Are You
Paying to Get Deceived?
THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUE AND PRICE
Price is what you end up paying.
Value is what you get for that price.
Relative value between two options can only be ACCURATELYmeasured if both provide you with the same actual result. In other words, you have to compare apples with apples. Given the same quality of apples, the lower priced one will be the better value. However, if an apple is cheaper than an orange, which is then the better value? If a recipe calls for oranges but you buy the apple because it was cheaper, does that make it right?
When you decide to select a carpet cleaner, you will be faced with a wide variety of methods and perhaps more importantly, an even wider variety of prices. Certainly a wide, YET UNSEEN variety of results. Let me stress that point. EVEN THOUGH carpets may LOOK the same when two companies are "done", you should now have enough information to know that one can be absolutely clean, while the other merely got a surface cleaning.
So the ONLY way you will know that you can accurately compare OUR prices to another company's, is if they use the exact same equipment, chemicals, techniques and most importantly, time on the job. Comparing ANY other cleaner to us would be unfair to YOU, as well as to me.
When will you see the benefits of using ONLY the best-quality companies? When it's time to replace your carpeting. Use the cheaper, faster, less efficient cleaners, and you may end up buying new carpeting TWICE AS OFTEN as when it's done the way it was meant to be.
Now we all know that carpet manufacturers say a carpet has a 15- or 20- or 25-year warranty, etc.
In reality, most people end up replacing carpet much more often than that. Why do they replace it? It ends up looking bad. It ends up with bald spots. It ends up always smelling bad. It ends up becoming damaged due to installation or maintenance neglect (probably the PRIMARY REASON for early replacement). These are things I run across frequently.
A CASE IN POINT - LOW PRICE, LEADING TO NEGATIVE VALUE
An apartment manager tells me she replaces carpet every 3 years or every 3rd tenant, whichever comes first. I was appalled. Now, I don't THINK this is the norm, BUT to me that is way too often. Yet, she has concerns about how much per year she spends on getting all of her rental units cleaned.
Let's look ONLY at the tenants who move out. We'll IGNORE the claim that she cleans every 3rd year, regardless.
If she has, say - 250 units, and cleans the carpet each time a tenant leaves, I figured that her turnover rate is about 50%. Or, in any given year, half her tenants move out and she has a "spray-n-suck" company come in and wet her carpets for her. That's at $48.00 per unit on average.
She actually pays even a little less than that, because she looks for the absolute CHEAPEST cleaner she can find.
Now, she says she replaces about a third of those units with new carpeting. Remember, this is because she uses a cheap cleaner, who doesn't use the same equipment and procedures we do.
That's about 42 units. Now, normal residential carpeting goes for about $15 per yard. She gets her carpet CHEAP, so let's assume she pays $8 per yard, with each unit averaging 50 yards, or $400. She also pays someone to install it, for another $150 or so. So, $550 x 42 units = $23,100.
IF she had her carpets cleaned by a more thorough method, she could save potentially HALF of that cost - or $11,550.00. That's EACH and EVERY year.
She's already spending $6,000 per year on carpet cleaning. And I can tell you, she ONLY cleans when an apartment is vacated. If she spent only another $2,750 on her cleaning to DO THE JOB RIGHT EACH TIME, she can save $11,550 each and every year. Her NET SAVINGS would amount to $8,800 ($11,550 less the additional $2,750 additional cost to do it right.) per year by doing this. That's ANOTHER $24.00 CASH in her pocket, EACH AND EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!
Yet, because she ONLY looks for the cheapest price she can, she will always be LOSING $31.64 per day, INSTEAD of GETTING $24.00 per day more.
So, as you can see, SHE THINKS she's getting the best deal by seeking out cheap products and services. I KNOW she's getting NEGATIVE VALUE for her thriftiness.
Why does she do it? Because she claims the cleaner she uses has always done a good job for her (How would she know the difference?, I wondered), and she feels a friendship or bond. What can I say? If she wanted to PAY ME $6,000 per year to LOSE her $11,550, I'd be her good friend, too. (She is also likely a really good friend with the carpet broker she gets her replacement materials from, since she feels good about overpaying HIM by $11,550 a year.)
