[Derek Romeril]

Hi all,

Just wondering if you CC's offer add on's like carpet repairs, general tidy ups & re-stretching as a chargable extra?

As standard practice, before we even start to clean a carpet, we do a quick 'tuck down' around the edges, and if ness. do a quick stretch back onto grip. I've seen a few vids on Youtube lately where CC's don't know how to or can't be bothered to tidy up the carpet first & it simply looks awful. Should this be part of a CC's remit? Is this not a great way of making even more cash?

Just a thought, cheers

CTS

[Joe H]

Some are a bit reluctant to fork out in the first place for a clean - desperation drives some to it.
Now you saying to the customer before you start - would you like the carpet stretching? Only cost you £xx pounds more.
Not something I will be offering for other reasons as well.

[Jamie Pearson]

I have a customer who offers exactly this service.

He considers himself a carpet CARE professional not a carpet CLEANING professional.

He will do exactly as described (and more) if required.

[jasonl]

I will often refit onto doorbars , cut off stray threads and put carpet onto grippers where people have lifted it to put cables down , it is a very small percentage that have any of the problems you describe.

[Dave_Lee]

Its how the customer sees you that matters not how you see yourself.
I am a fitter and a cleaner. Often when a custy calls you to clean a carpet they will ask if you can sort ripples out. Any professional carpet fitter will know that its not just a matter of stretching with the knee kicker, as 'Bubbles can't be removed that way, and ripples are often the result of delamination. Stretching delaminated carpet makes it worse.
Having said that, there's nothing wrong if you want to offer to tidy up first
If the thing is off the grippers and is a potential shrinker then it may be worth just getting it back on and Ive done this on numerous occasions as a norm, but don't consider it separate enough to charge extra.
Offering a re-fit and clean is something else an can be a good earner. Often get asked to re-f it a used carpet into another room and then clean it.
I think most CCs wouldn't want to bother with any fitting, being satisfied with just the cleaning, and not wanting to complicate things.
Some years ago I did some fitting for a new company to our area. I wasn't with them long as they wanted fitters to carry out the whole job, which included, sorting out uneven and damaged floors, shortening doors and leaving extra on stairs for moving every six months etc. It's no wonder they didn't last long as they couldn't find any fitters prepared to do it all.
Dave.

[jasonl]

It wont be unsightly  or uncomfortable to walk on , if it is , as is the case on almost all cases of this type , behind a tv ,sofa etc ...
Sheesh , I may be a carpet cleaner , but I am not retarded.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Or, if you wanted to do it properly, you would fit the cables between two lengths of gripper.  :

As Jason has said, the need to carry out repairs are few and far between - and as Dave has said, invariably the carpet can't be re-stretched because the backing has delaminated.

Furthermore, there is more money in cleaning than fitting, a client is far more likely to pay £50 an hour for cleaning than the same for repairs. After 29 years of fitting and 14 years of cleaning, I can state this with confidence.

There are a few of us on here that are time-served fitters who now predominantly clean - so I don't know where you are going with this thread.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Or, if you wanted to do it properly, you would fit the cables between two lengths of gripper.  :

As Jason has said, the need to carry out repairs are few and far between - and as Dave has said, invariably the carpet can't be re-stretched because the backing has delaminated.

Furthermore, there is more money in cleaning than fitting, a client is far more likely to pay £50 an hour for cleaning than the same for repairs. After 29 years of fitting and 14 years of cleaning, I can state this with confidence.

There are a few of us on here that are time-served fitters who now predominantly clean - so I don't know where you are going with this thread.

Fitting cables between two lengths of gripper is pointless and time consuming - that is very old hat which I haven't heard of for a long time.....

On the contrary, I could do that a lot quicker than cutting back underlay and then taping over cables and it is a more professional finish, plus I can charge for the extra gripper.

