May Katz had a trusted carpet cleaning company that she had always used, but the Indianapolis resident thought she’d try another company that had advertised a discounted cleaning.

As soon as the two representatives were in the door, though, they immediately tried to upsell Katz an additional $120 for “deep cleaning” service. When she declined, the cleaners were in and out of her three-level home in less than an hour and she didn’t notice a difference in the carpets’ appearance, other than that they were still wet after the technicians left. Katz noted than on previous, more positive carpet cleaning experiences, it took three technicians an hour and a half to clean her carpets.

“I thought it would take at least two hours,” Katz said. “It took them less than 45 minutes, so that made me kind of skeptical. I wasn’t certain if it was cleaned or not cleaned.”

Chris Stone, of Gallery Carpet Care in Zionsville, said he hears stories like Katz’s all the time from clients who call him in to redo a carpet cleaning job.

“When they show up and start trying to upsell you certain things, if (you decline), they’re not at all motivated to do the carpet in the best possible job,” Stone said. “We hear that a lot. They get there and the customer says, ‘I just want to get (the sale price),’ and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, we can do that, but if you actually want your carpets deep cleaned and want us to use a pre-spray and hot water…’ and they’ll start adding up all these charges. That should be a big red flag. A reputable company should have a one-price system, whether they charge per room or per square foot.”

Look for a carpet cleaning company that follows industry guidelines set forth by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC.)

“You want a company that’s in it for the long run,” Stone said. “When they show up to your door, look for the little things. Look at their appearance. If they’re poorly dressed or have a sloppy appearance, generally that translates into how their work is going to (look).”

It’s important, before hiring a carpet cleaner, to understand the type of carpet cleaning being done. Stone’s company, for example, offers only hot water extraction. That’s also known as steam cleaning, which is the method recommended by most carpet manufacturers. Other methods include low-moisture – or bonnet cleaning – and “dry” or carbonated techniques. Many manufacturers will not honor the carpet’s warranty if their recommended cleaning method is not used.

“(Most carpet manufacturers) demand using hot water extraction because it removes the most soil,” Stone said. “It’s able to sanitize the carpet with the heat and it’s the most thorough cleaning out there. We do hot water extraction with a truck mount, which we believe is the best way to clean your carpets. If you see somebody show up with a little portable (cleaner) or they ask to connect to your water source, you might want to look for someone else.”

Professional cleaning costs typically start at around $79 for a small area and goes up from there, depending on the size of your home and the type of cleaning you choose. Stone said he charges by the square foot, rather than the room.

Installing carpet in your home is a lot like buying a car — the moment you use it, the value starts depreciating.

Most carpet manufacturers say their carpet lasts around 10 years, but with proper care, many families are able to extend the life of their carpet even longer by utilizing professional carpet cleaners. At some point, though, you’ll need to decide whether cleaning or replacing your carpet is the best choice. To find out if replacing is right for you, consider these factors:

1. Wear and tear

Has your carpet seen better days? Are you putting rugs all over it to cover rips and tears, or rearranging furniture to cover defects? Are your kids scared to lay on it? Matted carpet, tears and significant wear on the main walkways are major signs your carpet is on its death bed.

Polyester carpet fibers have a reputation of matting and losing their form. Once it falls down and loses its tuft, it doesn’t return to normal, even with professional cleaning. Nylon carpeting, however, is typically more resilient than polyester and responds well to carpet cleaning, even when matted down.

You might be able to fix small tears and rips yourself, or you can hire a carpet professional to make the repair. However, large rips and tears tend to signal the carpet needs to be replaced, especially if the tears are present on stairs or major walkways.

