Ask at least 2-3 of your friends or neighbors who they use to clean their carpets and furniture. Check our directory for those companies and schedule an estimate. Get an estimate from at least two different companies.Always ask the carpet and upholstery care company for a written estimate before they perform the service. Almost all companies offer this as a free service. Always ask how the technician arrived at his quoted price. Some technicians will set a price based on what they feel you might be willing to pay!

WARNING! BEWARE... of the “bait & switch” tactics used by a few unscrupulous companies in our industry. Their scam goes like this -They bait you with ads in the mail, or newspapers, for carpet cleaning at unbelievably low prices. Then when they arrive at your home to perform the service, they switch you with additional charges for every spot, over priced carpet protector, and pressure you to buy more service than you need! The end result is a much higher bill than you would have paid an honest professional cleaner.

Pricing: Carpet and upholstery care is generally priced by the square footage for carpets, and by the linear foot for upholstery. For example - a room of carpet that measures 10 ft. by 10 ft = 100 sq/ft. at a *price of .25 cents per sq/ft, this room would cost $25.00 to clean. A sofa that measures 6 feet in length = 6 ln/ft. at a *price of $10.00 per ln/ft, this sofa would cost $60.00 to clean. *These prices are for example only - actual prices in your area of the country may be higher or lower.

Some carpet & upholstery care companies price by the room. A room will be defined by a general area up to a maximum size, - for example, a living room, dining room, and hall, up to 300 sq/ft, the total would = $75.00 at .25 cents per sq/ft. Most cleaners who use this method will consolidate areas, such as bathrooms off hallways or closets in bedrooms and count them as 1 room or area. However - some will count the bathroom and closet as separate areas or rooms, and charge you a per room rate. This would result in a much higher cost to you. Choose the company that consolidates areas to make up their maximum area per room cleaned at whatever the set price is. This will result in maximum area cleaned at the lowest price to you!

All companies will charge more for cleaning furniture that is upholstered with velvets, silks and Haitian cottons because these fabrics require additional labor, special materials, and drying methods. If you have furnishings constructed with any of these materials, be sure to ask for references.

Cleaning methods: used will vary from company to company. The two most accepted methods of carpet & upholstery cleaning is by - wet application (steam cleaning or hot water extraction), or dry application (foam, carbonated chemicals, powders, or solvents). A wet application method utilizes hot water mixed with a special cleaning agent within a machine that is mounted inside a vehicle (truck mounted cleaning unit), or a self contained machine that is portable. These machines pump the mixture at high pressure (between 100 - 400 psi) through a special cleaning tool similar to a vacuum head. The mixture of hot water and cleaning agent breaks down the embedded soils, and are immediately vacuumed away. A dry cleaning method utilizes foam, carbonated chemicals, or powders as a cleaning agent. A machine similar to a floor buffer is used with special brushes or absorbent pads to break down the soils, and draw them into the pads. A solvent cleaning method (used for upholstery and drapery cleaning) utilizes a machine similar to a portable wet cleaning machine specifically designed for dry cleaning solvents.