[Emil Dinev]

Hi guys,

I will be quotting on a big leather cleaning job next week. It's a high profile restaurant where the owner wants 90 cream chairs cleaned. Lether is fairly greasy by owner's description.
So what product/s would you use?
How much per chair?
How long you reckon it'd take?
I've done some leather jobs before but never as big as this one.

Cheers

Emil

[LTT Leathercare]

This depends to a certain extent on the problems that exist with the leather. 
Use a Pre Cleaner which will get the cleaning process started and may be all you need to use on the outside backs of the chairs so this will reduce the cleaning time. You can then concentrate on deep cleaning the contact areas.
Leather cleaners like Strong Cleaner will remove what is on the surface and deal quite adequately with grease if it has not penetrated the leather.  Use a stiff bristled brush to help agitate the cleaner gently into the grain on the leather (do not scrub) let the product do the work.  If you work carefully you can foam up one chair and then move to the next and apply foam while the other is given dwell time - this way you are not wasting time and thus work your way through all the chairs.
The crucial thing on this colour leather would be to follow up with a good leather protector which will definitely prolong the life of the leather in this situation and could be a good way of making you stand out - always make sure you give your client good advice about how he can get better value out of his furniture.
Price wise this is always tricky as I do not know what hourly rate you would expect.
Pre cleaning will certainly cut down the time taken.
Hope this helps - give us a ring if you need to talk it through.
Cheers
Judyb

[Mike Halliday]

those chairs don't look like pigmented  leather to me.... you can see a brush pattern on the rear and one in the dead centre has ripples in it and how can they be greasy unless the are an aniline or semi aniline?.

If I was shown that photo and told to guess the fibre I would say they look like a micro fibre ( Buffalo).

[LTT Leathercare]

Most cream leather would be pigment coated rather than aniline style but the  absorbency rate of your cleaning products will tell you how much pigment coating there is so they may be micropigment.  The Five step process will tell you all the info you need before you start.  However on closer inspection the backs do appear to be made of something different, possibly microfibre, again a microscope will help here.
The degree to which any grease has been absorbed and of course doing the leather ID process would be crucial before starting any job.
The surface of the leather could quite easily be greasy in this environment, have seen it before in restaurant situations. However if the owner has noticed that they are greasy this may also indicate that the are not actually leather at all which has been suggested.
Hope this helps
Judyb

[Mike_Roper]

Would definitely check what you are working with to start,I may be wrong but these type of chairs are rarely leather unless it is the exception and is high end stuff.
Mike

[LTT Leathercare]

Wise words Mike -I assumed wrongly from the title that they had already been identified as leather and only took a cursory glance at the photo.
Five step ID will certainly give all the information that is needed.
Cheers
Judyb

[john steel]

Faux Suede im informed from a reliable source.

[robert meldrum]

It's a very poor photo to judge from but I suspect from the appearance .......poor fitting, with wrinkles and looseness on top of the cover, they're more likely to be a faux leather type fabric as already suggested, in which case you will be dealing with ............cleaning an upholstery fabric rather than leather.

If in doubt you might be wise to farm this out as it will need someone who can not only clean the fabric but have it back in service quickly.

Double check the type of material before committing yourself and if in any doubt as to your ability to get a professional result DON'T attempt it.

Whether it's pigmented leather or a fabric that looks like leather either can be easily ruined and your credibility with it.

[Emil Dinev]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. If it turns out to be genuine leather I might farm it out in deed. If it's faux suede though I can handle it my self as I've cleaned fair amount of this type of fabric. John, hopefuly your source is reliable enough 

Judy, Thanks for your detailed reply. If I am not wrong you do hands on leather course, dont you? I might benefit from atending it next time around. When would that be BTW?

Cheers guys, I'll let you know how it went.

Emil

[LTT Leathercare]

Next course is the beginning of August let me know if you are interested.
Cheers
Judyb

[LTT Leathercare]

Glad to hear the job went well Emil and that you potentially have an ongoing cleaning contract. 
Cheers
Judyb

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Put us out of our misery....was it faux suede?

[Emil Dinev]

It was leather, took us (myself and a helper) 2 days to completete the job. They had the chairs for 5 years and never had them cleaned 
The owner said they would have us back in 6 months if business was going well...just wonder how could it not be going well since restaurant is 5 mins walk from Oxford Street
Judy thanks very much for your support. Might take advantage of the ongoing free delivery deal as I ran out of pre clean and protector.

cheers

emil

[LTT Leathercare]

Pleasure Emil - that's what we are here for.  At least in (6 months your job should be quicker and easier as you have used protector on them. 
The restaurant looks great on the website.
Free delivery offer ends this week.
Cheers
Judyb