Frequently asked questions

Outside business hours is when we do most of our commercial cleaning. Evening and weekend jobs are routine for us, which means your staff and customers come back to a clean floor instead of working around a cleaning crew.

We set the start time so the carpet has time to dry before anyone is back at their desk. We leave the building locked, with the lights off and the alarm set.

Tell us when your premises are empty, and we'll fit the job inside those hours.

A week or two is ideal for a planned clean, and booking that far ahead gives you the widest choice of evening and weekend slots. When a lease handover, an inspection or an event is coming up quickly, call us and we'll do our best to fit it in. Water damage is different, and we treat it as a priority.

If your plans change, tell us a full 24 hours ahead and you can cancel without a fee. With less notice than that, a $275 cancellation fee applies.

Yes. You can book regular visits at whatever frequency suits you. We come back on the dates you choose. Our recommendation is one professional clean every year at the very least, with extra visits where the carpet calls for them. A busy medical centre or restaurant usually books more often than a quiet office. Entrances, corridors and kitchenettes collect more soil than a boardroom ever will. Our guide on how often to clean goes through the reasons.

Some sites have the interval decided for them. A lease, a carpet warranty or the client's own rules may set it, and government buildings often need some of their carpet cleaned every quarter. We book our visits to meet it. Each visit's method follows the soil we find on the carpet. Encapsulation handles light soil. Hot water extraction, the thorough clean, handles heavier soil with many different stains.

Only a few things, and we'll go through them with you when we book:

• Access after hours: keys, swipe cards, alarm codes or a contact who can let us in
• Parking near the entrance, so the truck-mounted unit's hoses can reach the carpet
• Boxes, files and stock lifted off the floor
• Personal belongings, such as bags and shoes, put up on desks by staff
• A note of anything unusual: secure rooms, a lift booking, a site induction or marks you want us to look at

We take care of the chairs, bins and light furniture ourselves and put them back afterwards. Our article on what happens on cleaning day walks through the whole visit.

We can. Working around staff, tenants and guests is part of most jobs we do. Usually we clean after hours, so nobody is disturbed at all. Where part of the building has to stay open, we clean in sections. Each section is cleaned and left to dry while the rest carries on with walkways kept clear.

For a building with tenants, the clean is fitted to each floor's hours and access. For a function or an event, tell us when guests arrive and when they leave, and we'll fit the clean into the gaps in your booking calendar. Where a gap is short, we often choose encapsulation, our low-moisture method.

We use three methods, and we choose one, or a combination, for each job:

• Carpet steam cleaning (hot water extraction): from a truck-mounted or portable unit, depending on access
• Encapsulation: a low-moisture clean, with the solution scrubbed into the pile by machine and the soil vacuumed out once it dries
• Agitation and steam cleaning: kept for heavily soiled floors, where a scrubbing machine breaks the soil loose and the steam clean then extracts it

No one method suits every floor. We decide on site, from the carpet's fibre and construction, the amount and type of soil, how soon the area is needed back, access for our equipment, and when the work can happen. A wool boardroom, a greasy restaurant lane and an office that reopens at 7 am each call for a different choice. Our methods page explains each one in more detail.

The difference is how much water goes into the carpet and how the soil comes back out. Hot water extraction, which most people call steam cleaning, rinses the pile with hot water and cleaning solution and draws it straight back out by suction, carrying the soil with it. Encapsulation puts very little water into the pile. A scrubbing machine works a polymer solution in. As it dries it forms crystals around the soil, which are vacuumed away.

Steam cleaning is our deeper clean, for carpet carrying heavier soil and many different stains. Each stain is pre-treated first. The hot rinse and suction then work right down to the backing. Encapsulation is for lightly soiled carpet. A polymer detergent wraps the soil near the top of the pile. Our vacuum takes it away afterwards and the fibre is left clean. Drying after a steam clean takes 4 to 8 hours as a rule. Encapsulation leaves the floor ready for foot traffic in roughly an hour or two. We recommend one or the other on site, after we have looked at your carpet. Our steam cleaning vs encapsulation guide compares the two in detail.

It gives a deeper rinse and a faster-drying carpet. The unit runs from our van and only the hoses come into your building, so it holds steadier heat and much stronger suction than a portable machine. Stronger suction pulls more water back out of the pile, which leaves the carpet cleaner and shortens the drying time. With the engine outside, it's also quieter inside, and it covers large floors faster.

We run it whenever the van can get within hose reach of the carpet. On high floors, or where there's nowhere to park, portable and walk-behind machines do the work from inside, and we decide which suits your building when we quote. Our equipment page shows both.

