Services
Commercial Floor and Carpet Care
Commercial floor care splits into carpet and hard surface. Carpet is maintained with quarterly low-moisture encapsulation (dries in 1–2 hours) and annual hot water extraction (dries in 6–24 hours), at $0.15–$0.35 per square foot. Hard floor is burnished weekly to monthly, scrubbed and recoated quarterly, and stripped and refinished once or twice a year at $0.25–$0.50+ per square foot.
The single most consequential fact about commercial floor care in an occupied building is not cost. It is dry time. Your office has to be usable at 8am, and that constraint determines which method is even available to you.
| Method | What it does | Dry time | Frequency | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot water extraction | Deep restorative clean; removes embedded soil | 6–24 hours | 1–2× per year | $0.15–$0.35 / sq ft |
| Encapsulation | Low-moisture interim maintenance; crystallises soil for vacuum removal | 1–2 hours | Quarterly | $0.10–$0.22 / sq ft |
| Bonnet | Appearance-level surface clean only | 1–2 hours | Spot use | $0.08–$0.15 / sq ft |
| Dry compound | No moisture; for moisture-sensitive substrates | Immediate | As needed | $0.15–$0.30 / sq ft |
The programme that actually works in most offices is encapsulation quarterly with hot water extraction once a year on a weekend. Extraction alone, once a year, lets soil build for eleven months. Encapsulation alone never removes what has worked down into the backing.
Pre-War Buildings Need a Different Conversation
In the Garment District, the Flatiron loft stock and much of Chelsea and SoHo, what is under your carpet matters more than the carpet. Original wood plank subfloor will not tolerate flood extraction — moisture that passes through the backing goes into the boards and stays there. Original terrazzo should never be acid-crystallised. And 1950s and 1960s vinyl tile may be vinyl-asbestos, in which case it must never be dry-sanded or aggressively stripped, and New York City's asbestos control rules apply.
A contractor who does not ask about your substrate before quoting floor work has not looked at your floor. We test-patch before any restorative process on an unfamiliar surface, every time.
Marble and Stone: The Red List
Marble is calcium carbonate, which means it is acid-sensitive. The damage in most lobbies is not done by a stone contractor doing something wrong once a year — it is done nightly, by well-meaning cleaning with the wrong product. Nothing acidic, ever: no vinegar, no citrus, no bleach, no ammonia, no acidic restroom cleaner carried into the lobby on the same mop. Neutral pH 7–9 only, dust mop daily, proper walk-off matting at every entrance, and immediate spill response. In winter, ice-melt salt tracked across a marble lobby is the most damaging thing that will happen to it all year.
What Is Included
- Carpet hot water extraction, scheduled with realistic dry time
- Quarterly low-moisture encapsulation as interim maintenance
- Spot and stain treatment, including protein and dye stains
- VCT strip and refinish with sealer and finish coats built to your traffic level
- Scrub and recoat as the intermediate cycle
- Burnishing on a weekly to monthly schedule by traffic
- LVT, polished concrete and sealed hardwood maintenance with appropriate chemistry
- Marble, terrazzo and natural stone daily care with neutral-pH product and matting programme
- Substrate test-patching before any restorative process on unfamiliar flooring
- Entry matting specification and seasonal winter matting programme
What Is Not Included Unless You Ask for It
This list exists on purpose. Almost every dispute between an office and its cleaning company traces back to something one party assumed was in scope and the other did not.
- Stone restoration — diamond honing, powder polishing, chip and crack repair (specialist scope)
- Floor replacement, refinishing of raw hardwood, sanding of any kind
- Asbestos-containing tile removal or abatement — licensed contractors only
- Concrete grinding, sealing of unsealed concrete, epoxy application
- Carpet repair, re-stretching or replacement
Get This Scoped and Priced
Tell us the space and we will send back a written scope exhibit, a fixed price, and the exclusions — in one document, usually within two business days.
Floor & Carpet Care — Get a Price
Written scope and fixed price, usually within two business days.
We reply to every request. If your building needs a Certificate of Insurance or vendor registration, we handle that paperwork before the first night.
Floor & Carpet Care: Frequently Asked Questions
How often should office carpet be cleaned?
Hot water extraction once or twice a year, with quarterly encapsulation between. Ground-floor space, heavy client traffic and dog-friendly offices should be at the higher end. In New York the highest-value extraction of the year is in March or April, after the winter salt season.
How long does the office have to stay out?
Encapsulation dries in one to two hours, so it fits inside a normal night. Hot water extraction needs six to twenty-four hours and should be scheduled Friday evening. Floor strip and refinish needs a full weekend for the finish to cure properly before traffic.
Will you crystallise our marble lobby?
No. Crystallisation uses an acid and steel wool, and while it produces an immediate shine, many stone professionals regard it as damaging to marble over time. We use neutral-pH maintenance and, where restoration is genuinely needed, we bring in an accredited stone specialist for diamond honing rather than taking a shortcut on your lobby.
Our building is pre-war. Anything we should know?
Yes — tell us what is under the carpet and how old the tile is before we quote. Wood plank subfloor limits how much moisture we can use. Vinyl tile from the 1950s and 60s may contain asbestos and must not be aggressively stripped. Original terrazzo must not be acid treated. These are the things that turn a routine floor job into a very expensive problem.
Ready for a Cleaning Contract You Can Actually Read?
Send us your square footage and how many nights you need. You get a written scope, a fixed monthly price, and the SLA in the same document — usually within two business days.