Is anyone on here a professional oven or carpet cleaner?

[Grimeduster]

Or if you regularly have these things done I'd appreciate some advice!

I'm a self-employed cleaner and really need to increase my earnings. I'd like to offer either oven or carpet cleaning but not sure which one to go for. I don't have a lot of money to invest in equipment but could manage a few hundred as long as I could make it back relatively quickly.

For oven cleaning I've been looking at dip tanks and these are £££££! Are these necessary for domestic oven cleaning or are they more for commercial cleaning? Could anyone recommend an affordable kit?

For carpet cleaning I've seen the blue rug doctor machine can be found reconditioned for around £300. It's not the best option out there but might be good for a start. I could always upgrade if it goes well.

Any advice or thoughts welcome!

Our local oven cleaner doesn't have any special equipment and doesn't use particularly strong chemicals. I don't know exactly what he uses (sorry) but there is a lot of elbow grease involved and he takes things apart to clean them like the door and the fan. He says he gets through three ovens/customers a day, charged me £90 for my oven and combi oven/microwave.

Not sure if that is helpful.

We had our oven cleaned and he didn't use any chemicals at all. Dismantled it all and it was like new when he'd finished. I wish I knew what he did! If you can figure it out and you're in a reasonably wealthy area I reckon you'll be quids in.

I had OvenUClean who dipped and a local who didn't.

The dip was cleaner and faster.

That's interesting @ImpossibleDrear @veneeroftheyear do you think they had a dip tank out in the van? How did they soak the shelves?

I've seen some electric dip tanks that you plug in at the customers house. Not sure customers would feel about the electricity usage.

Carpet cleaner I reckon.

I have my oven done once a year and it is dipped. It carpet cleaning I would love if my cleaner offered it - plus I would likely get different carpets done throughout the year rather than oven once a year

Carpet cleaning is probably your best option. A lot of legwork in it but you’ll have more repeat business. Carpets get dirtier than an oven

I once had someone in to clean my frankly disgusting oven - IIRC he just used Astonish, no fancy equipment.
Best £45 I ever spent! (Ages ago, it’d be a lot more now.)

Carpet cleaning!

less outlay and fits more neatly with the service you are already offering.

my oven is a self cleaning oven and it's been a game changer in terms of keeping it clean longer with minimal effort.

a cleaner local to us also offers a re-siliconing service for showers/ taps etc.

My one didn't dip. I think it was just elbow grease but the result was amazing. I agree with a pp that people probably have carpets cleaned more regularly.

But carpets are such hard physical work to clean and I bet you'll be asked to clean badly stained and impossible to clean ones .
I'd go for ovens and no special equipment .

Could you clean a few ovens for extra with just elbow grease to start and use extra cash to invest in a decent carpet cleaner then you can offer both services as additional to you existing and new clients? If your prices are competitive and they already know you you have additional incomes already for the takings

I had my oven cleaned recently and the poor guy was literally running backwards & forwards to his van. It wasn't even particularly dirty.
I think you'd have to work extremely hard to make any money.

Are you planning to only offer the new service to existing clients, or promote as a separate service?

I've used professional carpet cleaners (too) many times as we moved frequently and rented for a long time.

I personally wouldn't be happy if a professional cleaned my carpet with a rug doctor, as it's a domestic machine and doesn't clean nearly as well the extraction equipment that many professionals use.

Do you already offer extras like changing bed linens, ironing, laundry, decluttering, plant-watering during clients holidays?

What about pressure washing? Yes it's outside cleaning, but it's still just cleaning. There are quite a few people who make youtube videos about their businesses - Partridge Exterior Cleaning is the best one imo, he's very open and honest with advice for people starting up. Obviously he's got a mega setup now with a van-mounted pressure washer tank and flat surface cleaner and a steam cleaner and all sorts, but when I started watching his videos a couple of years ago it was basically just a higher level domestic pressure washer and a standard nozzle he had, he was branching out from window cleaning and roof scraping. You wouldn't want to quote to do giant car parks or anything, but small driveways/paths/patios, things like garden furniture, even cleaning wheelie bins and such all need doing and people will pay £££ for the convenience of getting them done by someone else. You'd just need the pressure washer and some waterproofs to give it a go, and you could even hire one first time around to try it out.

Lots to think about!

Some really good ideas. I know the Rug Doctor machine isn't the best but I would price accordingly to reflect that. I love the idea of offering re siliconing on baths and taps as many people are in need of that. I may start offering 'non professional' oven cleans and see how it goes. I'm not afraid of hard work, I clean like my life depends on it 😁

@givemushypeasachance I considered that, but was worried as there is more chance of damage to property with pressure washing. Also how does it work with clients on a water meter? Not sure they'd be too happy about increased water bill on top of the cleaning charge.

My husband and I have quite poor health and I am often keen to get someone (a woman!) to help with jobs like going through the kids wardrobes, decluttering, tidying the shed, taking stuff to the tip or charity shop. There's a lady I pay an hourly rate to for that, plus she does a bit of gardening for us sometimes, things like that. If you let existing clients know you are happy to do a wider range of jobs for your existing rate, that might be somewhere to start?

Would the cleaning between holiday lets/air bnb be something to get into ? They need someone really fast and good during holiday season.My friend has cancelled hers and does it herself as the firm she used was'nt particular enough.

This. My oven cleaner uses a dip tank and the racks, trays etc come out like brand new.

My oven cleaner used large flat under bed storage boxes as dip trays

I had someone in to clean the oven that came with my house 4yrs ago. A double width oven, forget what they're called. No dipping, just old fashioned scrubbing, cost £50.