If you have ever wanted to start a business then you should consider carpet cleaning. It is a high profit business that can be operated from a shop or from home to save money. You can even stay an owner operator and not have to deal with employees and still make a great living. However, if you really want to increase your chances of success you should look for a carpet cleaning business for sale in your area.

Buying an existing business can really help smooth out the rough patches when starting a business. An existing owner looking to sell can help train you for a reasonable amount of time and help with your business and marketing plan.

Now, where to find a carpet cleaning business for sale. Some of the following are a few places to start looking for a business for sale in your area.

Local papers
Many papers have a classified section which features businesses for sale. It may be difficult to find such a specific business as a carpet cleaning service; however, if you search many papers within a few hundred miles, you may be able to find some equipment you need.

Real estate sites
I always check the major real estate sites in my area to see what businesses are for sale. Sites like United Country have searchable businesses for sale in geographic areas. You can drill down to service businesses to help speed up your search. Some sites even incorporate the MLS listings so you can see everything for sale in your area.

Franchises
If you would like to go with a franchise carpet cleaning business for sale you can purchase already running franchises from owners looking to make a change or simply retiring. Many franchises like Chemdry, Stanley Steamer, and Oxi Fresh will provide a list of franchises for sale.

Business sites
Sites like bizbuysell.com offer many listings. You can do an advanced search and try to find a carpet cleaning business for sale in your area.

Contact owners
If you cannot find any results from the aforementioned listing you may have to contact owners. Simply call them up or email them and tell them you are looking to purchase a carpet cleaning business in the area. Ask them if they have considered selling and feel them out.

A carpet cleaning business can be a great business to own. You can often work as much or as little as you want. You can also grow the operation into a multi-truck operation or stay an owner operator. However, doing it all on your own can be very taxing. That is why many people choose to buy a franchise carpet cleaning business for sale.

Starting a franchise carpet cleaning business does offer more of a chance to be successful; however, if you buy an already successful franchise you can almost step right into a great position and benefit from franchise support.

There are many benefits to choosing a franchise over starting a business from scratch. A franchise will provide you with a proven method of doing business that virtually eliminates a learning curve in the carpet cleaning business. Franchises will often help with marketing materials as well and let you know what works and what doesn’t. Finally, franchises will often help with financing the purchase of the business, even if you are buying an existing franchise from someone else.

Entrepreneur.com offers a great list of carpet cleaning franchises. Most of these franchises will provide you with a list of current franchises for sale. These businesses are often required to notify the franchiser of their intentions to sell. The franchisor will also need to approve the new buyer just like they where issuing a new franchise license.

Some of the main carpet cleaning franchises to check are the following:

Chemdry:

Chemdry has been franchising carpet cleaning businesses for over 30 years. They are the biggest carpet cleaning franchise in terms of square feet of carpet cleaned per year. Chemdry offers a patented cleaning method along with proprietary cleaning solutions. They offer great financing terms on the purchase of a franchise along with equipment purchases.

Stanley Steamer:

Stanley Steamer is more expensive to purchase; however, they have a great name brand recognition. They fun many tv spots and advertise online quite a bit. This can really help with business when buying an existing franchise.

Oxi Fresh:

Oxi Fresh has become a recent fast growing carpet cleaning franchise in recent years. It is similar to Chemdry in that it is very affordable and offers financing.

If you are looking to start a carpet cleaning business then you may want to consider buying an existing company. Buying a carpet cleaning business for sale can give you a tremendous advantage over a startup. Most businesses that are for sale are either on the market because the owner is retiring, it is not making money, or because of a relocation. No matter what reason for the sale it is important to focus on three things. The equipment, the advertising, and the customer database will help you determine whether or not the business for sale is a good buy or not.

Good equipment for a carpet cleaner is a must. If you have never owned a carpet cleaning business then you must do some research on equipment to determine whether or not the seller’s equipment will meet your needs. Some businesses will buy inferior equipment to save money. This usually costs the business repeat customers because of inferior cleanings. This is where an education in equipment will come in handy. If the equipment is top-of-the-line and the owner has maintenance records then you can proceed with the buying process. Also, any reputable seller will allow you to take the equipment to an independent professional to have it checked out.

Next, you should determine what type of advertising is already in place. Most established businesses will already have yellow page advertisements and a variety of other media ads in place. In addition, an existing business should have detailed records of what marketing has worked in the past and what has not. This can be invaluable knowledge to a new business owner and will save you untold amounts of money and time that would have been spent testing marketing campaigns.

carpet cleaning business for sale

Finally, one of the most important assets that an existing business for sale can have is a good customer database. These are individuals that are proven buyers of the service that you will be offering. One of the main things to examine with a customer database is how up to date the list is. Many businesses neglect their lists and do not remove double entries, deaths, and movers. If the list is quite large then it can be submitted to a mailing house, for a fee, and they will purge the list for you. In addition, if the list is segmented it can make it more valuable. A list that is broken down by how often the customer purchases can greatly reduce your marketing costs. A customer that has not purchased carpet cleaning in the last six years is not as valuable as a customer that is serviced every six months.

Those are the three main factors that can determine whether or not to buy a carpet cleaning business for sale. It can often be easier to purchase a business with a track record instead of starting a carpet cleaning business from scratch.  Just remember to have the equipment checked out by a professional, examine the marketing records, and thoroughly examine customer database to determine if the business is viable. Revenue produced by the business is also of great concern; however, revenues generated can swing wildly because of who is performing the work. A technician that is good at up selling items such as protectant and disinfectant could easily double the revenue produced by a technician that is happy to just put in eight hours and go home. This is why revenue produced by the business should be considered separately from the previous three items.

There are a few great places online to look for carpet cleaning businesses for sale. The first would be a local real estate website. A site like Remax.com will help you locate a local agency. From there you can search for businesses for sale in an area. These sites pull all the MLS listings, so you can see all the listings and not just the ones from that agency. Another, great place to check is Craigslist.org . More and more business owners are using resources like Craigslist to sell there business themselves and save the commission to a broker. Finally, if you don’t see anything for sale in your area you may want to consider calling up owners and asking them if they would consider selling. It may plant the seed in their minds and also lets them know if they do not sell there may be more competition entering the market if you start up from scratch.