Business Idea #74
Effective Carpet Cleaning

My husband and I have had a unique carpet cleaning business for over 20 years now.

It wasn’t a business idea that we were even entertaining back then, it just kind of fell into our lap.

How so? Well my husband had been a carpet and flooring installer for the previous 10 years. And every time we needed to get our carpets clean my husband would talk about all the problems with different conventional carpet cleaning methods.

And he knew all about them, he would see them every time he pulled up old carpet on a job.

Split seams, warped fibers, old chemical residue and embedded dirt were pretty common, and all pretty much the result of misguided carpet cleaning attempts.

Enter his brother-in-law who had stumbled on this great new method of carpet cleaning.

It was a system that all the airlines had been using for awhile and it was genius.

Now the airlines have to know what they are doing. You don’t have a lot of maintenance time to clean a whole airplane, and this method had the carpets clean and dry in a few hours without the use of toxic chemicals.

And it wasn’t a dry cleaning method either.

His brother-in-law had bought the system from a friend who had built the machine to adapt this system to home and residential carpet cleaning.

And as soon as we saw how effectively it cleaned our carpets we were hooked too.

We were so impressed that we immediately bought a machine and got started with our own carpet cleaning business.

And it was an affordable way to get into this business. No heavy investment in truck mounted or steam based equipment. And no horrible maintenance headaches either.

I think we have had to repair our machine twice in the last 15 years. And my husband was able to do it himself.

And now that friend has built a great company called Carpet Care Systems to sell this carpet cleaning system.

Their machines are much fancier now, but we still have the old blue machine like the one in the picture above that they first built in their garage.

So what are the benefits of this type of carpet cleaning:

How Does It Work?

Perhaps you are familiar with the old bonnet carpet cleaning method where a pad was run over the carpet with a rotary scrubbing machine.

This method proved to be pretty ineffective because the pads were usually polyester and they just pushed the dirt into the carpet.

And the rotary motion of the machine would disturb the pile direction of the carpet fibers.

But new machine technology was invented in France and brought to this country by an innovative company called Argosheen. They are the ones who supply most of the airlines.

Their Argonaut towel machine uses vibration and terry cloth pads to clean the carpet. And it was an improvement on the old bonnet system.

But we tried the Argonaut towel machine and although somewhat effective it is very slow and clumsy to use.

This is what inspired our friends at Carpet Care Systems to improve upon the idea and come up with a better machine.

And they did!

Their machine uses an oscillating vibrational motion to break up stains and work the dirt out of the carpet.

And the dampened terry cloth pads under the machine then absorb and mop up the soil and the carpet solution.

Continual use of fresh pads as you work your way around the room gets all the area clean without soaking the carpets.

It really is fun to see the pads turning gray and black from the dirt, you really see the results of your cleaning. And when the pads stop discoloring you know the carpet is clean.

Then your only job is to wash the pads, and we are able to do this at home with hot water, detergent and bleach.

It’s such a simple and effective solution to keeping your carpets clean, and our customers love it.

We have built a loyal clientele that calls us every year or more to keep their carpets clean.

And we have many commercial jobs too, including our community library, city hall, apartment buildings and local businesses.

Now in our little town, we haven’t built this business into a full time business. My husband has a full time job as a paint department manager for the local hardware store so he cleans carpets one day a week.

And many times he makes as much on that one day as he does all week at his regular job.

So if you are looking for a profitable business idea that would be easy to start part time, and could grow to a full time business, this would be an affordable and easy business idea to start.

And it’s a business that can grow as small or large as you want, depending on how big an area you are willing to service, and how much promotion you want to do.

But you can build a decent part time income even without a lot of promotion; our main customer base has grown almost entirely through word of mouth, the best kind of advertising to have.

People love this carpet cleaning so much that they become very loyal customers and refer their friends and family to you.

And we rarely lose a customer, even to a cheaper competitor.

And when this does happen, many times we have had the customer come back later because their carpets just didn’t get cleaned effectively, or in one case many of the seams split in a commercial building and eventually all the carpet had to be replaced.

Now they have us back cleaning the new carpet!

Start Up Costs

So how much would the start up costs be for this system?

Well Carpet Care Systems has carpet cleaning packages that can get you started for around $3100 to $3400.

