“I have 3 rooms of carpet to be cleaned? How much
will it cost?” I am asked this question on a daily basis. When I
give the answer, the response is often, “Oh. I got a cheaper quote from
someone else. Thank you for your time.”
Every
carpet cleaning company is different. The varying options on how a carpet
cleaner operates his/her business will influence the amount you pay for your
carpets to be cleaned and the results you will get. Last month we
explored the area to be cleaned and the type of fabric the carpet is made of
can affect the price and result of a clean.
And over the next few posts, I will continue to explore some other so
you can compare Apples with Apples not with oranges, make an informed choice
and get the best value for your money.
Today
we are going to be exploring:
·
the companies guarantee
·
qualifications of the technicians
.
GUARANTEE
Does
your carpet cleaner guarantee to get the stains out of the carpet? Will the carpet cleaner return and re-clean
the carpet if you are not happy with the result? Will he refund your money if you are still
not happy?
A few
months ago, I had a lady ring our office, asking if we could come and clean her
carpets and remove some stains. When we told her how much she said,
“Great. When can you come?” We booked a time and upon further
conversation she told me that she had already had a carpet cleaner at her
home. And had paid him for his
services. However, a stain was not
removed. She rung the carpet cleaner
and asked him to come back to fix it. He
said he would come only if she paid him another $100 as the original price did
not include stain removal. She was
surprised that the stain removal was not included and the workmanship was not
guaranteed. She refused to pay him another cent.
A
guarantee for workmanship can often mean a higher price for the clean. But at least you will get a detailed clean
and won’t be surprised when stains returned and you are asked to pay more to
get it out. And you will also have the
assurance that if you are still unhappy with the clean, you can get your money
back.
QUALIFICATIONS
The
qualifications of a technician/ carpet cleaning company can influence the price
of a clean as well as affect the result.
A basic 4 day carpet cleaning course can cost up to $1800 to attend. Add on to that travel costs (the courses are
only held in capital cities), accommodation and other associated costs and the
total can be up to $3500 per technician per course.
In
addition to the cost, technicians learn that a basic 2 step cleaning process
does not meet the Australian standards of cleaning. Therefore they do more
steps in the cleaning process, spend more time cleaning and do a more detailed
clean giving you a better result on your clean.
Next
time, we will explore how the number of steps in a cleaning process can affect
the price of a clean in more detail.
