My SOLUS 500R story

I want to share my story as a new professional carpet cleaner operating as a sole proprietor.   Hopefully some of you may find answers in what I have gone through.
   It started 2 months ago. I was sitting on the couch and a Rug Doctor infomercial came on and within an hour I ordered a Wide-Track machine with the idea of just using it at home, instead of renting.   Over the next few days I decided to research Carpet Cleaning as a profession.   And discovered a wealth of information at the Carpet and Rug Institute website (CRI). Since truck mounts were out of my financial reach, I looked for Portable Machines that could clean just as well and found one: The SOLUS 500 mfr by U.S. Products. The first portable carpet deep extractor to receive a Gold Rating from CRI. It only weighs 110 pounds and is very user friendly. 500 psi, inline heater, 212 degrees at the wand tip. Low moisture design 12 gallon capacity / 9 gallon recovery tank. Automatic shut off prevents overfill of the recovery tank. Dual, top mounted 3 stage vacuums provide superior water recovery and carpets fully dry in less than 4 hours at 70 degree's. It operates on parallel circuits with a 2000 watt heater. And best of all, it slides easily in and out of my Chevrolet Silvarado truck bed with camper shell. Enough about my love for this machine and onto market research and start-up costs;

Market research I put together a business model and spent about a week researching operating costs and business practices; How much do I charge?, Licenses, Insurance, Cleaning Supplies, Competition pricing; number of competitors, customer base, service area, advertising and Chamber of Commerce benefits, and Tech Support.

How Much Do I Charge? This is a two-step process. First I estimated my operating costs based on phone calls with my insurance company and my suppliers. I asked how much BULK cleaning supplies costs and was happy with a 40 percent discount for orders over $500.00 (reg price). That knocked it down to over 300 bucks. Then I calculated full strength dilution and application rates. For me, my estimate came down to 2 cents of cleaning supply per square foot. Throw in insurance and a slight business impound account, my total operating costs came to 4.5 cents per square foot for every 500,000 square feet cleaned. Next I called the competition... who all charged by room, which averaged between 20 and 30 dollars. The cheapest they were charging was 20 cents a square foot. I set my price at 12.5 cents a square foot... which translates into a 64% profit margin. TIP: Base pricing on your actual operating costs and not on what everyone else is charging, Easier for sole proprietorships than those with payroll.

My FIRST contract: I put this here because Before my SOLUS Machine arrived I already set up a demonstration at a nearby military base. It was easier than I thought. After I knew what to charge, I called the service manager, described my service, told him how much I charged per square foot, and HE called me back. The same day my machine arrived with a tech to train me, I was at the base demonstrating my unit. They gave me a contract on the spot! The machine performed great! (I later found out through back channels their current carpet cleaner was charging 130 dollars a house. My price: $92.66)

LICENSES: Since I operate from home I had to apply for a Home Business Permit through the city. I also required a business license for every city within my service area. (The base requires no business license... but did require FULL INSURANCE!)

Insurance: Base required workers comp, vehicle coverage and liability coverage. TIP: The State Compensation Insurance Fund had the best deal on workers comp.

Cleaning Supplies: Find a good company that offers discounts for bulk purchases. I recommend starting with 2 gallons of everything (spot removers, acidic stain removers... etc) and 20 gallons of High Traffic. You can always tailor your stock later based on usage. My high use items: Rug Doctor High Traffic (only $7.77 a gallon at 4:1 mix ratio); SURTEC Universal spotter ($17.39 a gallon at 10:1 mix ratio); Enzymes and odor remover. I have about 13 others that get sparse use.

Advertising: It works but takes time. I run a 2x3 ad in our local paper twice a week (distribution is 24 thousand papers).   The first month no calls. After I cleaned up my ad and offered a 15% Spring Cleaning discount the calls started coming. I will be lucky if I break even from Ad costs... so be careful and create an eye catching Ad. Of course having an EXCELLENT Ad rep is a huge help. I havent tried yellow pages. Other business is generated by..... Chamber of Commerce >>>

Chamber of Commerce: Highly recommended. Become a member and they list you in their directory. They also gave me a member listing... and footwork did the rest. Make sure you have a collared uniform made and business cards >>> LOOK SHARP! When you enter a business introduce your business and state you are a member of the Chamber of Commerce and will provide a discount for contracted services. It works. I have 2 contracts now.

