Up 30% this year....
Ken - I am THRILLED to hear about your numbers. We are up this year also. Even have two companies inquiring about wanting to buy our company as well... so, if consumers are cleaning, and companies are investing, then those are good signs.
With the "other" conversation going on here - between mechanized cleaning and more hands-on cleaning - here is the distinction... if you KNOW cleaning, and are thorough, a low-tech can outclean a high-tech operation. It will take them MUCH longer, but it is possible.
But here's the deal... when you have cultivated a list of REPEAT clients who come to you annually for cleaning, then you are cleaning not heavily soiled rugs, so a lot of this argument becomes moot. A lightly soiled rug can be cleaned excellently by both methods.
Some people want a large company, and volume-based. I think that's awesome. You get to support a lot of good people and families and creating value in the community in the work you do and the lives you support.
We like a smaller workshop operation. We do 100-200 rugs a week. $4-$5 sq ft base price on all fibers (natural and synthetic). Our team is 7 people. It's ideal for us. We get quality connecting time with clients. We get to focus on all areas of each rug one at a time.
Which model is "best" depends on what kind of life you want to build.
I've been to DA Burns - it's a phenomenal operation. Bryan cares about quality and relationships. I expect Ken's operation is also awesome because he obviously cares as well about rugs and people.
But let's say that either of their operations had no PREP work - no thorough dusting, or pre-treatment, or watchful eyes - and it was a 5-minute wash cycle. It would not be as great as Hyde's - nowhere near it ... but it would still be better than these hacks who surface clean rugs in the home with their portable or truckmount. No dusting, limited rinsing, no fringe work, and often using solutions that are not the most effective as the solutions used for in-plant cleaning and with the large volume of water used.
And that's all just my opinion based on crappy Moore cleaning from Los Angeles versus pieces we get from carpet cleaning companies who fail with their in-home strategies.
Hope that helps add some more fuel to the fire,
Lisa