This is a question which comes up from time to time. If you have read my carpet cleaning business guide, you know my best advice is never listen to a salesman or equipment distributor. They’ll sell you everything and anything in stock and you’ll fill your garage in no time at all with useless tools.
Your selection of tools should be related directly to what services you provide. For example, I provide low moisture carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and hard surface cleaning of floors and counter tops. When I first started out I would buy decent upright machines which were on sale and then replace them when they broke. After a few years I changed my strategy and started buying the best equipment I could get my hands on (and afford). For my business, I had to be ready for dry carpet and upholstery cleaning (vacuums), water extraction, carpet shampooing, tile and grout cleaning. So my equipment fell within those categories.
So if you were to check my truck on any given day, you would find a ProTeam Upright vacuum. This machine is very lightweight yet does a great job and holds up to abuse very well. I’d have my small Eureka canister for furniture or mattress cleaning. As a backup vacuum, I carried an older consumer type vacuum. Only about 20% of my business at any given time was commercial but I would also have a Hoover backpack vacuum for commercial jobs and large homes. Through the years I’ve found that backpack has helped me out of many jams.
I only use water extraction in “flooded” situations or for the occasional customer who desires this service. But it is always a good investment to carry. There are several options by Sanitaire which will do the job nicely. I suggest being very careful here since you can spend a few thousand dollars on water extraction equipment which you’ll never use.
My main carpet cleaning machine is a Cimex floor shampooer and I do smaller jobs with a Challenger 1/2 HP oscillating machine. I also have a cordless drill kit I use for steps and furniture cleaning. In the past 5 years these two machines have been able to do 95% of all jobs with 100% customer satisfaction. You can check out my business guide for details on how to make this system work for you.
Beyond the machines mentioned, I have a good variety of brushes and chemicals that make this work. No magic here but with the equipment above you can surpass the business of those guys who spend $75,000 on truck mount systems. I know since I’ve done it for years.
I hope this helps give newbies an idea of what is needed to do the job.