Now, I didn't make up these figures. They came straight from her own mouth, yet she still fails to see the bad logic of her decisions.
Will I ever drop my price to her to give her what she wants? - The same price as the lesser cleaner is charging her? NEVER. I will NEVER sacrifice value, quality or workmanship just to get someone to underpay me.
If YOU are someone who only looks for the LOWEST price, please leave now, because we will NOT have a very pleasant working relationship.
IF, on the other hand, you see EXACTLY the logic of what I have described, we will have an EXCELLENT working relationship.
VALUE ILLUSTRATED
Shaw Industries, as you know -- the world's largest manufacturer of carpeting, requires professionally provided Hot Water Extraction cleaning to maintain your warranty, whether truck mounted or portable.
Here's why truck mounted and upgraded professional portable units clean better than other methods, and consumer-grade portables (including supermarket rentals and household consumer models).
1) These higher-powered machines use strong suction to draw out the soil, chemicals, bacteria, pollens, rancid oils, tobacco smoke residues, etc. out of your carpet. Other methods rely upon the same type of low-powered vacuum cleaner you now use, or even worse - tell you that they get your carpet clean by ABSORBING much of the dirt and cleaning agent they use. When we are done, this stuff is OUT OF YOUR HOME. When they are done, a LOT OF IT REMAINS. Are you paying for cleaning your home, or are you just paying to move the dirt and contaminants around?
2) After the proper application of pre-conditioning chemicals to ALL PARTS OF YOUR CARPET (something which TACH does on EVERY job, unlike MANY other cleaners), the hot cleaning solution is forced into the carpet at high pressures, which helps to break up the dirt, bacteria, chemical pollutants and pollens. The solution flushes and vacuum removes these from your carpet. (When a ROTARY-JET RESTORATION POWERHEAD like TACH uses is put into action, this action is intensified by many times, compared to a plain human-powered hand wand). Proper neutralizer must be present in the final solution used to flush the carpet.
3) They use hot water to enhance the performance of cleaning chemicals and solutions. Above 118° F., each 18° increase in heat doubles the effectiveness of the cleaning chemicals. This is true up to about 250°. Solutions at 136° F. should clean twice as well as solutions at 118°. Those at 154° should clean four times as effectively as at 118°. Most truck mounted units typically deliver between 150°-180° to the carpet. Boosted portables may deliver between 130°-160°.
EVEN IF only COLD WATER were used, the superior agitation, vacuum and time spent on the job would STILL clean better than other methods.
4) THE essential part of this "system" is the trained, experienced and certified operator. If you got sick, would you rather consult a first-year pre-med student, or even a high school "wannabe", or would you seek out a competent, trained, experienced doctor? If the pre-med student charged you $10.00, the high-schooler charged you $3.00 and the doctor charged you $40.00, which is then the better value?
Likewise, would you hire that same high-schooler with 2 weeks' experience to clean your carpet, or a trained, and certified professional? Which provides more value? Companies which UNDERCUT quality companies in the hopes of stealing YOU, the THINKING CLIENT away, cannot afford to pay their people even what they are worth. As a result, cleaning technicians who've been with the same company for more than a year or two are VERY rare. Many former technicians I've spoken to who have worked for such companies tell me they typically spent 3-4 months with them, before getting disgusted and leaving.
Not surprisingly, professional systems cost more to maintain and use than the units you rent from the corner grocery. If you bought the cheapest carpet you could find, you probably won't have a problem renting a do-it-yourself machine. However, along with an increase in actual price, you'll find a dramatic increase in results with professional cleaning, meaning a better overall value for your dollar.
If you want your carpet to look as good and to be as clean as it can, so it'll give you years more dependable service, you need to take proper care of it. This means having it professionally cleaned with Hot Water Extraction (as required by carpet makers) every 18-24 months. Heavier traffic or unusual conditions require even more frequent cleaning (every 6-12 months).
If you clean more often than not - that is - on a regular basis, it's very likely your carpet care company will offer you a Preferred Client discount, meaning an even BETTER value for you.
Sometimes, paying the RIGHT PRICE gets you much more than your money's worth.
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©1997-2007,
Frank Nihei, TACH Cleaning Co.