History Of Swift Carpet Cleaners

The Founders, Bunny Acres & Ted Acres commenced Dry Cleaning and laundry operations in 1931 and several years later offered a rug and carpet cleaning service due to customer requests because there were no other options.

Acres dry cleaners decided to form a separate business because the carpet cleaning service became very popular & staff numbers were rapidly growing as there wasn’t any competition.

In 1950, The Acres family formalised Swift Carpet Cleaner’s to operate independently.

Port Adelaide was a vibrant port community & Swift carpet cleaners would often be called in to clean cabins on ships.

The procedure for cleaning carpets in the early stages involved a team of employees travelling out to homes in a truck, moving the furniture, removing the carpets from the house completely, replacing the furniture into the room before transporting the carpets back to our factory at Findon.

At our Findon road facility the carpets were placed in a huge machine which rotated in a circular motion “beating”, tumbling and shaking the carpet to remove the majority of dirt, soil and dust. This machine was around 10 metres in diameter.

This carpet dry cleaning machine created a large amount of dust. This was a tough working environment for our factory and employees, the surrounding neighbours weren’t all that happy with the clouds of dust either!

Once the carpets came out of the industrial beating machine, they were then shampooed & washed and then hung up to dry using ropes and pulley system.

The team of carpet cleaners travelled out to the customer’s homes, moved the furniture, relayed the carpets and placed the furniture back into position.

When electricity became standard in most homes and business’s it was more economical and convenient to clean carpets in the customer’s home.

After vacuuming the carpets, they were rotary shampooed using nylon brushes and detergent solution in a tank. Swift carpet cleaners then used a combustion engine powered truck mounted cleaning machine.

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.

The Acres group sold the business in 1997 to current owner Andrew Radloff who had already been in the Adelaide carpet cleaning industry since 1992.staff.

In 2000 we relocated from Findon to our new address at 24 William Street in Beverley.

Swift Carpet Cleaners are believed to be South Australia’s longest running carpet cleaning business and the second longest running carpet cleaning business in all of Australia.

The business has survived through many difficult times due to exceptional customer service, integrity, attention to details.