Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

A homeowner calls and says they need their carpets cleaned. That tells you almost nothing about the job. Are they selling the house next week and need the carpets to look presentable for showings, or did their dog urinate on the living room carpet for three years and now the pad is saturated with ammonia? Is the carpet nylon, polyester, olefin, wool, or silk — because each fiber reacts differently to hot water extraction temperatures, cleaning solutions, and agitation? Are there area rugs that need to come to the shop, or is everything wall-to-wall? Is the job three rooms in a one-story ranch with a front door on grade, or twelve rooms across three floors of a townhouse where every piece of equipment goes up a narrow staircase? The price difference between these scenarios can be hundreds of dollars, and the equipment requirements change entirely. If you are quoting carpet cleaning jobs from a phone call that lasted two minutes, you are either leaving money on the table or showing up unprepared.

The Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning intake form captures the information your estimator and crew lead need to price, schedule, and execute the job correctly. It starts with the property basics: residential or commercial, property type (single-family house, apartment, condo, townhouse, office, retail space), total square footage of carpeted areas, and number of rooms to be cleaned. For commercial jobs, it adds business hours, after-hours access requirements, and whether the space will be unoccupied during service — because cleaning an occupied office during business hours with phone calls happening twenty feet away is a fundamentally different setup than cleaning an empty office suite on a Saturday.

Fiber Identification and Stain Assessment

Fiber type determines your cleaning method, chemical selection, water temperature, and drying time. Nylon is the most common residential carpet fiber and tolerates hot water extraction at standard temperatures. Polyester handles heat well but is more prone to oil-based staining that requires solvent pre-treatment. Olefin (polypropylene) resists moisture but wicks stains from the backing to the surface if over-wet. Wool requires lower temperatures, alkaline-sensitive cleaning agents, and slower extraction to prevent shrinkage and browning. Silk and natural fiber rugs often require dry cleaning methods entirely. The intake form captures the fiber type for each room (or prompts the tech to identify it on-site if the customer does not know), along with the carpet age, condition, and whether it has been previously cleaned professionally — and if so, when, by whom, and what method was used. A carpet that was last cleaned with a rental Rug Doctor and left soaking wet three months ago may have mold growth in the pad that changes the scope of the job entirely.

Stain identification is where the job gets specific. The form includes a checklist of common stain categories: pet urine (fresh, dried, or recurring), pet vomit, red wine, coffee and tea, grease and cooking oil, ink (ballpoint, marker, or printer toner), rust, blood, candle wax, gum, paint (latex or oil-based), and dye transfer from clothing or furniture. Each stain type requires a different pre-treatment chemistry and technique. Red wine on nylon responds well to an oxidizing spotter; the same oxidizer on wool can bleach the fiber. Pet urine that has soaked through to the pad requires sub-surface extraction and enzymatic treatment, not just a topical spray. Capturing the stain type, location, approximate age, and size at intake lets your crew load the truck with the right spotting chemicals instead of discovering on-site that they need a product that is back at the shop.

Upholstery, Area Rugs, and Add-On Services

Most carpet cleaning companies also handle upholstery and area rugs, and these items need their own intake section because the pricing, cleaning method, and turnaround time are different from wall-to-wall carpet. The form captures each upholstery piece separately: sofa, loveseat, chair, ottoman, dining chairs (count), mattress, or automotive seats. It records the fabric type (cotton, polyester, microfiber, leather, suede, velvet, linen, or performance fabric like Crypton or Sunbrella), the condition, and specific concerns (body oil darkening on headrests, pet hair embedded in cushion seams, food stains on dining chairs). Area rugs are recorded by type (machine-made, hand-knotted, flatweave, shag, natural fiber like jute or sisal), dimensions, fiber content, and whether they can be cleaned on-site or need to be taken to the shop for immersion cleaning.

Add-on services are a significant revenue driver, and the intake form captures interest in each one: fabric protectant application (Scotchgard or equivalent), deodorizer treatment, pet odor enzyme treatment, anti-allergen treatment, carpet grooming and speed drying, and tile and grout cleaning in adjacent areas. For water damage assessment, the form asks about the source of water intrusion (burst pipe, flooding, appliance leak, roof leak), when it occurred, how long the carpet was wet, and whether the pad or subfloor was affected — because water damage remediation is a different service category with different equipment requirements and, in many cases, insurance involvement.

Access, Furniture, and Scheduling

Furniture moving is one of the most common sources of misunderstanding between cleaning companies and customers. Some companies include moving of standard furniture (dining chairs, end tables, floor lamps) in the base price but charge extra for heavy items (sofas, beds, dressers, entertainment centers). Others require the customer to move everything before the crew arrives. The intake form captures what furniture is in each room, what the customer wants moved versus what they will handle themselves, and any items that require special care during moving (antique furniture with fragile legs, glass-top tables, fish tanks, heavy safes or gun cabinets). It also records access requirements: parking for the truck and hose setup, entry codes or gate access, staircase width and configuration, elevator availability in multi-story buildings, and whether pets will be secured during the service. A job that requires running 200 feet of hose from the truck through a lobby and up an elevator takes twice as long to set up and break down as one with a driveway right next to the front door.

Intake vs. Client Questionnaire

The intake form is your internal operations document. Your estimator or dispatcher fills it out during the phone call or on-site estimate, recording room dimensions, fiber types, stain conditions, and furniture layout. It includes fields for crew assignment, equipment checklist, chemical inventory needed, estimated job duration, and pricing breakdown. The companion client questionnaire is what you email or text when the customer books online or before a scheduled appointment. It asks them to identify their carpet type if they know it, describe the stains or odors they want addressed, note how many rooms and upholstery pieces they need cleaned, indicate whether they want furniture moved or will handle it themselves, and confirm access details like parking, gate codes, and pet arrangements. Getting this information before the crew loads the truck means the right equipment and chemicals are on board for the first visit.

Pricing

Each form is $12.99 for the complete set (intake + questionnaire), $9.99 for intake only, or $6.99 for questionnaire only. All PDFs are fillable in Adobe Reader and password-protected against editing.

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