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By Elite Carpet Cleaning 6-14-2013

What to Find out about your Denver carpet cleaner, is he focused on quality, or quantity

You have seen the sign before, “Whole house carpet cleaning $95.” These five words tell you the kind of quality you can expect. This company is trying to survive by cramming as many appointments as possible into each day. Sadly as competition for carpet cleaning in Denver gets tougher more and more companies are turning to this approach. This means the quality of work done at each home is, by necessity, of secondary importance. It is unlikely you will call this Denver carpet cleaner, but how can you avoid selecting another carpet cleaner in Denver that is preparing to put out a batch of signs?

You Get What You Pay For

Avoid any carpet cleaning company in Denver that is offering huge discounts for no apparent reason. Offering some deals or discounts is a normal business strategy to attract new customers; but massive, indiscriminate discounts guarantee a quantity-cleaning of your house.

  • Consider the quickly-declining fad of online coupons, purchased in advance, usually offering 50% off or more. These “deals” are structured by the coupon company, not the carpet cleaner. An average “deal” is $69.00 for cleaning 750 sq. feet, valued at $138.00.
  • Sounds good right? Except the coupon company has set the carpet cleaner’s original price at below normal market prices, discounted that by 50%, and then designated the lion’s share of the remainder for itself. The carpet cleaner is receiving less than the cost of equipment use, cleaning solutions, and transportation. Do you think that offering this price to everyone he works for in a month is going to generate great customer service, attention to detail, and a willingness to come back and fix any problems?

Another give-away for a quantity carpet cleaning business in Denver is advertising. The local carpet cleaning industry in Denver has lots of competition from large, nationwide companies. Many of them play the price game, offering the same specials, undercutting or price-matching another company.

  • The average carpet cleaning deal in Denver is usually set by one of the big companies. To be profitable, they utilize quantity cleaning and up-sales.
    • One large nationwide company will schedule up to 9 jobs per day for each team of technicians. They also experience a 300% annual turnover rate, meaning their average technician leaves after only four months with the company.
    • Their technicians are under pressure to sell you additional services that you were not expecting to need. This makes the actual cost to each customer higher than advertised, but the high-pressure schedule doesn’t change to accommodate the extra work, so once again, quality must suffer.
  • A willingness to undercutting and price matching another carpet cleaner in the Denver area should be a red flag.
    • A quality driven carpet cleaning company in Denver has taken the time to calculate their operating costs and expenses and has set prices that allow concentration on the quality of the work. They will be honest with you from the beginning, informing you of what services you need and what it will cost. You will be the one selecting the desired services, not the carpet cleaning technician.
    • When a company undercuts or price matches, they are conveying a simple message to you. I will sacrifice the quality of your work for my time. Sometimes they advertise to do this, but sometimes we as the consumers unintentionally tell them to do this to us.

How will this company treat you?

As soon as we have contact with a carpet cleaning company in the Denver area we begin to subconsciously keep track of all the good and bad things that happen. Small things begin to form an impression in our minds. Pay attention to these bits of information as they accumulate, because your subconscious is tying them to previous life experiences, and telling you what to expect in the future!

  1. Phone: How are you treated on the phone? This is the best you will be treated. At this point, they are trying to win your business. If the phone is not answered, message not returned, or the associate is abrasive, abrupt, or pushy, call another company.
  2. Estimate: The person giving you an estimate should help you become an educated consumer. You should feel comfortable with the work that is going to be done, know what procedures will be used and why. A company that will educate their customers will also educate their workers.
  3. Qualify the work: The truth is carpet takes a tremendous beating by everyday use. There is a chance not all of the reasons for your calling a professional can be taken care of by a simple cleaning. It may take re-dying, repair or restoration to fix an issue. A quality conscience company will always explain to you what a cleaning will do, and what potential problems might still need to be addressed.

Remember: Before a Denver carpet cleaning company is hired is when they are on their best behavior. If they are rude, irritable, indifferent or pushy at this point, they will be worse after they get your money.

Do your research

Check some reviews of a carpet cleaning company that you are considering and see what kind of things their other customers have to say. The most common way of doing this with carpet cleaning companies in Denver is looking at online reviews. Some popular sites that endorse businesses receive their income from the businesses they endorse, which means they will suffer a financial loss by withdrawing their endorsement of an unscrupulous company. Others are more objective. For example, to leave a comment on Angie’s List requires a paid membership, resulting in fairly accurate and unbiased reviews. Yet other sites are mostly known as place to blow off some steam when you’re mad. Checking around at several sites should give you a generally balanced picture of a company.

What if you cannot find any reviews for a company? Don’t be alarmed, some companies are newer than others and might not have any reviews yet. It doesn’t mean they are bad. After all, every company started some time. If you don’t find any online, and even if you do, call Denver carpet cleaning company and ask for a few references, then follow up and call them.

  • Find out what quality of work was done, if they are happy and why.
  • How long did the work take? Studies have indicated that an average truck mount extractor crew can properly clean about 900 sq. feet an hour, when you factor in prepping an area, moving items and returning things to their place.
    • If the crew was going faster than this there is a good chance that a thorough cleaning was not performed
    • If significantly slower find out if they were goofing off or wasting time on the job

Choose Quality over Quantity

Save yourself from the guy whose signs are being printed. Avoid carpet cleaning companies in Denver that play the pricing game. Avoid the “limited time” deals that are too good to be true. If a deal is not a win for everyone, including the cleaner, then it will be a loss for everyone. Trust your instincts. Do your research; know them before they know you.