One-off Carpet Cleaning or Maintenance Contract - What's Better?

Are your office carpets due for serious cleaning? Are you looking for a carpet cleaning solution for your office or home?

Having a spotless office with clean carpets is essential for work.

Cleanliness can improve productivity in the office or workplace. It motivates employees to work harder, concentrate more, and reduce absenteeism. However, cleaning carpets is not easy, and it requires specialist knowledge and tools.

In this guide, we’ll discuss your best choices for carpet cleaning. We’ll compare the benefits of hiring a carpet cleaning service and contract cleaners.

Keep reading to learn some tips on how you can keep your office carpets clean between cleaning days.

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The Problem With Carpeted Commercial Flooring

Carpets look great on office floors, and they also present a more functional work environment. However, they also have some drawbacks.

Buckling, Shrinking, and Shredding

The most common carpet problem is buckling. This is when the backing of the carpet gets exposed to moisture, and it occurs after cleaning or shampooing.

While it’s wet, the carpet will form ripples. When the affected carpet dries up, you need to re-stretch it to fit the flooring. Otherwise, it won’t fit the room like it once did.

If the carpet was installed with glue, bubbles will form in its primary and secondary backing. It can cause damage to the carpet backing. This problem also shows up from age or furniture damage.

As we mentioned, carpets can shrink, especially those with natural backings. Employees who clean the area need to know to remove excess water after shampooing. They also need to avoid wetting the carpet too much when they clean.

Shredding occurs when you start seeing small balls of carpet bits on the surface of the carpet. Shredding is easy to fix with a gentle vacuum, carpet shears, or electric shears. If your office carpet shreds often after installation, this is a serious problem.

Fading, Re-Soiling, and Matting

Heavy foot traffic can untwist the fibres of the carpet and cause serious issues. Use the hot water extraction method or pile lifting to remedy this problem. Also, try to rule out other causes of this issue.

Offices need to have good ventilation and lighting to become a productive place. However, carpets that get exposed to natural sunlight often fade. You can prevent this by going for lighter tones, but these are much easier to get dirty.

Rapid re-soiling occurs when dirt gets attracted to the carpet fibres after cleaning. If this occurs, you don’t have the right concentration or cleaning products. Using cleaners with high pH can also create brown tips.

These problems become preventable and fixable if you hire the right carpet cleaners. Professional cleaners also know what carpet cleaning can achieve.

Benefits of Hiring One-Off Carpet Cleaners

If you have employees who do the cleaning for your business, you won’t need to enter a maintenance contract. It’s better to hire one-off cleaners, especially if your maintenance crew has their hands full. A one-off carpet cleaning business can do the job with as much efficiency and swiftness.

They also already have the tools for cleaning commercial carpets. They won’t make mistakes, especially if they’ve already been in the business for a few years, so you don't have to worry about your office carpets being mishandled by inexperienced cleaners.

Less Costly for One-Time Uses

You save more when you hire one-off cleaners. They often offer other services with carpet cleaning, which you can use as well. Hiring one-off cleaners is better if you also want your home cleaned up.

One-off cleaners are also useful if you want to give all your employees a day off or to bring them to a team-bonding day. Don’t let your maintenance crew get left behind while everybody else is having fun and bonding. Get a one-off cleaner crew to cover for them in the meantime.

Quick and Easy to Hire

Agreeing upon a cleaning day with one-off cleaners is quick and easy. You can arrange a cleaning day for them by making a single call. This is useful if there are carpet-related emergencies that you need to get fixed ASAP.  

Useful for Finding an In-House Maintenance Service

Finally, it helps if you hire cleaners as one-off services until you find one for a long-term contract. Check how each maintenance service proceeds with their carpet cleaning. See what tools they have and how they handle issues.

Disadvantages of Paying One-Off Carpet Cleaners

Hiring professional cleaners is more expensive than doing it in house. One-off carpet cleaning services can cost more, especially if you end up hiring them again. If you want to outsource your carpet cleaning, it’s better to enter a contract instead.

Since carpet cleaners can arrive on the day of your call, you have little time to get your people ready for them. This can disrupt the flow of work in the business. Your employees will have to work around them and struggle to keep up with their tasks.

Another problem with hiring one-off carpet cleaners is you don’t know them in a more personal sense. This can lead to some trust issues, especially if things go missing in the office. This is why you need to be extra careful and meticulous when you pick a carpet cleaning service.

Advantages of Hiring Contract Cleaners

The first advantage is cost-effectiveness. Contract cleaning is a great way for businesses to cut down on cleaning costs. For some, the cost of contracting a cleaning service may seem like a big expense. Yet, it’s the smarter choice in the long run.

Plus, you don’t need to spend funds to train new employees to clean for you. Professional cleaning companies also already have all the tools they’ll need. You don’t need to set aside a budget for cleaning tools and chemicals.

In-House Cleaners Are Efficient and Have the Necessary Expertise

Companies that offer cleaning contracts know how to handle carpets and what to do with them. They train their employees to follow certain protocols, so you don’t have to. Plus, since they’re specialised in cleaning, they have more knowledge and tricks for it.

If an accident happens and risks what seems like permanent carpet damage, a cleaning crew can undo it. Carpet cleaning companies have trade secrets that can make a carpet look and smell new again. Unless you were in the same industry, you may not know how to train maintenance employees in these skills.

They Offer Services Tailored to You

Carpet cleaning companies can agree upon a schedule that will fit the office workflow. They will visit the premises to inspect it. This step will let them see the work.

They can also point out to you your cleaning needs.

Health, Safety, and Better Understanding of the Organisation

An in-house cleaning team will get to know the other employees in the workplace better.

Allergic rhinitis affects 10%-40% of the population. An in-house cleaning team will know what kinds of allergies your employees have from making small talk. They’ll get to know the schedules and routines of those employees. This knowledge can also affect the motivations of the other employees.

If you outsource a cleaning crew, they may not hold the same goals and values as your company. Maintenance contract cleaners tend to spend more time in your business. This can help them understand your working environment and adopt your values.

Drawbacks of Hiring Maintenance Cleaners

Outsourcing a contract cleaning company can be costly. When you outsource, you also need to be ready to pay its hidden costs. Don’t forget to take into account the VAT to services, materials, and their mobilisation.

If you don’t have a high employee turnover rate in maintenance, you can cut costs by training them.

If you don’t want strangers visiting your workplace often, don’t hire cleaners. If you want to learn how often you need to clean your office carpet, check out our cleaning tips here.

Do you want to have more control over the cleaning methods and techniques for your office? Train your maintenance employees instead. They’ll be more open to learning your cleaning methods than professional cleaners.

One-off Carpet Cleaning or Maintenance Contract?

If carpets are so expensive and difficult to care for, why do people still use them? Carpets are great at insulating a room and dampening acoustics. They can also affect a person’s atmosphere and impression of a place.

However, to make a positive impact, your carpets need to be clean and odourless. Above, we’ve laid out the pros and cons of hiring one-off cleaners and contract cleaners. Reflect on your company’s needs and budget, and consider what will maximise productivity.

Pick the Ideal Carpet Cleaning Service for You

Carpets need a lot of love and care to live up to their lifespans. Hiring a carpet cleaning service, whether one-off or contractual, is a smart way to care for carpets.

Do you want to read more posts about how you can keep your carpets clean? Are you worried about the state of the carpets in your home? If you need a carpet cleaning service, contact us today and we'll be in touch!.

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