When repairs need to be carried out then by using simple techniques and at a price a CC within a short space of time could easily make those remedial repairs and earn more money, that was the original idea of this post to give an idea to CC's to generate more income and offer a better service to their customers (I hope you don't mind that do you Steve?)

I don't mind at all.


Are you still fitting carpets? 54% of our income is from fitting and I can assure you that our clients pay a great deal more than £50 per hour (especially border work & durafit).

Yes I still supply and fit, I'm sure you do get a good price for border work, but that is an extreme example and nothing to do with this thread which is about repairs.


You may be an 'old hand' carpet fitter wedged on this board, but probably 99% are not, let them make up their own minds about offering this type of service.

I've been on this board for a number of years as a carpet cleaner and I offer advice on fitting as and when it's requested.
Cheers

CTS

[Joe H]

Mmmmmm!

[derek west]

and theres the punchline

[Carpet Dawg]

CTS

Your pretty new here and with your first posts your trying to sell something (not sure what) maybe a course on carpet repair etc People on here dont take kindley to that kinda thing, we already get a ton of calls during the day from telesales...

In the 11+ busy years i have been cleaning carpets i have only been asked once if i do repairs to carpets (fair enough i dont advertise that i do). I do have a pair of sciossors on me at all times to cut the odd dangly yarn sticking out of the carpet, but thats as far as i go with with carpet repairs.

Also, Steve is a well respected member of this forum with quite a few years of cleaning and fitting experience under his belt. He's always been willing to help people with thier carpet cleaning and fitting/re-streching/carpet problems questions over the years, so attacking him really wont get you far! I'm 100% sure he wasn't having a go at you but more so pointing out a few facts..

On a positive note how much could you generaly charge for doing a bonded insert?? I see a few iron burns and f*g burns in carpets. The customer never asks me to sort these out as i think they just decide to live with them. But if i could turn round and say, "hey, i can fix that!" then that would be pretty cool.
Also, am i right in saying that if the carpet is worn then a bonded insert will look crap? Only best done on a new carpet?

Tony

[derek west]

like steve said, why fanny around doing things like that when you can move on to the next clean. time is money.

i cleaned an upstairs carpet a couple of weeks ago and charged £60. when i arrived the carpet fitters were there, (2 of em) starting to fit a lounge carpet. when i finnished they asked me for some cards so i returned the favour and asked how much for a lounge like that to be fitted, £30 came the reply. i took my £60 for 30 mins work and got out of there quick.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Steve,

I am not going to enter into childish banter with you as anyone reading this can see you are trying (unsuccessfully) to justify your lack of knowledge on current fitting standards.

May I respectfully request that you consider attending one of these?

 http://www.fita.co.uk/courses_info.php?courseID=1

Offering helpful advise and belittling other peoples posts on here are two seperate issues.

Those CC's who would like to offer that extra service don't be put off by Steve's negative thoughts.

Cheers

CTS

As it happens I considered your reply to my post to be extremely belittling, but I chose not to take offence, and then you go and repeat that behaviour by suggesting I go on a basic training course, while knowing nothing of my background.

But hey I've got thick skin - and I have no desire to enter into childish banter either. So why don't we start again from a professional standpoint, or we can simply ignore each other.

[jasonl]

Tony , I must be a cowboy , I dont carry scissors ,I use a stanley for all those loose bits and burns I cut out  

[Carpet Dawg]

I use a pair of these bad boys! your pinky fits that wee hook just fine!

Also good for giving your nostril a trim before a quote its important to be presentable and all that 

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Good, apology accepted and I apologise if you took offence to my post.

[garyfindlay]

There seems to be a trend of young know it all wippersnappers on here

[Carpet Dawg]

Thanks for the reply CTS. Food for thought.

[robert meldrum]

Not just  YOUNG Garry....................this is a mature 51 year old with letters after his name 

[Joe H]

Not just  YOUNG Garry....................this is a mature 51 year old with letters after his name 

Still a young wippersnapper to some of us eh! Robert