So you’ve decided to enquire about vacate carpet cleaning, why?
Every tenant has a reason to contemplate carpet cleaning, for some the reasons may be vague and for others there’s often a pressing reason or maybe they know exactly why. Either way we all begin with the same sorta questions, it’s usually “How much” and most often you’ll get a quote and compare it to others and make a decision often on price.
Why did I ask for a quote anyway?
The answer is simple, you didn’t know what else to ask for or you just want your bond money back. You see we are accustom to asking price and that happens because we are vague on our reasons or we lack information and understanding.
The truth is most cleaners aren’t professionally trained and don’t know how to help educate clients on the science of cleaning, think about that for a moment.
“don’t know how to help educate clients on the science of cleaning“
Understanding your why?
Theres no point getting a quote if you don’t know what the process is. So lets begin with your cleaning needs and see what resonates.
🔺 Vacating a rental home 🔺 Smelly 🔺 Stained 🔺 Kids messes 🔺 Pet messes 🔺 Baby vomit or milk 🔺 Urine from cat or dog 🔺 Cooking or pet odours 🔺 House proud 🔺 Need bond back
These are the most common reasons people want their carpets cleaned and if you resonate with one or a bunch of reasons then it makes understanding the reasons and process so much easier.
So lets begin with…
What is carpet?
Carpet is something we literally come in contact with everyday, it’s the fibre and padding that covers your floors including- broadloom, carpet tiles, stick on, area rugs, offices, restaurants, hotels and anything that’s covered in fibre.
How is carpet cleaned?
There are 3 methods to clean carpet
1: Dry Vacuuming
Power head extraction tool, removes loose contaminants and pet hair
Dry vacuuming using a domestic or commercial grade vacuum, preferably with a power head designed to beat the fibres removing human or pet hair, dead skin cells, dust mites and eggs, dust, pollen and loose debris. Ideally this should be done bi-weekly and can be achieved by owner or best by a professional.
2: (VLM) Very Low Moisture
Encapsulation very low moisture cleaning
(VLM) commonly known as dry cleaning either uses a shampoo or as we recommend Encapsulation Solution by applying a liquid solution that has a crystallising polymer with mechanical agitation. Simply this method attracts and encapsulates dirt in a crystal bead that makes dirt easy to remove.
Advantages: It dries really quickly allowing use often within 60-90 minutes, perfect drying before children come home from school or last minute guests arrive.
Suitability: For light to medium soiled fibres. Perfect for wool, nylon, silk, sisal and polypropylene fabrics. With our premium product it also contains antibacterial agents and a mild fabric protector.
3: (HWE) Hot Water Extraction
Hot water extraction using an carpet extraction wand
(HWE) commonly known as steam cleaning is the process of using warm to hot water to extract pre-spray cleaning solution along with dislodged and dissolved dirt and contaminants.
Advantages: It is the deepest most restorative clean, fibres have that fresh and clean feeling just like bed sheets after they have come off the clothes line.
Suitability: Deepest clean removing odours, body oils, spilled liquids, surface contaminants and topical stains. Perfect for wool, nylon, carpet tiles and polypropylene fibres.
The cleanliness scale
So how do I know which service to pick? Well we’ve provided a simple scale from 1 to 10 that’ll help you evaluate where you sit.
Simply select the cleanliness levels your carpets are currently at.
Levels 1 to 4
If you feel your carpet sits between 1 to 4 then you can choose between VLM Encapsulation Cleaning or HWE Espresso Steam Cleaning.
Levels 5 to 7
You require medium spa steam cleaning, this is best suited to medium soiling and some topical marks, it’ll also refresh the fibres.
Levels 8 to 10
You require heavy spa deep cleaning, fibres are heavily soiled and require deep penetrating cleaning, often requires anti bacterial treatments and neutralising solution.
Level 10+
You require a full restoration clean, typically this includes urine decontamination, vomit, faecal matter, removal of blood, penetrating odours and stain treatment where possible. It would require often the use of biocides to sanitise the fibre.
How do we charge for our work?
Square meterage: We use what the industry calls square meterage to begin with, in essence 1 meter wide X 1 meter wide is the equivalent of square meter, we measure the carpeted length and width of each room then calculate the total area measurements.
Example: You may have a lounge that measures 21.6 meters square. We then use a dollar amount say $5.50 X 21.6 m2 the grand total is $118.80
Room Dimensions Guide
We use the M2 x Dollar amount to calculate the price
Will carpet cleaning remove stains or urine from carpet?
Stain Treatment:
Topical Stains: These marks will come out with a heavy duty carpet clean, in other words these are marks that sit on top of the fibre but haven’t damaged the yarn or colour pigmentation.
Penetrating Stains: These are stains that have penetrated the carpet yarn or fibre, typically these are caused by wine, coffee, bleach, certain food groups and coloured drinks.
Steam cleaning will not remove these marks, they require Stain Treatment, this is in fact a restoration service that requires specialised chemicals and a forensic methodology to reduce the impact of staining.
We do not guarantee all marks will 100% be removed often a 50% reduction makes it virtually impossible to see, this service is charged in 15 minute increments.
Urine Decontamination
Urine contamination typically happens from young children, frail citizens, cats and dogs, it usually penetrates the carpet, underlay and impregnates the flooring and it never disappears. At it’s worst the smell of urine permeates the home attaching itself to soft furnishings, walls and heating and air conditioning units.
Can steam cleaning or deodorising remove urine?
NO, in fact steam cleaning on it’s own energises the uric salts and makes it worse, and deodoriser is a masking agent and wears off quickly. The only way to remove urine is a decontamination service, we are happy to supply a detailed quote after inspection.
What’s the next step?
Now that you understand what carpet cleaning is and what level of service may be required and how important it is to getting your Bond Back.
Simply call or email for a free carpet condition audit and cleaning quote, we will determine your final vacate date and confirm a service appointment.
We will supply you with a full condition report and electronic invoice that you can keep for your own records and email to your Property Manager.
What other services do we provide?
● Vacate Cleans ●Window Cleaning ●Tile and grout cleaning ●Upholstery cleaning ●Pressure washing house and driveways ● Curtain cleaning ●Wall washing ● Also handyman and painting services ●Removalists
Peter is the Principal Presentation Technician and Strategist with 30 years of training, he’s an educationalist to the real estate and property management industries. His many clients are international companies, health institutions, vendors and tenants.
He can be contacted for a free audit and quote on
0413 656 994 or info@rentsellbuymove.com.au
peterkaraoglanis 