Carpet News & Views

Dateline: 18th August 2008

From left, NUCCA general manager Brian Clark, QWC manager demand and efficiency Gayle Leaver, QWC principal policy officer Elizabeth Kellet and NUCCA Queensland president Garry Carroll

As part of its drought exit strategy, Queensland Water Commission (QWC) has signalled that water efficiency guidelines and registration will become mandatory for all businesses using water as a raw material in South East Queensland.

Compulsory registration is already in place for the external cleaning industry, which includes pressure washers and window cleaners. QWC has mooted all water users in the SEQ cleaning industry, starting with carpet and upholstery cleaners, will soon fall under these requirements.

The National Carpet and Upholstery Cleaners Association (NUCCA) became involved when approached by
QWC to assist in developing water efficiency guidelines and a training course for carpet cleaning operations, which will become a requirement for all operators. NUCCA’s response was to call public meetings of the carpet cleaning and restoration industry in Brisbane, Gold and Sunshine Coasts to allow QWC to put its case and for the industry to respond.

The meetings were very poorly attended with less than 50 organisations represented at the meetings. However, the outcomes were very positive with virtually unanimous support for the QWC initiative and for QWC allowing NUCCA to develop and implement industry specific Water Efficiency Guidelines and training program on behalf of the industry.

Other industries have already been consulted and have adopted similar strategies but implementing the program in the cleaning industry may prove costly as each operator will have to undergo training and all businesses must register with Commerce Queensland after training.

Water efficient operators will be identified through signage on their vans and facilities and the registration requirement will be enforced by local councils.

According to the QWC, the concept of permanent water conservation methods is here to stay and could possibly be implemented in other areas of Queensland in the near future. With much of Australia drought affected, water supply commissions in other states are in communication with QWC and there are indications that similar regulations will be implemented in other regions of Australia.

QWC’s approach is designed to instil a long term culture of water management and conservation amongst users and consumers. Under the QWC drought exit strategy, whether you are a householder or a business, you have a responsibility to conserve water and will be brought to account if that responsibility is abused.
NUCCA has committed to have the water efficiency guidelines prepared for submission to QWC by December 2008.
For more information contact NUCCA on 1800 621872 or
www.nucca.asn.au

Dateline: 1st April 2008

“I strongly advise all carpet cleaners out there to do training and also to do research on their equipment,” emphasises Jason Regan, owner of carpet and hard surface cleaning specialist company Sady’s Cleaning Services. “It’s amazing how far technology has come with machines over the last 10 years so take advantage of it and use the best technology available.”

Sady’s Cleaning Services (also operating as Sady’s Carpet & Tile Care) is based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and covers the western suburbs and the city of Melbourne. The business, operated by Regan and his wife, has a mix of domestic and commercial clients. They also use two part-timers who help with the contract cleaning side of things and commercial carpet jobs.

Regan started his career by detailing stolen recovery cars for the RACV in 1998. He bought a little steam cleaner to clean the cars’ interiors and a couple of years later bought two portable machines and started doing carpets. “In 2002 I went to Prochem and they showed me their truck mounted machines, which up to then I didn’t know such machines existed,” relates Jason. “With their help my business has grown dramatically.”

Sady’s Cleaning Services started out doing budget rental cleaning and has now moved to the top end of the market doing hard surfaces as well as carpets. “I have four real estate agents on my books so I do a lot of rental properties,” explains says Jason. “I do contract cleaning, mainly at night, which includes offices and commercial properties and I also sub-contract to a property management company in the city which I do hard surface cleaning for.

“We have done a lot of hard surface cleaning, especially in the last six months, and it’s a big growth area for us. It’s the direction I want to take my business in. Mind you, I don’t want to bite the hand that’s fed me for all these past years - doing carpets - but I do want to be known as a specialist in hard surface cleaning.”

Sadys does hard surface cleaning for some supermarkets and has found a growing niche in commercial food premises, such as in a bakery preparation area. There are important health and safety issues to be addressed, observes Regan. “A lot of these businesses have health audits carried out so we go in beforehand to make sure that they pass.”

In tackling school cleaning, Regan does have a problem with chewing gum. “It really builds up after a period of time, especially at senior schools. It’s a real hands and knees job and there’s no other way around it. I usually get one of my staff to do the pre-vacuuming and get the chewing gum out of the way ahead of me so that I don’t have to stop and start all day. I’ve found that the best product to deal with chewing gum is Prochem’s Citrus Gel.”

