I've had a sucky week so far

I had a cancellation, a returned check second one in the 7 years that I've been in biz, and a big tile job that the lady was not home for when I showed up. Arrhhhhh Hope you guys are having a better week.

Mine has slowed down after a flurry of apartments last week and this will be the first weekend without anything except a store front on the schedule.

Remember, you never know when you are walking around lucky...buy a powerball, grill a steak, and wait for the rally!

Crazy business were in. Don't know what''s going to happen from one day the next. One day you're planning your Hawaii trip the next your worried about pay the bills.

Changed again. The returned check problem was fixed and the big tile job is back on for Sunday. I can't believe I agreed to work on a Sunday but she leaving town and It was partially my fault. Hawaii is back on.

Mo wrote:Crazy business were in. Don't know what''s going to happen from one day the next. One day you're planning your Hawaii trip the next your worried about paying the bills.

Ain't that the truth!!  Been in this biz for 27 years now, and it's still the same deal.  Too much work or not enough usually.

The only consolation there Dave is that I don't think Ill be cleaning into my 70's. At least I don't think so.

But when you think about it cleaning carpet might be the perfect retirement gig. You clean only for your best 20 customers per year and only when it's convenient for you. It could work.

It is a crazy industry and why many run from it.  Some just prefer having a set schedule and a paycheck every other Friday, but they also sit around dreaming about working for themselves.

When you think about it, everyone seems to want the same thing....to not have to work.  The only difference is that some feel you need to be rich to accomplish that while others choose to be poor to accomplish doing nothing.

You hear it all the time don't you?  "Boy, if I could just win the lottery, I would just sit on beach and do nothing".  Meanwhile, there is the guy down the street broke who IS just sitting on the beach doing nothing.

 Hopefully I find that happy medium somewhere. Work a little and hang out at the beach a lot.

Mo wrote:The only consolation there Dave is that I don't think Ill be cleaning into my 70's. At least I don't think so.

But when you think about it cleaning carpet might be the perfect retirement gig. You clean only for your best 20 customers per year and only when it's convenient for you. It could work.

Damn right Mo, my retirement plan is to clean for customers with $ 500 and up invoices only, WITH the biggest cleaning machine available installed on a box truck, with a robot worker pushing the wand and I'll roam around in front of it with a magnifying glass and yell at the robot if it missed a spot, they must already have robots 30+ years from now, I don't think it's unrealistic expectations

That would be nice wouldn't it? I would probably be more likely that they'll be very little carpet in home 30 years from now and then I will be forced to retire.

The future of carpet cleaning is self cleaning carpets. They'll take care of themselves until it's time for a really deep cleaning. That's where the poor carpet cleaner steps.

I think if done right carpet cleaning can be a great way to semi-retire.

Rainbow Rider wrote:The future of carpet cleaning is self cleaning carpets. They'll take care of themselves until it's time for a really deep cleaning. That's where the poor carpet cleaner steps.

I think if done right carpet cleaning can be a great way to semi-retire.

I see that to....we might be done cleaning carpet in due time. Always wise to sharpen other skills to keep the options open.

Mo wrote:That would be nice wouldn't it? I would probably be more likely that they'll be very little carpet in home 30 years from now and then I will be forced to retire.

In 30 yrs the carpet/wood/tile popularity cycle with have made two rounds with carpet being popular at that time again...........It will never totally disappear, I don't think...but that's why I clean it all now.

its no different than construction business, landscaping, roofing, siding, windows

any of these businesses are in the same boat.

for most all of them a worker only earns about 300/day in labor, the difference is with carpet cleaning they can earn 600 in labor

this is why I used to think the o/o was the way to go but I think if the market allows why not grow.

I have a competitor here that is doing 100k/ month with 4-5 vans and some area rugs. He wont have to keep that up for long to retire and the business definitely has value

We are very fortunate to be in this business.

ACpower1 wrote:its no different than construction business,  landscaping,  roofing,  siding,  windows  

any of these businesses are in the same boat.      

for most all of them a worker only earns about 300/day in labor,   the difference is with carpet cleaning they can earn 600 in labor

this is why I used to think the o/o was the way to go but I think if the market allows why not grow.

I have a competitor here that is doing 100k/ month with 4-5 vans and some area rugs.     He wont have to keep that up for long to retire and the business definitely has value

That could be misleading sales and what you actually keep and overhead hopefullly he's smart and doing the right thing's.

I have had a great week but some screwballs, 1 lady booked a $360.00 job for 8-9 we verified noght before my son got there closer to 9 and another cleaner was hard at work making the money.

I called and she said I never made a appointment with you, So we magically got you address, date and time correct???? Ok well shes a B......

Now that one would have pissed me off

Most Customers and cleaners (esp. the comp. boasting about doing 100k for example lol) are LIARS!

Well, let's just say he's telling the truth, he's going to need 2 workers for each van to reach that kind of sales, that's 10 workers for 5 vans plus workers comps and taxes equal to about 35% of total sales, 10% for gas, 10% for van insurances and liability insurances, 5% for cleaning chemicals, 10% for maintenance of truckmounts and vans, without considering equipments wear and tear, that's already 70% expenses, still not bad if his sales is consistent throughout the year but I doubt he's still doing the same # during winter, I always feel there are more headaches than profits in running anything more than 3 vans. That's just me.

[quote="dp1"]Well, let's just say he's telling the truth, he's going to need 2 workers for each van to reach that kind of sales, that's 10 workers for 5 vans plus workers comps and taxes equal to about 35% of total sales, 10% for gas, 10% for van insurances and liability insurances, 5% for cleaning chemicals, 10% for maintenance of truckmounts and vans, without considering equipments wear and tear, that's already 70% expenses, still not bad if his sales is consistent throughout the year but I doubt he's still doing the same # during winter, I always feel there are more headaches than profits in running anything more than 3 vans. That's just me.[/quote


I believe you to be correct. More employees and vans, the more cash flow is needed. The more cash flow needed, the more advertising is needed, etc. The exception might be with franchises who have the benefit of national advertising and name recognition. By taking away the large advertising costs, it probably works.

It's not taken away it's just called franchise fees

Tomorrow will make my 22nd day in row without a full day off. I am tired, but very thankful.

milspec6 wrote:

dp1 wrote:Well, let's just say he's telling the truth, he's going to need 2 workers for each van to reach that kind of sales, that's 10 workers for 5 vans plus workers comps and taxes equal to about 35% of total sales, 10% for gas, 10% for van insurances and liability insurances, 5% for cleaning chemicals, 10% for maintenance of truckmounts and vans, without considering equipments wear and tear, that's already 70% expenses, still not bad if his sales is consistent throughout the year but I doubt he's still doing the same # during winter, I always feel there are more headaches than profits in running anything more than 3 vans. That's just me.[/quote


I believe you to be correct.  More employees and vans, the more cash flow is needed.  The more cash flow needed, the more advertising is needed, etc.  The exception might be with franchises who have the benefit of national advertising and name recognition.  By taking away the large advertising costs, it probably works.

I think franchises generally charge the franchisee a advertising fee and a franchise fee. I've never worked for or owned one, but that is what I have derived from others when they talked about franchises.

That's not considering the pissed off brother in law who puts a brick through the windshield of you van. The technician who "stepped on a hose and twisted his ankle" so you'll have to finish his jobs (for the second time this month) when what he really wanted was to go on a three day bender. Lets also talk about the technician who collected a couple of big checks from the customers, filled his own name in and bought $800 worth of cocaine. All of those happened to us. Let them all brag about how big their company is and how much money they're making.