I've just had someone here to give a quote for carpet cleaning (hall/landing/stairs/lounge/dining room). Total = 772 sq ft.
With Scotchguard: £ 438.50
Without Scotchguard: £ 315.00
I have no idea if these prices are reasonable. Comments anyone?
I heard less quoted for a whole house in the SE.
Or hire a RugDoctor from Homebase for 40 quid (give or take including shampoo) and spend a day to do it yourself?
Tim
Buy a decent carpet cleaner for 150-200, and clean all you want for the next 10 years.
NT
such as?
That's more than the carpet for the same rooms cost us new! (but that was 25 years ago.) __
When I had my sitting room carpet installed, I got it scotchguarded. The guy sprayed it with a colourless, odourless liquid and told me to keep off it until it had dried. Now, I'm no expert but ITSM that whatever he sprayed had no effect whatsoever on the carpets ability to shed stains. I have no evidence that the spray was anything but water.
If you do decide to get the scotchguard, I'd suggest you find a way to satisfy yourself that you get the treatment you pay for, not as I suspect happened to me.
Pete
When I looked I found Bissells were easier to use, but technically poor. Vax were the ones to go for, though they didnt have the simplified graphical user interface that the Bissells have. Look for dual contrarotating brushes, handheld upholstery cleaning attachment (needed for doing carpet edges), 2 or 3 tanks, and I'd stay well away from bladder tanks. Pressurised water delivery is a must. Vax do one that has all this for about 150/160 iirc.
If you go upscale from those, =A3200+ will get you higher suction powers.
NT
George (big brother of Henry) will do much more that just cleaning the carpet
Tony
The message from "TMC" contains these words:
Make the tea, bath the kids /and/ still have time for a knee-trembler?
Better a George than a Hoover Constellation if you want a knee-trembler ;-)
And if you want all three things mentioned above, you'll need a damn good au pair. Most of them can't cook.
Owain
Or, hire it from Morrisons and save a fair bit. Our local is a lot cheaper for hire and a fair bit cheaper on the chemicals as well.
Darren
Sold cleaning machines for 30 odd years, ran training courses for major manufacturers, ran a part time carpet cleaning business for 10 years. I know a little about the game.
Carpets cleaners are a minefield. There are more cowboys in that game than exist in the whole of Texas. There are also a few good ones.
What method did they quote? Extraction? Rotary Shampoo? ChemDry (excuse laughter)?
The prices certainly aren't cheap, but if they do the job properly you could double the life of your carpets. You could get the areas you mention 'cleaned' for around £150, by a complete muppet using cheap nasty chemicals. For a top quality job they aren't that OTT.
Are they members of NCCA
Best of all get some third party references.
Don't go for the cheapest quote whatever you do.
Hi
Just out of interest, does steam cleaning still exists as a method?
It was done to the carpets when I was a lad and it seemed pretty efficient... Just haven't seen anyone advertise it recently.
Cheers
Tim
It never did exist. The early machines were hot water extractors, never seen before in the UK. The hot water (60 degrees c) was sprayed at low volume and looked kinda like steam. The term caught the popular imagination and stuck, several operators used the term in their advertising.
Hot water extraction doesn't have the same ring about it!
The early machines (by Stimvak) were huge and covered in dials, guages & buttons. There was a cartoon once showing a wheelchair bound patient in a lift. Looking at a complicated machine he remarkes to the orderly "I wouldn't like to be hooked up to that". The orderly replies "Neither would I mate - it's a carpet cleaning machine".
Hot water extraction is very efficient. Some people still call it steam cleaning, but technically it isn't. I think it's not advertised as such now in case someone complains under Trades Descriptions or whatever.
It's on the expensive side. However, you do get what you pay for with these things and for that money I'd expect a really top-notch job.
I'd expect to pay =A3200-=A3240 for that work.
I saw an ad the other day offering to do a lounge carpet for =A329! By the time the guy has spent an hour packing his fan and travelling to your house, done the job, then travelled home and unpacked I can't see how they'd make a profit*. A decent carpet cleaning machine will cost =A32000+ alone.
*Well, I do know how the'd make a profit. Bait and switch. They turn up and start pressure selling you into buying extras such as deodouriser, stain remover, sanitiser and stain guard and charging over the odds for it. They then leave after doing a slap dash job. (The fact that some of the treatments they offer are incompatible is inconsequential.)
Unscrupulous CCs often use nothing but water! If it had been genuinely scotchguarded you would have noticed the difference!
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Yes, the company is a member of NCCA, and they will do the job by hot water extraction.
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