area rugs

I take them to the plant, and they cost $4 per sq ft to clean, just like the orientals. You see - though the rug is cheaper for them to buy (the benefit of overseas labor getting paid a cent per hour to weave it) - the labor to clean it here in the US is the same.

Just because a rug is cheaper does not mean it's easier to clean. In fact, it often has more dangers and chance of being ruined than a pricier rug.

If you are going to clean on-site (which I never recommend, because of that chance of a problem - you can't fix it when the owner sees the problem) ... then treat it as you would upholstery and clean it with a hand tool - so you can control moisture and prevent any potential damage to the floor. Get a hefty blue tarp from Home Depot and use that to protect underneath. (Be sure you wash these off at your shop afterwards so you don't transfer solutions, residue, contaminants to other rugs.) You can also do the work outside with that tarp as well.

But again ... it's always a better choice to take it to your shop.

Lisa

John,

If being able to take a rug off-site, and spend more time to thoroughly clean it, meant you could charge $1-2 MORE than you charge on-site per sq ft - would that be worth it to you?

If you learned more about these rugs so you could actually market to get MORE of them each week to clean - would that be worth it to you? Some guys do 1 or 2 rugs a week - what if you made that 10 or more? How would that affect your bottom line? The average carpet cleaning job runs about $200 (Stanley Steemer was in a million homes last year and had a $190 average invoice...) - but rugs, I know for my shop the average is $400. Let's take an average 8x10 rugs, 80 sq ft, ... I have a Rug Secrets alumi who was charging 50 cents a sq ft in the home, so $40 for that rug.

He now does off-site (a wet wash) at $3.50 per sq ft - so $280 for that rug. My plant charges $4 - so $320. Pickup and delivery, another $90.

Now - the cleaning processes are different from an in-home handtool clean versus a wet wash on a cement slab. You get a better clean with a bath. But regardless of whether you are surface cleaning or wet washing - you can spend more time to do a more thorough job - AND you can actually wash the fringe well in a plant versus on site.

John - you may not have space - but you could build up to it. The key is to know what you can safely clean, and what you need to run from.

My Rugs & Restoration Roadshow event is heading to Atlanta Aug 7 - you might consider dropping in if you're looking for some more rug knowledge. www.RugsandRestorationRoadshow.com. Otherwise, you can pop to www.ceanfax.com, type my name in the archive, and get lots of free articles there.

Hope that gives you something to think about.
Lisa

John, if your living room is big enough, that works too! Tarp underneath if your worried about your floors. Do what it takes to do the job without screwing yourself out of the income.
I do recommend learning how to do them first (if you dont already know how). If you need any help, you know the #.

Mark