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suffolkclean

  • Posts: 908
Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« on: January 12, 2009, 04:04:37 pm »
Hi Everyone, we've been asked to clean all upholstery (seats & carpets) in a Citroen Picasso that smells badly of Dog.  What kind of price should we charge for this?
Thanks
Barbara

robert meldrum

  • Posts: 1984
Re: Please help - Car Upholstery
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2009, 04:15:24 pm »
Main problem is drying...................I only clean our own car seats an use a dry foam to do so. There's a fair choice around, but I've had consistently good results using Chemblends Dry Foam, I get it from a Janitorial supplier, locally.

My method, is to create foam in a bucket and use bonnet mitts, by soaking / rinsing then using a scrubbing action.

Best to remove carpets to clean, which will clean with H/W/E machine using hand tool.

suffolkclean

  • Posts: 908
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2009, 05:30:07 pm »
come on - what would you charge  ???

clinton

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2009, 05:35:06 pm »
Might be a dificult one this.

Just think of geting rid of all the dog smells and spec this weather being damp the drying times will be long,when i did some valeting i used to keep the car engin running and heater on full to help drying times and also the interior roof as it used to ripple when it was damp.

garry22

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2009, 05:37:36 pm »
This sort of job is a pain in the backside.

Ideally you need an ozone generator to kill that sort of odour in a car.

The probability of being called back is high (unless you have some way of guaranteeing the drying.

Your back will kill you for days afterwards.

Walk away now.

Apart from that you should be OK. ;)

Garry

Jim_77

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2009, 05:42:30 pm »
I'd charge for a whole day's work.  More than a suite.

Who'd pay that when they can get a valeter to "clean" it for 20 quid?

I don't do cars, backache being the number 1 reason why not :)

garry22

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2009, 05:46:00 pm »
Yep,

I  forgot to mention getting oil on your hoses if you have to do it outside. If you don't get it of it goes onto your drop sheets next time you work in someone's house. Then it goes on to the suites or the carpets.

G

Robert Watson

  • Posts: 1058
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2009, 05:58:23 pm »
 ;D
Still considering it Barbara?
As Jim said, let the car valeter guys do it.
Ps. Do you know what your host directory is ? Heart Internet will tell you.
Cheers,
Rab
The Kitchen Door Centre

Bob Robertson

  • Posts: 695
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2009, 06:02:31 pm »
Rab

Have you binned your NCCA membership. I was reading a thread on another forum about your sites and the NCCA.

Bob

Robert Watson

  • Posts: 1058
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2009, 06:06:58 pm »
 ;D  8)
I`ll give ya a bell.
The Kitchen Door Centre

Les

  • Posts: 369
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #10 on: January 12, 2009, 06:38:09 pm »
I do clean car upholstery as part of our Car Valeting side of the business, see attached photo's.

Car upholstery does at least release stains quite nicely as you can see and I haven't had a major problem with drying after cleaning.

The downside is the fact that you could earn more by cleaning the same area of household upholstery.

The price is dictated by those lovely lads on supermarket forecourts who obviously don't have any bills to pay.

I clean using the same method as cleaning a suite, in fairness a car seat will take less time to clean so that does help with pricing.

You may need to consider cleaning the whole interior if dog smells are involved as they impregnate roof linings and odours stick to the plastic trims too where the dog has laid.

You will have to be under a £100 for a thorough clean but it might be worth £70-75.

We had the joy of cleaning 2 College Minibuses a week or so ago, never been cleaned before and more grafitti than a toilet door....at least their spelling was correct  :o

They came up really well bt it was a really cold day and we had to employ a space heater through the door to dry off the upholstery. Where there's a will there's a way !

Les

Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)

  • Posts: 2024
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2009, 06:51:23 pm »

We had the joy of cleaning 2 College Minibuses a week or so ago, never been cleaned before and more grafitti than a toilet door....at least their spelling was correct  :o


 ;D

Les

Fantastic before and after piccies

PS

Graffiti is the correct spelling  ;D Ho hum
Diplomacy: the art of letting other people have your way

Les

  • Posts: 369
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2009, 07:02:02 pm »
Dohhhh !!!

I knew I'd get that wrong.....

and thanks for pointing it out !! :-[

Les

suffolkclean

  • Posts: 908
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2009, 07:05:25 pm »
Thanks for that Les, is your price of £75 just for the upholstery or is it for a full internal clean?. I'm going to speak to the guy tomorrow.
Rabby I'll find out & let you know.
Cheerz

Les

  • Posts: 369
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2009, 07:12:37 pm »
My suggestion of £75 is really for the whole interior, based on Valeting prices, but there's nothing to stop you trying that for just the upholstery.

It depends a bit on the level of soiling... and smell.

I did a Picasso where the dog had been blamed for the smell...
It turned out to be all the rotting food chucked between the seats by the numerous children .

Best play it by ear depending what you find and if you really want the job.

Les

derek west

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2009, 07:16:59 pm »
les
just a guess as i don't do car interior but would it be quicker (on certain cars) to take the seats out?, as even in my own i struggle to get all them fries from down the side of the seat out.
derek

Les

  • Posts: 369
Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2009, 07:31:06 pm »
Hi Derek,

I try to avoid removing the seats as they all weigh a ton and there's a reasonable chance of causing some accidental damage.

Most cars now have seats that can be folded in one way or another,
however I would reccomend a 3 day course on Seat Folding prior to tackling some of the 7 seaters...

You'll need a certificate from the National Association of Seat Folders to say your competent  :o

The interior of the Galaxy in my photo's took about two hours to complete including trims etc.

They asked me to do it after I'd got rid of the smell of spilt milk from the interior of their Mercedes A Class a few weeks before.

Les

derek west

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2009, 07:40:56 pm »
not sure seat folding will help me get that french fry out, not unless its japenese seat folding, ori-car-mi. ;D
get it, seat folding, carmi garmi, awww forget it. ;D
derek

Jim_77

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2009, 07:55:16 pm »
Derek, the jokes get worse ::) :D

I would advise NEVER to attempt removing seats from a car.  Maybe your mark 1 Escort 30 years ago, 4 bolts and it was out, but a lot of them now are all full of electronic gizmos.  Even if you undo the bolts (which may even invalidate a warranty) it'll still be wired up to something, with the cables coming out from the floor.  It might have quick-release blocks, it might not, but it's something I definitely wouldn't want to fiddle with, I'd ask the client to do it themselves as a last resort.  Airbags might also be affected, you don't want one of them flying off in your face!

derek west

Re: Please help Car Upholstery PRICE
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2009, 08:03:57 pm »
jim your right, last thing i want is bags under my eyes. ;D
derek
ps..i know, even worse.