You receive most of what need to get going including the large scrubbing machine, a step cleaning machine, cleaning solution and pads.

You will also need a sprayer system, like the kind you use to spray your yard and can get at your hardware store.

And you will need a good commercial vacuum. We have always purchased our vacuums from PowerFlite.

Of course you will need a decent vehicle too, it would be good to have a truck or van if possible. But we have used our family mini-van for years and even our Ford Crown Victoria.

Add in some business cards and a dedicated phone line with yellow page and internet directory listings, and you should be able to get started for under $4,000.00

As small business ideas go this is a very affordable start up cost. Especially for the benefits and income it can produce.

**If this is to steep a start-up business cost for your budget, consider my Area Rug Cleaning or Old World Upholstery Cleaning business ideas.

How Much Should You Charge?

Our going rate is $.25 a square foot for carpet cleaning, and my husband can usually do two or three residential carpet cleaning jobs in one day, earning anywhere from $100 to $300 or more per job.

This is a great part time income stream, and if you build up enough business it could become a good full time income.

You should research your area to see what the average per square foot rate is. And you should charge this way instead of by the room.

Room sizes can vary greatly and you don't want to lose income or overcharge a customer.

Of course this means accurate measuring of each room, but it's worth it to provide a credible service.

And if you only do traffic areas and not wall to wall cleaning, be sure to only measure the areas you actually clean.

An especially profitable niche to target with this business idea would be hotels, business offices and apartment complexes.

These buildings need to have regular maintenance and you would be offering a great service because the carpets would be clean and would dry quickly.

I still remember a time when I stayed in a hotel room where the carpets had just been shampooed. They were wet when I arrived in the late afternoon and still wet the next morning when I woke up.

Just think how much better this carpet cleaning system would be for businesses like that, the carpets would have been dry in a few hours instead of taking a day or more.

This really sets you apart from the competition, and you will love going head to head with other carpet cleaners.

My husband and some of his relatives who have the same business tell stories about having to demonstrate for a commercial client against other carpet cleaners, and they always get the contract!

So if you were thinking that you had to invest thousands into a truck mount or steam system to be a “real” carpet cleaner, please think again.

You can have a much more profitable and popular carpet cleaning business for a lot less cost.

There is even a testimonial on the Carpet Care Systems website from a former truck mount carpet cleaner who has converted and feels quite liberated from all the expense and maintenance hassle he used to have to deal with.

Marketing Ideas

So how would you get started with marketing for this business idea?

First you will need a dedicated phone line and directory listings.

Next you will need professional business cards to be able to give out whenever you have the opportunity.

You could also print flyers and distribute them in public places around your community.

You will also benefit by investing in some signs on your vehicle when your business starts to grow.

After you have some experience and some client recommendations, you may want to consider advertising in your local paper or doing a bulk postal mailing.

You could also have some flyers printed that hook onto doors with a coupon or special incentive, and then take them door to door in different neighborhoods. Especially more affluent ones with bigger houses.

Of course the best way to get started is to do some free cleaning jobs for family and friends.

We started this way, just to practice and get some buzz for the business. And it worked, word of mouth began to spread.

We also had a booth at the local home and garden show, and demonstrated the method on an area rug that we borrowed from some friends.

The rug had been cleaned repeatedly with a dry chemicals cleaning system and it was a light brown background with pretty flowers on it.

Our friends had received the rug from some other friends, and they had always thought the rug was light brown.

Lo and behold, we started cleaning a corner, and the rug background was actually cream!

It made for a pretty spectacular presentation at the home show and attracted lots of traffic.

We would clean a little portion to demonstrate and it was pretty amazing to watch the carpet turn from brown to cream and to see all the dirty residue on the pad.

Well that was 20 years ago, and now we have an established business that generates a nice part time income stream with little marketing effort on our part.

So if this business idea appeals to you I encourage you to research it more.

Check out these Carpet Care Systems testimonials, and read all the other info available on their site.

You can always get in touch with me too if you have any questions.

My husband or I will be happy to get back to you. Contact info is on the "About Me" Page of this site.

I think this is one of the best ideas for a business that is easy to learn and affordable to start.

And it’s a business that will always be in demand and have a wide supply of clients. Practically everyone has some carpet in their home or business!

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