2. Excessive stains

Are you covering up stains with furniture and rugs when cleaning fails to remove them? If your house is starting to resemble a mine field, it’s time to replace the carpet. Most carpets come with a stain-resistant finish, but over time the treatment fades, and eventually leaves the carpet unprotected. Luckily, professional carpet cleaners know tricks to remove tough stains. Dean Leffel, owner of highly rated Home Cleaning Centers of America in Indianapolis, says most carpet cleaners only clean to the base of your carpet, to avoid damaging the glue that binds your carpet to the pad. However, he says this doesn’t get any stains that penetrate deeper than the carpet.

“We have a system of flushing out deep stains with a flood extraction tool,” he says. In this method, Leffel floods the area with cleaning solution and uses a heavy duty extraction tool to remove the stain from the carpet and pad. Sometimes, Leffel says, stubborn stains just won’t go away. Bleach, plant food, tea, wine and mustard are typically the toughest stains to remove, and carpet cleaners say many homeowners make the stains worse by using shoddy DIY stain-removal methods they find on the web, or store-bought carpet-cleaning products that can actually damage carpet with harsh chemicals.

Stains caused by pet urine, feces, vomit, mold and mildew are usually easy to clean if you act fast. But these biological substances eventually will absorb into the carpet padding, leading to mold and mildew buildup under the carpet. If the biological stains are in several places, consider replacing the carpet to avoid health hazards with mold. Leffel says they sometimes get creative with replacing small pieces of stained carpet by removing carpet from a rarely used closet.

3. Consider age of carpet

Are you still using the 1970s shag carpet that came with your house? Have you had it cleaned several times? Believe it or not, carpet doesn’t last forever, even with good care. Most manufacturers say carpet should last for 10 years with proper care. After 10 years, signs of wear show on the major walkways and the carpet fibers start losing their texture and tuft. If you find yourself cleaning the carpet over and over and not getting the results you want, it might be time to lay the carpet to rest. Signs of old carpet include color loss, fading, matting, ripples, wrinkles and lack of padding support.

4. Condition of padding

Carpet padding is like the pillow under the case, the carpet is nothing but a layer of fabric without the padding. It helps support the carpet, working as a foundation and making it comfortable to walk and lay on. It buffers sounds and keeps a room quieter and even improves insulation. However, carpet padding also absorbs a lot of spills and cleaning the carpet doesn’t necessarily clean the padding. Signs of aging padding include unevenness, wrinkles and a crinkling sound when someone walks over it.

5. Odor

Are you spraying fabric freshener and lighting candles every time you have company? Spot-cleaning carpets and even professional cleaning might remove stains and odors from the carpet, but the padding often absorbs the smell. Leffel suggests asking carpet cleaners what method they use to remove wetness beneath the carpet, if odors are a problem. “The odor won’t go away unless they deep clean the stain and ensure the pad is dry,” he says. If you’ve tried to get rid of the old carpet smell and can’t, consider replacing the carpet.

Commercial carpet cleaning can be looked at as a business totally separate and distinct from its residential counterpart. While the basic service of removing soil from carpet may indeed be similar, and may involve virtually the same tools and skills, the mindset and selling approach can be completely different.

The difference starts with the basic philosophy and reason for cleaning. Residential accounts are almost always restorative or corrective cleaning situations where the customer finally cannot wait any longer and hires a cleaning company to come in and bring the carpet back to acceptable levels of appearance and sanitation.

By comparison, commercial carpet cleaning is generally maintenance cleaning. Services are performed at various intervals with the goal of keeping the carpet’s appearance and sanitation from ever reaching an unacceptable level.

Residential cleaning is usually sold and serviced on an individual job basis, while commercial cleaning is often contracted for a period of time and may involve multiple cleanings and methods. Commercial carpet cleaning is very often part of a maintenance program as opposed to a stand-alone event.

With these differences in mind, it becomes clear that the skills and techniques used in marketing and selling commercial carpet cleaning services are different from those used in selling residential services. The first step to selling commercial carpet care is to take a step back. Look at the prospective account with a “total package” or “program” approach in mind. Analyze the carpeted area to get a clear picture of what cleaning and maintenance needs may apply. Things to consider would include: