Over the past 20 years, consumers have begun to see the value in having their carpet cleaned on a regular basis, rather than waiting for the carpet to appear heavily soiled.
Carpet cleaners appreciate such customers, not just for their regular support to their business, but also because carpet cleaned on a regular basis releases soil more readily, and rarely had difficult stains that may be otherwise time consuming to remove.
The customer perception of textile furniture is not yet that advanced. In many cases, furniture is not cleaned in its lifetime, and if redecorating does not force them discard furniture, sometimes only when furniture becomes obviously soiled or stained is cleaning requested.
If you permit your customer to make such decisions, you are doing both you and your customer a grave disservice.
Upholstery fabrics, especially those made from delicate natural fibers, need to be cleaned when soiling is still light. Once natural fiber fine fabrics become obviously stained and soiled, the cleaning products and procedures needed to restore them might be unsafe to use.
Even with relatively safe procedures and products, "restorative cleaning" of such fabrics might involve the use of products that use mild bleaches that may damage both color and the strength of the fibers, and aggressive cleaning may also cause permanent texture damage.
Its unfortunate that the term "restorative cleaning" is likely inappropriate, as such cleaning methods do not "restore" the fabric to its new condition. They might be better called "destructive cleaning", but such terms likely are not useful from a marketing perspective, however true in nature.
If you want to "preserve" the fabric as closely as possible to keep its original beauty, you should encourage your customer to have the furniture cleaned when soil is only apparent when you shift a cushion or arm cover and reveal an area that has not been soiled.
Such lightly soiled fabrics may be more easily cleaned with the mildest of detergents and gentlest agitation. In an upcoming article I will discuss some "preservation cleaning" techniques that will help keep your customer's furniture beautiful and decrease both your risks and labor costs as well.