We treat both before the main clean, so the whole floor finishes evenly. Traffic lanes through doorways, corridors, lift lobbies and around workstations hold the most ground-in soil, much of it oily soil bound to the fibre, which is why they go grey. They're vacuumed, pre-sprayed and given dwell time for the solution to break that bond. Where the soil is packed in hard, we scrub the lanes with a machine before steam cleaning them.

Stains get their own attention, because each type needs different chemistry. Oily marks such as grease and ballpoint ink need a solvent spotter, coffee and tea are tannin stains that take a tannin spotter, and protein spills such as blood or milk are treated cool, since heat sets protein into the fibre. We identify the mark and the fibre, treat each stain before the rest of the carpet is cleaned, and the extraction rinses the spotter out with the soil. Our article on where commercial carpet wears first explains why the lanes need this extra work.

Steam-cleaned commercial carpet is normally dry within 4 to 8 hours. The fibre, the amount of soil we rinsed out and the air in the building set the exact time: wool absorbs far more water than nylon or polypropylene, a dirtier floor takes more rinsing, and cold, humid air slows evaporation. A floor cleaned by encapsulation is ready to walk on much sooner.

We assess the drying time at the inspection and agree it with you when we quote. Where a floor has to be ready fast, air movers go in to speed it up, and running the air conditioning helps too. Our guide to carpet drying explains what else makes a difference.

Yes, and booking them together saves you arranging several contractors and several rounds of after-hours access. Our upholstery cleaning covers office chairs and breakout lounges on the same visit as the carpet, and tile and grout cleaning for entries, kitchens and bathrooms is most often booked alongside carpet. Rugs can go on the same job as well.

Give us the full list when you ask for a quote. It lets us bring the right machines and products for each surface and allow enough time for all of it.

Our commercial carpet cleaning starts at $385, GST inclusive. That's the minimum charge, and it covers getting to your site, setting up and the first portion of the cleaning. Above the minimum, the work is priced per square metre.

We don't publish a square-metre rate, because every floor is different. The price moves with:

• The area to be cleaned
• The carpet's type and condition
• Access, such as parking, lifts and stairs
• When the work is done

To get the real figure, book a free on-site quote, with no obligation. Our pricing page explains how the price is worked out.

We come and look at the carpet first, then price the actual job. On the visit we measure the carpet that's being cleaned, identify the fibre and how it's made, and see how heavily the traffic areas are soiled. We also check how we'll get in and set up: parking, hose reach, lifts, and the hours the building is empty.

From that, you receive one price for the whole job, with the method and timing agreed. For several buildings, a floor plan for each site helps us plan the visits. When you're comparing contractors, check each price against what a carpet cleaning quote should include.

Usually, yes. Regular and multi-site work is quoted as one ongoing arrangement, which generally works out more cost-effective than booking each clean on its own. Carpet on a set program also takes less work at each visit, because the soil is removed before it builds up and packs into the pile.

For a portfolio, we look at each site and plan the visits across all of them. Tell us how many sites you have and how often each needs cleaning, and we'll put together a program that fits your budget. Our guide for property managers covers planning carpet care across several buildings.

No. Once you have our price in writing, that's what you pay, unless the job itself changes. A change means a bigger scope, for example a second floor, an extra room or a set of chairs added on the day. If that happens, we tell you the extra cost and get your go-ahead before doing the additional work.

Heavy soiling doesn't change the price either, because the carpet's condition is part of the quote from the start.

No carpet cleaner can honestly promise that, and we won't. In our experience most marks on commercial carpet come out, some lighten, and a few stay, and the result only shows once the stain has been treated. When Zoran quotes, he'll give you his overall view of how your marks are likely to respond.

Some damage is clear from the start, because it isn't soil at all. Bleach and acne creams containing benzoyl peroxide strip the dye out of the fibre, burns melt or scorch it, and sun fade is dye broken down by UV light. We'll point out damage like that on site. Red cordial and some sports drinks sit in between: their acid dyes take up the same sites in nylon that the carpet's own dye uses, so they often fade rather than come out completely. Stubborn marks that a routine clean leaves behind go to our separate carpet stain removal service. If a mark comes back as the carpet dries, it's usually wicking: residue from the original spill, sitting in the backing or on the slab beneath a tile, drawn up the fibres to the tips, where the water evaporates.

A deep clean usually makes a tired office carpet look much brighter and more even. Often a carpet that seems worn out is only heavily soiled. The grey in the traffic lanes is mostly ground-in soil, and a pre-spray, agitation and hot water extraction lift it and bring the colour back.

