Beige ---> Blue

[Chris Howell]

Check out this color change that one of my trainees in Australia just did today! Very proud of him!

Notice that he taped off the walls to protect them. We just use a dye shield, but nice to see how he respects the customer's property.

 

[Mikey P]

they actually picked that color?

 

[Chris Howell]

they actually picked that color?

Why shouldn't they? It's their carpet.

 

[Cleanworks]

Nice job on the protection. Just wondering if they just wanted to change the color or was there something wrong with the carpet, ie: bleach, color damage or something we can't see in the pics.

 

[Chris Howell]

Nice job on the protection. Just wondering if they just wanted to change the color or was there something wrong with the carpet, ie: bleach, color damage or something we can't see in the pics.

Not sure. I'll find out and will let you know.

 

[Cleanworks]

Just wondering what the market is for people doing color changes to suit.

 

[rick imby]

Just wondering what the market is for people doing color changes to suit.

You actually wear a suit?

 

[Chris Howell]

Just wondering what the market is for people doing color changes to suit.

Clean, what's interesting is that people often think that there is not much market for color repair work. That's because:

A. They don't offer the services
B. They don't market/advertise the services.

Of course you can't expect to receive much call for something that you don't offer and/or advertise. As I've said before, we don't get any calls for septic pump outs because we don't offer/advertise that service.

Fact: There's just as much color repair work out there as there is cleaning work. Some may feel that's a bold statement, but those who have visited our operation know that we are booked 2–3 months in advance at all times.

So why is that significant? Because color repair is not a maintenance service like cleaning, so it's not priced the same. It's important to realize that color repair services are preventing the need of having to replace the carpet, so they can be priced accordingly.

While you may only be able to charge $30 – $40 to clean a room, you can charge $200 – $300 to dye that same room. If you are fixing bleach spots you can base your charges on the replacement value of the carpet. So if it's a large living room/dining room combination that would cost $3,000 to replace, you can easily charge $700 to fix a couple of small bleach spots that would take you 15 minutes to fix. Your material costs in the job would be less than $5.

Oh, did I mention that you don't need a truck mount to do this? You only need a $40 shop vac and some bleach neutralizer. No more lugging heavy hoses and dealing with the maintenance and repair costs of running a truck mount.

So am I biased?

Maybe just a bit.

 

[Cleanworks]

Not asking for a lecture on your favorite subject Chris, just asking how often do you have clients who want a complete color change just because.

 

[Chris Howell]

Clean, what's interesting is that people often think that there is not much market for color repair work. That's because:

A. They don't offer the services
B. They don't market/advertise the services.

Of course you can't expect to receive much call for something that you don't offer and/or advertise. As I've said before, we don't get any calls for septic pump outs because we don't offer/advertise that service.

Fact: There's just as much color repair work out there as there is cleaning work. Some may feel that's a bold statement, but those who have visited our operation know that we are booked 2–3 months in advance at all times.

So why is that significant? Because color repair is not a maintenance service like cleaning, so it's not priced the same. It's important to realize that color repair services are preventing the need of having to replace the carpet, so they can be priced accordingly.

While you may only be able to charge $30 – $40 to clean a room, you can charge $200 – $300 to dye that same room. If you are fixing bleach spots you can base your charges on the replacement value of the carpet. So if it's a large living room/dining room combination that would cost $3,000 to replace, you can easily charge $700 to fix a couple of small bleach spots that would take you 15 minutes to fix. Your material costs in the job would be less than $5.

Oh, did I mention that you don't need a truck mount to do this? You only need a $40 shop vac and some bleach neutralizer. No more lugging heavy hoses and dealing with the maintenance and repair costs of running a truck mount.

So am I biased?

Maybe just a bit.

It depends on the customer [obviously]. We're doing a massive job right now in Bethesda, Maryland where we're changing the color of 29 floors (don't quote me on that number) of hallways that are as long as airport runways.

Having said that....complete color changes aren't nearly as popular as they used to be. When I got started in this business back in 2000 there were a lot of carpets that were 80's colors (pinks and country blues). So in the early years we literally did thousands of color changes to get rid of outdated colors. We still do some of these, but they're not as common as they used to be.

But we still get HEAPS of requests to create custom colors for clients for both carpets and rugs. Custom colors would be defined as a color that's not available anywhere else, so they contact us to create it. We typically charge $12.00 per square foot for creating these custom colors.

Why so high? Because it's a luxury service (kind of like owning a yacht). It's not something that's needed to live/survive. These custom colors are usually requested by people that are working with interior designers and/or architects who are trying to achieve a very specific decor. They can't get it anywhere else, so they come to us for the final solution. We charge accordingly.