1st Job With Rugs

Craig Barber

Cleantalk Member
Hi guys, I just wanted to ask some advice on my 1st job doing rugs. I have included 2 sets of pictures of the rugs an existing customer has asked me to clean for him, there are 6 rugs in total, 4 sets of one rug and 2 of the other.

My concern is that they stink to high heaven of dog urine, I had arranged for the customer to meet my Father at my address to drop the rugs off and he had taken the rugs off the customer and placed them on my kitchen floor, problem being that my Father has lost his sense of smell and my other half arrived home before I managed to and I got the biggest bol****ing of my life!!! My gf had to go around her Mothers because she couldn't stand the smell. I arrived home and as soon as I walked through the front door the smell hit me. I had a quick look over them and all 6 rugs and judging by the multiple stains on the backing it looks like they have been saturated with urine, I quickly took these photos whilst on the verge of being sick and they are now sitting in the shed.

My main question is the value of the rugs, would it be worth me even attempting to clean them? I haven't asked the customer the value, I just wanted to ask for some advice on here prior to doing so. If I do go ahead with the clean, what method would be most appropriate with regards to the dog urine? I was thinking M-Power with a long dwell.

Any suggestions or advice would be grateful. Thanks.

ps. I have received training in carpet cleaning, upholstery and also spot & stain but not had any training or experience with rugs.
 

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Ken Wainwright

Cleantalker Veteran
All of these appear to be low cost synthetic, "woven" rugs.

I would suggest that given the nature of the soil/contamination, they all need to be submerged in a pit/tank containing a solution of sanitizer. It makes sense to follow the treatment with saturation or submersion cleaning.

If they are all polypropylene, there are no fears of dye bleed but almost certainly, these rugs will ruck and not lie flat for quite some time after being returned to the customer. I suspect that a spray-on treatment followed by extraction cleaning will not be successful.

Being of low value, the treatment and cleaning may cost more than the original purchase price.

Safe and happy cleaning:smile:
Ken
 

Steve Porter

Cleantalker Veteran
I assume then Craig that you've not given your customer an idea on cost? If not then before proceeding I'd let him know the grand total (timewise, roughly a day for you) & let him decide if he wants to carry on

As Ken mentions they all need immersion cleaning to rid the smell & with those rigs it's very doable, just depends on whether the client wants to pay. Rinsing from one side or another will slowly get the result but it'd take ages, it's always good to chuck them in a rug pit (or paddling pool) with a load of water & M Power, let them dwell whilst you work on them then carry on rinsing & drying. I do a lot like this as it can actually be quicker than faffing about trying to rinse them all off
 

Adrian Geyer

Cleantalk Member
Personally I would NEVER ALLOW/BRING a customers rug in my home. They often suggest it and the answer is always NO.
WE COME TO YOU.
My missus would go apes***. and quite right too!
Sometimes I bring cushion covers home and always regret it.
A neighbour knocked on my door informed me he had left a doormat in my van (on a Sunday morning) and I hated having it in my house for a couple of days.
I trust you wont do this again anytime soon ?
 

Andrew Evans

Cleantalker Veteran
Craig see if there is a rug cleaning plant near you if there is get a price then give a price to your client.
Don't try and clean them at home they need to be flushed through and dried quickly.
As said before cost of cleaning is likely to prove uneconomic.
 

Craig Barber

Cleantalk Member
Thanks for the advice guys, I will try to answer to the few of you who have asked questions......I had not given the customer a quote prior to receiving the rugs.

The story with this customer is I did a clean for him at some offices he owns a couple of weeks previously and he was really impressed with the work done. He had then booked me to clean his carpets at his house but on the morning of the job he asked if I could also clean the 6 rugs whilst I was there and also stated he wanted me to arrive, do the job and be away within 90 minutes!!! This included doing the pre-clean survey and tests etc. as he had asked me to do this on the day of the job. I advised him that he was being unrealistic with regards to the time for the job and so he cancelled and said he'd get me to do the work at a later date. I rearranged 2 surveys/quotes and also a stain job for the rest of day and he contacted me asking if I would be willing to take the rugs away and do them whenever I could. I agreed and got a family member to meet him to receive the rugs, if I had known he had been letting his dogs use the rugs as a toilet then I wouldn't have even entertained the idea, I suppose I will just put it down to a lesson learned and it makes sense now why he kept putting off my attempts to call at his house to do the survey etc.

Anyway I have advised the customer that the cost of cleaning will more than likely exceed the cost of replacement but he has asked me to carry on with the clean at whatever cost as the rugs are of sentimental value to him and in his words he stated "No need to go to town on them, I just want them freshening up a little".

