40K to start up. Help me out please
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Category: Carpet Cleaners Discussion
Forum Name: Truck Mount Carpet Steam Cleaning Machines & Equipment
Forum Description: Discuss anything relating to truckmounts
URL: https://www.kleenkuip.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6491
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Topic: 40K to start up. Help me out please
Posted By: caleb211
Subject: 40K to start up. Help me out please
Date Posted: 11/March/2010 at 7:32am
| HI, I am about to start my own Carpet Cleaning business. I plan on going to the IICRC course. I feel I am a strong marketer and have a plug-in with a janatorial service that my father in law owns, until now he has been outsourcing his carpet cleaning. I do however need a bit of help picking a truck mount. I have been looking at the Hydramaster Titan 875. Is anyone familar with this machine, will it fit in a chevy G2500? If not can you point me in a different direction. I have been researching these machines for a bit but it is daunting when comparing specifications. I would appreciate any advice at all. |
Replies:
Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 11/March/2010 at 2:53pm
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Try truckmountforums.com for a larger selection of responders. There is a link to the forum at the bottom of these pages.
------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: RIP IT
Date Posted: 11/March/2010 at 5:21pm
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for a second opinion try Mikeys Board as well. ------------- Dont treat people like customers. Treat them like friends. |
Posted By: Ken_Is_OK
Date Posted: 11/March/2010 at 7:53pm
| internet msg forums are the worst place for the info you require. |
Posted By: RIP IT
Date Posted: 11/March/2010 at 11:57pm
WHY?
Do you think it a bad idea to hear the opinions of the people who have spent their money and used the equipment to give an unbiased view as opposed to the companies selling the equipment to give a biased one? ------------- Dont treat people like customers. Treat them like friends. |
Ken_Is_OK wrote:Posted By: duckcountry
Date Posted: 12/March/2010 at 1:39am
Case in point ------------- Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity? |
Posted By: Ken_Is_OK
Date Posted: 12/March/2010 at 3:30pm
ccc.ccsop.com
yah, great info 
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Posted By: Michael
Date Posted: 12/March/2010 at 3:40pm
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caleb, Do you have a local supplier and service center for carpet cleaning? Do you want to shop locally or over the Internet? Will you take it to a professional for service, or will you service it yourself? What are your performance requirements? Is 40K your total business start-up budget or your van budget? Will you finance anything? Answers to the above questions plus many more will go into determining which unit it best for you. Because I have a local supplier and service center, it's easy to ask the people who will service our equipment which machines they prefer--performance, durability/serviceability, etc. If you have the ability, I recommend going that route. |
Posted By: caleb211
Date Posted: 12/March/2010 at 5:22pm
| 40K is my truck budget, I will need it repaired professionally. I don't care if I buy locally or over the net I will go with the best bang for the buck. As far as performance I like the idea of having 3 wands with the titan 875 I especially like the high power pressure washer that comes with the titan 875. I don't want to finance anything because it seems like that is how people are going out of business. If you don't have a loan to pay off you can build your business without fear. |
Posted By: stuey
Date Posted: 14/March/2010 at 10:25pm
| one little thought for you, go with a rotovac instead of a wand! big marketing tool, and also out performs a wand 110%! just my opinion as i am new in the carpet cleaning businesses as well. everytime i go into a home and the customer sees the rotovac they are amazed! |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 16/March/2010 at 2:59pm
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The major thing with any piece of equipment is SERVICE...make sure you service it correctly so it will produce for you.
and I would also scrap the 3/4 ton truck and go for a 1 ton..
you can find all that info right here in this forum if you did a search..
truthfully every post on this forum gets hijacked and people are generally to lazy to give you the information that you seek...the just post a site...LOL
all the forums are filled with crap ------------- www.mr-steamer.com |
Posted By: John L
Date Posted: 17/March/2010 at 11:39pm
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The Biggest... Posted By: stagman
Date Posted: 25/March/2010 at 6:14pm
lol exactly. Internet forums can be extremely useful...especially if they are dedicated sites such as this one. ------------- http://www.stagcleaningservices.co.uk/ - Stag Cleaning Services - Hitchin, Hertfordshire, domestic or commercial |
Posted By: jaymark1
Date Posted: 16/April/2010 at 5:01pm
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I would recomend calling Ernie at the Jondon in langhorne PA. He has used most of the truck mounted systems. Even though he sells them, he will offer you his unbiased advice and I use his advice for almost anything. ------------- I dont predict the future or sell glides, am I allowed on this site? |
Posted By: besttruckmount
Date Posted: 08/June/2010 at 2:52pm
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if you want a truck mount for about $30000 with blower #5 or #6 call this guy at 905 9818381 wow he builds truck mount for people customs work and is has no heat exchangers but has lot of heat all the time at 110 deg ask for lenny
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Posted By: shaoqingan
Date Posted: 13/June/2010 at 10:14am
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I think van can not be too small, but need not be a brand new, second hand will be much cheaper. For the machine, the bigger power means more fuel. It is good to buy the machine that is just enough for your job. If you can handle all the job by yourself, you do not need 3 wand machine. If most of your jobs are residential, and they are within 250ft distance, you do not need to buy a bigger machine. But the after-sale service is very important. Do not buy used TM if you are not professional.
