[Damian]

Rob, i put you on the spot a little with my question, however with your experience and knowledge, the answer you gave was the one i was looking for. Thankyou.

Damian.

[dirtbusters]

as others have suggested use the preparation that is needed for that particular job. if you were going to decorate a well maintained room with clean walls as a spruce up you would not go to the trouble of washing down all the walls first, on the other hand if you did not wash down the walls of a nicotine coated dirty room in a badly maintained rental property you would not be able to do a satisfactory job. use your experience . not always pre vacuming does not  mean you are bad at your job!

[Mike Halliday]

its OK to say, match the amount of preparation to each job, but how can you relate this to vacuuming.

You cannot see how well the customer has vacuumed the carpet and unless you have remarkable eyesight you cannot see if the carpet needs vacuuming, the only way is too work to a set standard.

Mike

[brights cleaning]

Mr Lee, you mean you dont vaccuum yourself, tut tut tut tut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Robert Watson]

" unless you have remarkable eyesight you cannot see if the carpet needs vacuuming, the only way is too work to a set standard"

I`ll go along with that.
I could waffle on but I think that sums it up. 

[carpetguy]

i'm afraid I rely on my eyesight, to a great extent, but I tend to look around the skirtings and traffic areas, which I find gives a pretty accurate insight, into what goes on in any particular house,

If I can avoid carrying in an additional machine and carrying out an additional task, I will take this option, rather than add an extra 30, or more minutes to a job.

Obviously, this is reflected in pricing.

[jeff1966]

I'm confused surely if you prevac, prespray,and then HWE you will be moving furniture around not once but 4 times,that is if your 3 methods are done correctly.If thats the case some of these times don't add up!

[carpetguy]

Jeff

This is one of those threads that can run and run, which can be educational, or entertaining, or sometimes lead to fallouts............

At the end of the day, there are some, who will be pedantic and follow the "book" others will use the "book" as guidelines and others will have read the "book" and completely ignore it.

In my case, I agree with Doug's comments

[John Kelly]

The majority of carpet cleaners never pre-vac.

[brights cleaning]

must just be me that vacs then

[carpetguy]

I think John is correct and in my case, as I've said, only when there is a definite need, which is'nt very often.

There's always a " However "and for the inexperienced, there are three particular situations, when it's advisable to vacuum.

When there are dogs or cats in the house, especially cats.

When there is clear evidence of accumulated dry soil inside the entrance door / hallway.

Around the skirting bases.