Carpet Type and Cleaning Method on the Job Card: Knowing Berber From Plush Before You Walk In
An experienced tech can tell Berber from plush in a second once they are standing on it. The trouble is that by then the van is parked, the tools are chosen and the hose is half unrolled. Putting the carpet type and the cleaning method on the job card moves that knowledge forward, to the moment in the van when it is still easy to grab the right gear.
What Is on the Card
The areas, rooms, square feet and add-ons are covered in Reading the Job Card in the Carpet Cleaning App: Areas, Rooms, Square Feet and Add-Ons. Right alongside them, the card shows two more fields: carpet type and method.
The carpet type choices in CarpetBossPro are:
- Plush / Cut Pile
- Berber / Loop
- Frieze
- Wool
- Nylon
- Polyester
- Commercial Low-Pile
- Area Rug Only
The method choices are hot water extraction, low-moisture, encapsulation and dry compound. Most residential jobs on a truck-mount are hot water extraction. Office carpet on a monthly maintenance plan might be encapsulation. Whatever your company does, the method on the card tells the tech what was planned.
Why the Type Matters Before You Walk In
Different carpet asks for a different approach. Without getting into chemistry, a few general points every carpet company already knows:
- Loop carpet can snag, so techs often take more care with tools and edges.
- Wool is a natural fiber, and many companies follow their own wool procedure for products and moisture.
- Commercial low-pile in an office is usually a different job rhythm than a plush bedroom.
- Area rug only tells the tech the job may be a rug on a hard floor, not wall-to-wall.
Your own training sets the details. The app's job is to make sure the tech knows which situation they are walking into, so your training gets applied.
Why the Method Matters
The method on the card does three jobs. First, it tells the tech which equipment to set up. Second, it keeps the work matched to what the customer was sold. If an office manager was quoted encapsulation for a quick turnaround, the tech should not show up planning a full hot water extraction without a reason. Third, it helps the tech explain dry time at the final walk-through, since the method affects what the customer should expect.
If the tech gets on site and thinks a different method is right, that is a judgment call for your company. The app does not decide it for them. But a note on the job explaining the change keeps the office informed and gives the next tech context.
Where These Details Come From
Like the rest of the card, carpet type and method are not typed on the phone. They are set by whoever builds the estimate or the job. When an estimate is approved, they carry onto the job. When a new job is booked at a home that has been cleaned before, they fill in from that home's last job.
That second part matters more than it sounds. A customer on a yearly plan might go a full year between visits, and a different tech might do each one. The carpet type is already on the card, so nobody has to rediscover that the upstairs is Berber and the basement is commercial low-pile.
When the Card Is Wrong
Sometimes the office guesses wrong on the phone. The customer said “regular carpet” and it turns out to be wool. When the tech finds a difference:
- Clean it the right way for what is actually there, following your company's procedures.
- Write a note on the job: “Living room is wool, not nylon. Bedrooms nylon.”
- Let the office know if it changes the price or the method.
The office updates the job, and the next job at that home fills in from this one with the correct details. Mixed houses are common, so a note that says which rooms are which is worth writing. It will show up as a past note next time, covered in Past Notes on the Phone: What the Last Carpet Tech Learned at This House.
Carpet Type and the Customer Conversation
Knowing the carpet type also helps at the walk-through. A tech who can say, “This is a loop carpet, so I'm going to take it a little slower around the edges,” sounds like a professional. A tech who looks surprised does not. The card turns every tech into the one who came prepared.
To see how carpet type and method sit with the checklist, photos and payment on the tech's phone, visit the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning app page.
Know the Carpet Before the Door Opens
CarpetBossPro shows the carpet type and cleaning method on every job card, carried from the estimate or the home's last job.
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