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.