Hey folks,
I'm new to the forum and am planning a start up sometime this year. I apologise in advance for the long post but the more info you have the more you can help.
Back round info and why I'm starting:
Cleaned carpet and did disaster restoration with Servicemaster for 2 years but this was about 6 years ago. 2 more years of restoration and occasional carpet cleaning for another 2 years about 2 years ago. I have spent the last 3 years in a pharmaceutical manufacturing job (great money/benefits but boring as a one wheeled tricycle). Long story short (ok, not that short) I was laid off with 500 other floks now the wife and I have find a new path.
The goal:
Step one: my wife gets a job to cover benefits and bills for a bit.
Step 2: I start a business. I have 1 year to use 6 months of unemployment payments(any week I make more money than unemployment would pay they don't pay me and I can claim an extra week if needed.) $380/week
The business:
Carpet and tile cleaning (tile will come later), handyman services (tile repair, gutter cleaning, power washing, leaky faucets, smart home accessories, etc), and home inspection services.
It's a lot I know, but it all fits prior experience and meshes well together in my opinion (remember this posts purpose is for you to tell me how wrong I am). As I grow I can always drop services from the roster or hire someone to do it.
The budget:
16k in cash
Approximately 80k in available home equity.
I want to take 20k out of home equity to buy equipment, a van, my first round of chems, some marketing (seo, Facebook, fliers, and door to door if necessary), and secure insurance/ licensing. This leaves my 16k in cash as a backup and to help float my family if necessary. This way my greedy ex employer and the good ole gvmt gets me 6 months of payments.
Eq I'm considering:
Jagar 8.4 with a wand and bucket heaters. There is a package on magic wand that looks ok. Would eventually add a little giant and a water otter for more of a portable tm setup. Comes out to roughly $6k with hoses and reels, upholstery tool etc . ( 2 am research no used eq )
Entry level TM like an EZ (are they still making mounts? their web site is a cat falling over) low end is about 6k as best I can tell. Then I would still have to buy accessories.
Open to other suggestions, or offers of good used setups. I want to stay under 15k for eq and Van so I have money left for chems and marketing. I'm in Morgantown Wv, 30k residents, + 30k college student population. Other decent but smaller population centers in a 45 min radius.
I need help on slecting chems, we used prochem ultrapac lvc at service master for prespray ( worked well), and unsmoke for deodorizer, and citri solv for stains. What are floks using these days?
Well if you made it this far I commend you, I appreciate any and all help/advice/criticism (be gentle haha)
Thanks
Todd
I'm new to the forum and am planning a start up sometime this year. I apologise in advance for the long post but the more info you have the more you can help.
Back round info and why I'm starting:
Cleaned carpet and did disaster restoration with Servicemaster for 2 years but this was about 6 years ago. 2 more years of restoration and occasional carpet cleaning for another 2 years about 2 years ago. I have spent the last 3 years in a pharmaceutical manufacturing job (great money/benefits but boring as a one wheeled tricycle). Long story short (ok, not that short) I was laid off with 500 other floks now the wife and I have find a new path.
The goal:
Step one: my wife gets a job to cover benefits and bills for a bit.
Step 2: I start a business. I have 1 year to use 6 months of unemployment payments(any week I make more money than unemployment would pay they don't pay me and I can claim an extra week if needed.) $380/week
The business:
Carpet and tile cleaning (tile will come later), handyman services (tile repair, gutter cleaning, power washing, leaky faucets, smart home accessories, etc), and home inspection services.
It's a lot I know, but it all fits prior experience and meshes well together in my opinion (remember this posts purpose is for you to tell me how wrong I am). As I grow I can always drop services from the roster or hire someone to do it.
The budget:
16k in cash
Approximately 80k in available home equity.
I want to take 20k out of home equity to buy equipment, a van, my first round of chems, some marketing (seo, Facebook, fliers, and door to door if necessary), and secure insurance/ licensing. This leaves my 16k in cash as a backup and to help float my family if necessary. This way my greedy ex employer and the good ole gvmt gets me 6 months of payments.
Eq I'm considering:
Jagar 8.4 with a wand and bucket heaters. There is a package on magic wand that looks ok. Would eventually add a little giant and a water otter for more of a portable tm setup. Comes out to roughly $6k with hoses and reels, upholstery tool etc . ( 2 am research no used eq )
Entry level TM like an EZ (are they still making mounts? their web site is a cat falling over) low end is about 6k as best I can tell. Then I would still have to buy accessories.
Open to other suggestions, or offers of good used setups. I want to stay under 15k for eq and Van so I have money left for chems and marketing. I'm in Morgantown Wv, 30k residents, + 30k college student population. Other decent but smaller population centers in a 45 min radius.
I need help on slecting chems, we used prochem ultrapac lvc at service master for prespray ( worked well), and unsmoke for deodorizer, and citri solv for stains. What are floks using these days?
Well if you made it this far I commend you, I appreciate any and all help/advice/criticism (be gentle haha)
Thanks
Todd