ABOUT OUR CARPET CLEANING COMPETITORS
Part
Four
THE HIGH QUALITY CLEANING COMPANIES:
There are a handful of carpet cleaning companies in
Marin that fall into the high quality category. All of these companies use truck-mounted steam cleaning systems. They
may be owner-operated (like us) or have a small manageable number of vans with trained operators. Their pricing
is around the same as ours (sometimes higher, sometimes a little lower). The one exception is the company with the
word "Master" in their name. Their rates are much higher, although the quality of their work is comparable.
There are only two companies that I would highly recommend, if for some reason
I was unavailable. One has the word "Brothers" in their name and the other has the word "California" in
theirs. One has four vans available (not owner operated) and the other has a couple of vans, one of which is owner operated.
They both use "Green" cleaning agents. I would say that most of their customers are very happy with them. If I were
not available, I would expect that if you hired either of them you would get a quality cleaning. There are
a couple of other companies I might recommend in a pinch but they would not be highest on my list.
WHAT SEPARATES US FROM THESE TWO TOP COMPANIES:
We
are not going to pretend that we know everything about these two companies. Some of what we know is from feedback from
their prior customers. We just want you to know what makes us a little different and what
gives us an edge.
The number one difference is
our tools--our floor tool, our stair tool, and our upholstery tool. We know which tools they use. We've done side by side
tests. The difference may not be noticeable when a carpet is in good condition, however, it is noticeable on a very
soiled and filthy carpet. This is also true for upholstery. These tools help remove more soil, spots, and stains and
are simply superior.
Of course, the other factor in removing soil, spots, and stains are the cleaning
agents. Our basic and safe pre-conditioner is a better performer than what one of these companies uses. When we add a booster
to it (needed for highly soiled, spotted, and stained carpets) the performance level just goes up.
Another difference is that when we enter a room we try to change the lighting
in the room, if possible. We do this in order to see soil, spots, and stains more easily, so we
don't miss cleaning them. I demonstrate this all the time. It's amazing what happens. What at first appears to be
a couple of spots in a room changes under different lighting and 10 more noticeable spots might be revealed!
Lastly, since 2006, we have been giving our clients a spot and stain removal kit to
help between cleanings. It's way beyond what you get from the other carpet cleaning companies.
BOTTOM LINE:
Through this four part article, 'About Our Carpet Cleaning Competitors', we've shared with you our viewpoint on many
of the carpet cleaning companies of Marin. These are companies that you could use in the future or might have used in
the past. We just wanted to give you a quick education on what's out there. I have tried to keep it neutral. I do have
strong opinions because I have researched and thought this all out extensively, while developing my own cleaning service.
We have shared what makes us a little or a lot different (in some cases).
We are not saying we are perfect. There are certainly many glitches that can happen when cleaning carpets
and we have had our share. We do our best to deal with these glitches. It's part of being in business.
We have tried to consider certain factors that need to be assessed when choosing
a carpet cleaning company. We addressed wet cleanings versus dry and dropping
off carpets versus cleaning them at home. We looked at the quality of work and the cost of cleaning. As
I stressed, "Most any kind of cleaning method will improve the look of your carpet, but will it be the best cleaning?"
We believe in certain circumstances you might need to go with a type of service that we do not offer. If you have a short
limited drying time, or need a lot of cleaning for a small amount of money, you might choose another company.
The only type of cleaner we want you to avoid at all cost is the "bait and switch" cleaner. We also want
you to watch out for attractive advertising promising special deals and products that are not that special.
If you think these articles were just a sales pitch and that we are trying
to convince you to share our view points, please remember this, I sincerely believe in what I say. I believe that our
cleaning system, the tools we use, the solutions we clean with are the best that I have encountered up to this point.
If I find something better, I will switch what I do or what I use. My objective is to provide the best possible service to
the residents of Marin.
Thanks for taking the time to read these articles.