Slammed with upholstery cleaning

[John Downey]

I've noticed a BIG increase in upholstery cleaning in my business the last several months — probably since spring. It's probably triple what it has traditionally been. I've got theories about what's going on but before expounding on my theories I'm curious whether I am an outlier or if others have noticed anything similar.

 

[Mikey P]

Hey John


From what I gather, you cannot buy new upholstery nowadays and the horror stories I'm hearing is the retailers want full payment and then the customer is told the l minimum of 6 months to a year for the piece to arrive, which would undoubtedly play into why you are seeing more furniture cleaning requests

 

[hogjowl]

I’ve had more than normal too
And I hate it

 

[BIG WOOD]

People have turned into germophobes

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Pandemic delay and more pet contact.

More hard floor surface mean let’s spend more time on soft, comfortable areas, including both rugs and upholstery.

Just Tuesday I had two calls regarding pet urine on leather furniture.

 

[John Downey]

Hey John


From what I gather, you cannot buy new upholstery nowadays and the horror stories I'm hearing is the retailers want full payment and then the customer is told the l minimum of 6 months to a year for the piece to arrive, which would undoubtedly play into why you are seeing more furniture cleaning requests

Good point, Mike. I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. I was thinking more about greater sanitation awareness post-COVID (as Matt W. also suggested). I also speculate that the proportion of furniture cleaning might be related to the fact that there is less carpet to be cleaned — and much of the carpet that remains is located in lesser-used rooms such as bedrooms.

The times they are a changin'!

 

[FB19087]

people also got more pets and their kids were home more

 

[Nomad74]

I love urine jobs

 

[Hack Attack]

my mum ordered a new lounge suite, nothing crazy special just a lazyboy 3 seater with 2 recliners..

6 month wait on shipping..
which forced me to clean her old one

4 upholstery jobs this week which is 4 more than I'd like

 

[Papa John]

I love how Upholstery cleaning income greatly increases my revenue.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I love urine jobs

Here's one that would have been right up your alley:

A guy who comes here at times called me about a 700# lady who has been urinating on her lift chair for a long period of time, and asked if he could clean it....maybe if he sees this he can chime in with more details



I suggested that the volume of contaminant involved would make a successful outcome unlikely

 

[Nomad74]

Here's one that would have been right up your alley:

A guy who comes here at times called me about a 700# lady who has been urinating on her lift chair for a long period of time, and asked if he could clean it....maybe if he sees this he can chime in with more details



I suggested that the volume of contaminant involved would make a successful outcome unlikely

Yeah, I turn down the human urine jobbers. Some stuff is just beyond cleaning.

I've lightened my load on my van recently. I haven't used my Zipper SS in 2 years and my CX-15 in three. So out of the van they go. I find that encap does the job as well and faster where those tools would be used.

 

[Brian H]

A guy who comes here at times called me about a 700# lady who has been urinating on her lift chair for a long period of time, and asked if he could clean it....maybe if he sees this he can chime in with more details

I threw up in my mouth just reading that Jim...

Reminds me of a time at another company, we had an elderly customer call us up to pick up a rug that was wet because her 'aquarium leaked'. It was heavily contaminated with human urine and it reeked!! This rug smelled so bad we couldn't even leave it with any other rugs and put it our garage area with our trucks. We called her and told her that there wasn't much we could do with the odor (keep in mind this was 35 years ago). She asked us to just dispose of it for her and we put it into the dumpster behind our multi-tenant building. Within an hour, someone had snatched it out of the dumpster. I have always wondered what happened when they unrolled it.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I threw up in my mouth just reading that Jim...

Reminds me of a time at another company, we had an elderly customer call us up to pick up a rug that was wet because her 'aquarium leaked'. It was heavily contaminated with human urine and it reeked!! This rug smelled so bad we couldn't even leave it with any other rugs and put it our garage area with our trucks. We called her and told her that there wasn't much we could do with the odor (keep in mind this was 35 years ago). She asked us to just dispose of it for her and we put it into the dumpster behind our multi-tenant building. Within an hour, someone had snatched it out of the dumpster. I have always wondered what happened when they unrolled it.

Start at .40

 

[The Great Oz]

It might be a trend I missed. We reduced our furniture cleaning prices from ungodly to just kinda high since improved tools made furniture cleaning so much easier.

We saw a big surge at that time; about half our jobs now include furniture.

I was thinking more about greater sanitation awareness post-COVID

Great idea Mr. Science! I'm changing our marketing to getting the COVIDs out. The dust mite pics are getting a little faded anyway.

 

[Cleanworks]

Just picked up this little folding table to clean cushions on. Great back saver.

 

[Johnny]

I'm sloooow at upholstery cleaning. I can make twice the money per hour HWEing carpet and three times per hour OPing carpet.

 

[Goldenboy]

Reason guys hate cleaning furniture is it’s usually because the customers try to add it on and it’s going to put them behind on their schedule. If they want furniture done and it’s not on schedule I tell them I’ll come back for the furniture. Better yet have a policy like Tony Wheelwright and have a moving truck bring the furniture back to the shop it will put you out of business and you won’t have to complain about your miserable occupation.

Waldo

 

[Cleanworks]

Reason guys hate cleaning furniture is it’s usually because the customers try to add it on and it’s going to put them behind on their schedule. If they want furniture done and it’s not on schedule I tell them I’ll come back for the furniture. Better yet have a policy like Tony Wheelwright and have a moving truck bring the furniture back to the shop it will put you out of business and you won’t have to complain about your miserable occupation.

Waldo

I usually do the same. I like to be properly prepared and have the time for it. I don't usually have time for add ons.

 

[hogjowl]

Waldo
^ idiot is Canadian