Two things are not soil. Crushed or leaning pile in the lanes, known as pile distortion, is a change in how the fibre lies, so it reflects light differently; hot water extraction lifts some of it, but heavily crushed pile won't fully recover. Pile that has worn away can't be replaced by any clean. If parts of the floor are past that point, our guide to repair, restore or replace helps you weigh up the options. Our before and after photos show the kind of change a clean makes.

You have our guarantee, and Zoran deals with it personally. If anything isn't right after your clean, tell us within 14 days and we'll come back and set it right, at no extra charge.

He books the return visit for a day and time that suit you. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law still apply in full; the guarantee adds to them.

It will. Sand and grit carried in on shoes cut into carpet fibres with every step, and that's what wears the traffic lanes thin. Removing it regularly slows the wear, so the carpet keeps its appearance and stays in service for longer. The habits that help most are:

• Daily vacuuming of entries, corridors and the main walkways
• Entrance matting at the doors, to stop grit before it reaches the carpet
• Spills treated on the day they happen
• Professional cleaning on a set program

Many commercial carpet manufacturers also make regular professional cleaning a condition of their warranty, so the program helps keep it valid.

We provide the paperwork most audits and contractor registers ask for. Every job comes with a written quote setting out the scope and price, and a tax invoice describing the work and the date it was done. For your contractor file, we can also send the certificates of currency for our $20M public and products liability insurance and our workers compensation insurance, our National Police Clearance and proof of our IICRC and WoolSafe credentials.

If your audit or your contract calls for something more specific, raise it at the quote stage and we'll agree what we can provide before the work starts. For what's worth putting in the contract itself, see our guide on writing carpet care into a cleaning contract.

They are. Our cleaning solutions are professional products, chosen for the fibre and the type of soiling. On a steam clean, the solution is rinsed back out of the pile with the soil during extraction, so no sticky residue is left behind underfoot. That matters most where people are in close contact with the floor, such as in schools, childcare centres and aged care.

If anyone in your building is sensitive to fragrance, let us know and we'll leave it out. Our guide to carpet cleaning in schools and childcare covers how we work in those settings.

It is. Hot water extraction is the best method for wool, provided it's set up for a protein fibre, and Zoran is trained in exactly that as a WoolSafe Approved Fibre Care Specialist. Every product we put on wool or a wool blend is WoolSafe-approved, because high-alkaline cleaners cause alkali damage to wool and can make its acid dyes bleed. We run the water cooler, keep agitation light so the fibre doesn't felt, and extract thoroughly so the carpet dries fast.

Fast drying matters most on wool carpet with a jute backing. Jute holds natural brown compounds that dissolve when it stays wet, and as the carpet dries slowly they wick up into the pile. That's cellulosic browning, and it may not come out. Plant-fibre floor coverings such as sisal, seagrass and coir are more delicate again: they're cellulose throughout, so water browns and shrinks them, and we give them a low-moisture clean. Our fibre guide explains why each fibre gets a different clean.

Cleaning takes out the dust and fine soil that build up in carpet, so there's less in the floor for footsteps to stir back into the room. Carpet catches dust as it settles out of the air and holds it until it's removed. In Perth, much of it is fine sand and red dust.

Vacuuming removes the loose material, provided the vacuum has a working brush bar and a filter that holds fine dust. A steam clean then flushes out what has worked deep into the pile, where a vacuum doesn't reach. Our guide to commercial vacuuming sets out how often each area of a building needs it.

Every job runs to our Safe Work Method Statement, which sets out the hazards of the work and how we control each one. On the day, that means:

• Wet-floor signs out, and drying areas closed off until they're safe to walk on
• Hoses and leads routed so nobody trips and fire doors can still close
• Cleaning solutions mixed and stored as the maker directs
• Your building's sign-in, induction and access rules followed

Our about us page explains what the statement covers.

That's part of our work: we extract the water, dry the carpet and the floor under it, then clean it so the area can be used again. Speed decides how much can be saved, and mould can begin growing in damp carpet within one to three days, so call Zoran on 0460 815 038 the moment you find water. We answer 7 days, evenings and weekends included.

The type of water matters too. Under the IICRC S500 standard, a burst supply pipe (Category 1, clean water) is usually a drying job, an appliance overflow (Category 2, grey water) carries contaminants and needs treating as well as drying, and sewage or outside flood water (Category 3, black water) normally means the carpet comes out. On a typical commercial floor, the work runs like this:

• Water extracted with the truck-mounted unit
• Carpet tiles dried in place, with the water extracted from beneath them before the drying equipment goes in
• Air movers and dehumidifiers running, with moisture readings until the floor is dry
• A full hot water extraction clean to finish

Our water damage restoration page covers each step, and our flood guide lists what to do before we arrive.