| Factor | Effect on price |
|---|---|
| Number of rooms / square footage | The main driver |
| Stairs | Usually priced per flight — always ask |
| Soil level | Heavy soil needs longer pre-treatment |
| Pet urine treatment | Priced separately; depends on depth |
| Furniture moving | Reasonable moving typically included |
| Fibre type | Wool needs gentler chemistry and more care |
| Protector application | Optional add-on |
Why nobody honest gives a firm price sight-unseen
Two homes with the same room count can be very different jobs — one has low-pile synthetic and shoes-off habits, the other has wool, three dogs, and a decade of build-up. A phone number is a guess. A walk-through, even a quick one, is what makes a quote real. We'd rather give you an accurate number than a low one we have to revise on the day.
Pricing tactics worth walking away from
The classic is a very low per-room price that becomes something else entirely once the technician is in your home — suddenly the quote didn't include pre-treatment, or spot removal, or the stairs, or 'the deep clean'. If a price seems impossibly low, the upsell is the business model. Ask what's included in writing before anyone starts.
Where the money actually goes
Truck-mounted equipment, water, heat, chemistry matched to your fibre, and a trained technician's time. The reason extraction outperforms a rental machine is mostly vacuum power and heat, and that equipment is what you're paying for.
Getting the best value
Bundle rooms into one visit rather than spreading them out, ask about a maintenance interval instead of waiting for a crisis clean, and get any pet treatment assessed properly before it soaks further. Prevention is always the cheaper line item.