Carpet Cleaning Issues - Carpet construction, upholstery cleaning, stain removal, equipment, events, etc.
Moving furniturePosted by BeeClean (BeeClean), 2 November 2003
Without going 'off topic' in another discussion 
do many of you move furniture for your customers 
if not do you make an exception for oaps Posted by Dynafoam (Dynafoam), 2 November 2003
BC,
I always remove & replace most furniture. Exceptions being items which might be damaged by moveing (filled wardrobes, weak bookcases) and the real hernia-makers.
I ask only that the customer removes small toys ( ever picked up 1000 odd pieces of lego?) and sugest that they might feel happier if they themselves find a safe home for the 'ming vase'.
When the customer trys to help you often find all the furniture piled up at the far end of the lounge - the very bit you wish to clean first 
Johns' first two laws of furniture removal:
1] Ensure safety of article, contents and of John.
2] Never move any item much further than its' own base-size.
John.Posted by pre-vac_Nick (pre-vac_Nick), 2 November 2003
Same here i ask my clients to remove small breakables and i move the basics 3pce tables chairs, tv's etc.
It seems latley that with these big 32" screens dvd's playstations the clients dont want me to move them because of all the wires, so i usually take the price off for that area, simple really!! Posted by Ken_Wainwright (Ken Wainwright), 2 November 2003
Same as John and Nick. Except I don't discount for items not moved. In reality, by the time you've vacced around and often under the furniture, been extra cautious not to overspray with tlc, miserably failed and had to quickly wipe off the excess and maybe buffed up the saponified wax polish, it would have been easier and quicker to have moved the item in the first place. Come to think of it, after reading my own posting, perhaps I should charge more for working around the furniture 
Safe and happy cleaning
KenPosted by John_Flynn (John_Flynn), 2 November 2003
What more can one say??
The two previous posts say it all.
Men after my own heart, (not many of us left lads).Posted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 2 November 2003
Most customers, I find will ask on the phone when given the quote, what furniture shall I move? I always say the small items like magazine racks, plants etc, and I will move the suite over while cleaning.
Yesterday I went to a regular customer who has moved from a large 4 bed house to a small 3 bed with her son and 4 Golden Retrievers. 10 by 12 L/room with what looked like a 4 ft plasmascreen tv and hi fi equipment that took up half the room, not to mention 3 piece suite coffee table several plants, nest of tabels etc. Her son sat on the sofa and watched me start to struggle with the furniture. I said I wont touch hi fi tv etc, in case I pull wires out (thinking I dont want to be here). I started cleaning, the son said about my Ninja, your machine doesent look as powerfull as I thought it would .
Needless to say I charged his mum £7 extra as I didnt give a firm quote on the phone. This room can you belive took 45 mins. She told me she would be moving again soon and would call me to clean their new house 
.
That was just a bad day 
If a customer rings and asks for a quote to clean an empty house, home movers etc, I will give a 10% discount, much quicker to clean!
JohnPosted by Dynafoam (Dynafoam), 2 November 2003
John,
Those customers were not chinese by any chance?
I have several dozen regular chinese customers and almost without exception, their homes, be they two-bedroomed terraced or five bedroomed detatched, are the most cluttered I have encountered
Last month, for example, one small bedroom contained one single bed, one bunk bed, one 32" TV with home cinema system, one sterio system, two wardrobes, one chest-of-drawers and about two dozen fluff-covered carrier bags containing brand new clothes.
I could see about 1sq.yd. of carpet
This room had not seen a vacuum cleaner for years.
Common sense says that you just walk (run) away from a job like this but the clients were part of an extended family, many of whome have been regulars for many years, so I played the martyr and ot stuck in 
The rest of the house was little better.
The silver lining to this tale is the gratuity added to my fee was more than big enough to brin the smile back to my face.
Does this ring a bell with any of you?
John,Posted by poolking (poolking), 2 November 2003
i generally move furniture like 3 piece suites etc , but wont move any audio/visual equipment (insurance purposes ) or anything that is flat packed , as when you move them they tend to go warped and wonky .
as for larger items , a sure fire get out is the fact that health and safety laws state that the maximum lift for one person is 20kgs. if its heavier than that , you cant move it cos your sickness insurance wont pay out for your own negligence Posted by Derek (Derek Bolton), 3 November 2003
Hi
Do any of you use the 'sliderz' (the spelling is something like that) which you can put under legs of heavy furniture to slide them about. They also have the added benefit of keeping the wooden legs with loose dye off the carpet until you can 'block' them.
These items are dish shaped with a soft pad on the inside to grip the furniture leg... I have two different sizes of sliderz which I bought from Alltec.
Regards
DerekPosted by Cloverleaf (Cloverleaf), 3 November 2003
John,
No they wern't chinese, but I have also cleaned for chinese people.
As you say, huge tv's in the bedroom and not much room to move for clutter and they want the cheapest price 
.
Better to surcharge these people than discount
JohnPosted by BeeClean (BeeClean), 6 November 2003
oops forgot about this topic so do you all put the furniture back on top of wet carpets?Posted by pre-vac_Nick (pre-vac_Nick), 6 November 2003
foil pads or kitchen foil for larger wooden or metal feet some times we use the polystirene blocks
sorry about the spelling
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