[jcbdfa]

i dont mean to be controversial or annoy anyone (gr) just wanted to be honest with my thoughts. for me one of the advantages of cleaning carpets/upholstery is the relatively low stress factor. i.e. not always having to work at the edge of your skill. although physical endurance is a different thing. working within your skill/knowledge base. this coupled with the financial benefits makes it spot on. job satisfaction is also present in bundles and i can only think this is why my thoughts made gr angry. physically for me cc is v physically demanding.(one reason i would usually choose a steempro for a porty) anything to make my job easier is good whilst still working to a standard.
 on a slightly different point my feeling is in the midlands/ north west carpet cleaning hasnowwhere near reached saturation. about 25-35% of my clients have never had their carpetsetc cleaned b4. is this similar for others. esp in the rest of the country.
a reasonable 80/20 twist pile carpet can be brought for £9-10 m2(poss less)over against £4 for a clean??!!! give me a new carpet anyday. i chage £22-28 a seat on upholstery for this reason, most sofas are over £1000 and can stand this charge.(plus can be much much trickier to clean)

[GreenGlides]

I was looking for the actual poll to reply to, we don't pre-vac most jobs, and always Pre-spray even if it's light, chemical and dwell is our friend. and find with the teflon glide on the titanium wand, that an extra pass is all that is needed to make up for lack of vacuuming, and it's really easy because of the the teflon we are sliding on.. In actuality to properly vac an entire job, I could do twice as many passes witht eh wand in teh same time, so I have to weigh that.

We generally only vacuum when there are visible chunks, and do find most homeowners do a fair job of vacuuming in our area.

Cali Yank

[paul@ctcs]

I pre vac every single job bar none!!! A majority of carpet soiling is dry particulate so why turn it to mud?? Most domestic clients vacuum prior to my turning up but I still manage to remove enough to make it worth while.
Never one to cut corners

Paul

[Len Gribble]

The only one I don’t pre vac is the ones with black top and a few of them, then I just sweep! So I had to vote in the second category 13.7%

Len

[GreenGlides]

I started cleaning via HOST, as i stumbled into the trade from window cleaning. Then I discovered Bonnet and OP cleaning, then a Portable, so I am all too familiar with giving the clients the "mud' spiel.

I have done many comparisons myself, and to be completely honest I didn't notice a big enough difference to pre-vac every job when using a TM and a good wand.

Like I said above, and extra flushing pass does a lot.

Cali Yank

[paul@ctcs]

Good point Len

[Shaun_Ashmore]

The mud thing doesn't really stick with me, ha ha but if you get a mud patch from a grassed area and were to spray extract it for long enough it would go away, wouldn't it?

I think Robert Olifent called vacuuming good housekeeping and I think it is, but the only thing is that there is no scientific way of testing to see if a pre vacuumed and then hwe carpet is any cleaner or stay cleaner than a just hwe carpet the tests are not accurate enough.

Shaun

[paul@ctcs]

If In doubt pre vac anyway! It cant do any harm and only takes a few minutes

Paul

[GreenGlides]

I think it takes more than a few mins...LOL

When I do vacuum, it's like 5-7 mins. more per room, and sometimes twice that on a bad one.

We schedule 3-4 domestic jobs a day, and are working flat out to get them done as it is. travel can be a fair bit.

pre-vacuuming "for good measure" is not realistic.

Cali Yank 

[paul@ctcs]

I'm stuck in my ways

Paul

[GreenGlides]

Aren't we all, Paul?

Green Yank

[alankwhitley]

I always pre-vac first my 12volt car vacuum cleaner is brilliant :