Before we talk about the professional carpet cleaning services prices we need to know just what is wrong with the carpets in the first place. For starters, we know that if a carpet is old and worn out there is no way that the best professional carpet cleaners available for domestic use or even an industrial carpet cleaner will be able to breathe life back into your carpet. Having said that, a tired and worn out carpet will have had many years use and you will just have to grin and bear the fact that you will need a new one.
This, however, is in the extreme. Carpets and rugs are just about one of the most expensive accessories you will buy for your home and with care and regular maintenance, they will last for many years. It makes sense to look after your carpets and instil a regular cleansing routine to keep your carpets as good as new. Before your carpet becomes too threadbare there will come a time when you have many years life left in it, but it just needs a good clean. Maybe you have just moved into a house and the previous occupants had messy children and even messier pets. There will be ingrained dirt, stains and a cocktail of odours that will need to be removed before you can start afresh in your new home and a deep carpet cleaning service will get rid of all those.
Carpet cleaning doesn’t cost very much to have done. In fact, there is often very little price difference between the cheaper and the more expensive ends of the market. If you want to clean your own carpets then there are many domestic carpet cleaning machines for sale in the larger appliance retailers or in most online marketplaces. If you wish to hire a machine instead then you will find that most tool-hire companies will rent carpet cleaning machines.
However you will probably find that by the time you have rented a machine, bought the cleaning chemicals, and spent a lot of your own time cleaning the carpets, you may as well employ a carpet cleaning company to do the job for you.
The average cost of carpet cleaning will vary depending on the size of your house, how many rooms you have and how many you need cleaning. It will also depend on the type of cleaning service you need. Below is a table of typical rates for carpet cleaning:
| Service | Cost |
| Small bedroom carpet cleaning | £20 |
| Large bedroom carpet cleaning | £30 |
| Stairs, landing and hallway carpet cleaning | £45 |
| Large living room carpet cleaning | £40 |
All the professional companies will give free carpet cleaning quotes so that you can compare the services offered and choose your preferred contractor. Remember that it isn’t always the cheapest that is the one to choose and similarly the most expensive isn’t always the best. If you possibly can, ask your family and friends if they can recommend someone who is professional, does a good job and is reasonably priced. Word of mouth is often the best way to choose a contractor so don’t neglect that method.
Unfortunately, the charges won’t stop there. You may think that the cost of cleaning a small bedroom carpet is worth every penny of £20. The thing is that unless you are very fortunate, the carpet cleaner will have a list of extras that he will add on top of his basic rate.
Extras
- Furniture removal. Carpet cleaning companies will not expect to move a lot of furniture out of the room before cleaning and then replace it after finishing. In fact, most carpet cleaning machines will always leave the carpet fabric slightly damp which will evaporate after an hour or two. Unfortunately, the operative will not want to wait around to put your furniture back either. If the cleaning operative arrives and the room isn’t already clear you can be sure that they will charge more, and usually at an hourly rate. If you aren’t prepared to move it before he arrives then you can expect him to clean the carpet around the furniture without moving anything.
- Deep-seated stains. You will probably find that stubborn stains will require a bit more work than just the standard cleaning. They will usually need spraying with special treatment and then waiting for a few minutes until the stain has loosened. These will cost more. If you know about the stains and what caused them, tell the operative when you book the appointment so he can come prepared with the correct chemical solutions.
- Minimum charges. For most cleaning companies, coming to your home just to clean a small bedroom carpet would not be worth their while. There is the travelling time, vehicle costs and the fact that he may have turned down a larger job to do yours to consider. Because of this most companies charge a minimum amount. This usually works out to be about £50 so it is far cheaper to ask for more than one room to be cleaned in one visit rather than spread it out over many visits. Be sure to ask about minimum charges when you ask for a quote.
Full Home Cleaning Service – What To Expect
If you intend paying out your hard earned cash to have your carpets cleaned, it will make sound economic sense to have what is called a ‘Full Home Cleansing Service’. It is silly if the carpets are nice and fresh and yet the bathroom tiles are grubby, the curtains still stink of tobacco smoke and the upholstery smells of wet dog! Full home cleaning will fix all these problems and more. Typical cleaning work can include:
- Carpet cleaning
- Pet odour removal
- Smoke removal
- Tile and grout cleaning
- Stain removal
- Upholstery cleaning
- Washing paintwork
- Cleaning and polishing wooden or stone floors
- Air conditioning duct cleansing
Full Home Cleaners can also be called in to
- Clean up after a house fire or a flood
- Clean before new tenants take on rental property
- Clean after a house sale
- Clean up after builders have been working on the property
To be honest their scope of work is only limited to your and their imaginations.
