I had one job, a touch up for the family, and an estimag today. The first job was a high end home, knows our general pricing, says go ahead and has us take five rugs with us for washing. The estimate was for about 500 sqft cleanable space.. actual was about 650.. I took out the beds to cut the price down... It was littered with spots, stains, and what not, ended up with a quote for protection of just under $300.00.. This lady flips a lid and almost throws me out.. Mikey the line of "How can I adjust this to meet your budget.. sooooo didn't work..
This was a direct result of waaaaaaay too many ultra cheap cleaners, expecielly in our town that do a splash and dash for the 99.00 whole house specials. When a reputable cleaner comes in to do the job right, people flip a lid. Good thing this was only an estimate. Franchise cleaners, and rug doctor rentals have ruined the image of carpet cleaners, and people looking at that price will never appriciate value of a quality service until they have been bent over by the discount cleaners.