The 2019 Carpet Cleaning Benchmarking Survey Report

The 2019 Carpet Cleaning Benchmarking Survey Report is here with all the data you need about industry trends. Once again, we’ve compiled survey responses from hundreds of industry professionals to provide help in growing your business. More than 750 respondents took part in this year’s survey, and we thank all of you!

While this year saw many issues we hear about every year, like low-ball competitors, staying consistently busy, and finding good employees, we also saw the rise of less common complaints. Chief among these were finding mechanics and parts for machinery and dealing with the increasingly online-only societal shift.

See all the results from the survey at www.cleanfax.com/2019carpetsurvey.

Despite oft-bemoaned needs to be “one stop shops,” most companies continue to specialize in floorcare.

While 89.4% of respondents are owners of their companies, only 21.24% say they aren’t involved in the physical labor of cleaning, and more than 25% work more than 50 hours each week.

The number of franchised carpet cleaning companies continues its downward trajectory–down 2% from 2018 and 4% from 2017.

Almost a quarter of companies say at least half their work comes from commercial customers, adding the need for an understanding of contracts and specialized sales techniques.

Carpet cleaning services account for at least half of revenue for more than 78% of respondents.

Hard surface work rose 5% (and hard wood 3%) over 2018, likely due to a shrinking carpet market, which 90% of respondents reported noticing.

More than 93% perform rug cleaning—35% clean them on site.

Only 2% of companies include fabric protection in the price of carpet cleaning, and 35% charge more than $.20 per square foot.

Most charge $50-$74 for cleaning an armchair or recliner.

Telephone purchases remain the most popular way to buy products, and 10% report they never buy online.

Most wages stayed the same year over year except in the Northeast where the starting wage ($10-$10.99 in 2018) and average wage ($12-$12.99 in 2018) both increased to $15-$15.99, likely due to rising mandated minimum wage increases in places like New York.

Click the preview below to view or download the complete results from the 2019 Carpet Cleaning Benchmarking Survey Report.

To compare these results to last year’s report, click here.

About this report: The data in this survey is based on results from carpet cleaning contractors responding to invitations for this survey. Results are not necessarily based on audited financial statements. This report was made possible with support from Legend Brands.