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I ordered a new bag for my vac and it was shipped with the slide bar inside the bag. A little bell went off! Leave the slide bar on the inside and it works great.
On the nicer wool rugs, I use either the Upholstery Mate or the Ninja and on my hands and knees extract them one square foot at a time. I extract each area as many times as necessary to get it clean, then groom it and put two carpet fans on it to dry it. This is done at the shop and not in the home. On the lightly soiled rugs I use our standard low moisture method and groom. Usually works out good. I charge between $1.50 and $2.50 per square foot for the extraction cleaning, pickup and delivery (“Whatever the market will bear.”)
I used my local bank’s merchant services department to set up my Mastercard/Visa/Discover card processing. Their percentage fee is a little high (3.38%) but there are no monthly fees or other service charges. I only take a few credit cards a month so I think the charge is reasonable and allows me to accommodate my customers who want to use their card.
I have two small portable air compressors in the van. One is 12-volt and one is 110-volt, both purchased from Sears for less than $60 each. If I am doing a small job I use the 12-volt and pump up the sprayer in the van. If it’s a large protector job I carry the 110-volt unit into the house so I will not have to run back and forth to the van.
I personally would handle this situation differently than most of the posts here. First of all, you will never, ever, win a debate with a customer over the telephone. When I run into a disgruntled customer, no matter how long it’s been since their last cleaning, I politely tell them that I will be glad to look at their problem the very next time I am in their area, which hopefully will be in a few days. I go look, have a discussion with them in person, try to fix the problem, and file their name in the back of my mind for future reference. They will never receive the $99 special again, ever. I will charge them more so I can afford to take care of their warranty problems. Even though you get angry and take it personally, these people are the ones that tell everybody what a bad job we did.
I have been in other businesses and tried to argue with the customer and it did not work!
Just my thoughts.
Neil:
I do a group of single story elderly apartments and there are several buildings at each location. I bought a handtruck from Lowe’s with neumatic tires and the handle can be converted to lay the truck down flat. It has two small wheels at the top or front so when flat you have four wheels. I cut a piece of 3/4″ plywood about 30″ by 36″ and bolted it to the handtruck to make a platform. I can carry my equipment on it and it works great. I have used it also when doing stores in the mall.
The last pews I cleaned were simple seat and back. I charged $1.00 per foot and $10 per pew to protect.
When I was in training in 1999 Cody recommended that we get a state sales tax number and pay the state use tax on all products purchased from Heaven’s Best – Idaho. The rate in NC is the same as the sales tax of 7% and I pay it quarterly. I don’t need the Dept. of Revenue knocking on the door looking to audit.
I have been using QuickBooks from my beginning in 1999. I have found it to be very easy to use after the different accounts are set up in the system. When it comes time to pay employee taxes, etc., the program produces the amounts and checks. I have my business set up as an S-Corporation and at the end of the year my accountant just loads my info into his system, makes adjustments, and furnishes the tax forms. Works great!
Jay Livesay
NC10
