Welcome Homeowner!
You deserve--at the very least--some good advice on selecting a carpet cleaner: First and foremost, look for the following phrase on any advertisements for carpet cleaning: "Owner Operated"
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of that phrase. After becoming an owner-operator with Executive Carpet Care, Inc. myself, I realize now why businesses advertise "Owner-Operated." Because NO ONE--I mean NO ONE--will try as hard to please you and do as good a job as the owner of a company.
It's common sense, really, but often we don't think about that when searching the Yellow Pages for a service. Even "Family Owned and Operated for Fifty Years" is NOT the same as "Owner Operated";
and that's because the only person who truly cares about a company is the person who created the company--their kids are just following suit--often they are just as bad as any under-paid hired hand.
Anyway, please stay and read some of the info on this site. I put a lot of work into it to ensure that homeowners know the truth about carpet cleaning...some of the stuff here will surprise you!
Sincerely,
Enrique Vargas
WEBSITE MISSION: To dispel common misconceptions most people have about carpet & upholstery cleaning, while educating the savvy homeowner about this necessary service. Just a few minutes of reading will empower you to:
1. Discover what questions to ask a cleaning company---no matter how "established" or how small---before letting a stranger into your home.
2. Be able to confidently deal with the "cleaning technician" on a professional basis and avoid being taken by the occasional 'shyster'.
3. Avoid costly mistakes with spot removal.
4. Discover safe but effective alternatives to "standard" cleaning chemicals.
Having your carpets and upholstery cleaned every six months---if it's done right---is well worth the money. However, getting it "done right" is not as easy as one would think...
Nowadays, we are generally smarter than our parents about issues affecting us consumers. We are not as naive and gullible as we may have once been, thanks to consumer watchdog groups and investigative journalism---like "Dateline", "20/20", "60 minutes", etc. This information from a variety of sources is fed to us by a variety of media ("multi-media")---like one of our televisions (2.8 average per American household)---with 24/7 programming, the internet, PDAs, cell phones, and the radio. (ahhhh!)
As a matter of fact, thanks to "multi-media" we are bombarded with so much educational consumer info that it's too much; it can become confusing pretty quick. So I think what has happened is that we've learned to tune most of it out in order to maintain our sanity. Most of it, that is, except the stuff that interests us: We notice ads or articles on "Glucosamine", for example, only if we're concerned about a sore knee or back.
This 'tuning out' or 'selective tuning in' is the only reason I can figure that a normally-alert guy like myself hasn't read or heard a darn scrap of worthwhile info on carpet & upholstery cleaning---that is, until I started trying to be the best carpet and upholstery cleaner in the world.
But the carpet and upholstery industry has been trying to educate us about the benefits of clean carpets and fabrics for years, it's just that we haven't been listening. Why? Because let's face it, this sort of info can be pretty boring stuff.
But I've strived to make the information on this website not boring. (Whether I've succeeded or not is your call). And if you will take just a few minutes to read some of the info on this web site---especially the info under the "Misconceptions" and "Good Advice" tabs above---you will have actually accomplished something by your visit here. It's always good to be a smarter consumer.
Thank you for taking the time to visit.
Professionally Yours,
Enrique Vargas
Dedicated Owner, Executive Carpet Care, Inc.
