[Steven Taylor]

Yeap, no frigin messin this morning. Cleaned a lounge, no furniture moved, no pre-spray, no aggi, no dwell, no rinse, just chucked some detergent in the tank with a booster, got temp up to 70 degrees and wanded and extracted and guess what?

The result IMO was exactly the same if I had done all my usual things.

One lounge carpet done within 20mins as opposed to 1hr - 1.5hrs!

Customer was happy, but I felt a little embarrassed about collecting my min charge tag of £50, but she paid straight away.
So, my question, do we really need to faf about with this that and the other when we could really just roll the hoses in, turn on, spray and suck and go....abit like the SAS!!!!

Or am I being too amateur on today's approach?........

[Jamie Pearson]

Was todays job a typical example of the soil level that you clean?

[Colin Day]

When I first started carpet cleaning (for someone else) we just used an Extracta detergent, Exel and Scrubba. None of this prespray goings on and dwell times rubbish.. The results were brilliant too, never had a complaint, ever!!

But, I feel that the way I do things now for my 'own' business (Pre-vac (sometimes), prespray, mechanically agitate, dwell and rinse (using a wand) is a belts and braces approach and I feel that the customer is getting real value for their dosh. They do still sometimes say "That didn't take long"

Not that I'm taking anything away from you Steve, there's more than one way to skin a cat mate  

[Joe H]

Sounds a bit splash and dash Steven.
Detergent in the tank - thats what they do when they hire a Rug Doctor, detergent in tank.

What you are doing is leaving detergent in the carpet, because you not rinsing it out with clean water.
Yes it will get carpet looking clean but........
Detergent will dry sticky, carpet gets dirty quicker.
Client remembers your the one that cleaned the carpets that got dirty very quickly - calls someone else next time.  He may do the same as you, all carpet cleaners classed the same - rip off merchants, so they go and hire a Rug Doctor, can do it themselves cheaper still.

[derek west]

£50 for a lounge
£169 for a stairs and computer room

 

[Steven Taylor]

Joe,

Your probably right in what you say, but haven't detergents improved over the years and if you are using a half decent machine then does it matter that much?

Derek

My min tag is £50

What would you have charged for that lounge it was about 5m x 4m, peachy colour, wool/nylon, just dirty patches here and there?

My approach may have seemed like splash n dash but if I'd have charged any lower it would have been 100% S & D..

How much would you have charged Derek?

[derek west]

 its not the £50 tag for the lounge thats confusing  its the contrast between the 2 that beggars belief.

[Steven Taylor]

Why, it's quite simple my pricing.

Min tag £50.....

or £40 per hour

The £169 took me 4 hours to do (which I had estimated lower but I always add on 30 mins for messing round) PLUS £9 for chems.

Simple pricing, simple method!!

 

What would you charge?

[derek west]

thanks for the explanation, i am no longer confused.

[clinton]

Same here derek its all clear now

[richy27]

i am wiser now 

but i would be interested to see what the carpet looks like i a month or two.

[Steven Taylor]

i am wiser now 

but i would be interested to see what the carpet looks like i a month or two.

So would I 

I said I'd remind her in 6 months for a re-clean  (perhaps I should have said in a month) 

[Joe H]

4 hours for stairs and computer room!

Is this a house or commercial property with big stairs and a large computer room?

[Steven Taylor]

4 hours for stairs and computer room!

Is this a house or commercial property with big stairs and a large computer room?

Large hall/stairs/landing & computer room size of an everage dining room  Don't forget my machine failed on me and I was faffing about with that for about 30 - 40 mins 

[jasonl]

So ,the customer pays for your machine breaking ,and you faffing about?

[clinton]

dont forget he will have his airflex as a back up

[derek west]

4 hours for stairs and computer room!

Is this a house or commercial property with big stairs and a large computer room?

Large hall/stairs/landing & computer room size of an everage dining room  Don't forget my machine failed on me and I was faffing about with that for about 30 - 40 mins 

heard it all now, thats one for my carpet cleaning memoirs

[Darren O]

Always rinse with detergent in the tank mainly Formula 90 in over 5 years of carpet cleaning still not came across this sticky residue  left in the carpet because of chemicals to me this is just another rant from the eco mob.

[Steven Taylor]

So ,the customer pays for your machine breaking ,and you faffing about?

No, I had already quoted 4 hrs for the job anyhow 

When I started I thought I'd be in and out quicker than that, you just don't know how long some of these jobs are going to take until you actually make a start 

But, on the other hand if I'd used a muck spreader I would have been done in 2 hours BUT it would have taken another hour to vacuum the mud off the skirting boards  

[davep]

Should take 1.5 hrs that without using the sas