Sadys has been cleaning schools, including three private, for about six years. They are serviced every Christmas period, from mid-December to the end of January. “It takes about five to six weeks to complete them all. It’s good business because it’s regular income guaranteed. Also, you are at the one site all day and you can clean a lot more square metres in a day that way,” Regan notes.

Like practically all other service providers, Sadys finds getting good staff a real problem. “I’m going to consolidate and train the right person before I expand,” says Regan. “My theory is to train someone under my wing before I let them go out by themselves.”

Regan offers a vote of thanks to two companies that have helped him along the way. “I really do have to thank Jena Dyco for its training.” Regan has taken various courses including carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, Certificate II Asset Maintenance and is planning to take Certificate III. Jena Dyco has really helped grow my business… without its help and Prochem’s my business would not be where it is today.”

Regan concludes, “It’s interesting that although I don’t get all my real estate agents’ work, as some of their landlords want the jobs done cheaper, they always ring me when there’s a problem. It’s taken me eight years to build up a good reputation and it’s now paying off. I’m pretty proud of that.”

Dateline: 1st February 2008


The shiny white Crown Carpet Cleaning van has the company name emblazoned in bright pink text, flanked with a cartoon of a cleaner wearing, of course, a crown. The trim, industrious turns out to closely resemble the bubbly Debbie Hodge who, with husband Barrie, provides a premium carpet steam-cleaning service to homes in their local area: Sydney's northern beaches. They travel as far north as Avalon, northwest to Wahroonga and down to Waverton.

"I am the only trained female cleaner on the Northern Beaches – as far as I know!" Emphasising the importance of attention to detail, Debbie maintains that it's because she's female that she "needs to know that every bit of dirt has been removed from the carpets we clean. In a home, that's valuable. We also think along the same lines as the homeowner: we won't lean the wand on the wall in case it marks, or leave machines in the middle of the hallway to be tripped over; being parents, we know that a child will see a bottle of chemicals as a drink!" she laughs. "Female customers will, I think, feel that another woman will be more in tune with these things. It's also comforting – a housewife at home alone during the day, perhaps with a small baby, doesn't really want a man she doesn't know in her house."

Crown was bought by the Hodges as a going concern about nine years ago. "Originally we relied on volume, charging very little," says Barrie. For many years the business was administered by Debbie with a succession of employees, none of whom was quite suitable.

"But I was naive – I'd never gone out and cleaned a carpet, so I had no real idea of what was involved," says Debbie. "I'd give quotes over the phone without much knowledge of the job. Then a neighbour suggested that I do the cleaning myself!" Debbie attended courses run by the IICRC, including one on water damage, and by the cleaning wholesalers.

Attitude is everything to Debbie, who is very deliberate about setting proper expectations. "I warn the clients their carpet will take longer to dry in colder or wetter weather. We're also realistic about how many stains we can remove – we'd rather undersell and then surprise the customer. Also, once we're in their home, we are not into onselling – everything is included in our quoted price. We don't get to a house and say, geez, your lounge really needs cleaning!"

"One customer needed us to work around her allergy to the perfumes used in some chemicals," mentions Barrie. "The personal touch is really important. You don't just barge into someone's house and simply clean carpets." In the last year, Barrie has also trained in carpet cleaning and spot and stain removal with the IICRC. Both are now working full-time in the business and find that as a pair they can be more responsive to customers while working effectively around the demands of raising a family.

Regular work is provided by domestic customers having their carpets cleaned every 6–12 months. The couple's busy period is October to March; Christmas cards can increase custom in January during school holidays. Fridge magnets are dropped in letterboxes in their local area. As well as cleaning rental properties for a real estate agent, the couple has recently acquired some regular commercial office cleaning, but the night work, which doesn't suit family life, is not their growth focus.

Crown is very pro-active in sourcing new local domestic work, the bulk of its business. Much of their large advertising spend is on the web which, Debbie says, is the source of most enquiries. "Our website is submitted to the search engines by a company who specialises in getting the site found by customers, and we pay for a sponsored ad on Google." Crown also features online in the Yellow and Pink Pages and on other local web directories. "There are five sites in all, so when we ask our customers how they found us, it can be difficult to get them to be specific," she laughs.

Crown's own website is editable by Debbie, who changes it to try new approaches and ideas. "I try to put as much on the website as possible so that when people ring me they have an idea of what we charge and how we work," she says. "We're also about to put a panel ad in the printed Yellow Pages. Although it's costly, we've found that people enquiring from our current small one-line ad are only wanting a cheap price rather than our more premium service."
www.crowncarpet.com.au