Our Founders, Acres Dry Cleaners commenced cleaning operations in 1931 and the business of Swift Carpet Cleaners was formed as a division soon after. The Acres dry cleaners group decided to restructure the business a little to form a separate business identity, that’s when Swift Carpet Cleaners first entered the Adelaide carpet cleaning market in the Western suburbs under a totally independent name.
West Lakes was swamp land and much of Port Adelaide was a vibrant heavily populated port community. Adelaide was also a busy hub.
The procedure for cleaning carpets in the early stages involved a team of Swift Carpet Cleaning employees travelling out to homes in a truck, moving our customer’s furniture, removing the carpets from the house completely, replacing the furniture and then transporting the carpets back to our factory at Findon.
At our factory the carpets were then thoroughly vacuumed and then placed in huge tumbling circular machine which would beat and shake the carpet to remove the majority of dirt, soil and dust. This machine was very large and industrial at around 10 metres in diameter. This carpet dry cleaning machine created a large amount of dust which resulted in a tough working environment for our factory and employees, the surrounding neighbours weren’t all that happy either.
Once the carpets came out of the huge industrial beating machine, they were then shampooed in our large buildings on Findon Road. After shampooing the carpets were then hung up to dry using a ropes and pulley system. The carpets were dried with industrial fans and drying equipment.
When our carpet cleaning technicians were satisfied with the result, the team of carpet layers and carpet cleaners travelled back out to the customer’s homes, moved their furniture, relayed and re-stretched the carpets and then placed the furniture back into position.
That’s how carpets were cleaned for decades.
With the improvement of equipment and machinery, the invention of electrical and mechanical steam cleaners it became easier and more economical to clean carpets in the customer’s home. After vacuuming the shampooing machines were employed, which rotary shampooed the carpets using nylon brushes and detergent solution in a tank.
Swift Carpet Cleaners Adelaide division then pioneered the use of an industrial truck mounted cleaning set up. This equipment was initially powered by diesel engines. Four cylinder engines powered a series of pulley systems with pumps and positive displacement blowers were employed as a very high powered suction system. These machines generate great heat and high pressure of the water solution which was injected into the carpet using a specialist stainless steel cleaning wand. The water is then immediately extracted using the industrial vacuum system and is filtered and discharged in the machine and automatically pumped out. This machine was mounted in a large truck and was the beginning of a new era in onsite carpet cleaning in South Australia.
During the early stages and into the 60s and 70s Swift Carpet Cleaners employed up to 30 staff members at one time. With the efficiency and power of the machinery now days, our work force is less than 10 employees. The Acres group sold the business in 1997 to current owner Andrew Radloff who had been in the Adelaide carpet cleaning industry for 5 years.
Since 1997 the business has undergone restructuring. We have relocated from 180 Findon Road, Findon, to our new address at 24 William Street in Beverley. Our Base has always been and will always be in the western suburbs. Since 2009 Swift have been undertaking major renovations and have built a new factory on the corner of Charles Road and Lancelot Street in Beverley. This facility is state of the art and will allow our business to prosper in years to come.
Swift Carpet Cleaners are South Australia’s longest running carpet cleaning business and the second longest running carpet cleaning business in all of Australia. If you take into account the year our Parent company Acres Dry Cleaners commenced carpet cleaning operations we are truly the longest running in Australia in our opinion. The business has certainly endured a lot of tough financial crises and changing economical climates. It is a credit to our exceptional customer service, standards and business management practices that the company has survived continually, without ever closing its doors.
We currently have dozens of customers that have been using Swift Carpet Cleaners over 30 to 40 years straight. These customers are loyal to our Adelaide Carpet Cleaning division and we offer great quality service to these customers in return for their loyal patronage. Many generations of these families have been using Swift and will continue using Swift for years to come. It would be a pleasure for you to join our history as another satisfied customer and enjoy the superior quality cleaning that Swift have to offer.