For the purpose of this article, we are going to create a fictitious character, Mrs. Jones. She does not have any experience cleaning her carpets but hears that it is easy enough. So she decides to give it a go. She rents out a Rug Doctor for $25.00 plus tax (say a total price of $27.00). Purchases the cleaning chemicals for another $10 for a total of $37.00. After gas and other miscellaneous expenses lets assign a total price of $40.00.
Financial Comparison
Let’s make the assumption that Mrs. Jones would like to clean her living room and bedroom carpets (two rooms).
Mrs. Jones will easily spend a half hour to and from the local supermarket to rent the equipment. Another half hour returning the equipment. Cleaning the two rooms will take her approximately an hour and a half (conservatively). Plus setting up the equipment, another half hour. This brings Mrs. Jones’ total time invested three hours (again conservatively), with a total financial investment of $40.
Now, let’s compare this scenario to hiring a professional carpet cleaner. Most carpet cleaners charge between $20 (discount cleaner) to $75 (experience cleaner) per room. This will bring Mrs. Jones’ total anywhere from $40 to $150 for two rooms. Typically a consumer should not exceed $49 for any room up to 200 square feet (average soiling). This brings Mrs. Jones total to $98.
On average, Mrs. Jones will save $48 cleaning two rooms herself, as opposed to hiring a professional to do the job for her. But how is the quality of workmanship?
Quality Comparison
We all can agree that any carpet cleaner, regardless of experience, is only as good as his or her equipment. If Mrs. Jones’ decides to clean her carpets on her own she faces certain challenges.
TACT is a term the professional technicians use to define the cleaning process. Regardless if a cleaner says they have a 5, 10, or 20 step cleaning process, these are the main ingredients to a clean carpet – Time, Agitation, Chemical, and Temperature.
The two ingredients that Mrs. Jones can contend with is the dwell time of the chemicals and agitation. The two ingredients that are far out of reach for Mrs. Jones are temperature and chemicals. The domestic cleaner is nowhere close to being as efficient as commercial cleaning products. Mrs. Jones also has the disadvantage of only cleaning with hot water from the sink. Maximum temperatures may only exceed 180 degrees. A professional cleaner uses temperatures as high as 240 – 300 degrees. These ingredients will maximize efficiency.
Another major issue is re-soiling. Mrs. Jones is not trained in carpet cleaning. Nor is she trained to address any issues that may cause the carpet to re-soil. We are all very well aware of horror stories where the carpet looks worse 3 days later than it did before the initial cleaning. Professional carpet cleaners are trained to neutralize all cleaning chemicals and prevent re-soiling.
Mrs. Jones now has the decision to make, “is $48.00 too much to spend to have a carpet guaranteed to be cleaner and prevent re-soiling?” It may be too stressful for most. But if you are committed to doing it yourself, consider calling your local carpet cleaner for some guidance. They should help you through the process without charging a fee. Most companies are very helpful. Good luck!