SOLUS 500 tech support: Ok... one final gloat. The Solus 500 is mfr by U.S. Products in Idaho (Made in the USA!) but is only sold through distributors. My distributor has an area rep who provides FREE tech support for my machine. I called him once when the Vacs wouldn't turn on only to discover the "float" kill switch located in the recovery tank was in the up position. He saved me major embarrassment while on a job. TIP: When buying one ask how much the DEMO model is. It saved me 25%! It was only used for 3 months as a demo model only. It runs great. I opened it up to look at the circuitry and was impressed.

I still haven't used my RD wide-track. I'm thinking I'll send it back or keep it as an emergency back-up.

Don't blame my early success based on your years of getting it right. And don't accuse me of being a sales person. Only egotistical morons would trample on a success story like mine. You're not raining on my parade buddy.. I am a retired Naval officer with 25 years of management experience and logistics. I know how to get things done. My contracts speak for themselves. They fired the TM guy at the base so what does that tell me? You paid way too much for a TM. And yes, I find your reply just a bit arrogant and insulting.

And at 12.5 cents a square foot I dare anyone to beat that price. (But in truth I provide a 15% discount to contracts... so it's actually 9.9 cents a square foot.) Good luck on that one.

Edited by MBCC - 25/May/2008 at 2:07am

The Navy taught me a lot. And failure wasn't a subject.

You missed the point of my post. It was to share a success story to encourage others. I don't have a beef with your TM. But they do costs a lot and cost more to operate than a portable machine.

I could have put myself in debt buying a TM. But I chose to buy a portable that cleans on par with a TM. That might throw you a bit. But the reality is your TM pushes more water and extracts well. My portable pushes less water and extracts well. The fact that a TM pushes more water doesn't make it better. Proper application of High traffic solution as a pre-spray and use of spotters works excellent with 500 psi Hot water extraction.   And customers don't see a difference in performance. So why wouldn't you use a machine that is cheaper to operate?

I know you have put many years under your belt in this business. And you are commenting on experience. I can respect that. But don't fall in that trap of thinking your way is the only way. You will lose every time... especially with technology advances.   

And the reason I might sound like a salesman is because I truly love my machine and can attest to it's results. I have seen what a TM can do and to be honest couldn't see any difference with the end result.

And the reason you are losing jobs by price is because your operating costs are higher. You really think anyone can under price 9.9 Cents a square foot? How much are you charging?

Ken,

You guys are a bunch of diehards... but thats Ok. I am your competition and will be happy to answer your questions.

- Portable exhaust isn't an issue. My recovery tank has a screw-cap viewport that doesn't allow vapors or mist to escape.

- I clean my recovery tank after each use in mere minutes: First drain it. Put 2 gallons of hot water mixed with enzymes in the feed tank. Remove the wand.   Turn the vacs on. Place the hose inside the feed tank to clean the unit. If you use enzymes then you know they kill urine bacteria.

- I don't use grocery store chems. SURTEC is an independent professional product supplier. Rug Doctor has a commercial line of products not sold in grocery stores. I manage my inventory by it's usage: I stock 7 spotters; 2 pre-sprays; 1 deep clean shampoo; 6 tank additives; 2 enzymes; 1 protectant. 19 products total. None sold at grocery stores.

- My customers are happy with the 4 hour dry time my machine provides. However, IF they ask for a quicker dry time, I would use Quick Dry Tank additive combined with a Viking Blower to reduce drying to 30 minutes.    

Edited by MBCC - 25/May/2008 at 10:32am

uh-oh he doesnt dry vac first!

Ken: I dry vac. Who doesn't? Its a hoover. But I guess thats sub-standard too.

Thanks for the good advice. I'll look into that. 90 percent of my research thus far has been internet based and I could definitely use more in the field observation / experience to boost my working knowledge. Who wants to be a internet weenie?

My newbie mistake. I purchased a carpet rotary buffer for restoration thinking it would be good to use on matted down areas on medium pile. The salesman sold me on it but I discovered that medium pile increased torque enough to pop 20 amp breakers. I soon discovered an alternate cheap solution: Deep clean in a bucket with stiff brush and muscle grease. It lifts the pile nicely prior to extraction. Practical for jobs with 100 square feet or less of restorative work. The buffer isn't exactly a waste of money... but I don't have any customers with low pile and my machine isn't getting any use. Im really not interested in hard surfaces, but I think I'll keep it in case it's needed for a large low-pile restoration job.