I've been checking out various web sites and forums, and am considering this carpet cleaning business.
Obviously, there's a seasonal nature to the business: I expect the peak times would be pre-holidays, probably mid-November to mid-December, and the spring.
I'm curious: when do you find the demand at it's highest, and when are the famine days?

I can only speak for the New England area. Business is best in the 8 or so warmer months, then cools off along with the temperature. I have never found there to be much of a spike in business prior to the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's holiday period. In anylyzing my data for several years, I found that I do about twice the business volume in the busiest 4 months of the year as I do during the slowest 4 month period.

i'd say if your looking to start... now would be about the right time...

i tried started in jan... VERY slow... i'm expecting things to pick up very soon though... even with family they where waiting for spring to get here before cleaning... granted i think once i have some customer base it'll be a bit easier to get work int he winter... but i don't expect it to be as busy as spring/summer time

in FL i think it's more economics then temp... although people don't like doing stuff when it's down and under 50* here haha... but jan people are getting hit with overspending at Christmas... feb is a short month so less time to make money to pay bills... i think march starts some normalcy... temps are getting up to the 70s durring the day and such...

well time to go drop fliers so i can get some of that biz ;-)
mark

I think winter is winter no matter where you are.

People are in that type of mind set.

Thats why you need some comm work to tied you over. I am starting up my janitorial service on a limited basis.

The good thing for me is my wife is a sub teacher, so when I do go full time, she can work a few days a week and we will still eat.

for me:

resi is that way...winter slow, warmer months busy.

but commercial is not quite as noticeable. for me the more accounts i find, the busier i stay in Jan, Feb and March.

Nov & Dec have been my busiest comm months.

thanx --- Derek

For someone who's finger has been on the trigger, but who hasn't been able to fire as of yet, this is the ideal time to start a carpet cleaning business. If you keep waiting to act, if you're trying to get just a little more information, then you will in all likelihood remain stuck in inaction, becoming yet another victim of overanalysis paralysis.