How much does
Professional Carpet Cleaning cost?

How Much Does Carpet Cleaning Cost?

by Our Local Cleaner Staff Writer: Mike Murphy
Contributor: One of a Kind Pros™ serving Katy, Texas
Updated: Winter 2021

 

Let's answer this question from a few different angles — from the effectiveness of various cleaning methods — and unique residential cleaning situations — to add-on services that enhance the quality of the cleaning appointment. There are a few important factors that affect the final amount on the invoice for professional carpet cleaning.

In this article, we're going to focus on residential carpet carpeting to maintain the health and beauty of your home.

We also think it's necessary to make you aware of a fairly common practice of up-charging and hidden costs that some carpet cleaning companies use. It's an unethical tactic called "bait and switch" that some cleaning companies use in their advertising to grab your business. That will come later in the article.

At Our Local Cleaner, we refuse to promote companies that use sneaky tactics to charge you more than they advertise. We place fair pricing, honesty, and integrity above all else.

Many Carpet Cleaning Companies Charge Per Room

Standard rooms like living rooms, family rooms, and bedrooms can be priced based on their size, and are calculated by the square foot. These standard rooms are typically 130 to 300 square feet.

Often professional cleaning is priced using a flat rate for multiple rooms, and the more rooms you have cleaned, the less you pay per room.

For example, One Of A Kind Pros™, professional carpet cleaners in the Katy, Texas area — charges $159 for 3 rooms ($53 per room), and $249 for 6 rooms (only $42 per room).

Often, smaller carpeted areas are estimated separately depending on the size. These areas may include entryways, bathrooms, study areas, hallways, and closets.

Now, we're sure that you've heard that there are different methods of carpet cleaning out there...

Different Methods of Carpet Cleaning —
The Cost, and the Results

If you are getting quotes from different carpet cleaning companies, it's actually very important to ask them what method they use, not just cost — if you care about results.

We are currently writing an article that goes into great detail on the most common cleaning methods used by carpet cleaning companies — shampooing, dry cleaning, encapsulation, bonnet cleaning, charged water, and other methods.

If you are interested, and you don't want to wait, you can check out One of a Kind Pros™'s article Which is the best professional carpet cleaning method for your home?

Some methods cost a little less, but they don’t produce the high standard of results you really want — many only superficially clean the visible surface of the carpet, or some of them leave a lot of residue deep in your carpet fibers. You can learn more in the article that we linked to above.

All of the cleaners on Our Local Cleaner™ use the industry gold-standard of cleaning techniques and equipment called Hot Water Extraction — also sometimes referred to as "steam cleaning".

This method is truly *professional* as it requires the highest degree of training and experience — and it also takes a little longer to perform — but the results are as good as it gets — beautifully clean carpet — from the surface to down deep within the fibers. And this method, if performed correctly by a professional with modern equipment, will leave virtually no residues behind.

In fact, nearly all of the largest carpet manufacturers require cleaning with the Hot Water Extraction method — specifically, every 12-18 months in order to maintain their new-carpet warranties.

Please don't use DIY rental machines!

In order to save money, some homeowners opt to clean their carpets with a rental machine from the grocery store.

It should be no surprise that, as professionals, we cannot recommend this method. But it's not because they take business away — just the opposite!

At Our Local Cleaner™ we talk to the best professional carpet cleaners across the country, and we've heard stories!

To be brief, our professionals get called out by homeowners — all the time ‐ to fix the problems that DIY grocery store rental machines cause. And let's just say — it's a dirty foamy mess.

If you like making pro/con lists, the only "pro" for DIY rental machines is a little lower cost in the short term. And really, truly, it's not that much of a savings.

Carpet Cleaning Add-on Services

Often it's in the homeowner's best interest to consider a few important add-on services that will factor into the price. Our professionals will recommend these add-ons on a case-by-case basis, only if you need it, and our pros will be willing to discuss them with you anytime.

With most of the carpet cleaning experts we promote, if you choose one or more of these professional add-on services, they will be factored into your final price.

These services might include:

1. professional application of carpet protector to block spills and stains.
2. pet deodorizer and/or urine removal techniques
3. tough stain removal.

Our Local Cleaners don’t have Hidden Charges
or use "Bait & Switch" Tactics

As we mentioned earlier, there are cleaning companies that use a tactic known as "bait & switch". This is an old practice used by some carpet cleaning companies who advertise a very low price, and then they add the hidden fees once they are in your home — often charging double or even triple the advertised price for your final bill — far higher than you expected.

Their final bill can often be higher than professional cleaner's that give you honest estimates up-front.

If a cleaning price sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The customer is "baited" with the promise of low-priced service. Then once the cleaner arrives, they convince you that you need to pay for the extras — like travel charges, pre-treating, and even essential cleaning agents and solutions — which are obviously critical for effective carpet cleaning.

That’s the "switch".

Other bait and switch tactics include: informing you that the low price is only for “high-traffic lanes”, or when they advertise multiple rooms cleaned for one ridiculously low price — "3 Rooms for Only $89!" — but upon arriving at your home, they inform you that your small closet counts as an entire "room".

Companies that choose to scam customers with bait & switch tactics may also be cutting corners by watering down detergent solutions, using older, cheaper, weak, outdated cleaning equipment, and/or fast and rushed, superficial, unprofessional job so that they can do 6 homes a day.

We don't tolerate these tactics at Our Local Cleaner!

If you feel you've been unfairly charged by one of our professionals, please let us know by emailing us at (Email Address Coming Soon!).

Thank you for reading our article! Cheers to your next fairly-priced carpet cleaning appointment!

Cleaning Article Expert Contributors
One of a Kind Pros Katy Texas Carpet Cleaning
One of a Kind Pros offer top-rated carpet cleaning services in Katy, Texas