Two enquiries arrive on the same afternoon. One is a hallway runner from a chain store that has had a dog on it. The other is a hand-knotted rug that came from a grandmother and has never been cleaned in forty years.
Quoting both from a photograph of a floor is how cleaners end up with a ruined rug and a conversation nobody wants.
What people ask
They usually ask whether the rug can be cleaned, what it costs, whether it is done at home or taken away, how long it takes, whether colours will run, whether the smell will go, whether moth damage can be treated, whether fringes are included and whether the rug is insured while you have it.
Fibre decides everything
Wool, silk, cotton, viscose and synthetics respond differently to water, heat and agitation. Viscose in particular is easily damaged and is present in many rugs sold as silk-look. Identifying fibre before quoting is not optional.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a cleaner might publish. Your answers should come from your own pages.
Customer: How much to clean a rug about two metres by three? Assistant: Price depends on the fibre and construction as well as size, because some rugs are cleaned in the workshop rather than in the home. The rug page explains the process and the price ranges by type. Could you send a photograph of the rug, including the back and any label, so the team can confirm what it is?
Customer: Will the colours run? Assistant: The page explains that dye stability is tested before any cleaning and what happens if a rug is found to be unstable, including whether an alternative process is used or the rug is returned untreated. The team will discuss it with you before proceeding.
Customer: It has been in a flood. Can it be saved? Assistant: That depends on the rug and how long it was wet, and the team would need to see photographs and ideally the rug itself before saying. The page explains the assessment process and what it costs. Could you tell me when it got wet and send some photographs?
Photographs of the back tell you most
Knot structure, backing and construction are visible from underneath and tell an experienced cleaner far more than the front. Asking for it as a matter of course changes the quality of every quote.
Publish your collection terms
Area covered, charge, minimum job value, how the rug is transported and how long you keep it. Customers are handing over something valuable and want the arrangement written down.
Be explicit about what you will not clean
Rugs you will not treat, and why. Declining a viscose rug with a stated reason protects your reputation and educates a customer who would otherwise take it to someone less careful.
Assessment before commitment
Publishing that rugs are assessed on arrival, and that the price may change or the job may be declined, is fair and prevents a dispute halfway through.
Insurance and liability
What cover applies while a rug is with you, and what happens in the unlikely event of damage. Customers with valuable pieces will ask, and having an answer published wins the work.
Repairs are the higher value service
Fringes, edges, moth damage and reweaving are specialist work most cleaners could subcontract or offer. Mentioning it turns a cleaning enquiry into a restoration job.
In-home work continues alongside
Carpets in situ raise different concerns, as covered in drying time, pets and stain questions before carpet cleaning and commercial carpet cleaning for offices and hotels.
Related outdoor work arrives too
Householders contacting you about one thing often need another, as in solar panel cleaning enquiries from homeowners, and the timing follows the weekend enquiry problem.
Getting started
Publish your process, price ranges by type, collection terms and what you decline, then capture photographs at any hour. SpideyChat for cleaning companies answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.