What to Know: Your Scheduled Carpet Cleaning Appointment

PORTLAND, OR – If you’re anything like most people, you like to know what to expect, whether it’s the food you’re going to eat, the way you’re going to spend your day, or the people you’re likely to run into at certain events. We speak to many people every day who have never had their carpets professionally cleaned. Understandably, they often have many questions about what the day will look like, how to pay, how to prepare, etc. etc. We thought it was worth writing an article to share some answers to frequently asked questions.

How do you prepare for a carpet cleaning appointment?

Technology is a grand thing nowadays! The scheduling system that we use will send you a reminder email and a confirmation email automatically once we add you to our schedule. The confirmation email comes as soon as you schedule the appointment, and the reminder email will come the day before. Both emails will detail the information for how to prepare.

Firstly, we ask that you make sure the technician has a place to park the van that is within 50 feet of where he will enter your home. If you have more than six steps leading up to your entrance, please let us know when you schedule the appointment so we can plan accordingly. Where he parks should also be within 50 feet of your working water spigot. The process we use involves hot water extraction with a truck mounted machine. Some carpet cleaners have portable units and they don’t require a water hookup. However, truck mounted equipment is much more thorough. Most residential homes have easy access to a water spigot, but if you live in a condo, townhome, or apartment, we typically recommend double checking prior to scheduling.

Once you’ve confirmed the parking space and water spigot, we also ask that you move any furniture you’d like the technician to clean underneath. If there’s anything too heavy for you to move on your own, please let us know when you call to schedule so we can plan with you. Vacuum the carpets prior to his arrival if they need it so that you are minimizing dry debris on the carpets when he introduces moisture. Our goal is that once the technician arrives, he can immediately do his walk through with you, answer any and all questions you have, and then get straight to work!

Waiting for his arrival

It’s finally the day of your carpet cleaning appointment! If you requested a text or call on the way, our technician will be sure to do that when he is ready. Either way, we will arrive within our arrival window. Please note that we schedule arrival windows, not the beginning and end time for the work. For example, if your appointment is scheduled on Wednesday with an arrival window between 10am – 12pm, our technician is not arriving at 10am and finishing at 12pm. He will arrive sometime within those two hours. Because of the nature of service work and traffic, we have arrival windows so as to set proper expectations with our clients. We wouldn’t want to commit to exact times when there are factors out of our control that can contribute to the exact time of his arrival.

That all being said, if you do have certain parameters for scheduling, make sure to mention those when you call to book an appointment. Here in the office, we have correctly navigated all sorts of timing needs, and are happy to work to accommodate you! So again, let us know if…

You need everything cleaned or you need everything completely dry by a certain time/day
You have people coming over at a certain time and our technician needs to be gone by the time they arrive.
You don’t live at the address we’re cleaning and need a specific heads up (30 minutes/an hour/other)
You are planning on just leaving a way for the technician to get in and won’t be there at all

We want to make sure the day of your carpet cleaning appointment goes smoothly! If you have any timing or other types of needs, make them known to us as soon as possible so there are no surprises.

Once he arrives

The time has finally come! You see our signature white van with yellow lettering pulling into your driveway, and it’s go time! If you specified a parking space to us when you scheduled, he will honor your request and go where directed. If nothing is specified, he will likely choose either an empty driveway or the street in front of your home if available. Please let the technician know right away if he is in an unideal parking space; in order to move after he gets going, he will have to unhook up all his equipment and re-hook it up.

As soon as he pulls into his parking space, our technician will walk up to your door and knock. You’ll complete a walk through with him, where he will notify you of any differences he sees in the room size/level of soiling compared to what was recorded on the work order. We pride ourselves on not being an “upsell” type of business. Our technicians will notify you if they see anything or smell anything that they could use a special treatment on, but there is no obligation or pressure to go either way. Your home, your decision.

Getting set up

After the walk through, our technician will make sure he has answered any questions you have before continuing on to set up his equipment. He will access and hook up to your water spigot, pull out any equipment he needs, and set up corner guards around the house.

The carpet cleaning process

As we share on other parts of our website, we utilize a three step process in order to maximize the efficiency with which we are cleaning your carpets. The technician will likely run you through this process during his walkthrough with you, but we also outlined it below so you can read about it ahead of time.

Pre-spraying

As his first step, our technician will walk through your home and utilize the pre-spray in every carpeted area we are cleaning. The pre-spray is concocted specifically in order to help the soil lift within the carpet fibers. As he moves through the rooms, the pre-spray is given “dwell” time in order to help pull any debris from the bottom of your carpet fibers to the top.

Rinsing

Let the hot water extraction begin! Using a wand, our technician will then rinse the pre-spray out of your carpet fibers. The water we use to rinse gets to be over 220 degrees Fahrenheit, if you can believe it. We will move the wand up and then down over your carpet. As it moves, our equipment is both introducing and extracting the hot water in order to do a thorough rinse without drenching the carpet. This is why most carpet manufacturers recommend hot water extraction; it’s a “wet” method of carpet cleaning, but it gets down into the carpet fibers with the proper balance of water introduction and water extraction.

The Dry Stroke

As a final step, the technician will run the wand over the carpet with only the high powered vacuum going. This helps us to extract as much moisture as we possibly can so that the carpets are left as dry as possible.

Once the job is completed…

This part of the process will look differently depending on if you are present or not. If you are present and available, our technician will let you know he is finished. He will share any tips on how to help along the drying process, and let you know if there were any concerns or things he noticed as he cleaned. Afterwards, he will invoice you. We accept cash, check or card on the jobsite. If you are unable to pay after the job, the invoice will be sent to your email, and you can send cash or check in the mail or call the office to pay with credit card over the phone.

A couple days later…

You might have thought that the last step was the, well, last step. It’s not! As a family-owned business, we care about how you feel about the results and want to make sure you are happy. We will send you a follow up text and welcome you to reply with any concerns or questions that may have come up since our technician left the site.

Any answers not here?

You might still have a question or two about the process, or if we can accommodate your particular timing/availability needs. If so, we are available Monday through Friday from 8-5pm. We’d love to hear from you! You can reach us at 503-314-7453.

A+ Carpet Cleaning – Portland
2885 NW 111th Ct, Portland, OR 97229
(503) 314-7453
https://www.carpetcleanerportland.com/