How to start a carpet cleaning service business

One of the best all-around cleaning businesses to get into is carpet cleaning. This rock-solid business model has been around for some time and has succeeded in making a very comfortable living for many folk. The business has just about everything you could ask for in a start-up venture, including a high demand and above average earning potential.

If you find yourself with little start-up capital, you can still get into carpet cleaning by leasing your equipment. To get started, check out a carpet cleaner equipment provider in the Yellow Pages. While some may not rent or lease equipment, (many will) you may be able to convince the owner to take a chance on you. After all, if you become a success, you're going to be purchasing a lot of new equipment from them.

Now, the thing about this business is that it's not really a good idea to simply decide you're going to become a carpet cleaner, purchase equipment, and start learning as you go along. You're going to have to have some experience or hire a helper that has that experience. It's actually quite easy to ruin an expensive carpet. The best way to get this experience is to work for a carpet cleaning company for a while. Once you leave, make sure you set up shop in another area so you're not competing with your former employer.

While there are several techniques to cleaning carpet, the one you're going to probably start with is hot water extraction, or steam cleaning. This technique sprays water into the carpet under pressure and extracts it seconds later with a high powered vacuum. The reference to steam is actually the mist created by the hot water spray.

As you are just getting into this business, you will probably be starting with portable hot water extraction units. These are cheaper and much more portable than truck mounted units (though less powerful). When your business starts creating a little profit, you might want to invest in a truck mounted unit simply for its sheer power. Also, any serious carpet cleaner tends to have at least one truck mounted unit.

As a one-man operation, you should be able to make $30,000 to $60,000 per year. From there, you can hire helpers and add more trucks. After that, the sky's the limit as far as this in demand cleaning business goes.