I have a commercial cleaning business and I am going to start offering carpet cleaning. I need to know how much to charge for these cleanings. I have never done carpet so I'm not sure how to price it. I have four buildings that are 3000 sq. ft. and one building that is 10,000 sq. ft. Do I price by the job, by square feet, etc. Any help would be appreciated. I live in Ohio and it will be just two people doing it.

I can only speak to my area, Chicago.

I will give you a suggestion as far as pricing goes but in the end pricing is always your decision Lauann.

I do suggest that you use my preferred method that we have used for over 15 years and that is hot water extraction, we have tried them all in the past. As part of our service to our clients we clean about 1 million sq ft or more of carpets every three months.

If the carpet is just generally dirty and not filthy a competitive price per sq ft would be $0.12 to $0.16. If it is filthy then it would be restoration cleaning and that doesn't always work well if the carpet is beyond help.

Make sure that you pre-spot all spots and traffic lanes and agitate it prior to cleaning. That is the only way that you have a chance of getting spots out that won't wick back. Do not use a lot of detergent or water and if necessary put floor fans down so it dries quickly. Tell your client to please remove everything from the floors to allow more carpet to be cleaned and to remove anything such as papers, boxes, etc as they will soak up water and may be destroyed.

Remember do not put down a lot of water and make sure that when sucking up the water with the machine that you go slow so to remove as much water as possible.

I would also remember to say to your client that not all spots will come out with regular carpet cleaning as they may (and probably are) very old and you do not know what caused the spot. Remember spots can come out stains usually don't.

Questions :) Fire away!

Stringer

Thanks for your fast reply. I know I'll have more questions in the future, I'm so glad I found this sight it was very helpful.
Lauann

You are welcome Lauann. If I may be of further assistance just let me know.

Stringer