn out, stinky piece of carpet, than to dye it, UNLESS it's a rental

I'm seeing a common thread here that's really the heart of the issue. It really all comes down to who your target market is. If your target market is nasty rental properties and lower income homeowners, you'll have a tough time making a decent living. This is for the simple reason that these people don't have the money to pay. They typically install the cheapest crap grades of carpet which have no life span, and indeed you'd be better off replacing it. You all know the challenges of just trying to keep it looking clean. You can't polish a dog turd and turn it into a Cadillac.

You are absolutely correct about my target market. My target market is mostly millionaires and billionaires. As I've mentioned previously, we are about 75% commercial. Our target market is law firm's and opulent office buildings in Washington, DC. These are the people that have the money to pay and are willing to pay top dollar for the best quality. In a sense they feel that they are treating themselves to a luxury by spending more money ( like driving a Tesla or Mercedes or paying top dollar for spa treatments). They have a certain standard of living and are willing to pay to maintain and preserve that. So for them it's more about image rather than just cleaning something because it looks filthy. So if these kind of people have a bleach spot on their carpet, they think nothing of paying $1,500.00 to have it repaired. These are opulent office spaces that overlook the White House. They entertain VIP guests, celebrities, and politicians in these places and can't afford to have the appearance (reputation) of their facilities compromised. I'll post a photo of a couple of bleached areas that I just fixed in a law firm that I charged $1,500.00 for. The job took me about 25 minutes to do. I had a few of my trainees with me to observe the process. I think a couple of them are here in this group and can chime in with their comments. This was in a law firm right next to the White House.

I certainly get it and understand that not everyone lives in a city. My wife is from rural Maine. A lot of the people there live in houses that are in great need of repair. It's common to see houses with peeling paint and sagging porch is because the people can't afford to keep them up. I get that. But as a business owner you should be targeting people who can afford to pay for your services.

Consider changing your target market. Market your services to people that have the money to pay for top quality.

Regarding polyester and Olefin carpets… We just about never encounter these types of carpets because high-end commercial and residential properties would never install these junk fibers. They will always have nylon and wool carpets. Some of the properties that we service even have silk carpets.

Please understand that I'm not knocking or criticizing anybody who lives in an area that's depressed. As a business owner you can only do your best to establish your business and deal with the market conditions that exist in your area. I have nothing but respect for business owners and wish each of you the best success. You will never see me get jealous or make negative comments about someone who is doing well and becoming phenomenally successful. I love seeing other people's success and enjoy helping other people to achieve that success. Do I make money doing this? Of course I do. I don't give away my services for free. But I'm making money by helping other people make money, not by training someone and abandoning them with a good luck wish. There are 219 people in The Dye Lot who will attest to this. I go out of my way to help others to ensure their success.

Anyway, happy to help anyone who would like advice on how they can develop their target market. Many of you are doing well and don't need any help. That's fine. Just making the offer to anyone who would like some help or advice.

Here are the pics of the law firm spots I mentioned earlier.