by Steve Brandt, HydraMaster Corp.

It’s a logical step in the growth of any business to upgrade the tools you use and keep pace with increasing business. Moving from portables to truckmounts is an important step if you’re in the carpet cleaning business. Many if not most of us start out with a portable extractor to keep costs manageable. Then, if things go well, the business increases to the point where we can no longer take care of all the customers and we run the risk of losing them. At this point there are a few things we can do. One option is to increase prices to thin out the customer list and increase profits on each job. This may be a good idea but it tends to limit growth. Another move would be to buy a second portable and hire someone to run it. This would increase the number of jobs possible, but adds the headache of an employee and vehicle with all the associated costs.

A more logical step to increasing production in a carpet cleaning business would be to move up from using portables to cleaning with a Truckmount. It’s a generally accepted fact in our industry that one can clean more carpet easier and faster with a Truckmount than with a portable. It’s not that one can’t do a good job of cleaning carpets with a portable, it’s just more work. It’s more labor intensive. Some have built very successful, high quality businesses using portables but they seem to be the exception.

So what do you get by moving up from a portable to a Truckmount? Reading the article; A Guide to Truckmounted Carpet Cleaning Systems will be a good place to start. Hotter cleaning water is one of the great benefits of a truckmount. Remember the old rule that for every 18° temperature rise over 118° the molecular action of water doubles? Well there is a lot of doubling going on when a Truckmount takes water temperature up from the low 100’s to well into the mid 200 degrees. Hot water cleans better and faster. Combine this heat with the higher solution flow volumes of a truckmount and you have a lot more cleaning action going on! For a better understanding of how truckmounts heat water, read the article; All About Heat Exchangers.

Another great advantage of truckmounts is the strong vacuum which removes soil better and leaves carpets drier. Although it’s a little technical, if you want to learn more about the nature of vacuum and air movement, read the article; Myths, Fables & Facts About Vacuum Systems.

The net result is that with a truckmount you can clean more carpets in a day - and do so with a lot less effort - than you can with a portable. A typical small to mid-sized Truckmount can be purchased on a lease for $500 down and $250 per month. That means that a truckmount will cost no more than you make on one job per month, and adds many times that to the profit of your business. To learn more about leases, see the website www.hathawaycapital.com

If you are still operating a carpet cleaning business with portable equipment and are looking to expand your business and increase your profits, take a close look at a machine like the Boxxer 318. It’s the next logical step to achieving your goals.

HydraMaster has manufactured truckmounted carpet cleaning equipment for 37 years. Additional technical articles dealing with truckmount issues can be found at; Tech Articles