Start a Carpet Cleaning Business (and Upholstery cleaning)

Starting a carpet cleaning business can be extremely lucrative and what you do is clean carpets and upholstery for homeowners, landlords and commercial businesses.

Seriously, this can be a very profitable business, especially if you can get multiple contract accounts where you come back for repeat business on a regular basis.

All you really need to get started is a basic rug cleaning machine that you can rent from a local hardware store or even most grocery stores or supermarkets.

Valuable skills/Requirements

You don’t need an education to be a carpet cleaner, but having the knowledge and experience to tackle certain jobs will give you more confidence to make a move towards building a profitable business.

Being able to market and sell your service is a large part – maybe 75% -- of the success of your carpet cleaning business. And this is a business weighted towards a service. You are not selling a product and therefore, it is a service and that includes making the customer understand that your number one goal is customer service.

You are not just cleaning carpets. You are building a relationship with your customer, helping her enjoy her home because you made it look a little better. A satisfied customer is also your best form of marketing. Because he or she will tell someone else who will call you for your service.

Basically, you have to sell yourself and your service. But the more you understand it is you they are hiring, and not simply the equipment that does that job, the more successful you will be.

Salesmanship is crucial to the success of your business. If you are shy or don’t like to interact with people, this will not be the right business for you to begin. Many times you’ll be left alone in a home while the homeowner goes off to work or simple stays out of your way. If you’re not outgoing and don’t seem trustworthy – then you’re going to have a tough time growing your business.

How much you can make

Charges range from $45 to $150 per hour or $25 to $75 per room, depending on your region. I see a lot of ads for carpet cleaning one room for $25, and then it is more once the special is over. It’s a good way to “get your foot in the door” and be called back for repeat business at a higher rate.

Once you get more experience, it’s easier to figure out how long each room is going to take and your hourly rate can be increased while the speed of your work also increases. And note, if it’s going to take a carpet cleaner a half an hour to clean a carpet, the cost will be for the hourly fee. This can easily add up to $200 to $300 by just cleaning two to three homes a day.

Carpet Cleaning Business Startup Costs

You can begin by renting equipment from a local hardware or even grocery store for less than $25 a day. Once you have set up appointments for a full day, you can rent the machine and if you do five carpets at $35 each, your net profit will be $150!

As your business grows, you can buy your won equipment and eventually a van or truck to haul around your equipment. Most of the established carpet and upholstery businesses have commercial equipment that is set-up on a generator inside their truck or vans. As you become more established – it’s a more economical option.

But for just starting out, renting your equipment makes the most sense.

 

See Suze and Ev's Carpet Cleaning Guide