Looking back at all the entries on these lists will probably make you wonder how your carpets came to be so dirty. In fact, there are many reasons why carpets and other soft furnishings might need to be cleaned.
- Outside dirt. Unless you insist on a strict ‘no shoes’ rule in your home, dirt will eventually find its way into the home on the soles of shoes. No matter how vigorously the kids, you and your spouse wipe your feet on the doormat, you will always carry in dirt, grime and some trace of everything you stepped in while outside, and I mean everything! This dirt finds its way to the bottom of the carpet pile and slowly accumulates adding its own smell and colour to the existing mess.
- Everyone loves their pets, but we must realise that an animal’s standard of cleanliness will always be different from ours, no matter how well house trained they are. Your animals may come indoors immediately after romping around in a muddy garden and won’t bother to start washing until they are sitting in front of the fire or on your favourite armchair. They may even have eaten something that doesn’t agree with them and vomited or defecated on your carpet, with the resulting odour and stain. Carpet and furniture cleaning are both a similar type of job and both can be handled by professional local carpet cleaners who also offer a professional furniture cleaning service as well.
- Moving out of your old home. When you move out of your old house, whether it was owned by you or just rented, you will be under an obligation to leave it clean and sparkling. In fact, many sale and rental contracts now include a clause stating that you must have the carpets professionally cleaned before leaving. After all, if you were moving into someone else’s home, you wouldn’t want to be walking on someone else’s dirt, would you?
- Moving into a new home. When you are moving into a new home, you may want it to be cleaned beforehand. Maybe the previous occupants weren’t as clean as you would prefer. It is now your home and you will want all trace of the previous occupants removed before you can settle in.
- Flood damage or burst pipes. Flooding from overflowing drains or rivers can result in raw sewage contaminating your home. If the weather has been cold and the water pipes burst, you will find that everything becomes sodden. Call in the Complete Home Cleaners and they will remove all traces of water and sewage with liquid suction machines and afterwards sanitise what is left. Most home contents insurance companies will help towards the cost of this and will recommend a suitable company to use.
Services Covered
Surprisingly carpet cleaning just doesn’t mean running a quick vacuum cleaner over the rugs and carpets. If your home suffers from mould or damp, it will be worthwhile remembering that mould spores grow and thrive in damp dark conditions and what better place than under old carpets. Similarly, bodily fluids are not very pleasant to have soaked into your carpets. Both these substances and more can be sorted out by a good professional carpet cleaner. He or she will have the correct equipment and chemical cleaners to be able to fix your problem.
A good professional carpet cleaner will also know what to do if you have a pest problem such as cockroaches, pet fleas, or carpet moth. There are chemical additives to the wash water that will eradicate these and help prevent their reoccurrence. Please don’t forget that pests, in general, are the householder’s responsibility and they should be noticed at an early stage in the infestation. Don’t leave it until it is a major infestation before the carpet cleaner comes to call.
Saving Your Carpet & Saving Your Money
There are as many cheap professional carpet cleaners as there are expensive ones and just because they are cheap doesn’t mean that they are not very good. Some of the cheap carpet cleaning services can sometimes be one of the best home carpet cleaners. After all, a good chemical carpet stain remover is available for expensive and cheap carpet cleaners to buy. The best carpet cleaning service is not necessarily the most expensive one, it is the company that:
- Gets the job done.
- Listens to the customer.
- Presents themselves well.
- Inspires a feeling of trust in the customer.
- Turns up on time prepared and equipped.
As stated elsewhere in this article, you can save the wear and tear on your carpet by limiting its exposure to dirt, liquids and wear. Although carpets cost a lot of money initially, they will last for many years if they are protected from the ravages of shoes, pets and spilt cups of coffee.
Types of cleaning services
There are many different types of carpet cleaning. It doesn’t matter which type of cleaning is used however they all work by approximately the same principle. That of forcing a cleaning liquid into the carpet pile, applying friction by means of rollers or brushes and removing the dirty water using a powerful vacuum. If a more intense deep clean is needed then steam can be forced into the pile as well. This is especially useful if there are bacteria, insects or other parasites that need to be eradicated.
Summary
Make sure you cover all these extras before you agree to have the work done and also ask if there are any other extras you don’t know about. Decide beforehand how many rooms are to be cleaned and remember it will probably work out cheaper to have them all done at the same time.