Good luck
Andy from http://www.havehouse.com - www.havehouse.com Dallas Havehouse Carpet Cleaning ------------- Andy Dallas HaveHouse Carpet Cleaning www.havehouse.com |
Posted By: Atlantis
Date Posted: 31/July/2010 at 1:42pm
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I know this is my an old post but I thought I would put my 2 cents in. $40,000 for one van is WAAAAAAAAY TOO MUCH TO SPEND. Those "big" truck mounts, are a complete and total waste of money. Unless you are running two wands or over 250 ft. of hose then I would advise completely against them. I've used a Prochem Aphex, Panther 25, Dynachems top model w/ propane tank, and I now own a Panther 18. Let me tell you. They are ALL the same. The only difference is the packaging. They use the same type of blower, same engine, same water pump. It's all smoke and mirrors. Do yourself a favor. If you are looking for a brand new truck mount (which I would suggest because you don't want to break down on a job), get yourself a Panther 18. It's right at that sweet spot between too much power and not enough. My old 25 cleaned about the same as the Panther 18. The Panther is about $8900 on Ebay directly from Chemtex w/ $400 shipping. For the van, look on Craigslist and get yourself either a nice box van for about $5000-$8,000 or a nice cargo van from anywhere from $2,000-$5,000. I bought a 94 Ford E-150 in fairly good looking condition and in excellent working condition for $1600. So far, I've had it for two years and the only thing I've had to do was get it inspected and recharge freon. I "could" get a $500 paint job if I wanted, give it a newer look, but honestly, customers don't care what you drive, they care about how you clean. Back in the day when I worked for a scam company called Kiwi, I use to drive a Mitsubishi Mighty Max with a buffer in the back and made money!! Alternately you can get a QUALITY used machine/van for anywhere from $7000- $15,000. And like Any said, the maintenance is what's most important. I can tell you from experience, the Panther units are EXTREMELY easy to work on. If you can install a door in your house, or change your own auto oil, then you can work on a Panther. The Panther 18 steams about 2.5 ft. when I clean. A CLOUD of steam! |
Posted By: John L
Date Posted: 01/August/2010 at 1:49am
Do you have a video of this cloud? 
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Posted By: Atlantis
Date Posted: 05/August/2010 at 10:27am
No. But I'll be happy to post one sometime next week :). I'm working by myself right now but I need to clean my own carpets as soon as my girlfriend comes back from out of town. So I'll have her take some video when I do!! That's a great idea by the way  Might put it up on my website!
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Posted By: kingjoelking
Date Posted: 06/August/2010 at 1:54pm
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I would not go with the Titan. IMHO. I would look for a simpler machine. I have a Panther 25 and yes it puts out silly amounts of heat. Very simple machine. Some of the layout is not so well thought out. But it is manageable. Duane Oxley makes some very nice machines that are very simple and well thought out and can frankly be worked on by yourself if you are even remotely mechanical. And put out amazing heat. But if I had $40k to start all over again and especially since your primary target is going to be commercial work. I would have started off with a Cimex. For $3k an Orbot For $2500 a Multi Sprayer for $500, Either Releasit chemicals. $500 (enough for a 100,000 sf or so of carpet cleaning. Some Gladiator pads at $15 each. so probably 20 or so $300. Then a simple extractor with either Propane or Diesel heater. (i would not get a unit with a heat Exchanger again) possible units, Masterblend El Diablo, Accelerated or Truckmount Systems Dominator. Those two units have some serious heat and they can be upgraded with a much bigger solution Pump to possible power spray with. Both of those Units run around $15-$17K. You would only need the Cimex and Orbot (Even a Brute instead of and Orbot would be a good idea also) on 90% of your commercial carpet cleaning. Much faster work and really Superior results. That would leave you with Quite a bit of money for marketing.
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