What is the biggest reason that people rent carpet cleaning machines. Is it cost, convenience, time, etc?

Question

Just curious why so many people try to clean their own carpets instead of hiring a professional carpet cleaner,

Answer 1

Good question, it makes no sense to me. It's not time, as I know it takes twice as long with a portable hot water extractor a.k.a. "steam cleaner" to clean carpets as it takes me with my "Truck Mounted" steam cleaning system and a quarter of the drying time. Cost ? I doubt it, buy the time you drive to pick up a machine, rent it, buy those inferior cleaning solutions, de-foamers, stain removers etc... that really don't work that well for an outrages price per unit, then drive home, spend your day trying to clean and dry your over wet carpets, I could clean 3 bedrooms, Lr, Dr, hall and stairs in 11/2 to 2 hrs dry within 4 hrs for $80.00 with a real steam system. What could be more convenient than that? I think people just feel the will save money if they do it themselves, same for most home projects.

Answer 2

Well, it is obviously not convenience or time - doing it yourself is neither convenient nor time-saving. Cost is the only real factor. If you are renting an apartment, it costs at least twice as much to have it done professionally than it does to do it yourself. The reason is that there is a minimum room charge (often 4 to 5), which usually exceeds the living room plus one or two bedrooms that most apartments have. Hallways and stairs are usually additional to the minimum rate. That's how they make their money.

It is also not that difficult to do yourself. If you just have a small area to clean, not a whole house, it is well worth the money to do it yourself. It doesn't really take any more time to do than it does to vacuum, which most people are used to doing anyways.

Answer 3

The ones you rent seem to do a better job than the ones you buy, unless you have got an arm load of money and a very large space to store one, and for as often as a person uses one, myself I feel it is better to rent, my friend and I try to go in together on renting one on the weekend from this store that isnt open on Sunday so we get it from Saturday am until Monday am, we both get our carpets clean and split the cost and get it back on time , so why buy lol

Answer 4

Yes they do but the things hardly work on tough carpet stains. Better off buying your own if you can afford to do so. i bought one and i am very happy with the results. Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Answer 5

a good machine cost a lot, especially if you think of value. One may use it once a year and if a machine cost $600 - well you can do the math.

Answer 6

Most usually live in apartments who are either moving or trying to avoid losing their damage deposits, or where owning a shop vac would be impractical.

Answer 7

cheaper, and if you rent it then you dont have to store that big ugly space hog of a thing.

Answer 8

I think because is cheaper!