I am not in the possession of a pit/tank that some members have suggested using, I think I will look into taking them to a rug cleaning plant if there is one near to my location. Failing that, I will clean 1 of the rugs and then advise him of the cost of all 6 at my hourly rate.

Once again, thanks for the advise and suggestions.
 

John Bolton

Cleantalker Veteran
Craig,

A shallow pit can consist of just four lengths of timber and a plastic tarpaulin.

And after application and agitation with M-P, initial flushing can be from a garden hose, first to jet-wash then with rugs in your improvised pit leave the hose running slowly for a while to continue the rinse.

Next excess water can be squeegee'd out with a wand (lowest end of pit lowered to allow draining).

Now a further application of M-P, this time at 1:40 due to the saturation level, and an extended dwell

This would get you to a situation where much of the contamination has been dispersed/removed and the rugs can be dry-extracted to remove more moisture, putting you in a position to clean them in a manner to which you are more accustomed.

I am not suggesting that this is the ideal manner of rug washing but it is one which could resolve this situation to everyones satisfaction and with profit going to Craig rather than a rug plant.

The biggest challenge will be final drying at this time of year and whilst most of the work can be conducted outside I'm sure your good lady would not mind a few strewn across the lounge, her double bed and the kitchen worktops. :lol:
 

Steve Porter

Cleantalker Veteran
Totally agree with JB, you can it this way & it works but when you get lots to do (regularly) then getting some good gear in does make it easier.

Adrian
You must be missing out on a heck of a lot of work (money) if you won't bring rugs home?!
Not too sure how many homeowners would let me spend 4 plus hours cleaning their stinking silk rug let alone want to see an iron being used on something of great value. Nor could I entertain immersion cleaning a filthy oriental rug on site but I guess I could get away with making a "cosmetic" enhancement on site?!
There is a tonne of money in specialist rug care but very little of it could be done on site, unless you're also selling ice to the Inuit's?
 

Christopher Walters

Cleantalk Member
Too much hassle don’t bother give them back.....

You could do all of the above and they might still smell and then what happens....?

Either return them or pass them to someone who has a Rug plant and take a cut .
 

Andrew Evans

Cleantalker Veteran
Both JB and Steve are quite right but they need to be dried quickly and this is the wrong time of year of you do not have the facilities.
Good luck with them and his statement about sentimental value is why there is good money in rugs.
 

Carl Sands

Subscriber
Given the time of year, unless you have a garage, dehumidifier, and air mover, I'd not tolerate the idea of doing them now. Maybe one at a time over a few weeks but certainly not all at once.
 

Steve Porter

Cleantalker Veteran
Some of the comments above echo what I find on a weekly basis down here
Many carpet cleaners don't do rugs/ don't/ can't do them properly or don't take them away, I can tell that by the phone calls I get regularly & I love it!

Like many I try to work less & work smarter & whilst a more challenging rug to some maybe a reasonably simple fix for another

Please, get yourselves a GOOD contact locally who can do the jobs you don't/ can't do & let him/ her/ them (being gender aware!! LOL) make the money

With stinky rugs I often find myself raising the bar, I often tell them that if I cannot remove the smell (often months of urine) then they don't pay for the clean, suffice to say that to date I have not done a free stinky rug clean!!
Drying times in Winter even on an immersion cleaned rug can be less than 24 hours if you wish, you just have to be prepared & set up with the right kit (not that expensive)
 

Andrea fletcher

Cleantalk Member
We do mostly rug here (spain) and I always take them away as we have grids and at Tornado T600 (nickname the :censored:omat), to messy to do on site....i have a large Persian type rug I'm doing presently, so far I've removed 3.8kg of dirt just with back beating...it still smells like a bag of compost. I don' t have an immersion tank, but this one needs more than spray extraction for sure.
 

Max Campbell

Cleantalk Member
Middling price for off-site cleaning is around £30 per square metre. If they're all 1.2 x 1.7, that's around £360, which is enough to buy a domestic dehumidifier (get a desiccant type, not a refrigerant, because they work better at low temperatures, say £150), a big bit of visqueen and a few lengths of 4 x 2. There are no easier rugs to learn on.
 

Daniel Darlow

Cleantalk Member
You can go down the Hero route and do everything possible to please and satisfy the Client, at whatever cost, just to do the job well. There is a big market in rug cleaning if you specialise, but the 'just can you run your cleaner over this while youre here ' is a common situation.
Or you could step back and think that you need to rule the conversation of what should, could, and will happen with your service.
The Rugs concerned are of minimal cost, the 'sentimental value' is always a border line worry, so are the comments of' just freshen up a liitle' normally meaning they do not want to spend any money on them.
Be realistic, don't go overboard unless you clarify your charge, and if you can fulfil a complete clean and deodorise.
If the situation is not good then, dry powder clean, and Odour Neutralise and get rid.
 
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