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Carpet manufacturing experts agree. A good carpet maintenance program is not only important for protecting commercial carpet investments - it's essential. The investment that has been made in
your building's carpet is one worth protecting. It is not only a financial investment, but also an investment in your professional image and healthy work environment.
Often in a business environment,
carpets are cleaned only once a year with traffic lanes cleaned every six months and spots are cleaned as needed. This pattern of cleaning allows soil to build up in the carpet, causing it to appear
soiled, dull and matted. Regular carpet care can prolong carpet life and save you substantial replacement costs.
When a business decides to replace its carpet, it's usually not because the carpet has worn out. Instead the decision is made because the carpet has faded. Its stains unraveled edges and crushed
fibers makes a carpet so unsightly that it has to be replaced. Replacing a carpet, however, is not an easy task and often time, the process of replacement costs more than the carpet itself. The
physical labor required includes not only installing the new carpet, but removing the old carpet, preparing the floor, and rerouting all of the electrical and phones lines. Before it is too late, you
may want to consider lifecycle costing. The key to lifecycle costing is to consider the price of carpet for the duration of its life, not just price at purchase. Lifecycle costing illustrates that
the daily cost of preventative maintenance will be offset by the amount saved in making the carpet last longer. In addition, value will be added by having the carpet look better during its life.
The two charts below illustrate this phenomenon. * In chart A, you can see that with preventative maintenance, the overall appearance declines slowly, unlike the significantly greater loss with
corrective maintenance. Chart B shows how planned maintenance costs are steady and predictable, while corrective maintenance costs show sharp fluctuations which are on average, equal or greater than
the preventative costs.
The conclusion is that a lifecycle planning method of preventative maintenance improves the appearance retention and satisfactory life of carpet and is usually more economical as well.
*Information taken from AlliedSignal Fibers "Lifecycle Maintenance Guide"
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