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In-Home Carpet Measuring Scams
Let me start by saying that I think selecting new carpet in the comfort of your own living room is a very wonderful concept. There are plenty of knowledgeable and reputable carpet sellers who offer quality in-home carpet sales and installation. To these hard working professionals I say thank you and I hope your business thrives.
Now to those who are in the business of taking advantage of unsuspecting homeowners... I say shame on you! You are the sneaky people we all want to avoid. You give the carpet industry a bad rap when you over-charge and under-deliver. This website is designed to educate homeowners and expose dishonest carpet dealers and salespeople.
Carpet Measuring
Measuring for carpet accurately is an art that takes years to become proficient because carpet must run in a certain direction in most cases. Since most carpets come 12 feet wide, measuring must take into account rooms that are wider than 12 feet and allow for enough extra carpet to "fill" in the wider areas properly.
If there is a pattern to the carpet, the pattern match must also be taken into consideration so that enough carpet is ordered to fit the size and the pattern match in each room.
Are You Paying for Too Much Carpet?
Sly carpet salespeople never order too little carpet. They always allow plenty of extra material. Not only do they never have to worry about coming up short, they also make more commission. It has become standard practice for salespeople to not disclose the amount of carpet they figure you need.
They just give you a total price for the whole job: Carpet, padding, and installation. If you are charged for more carpet than you actually need, you will also be paying for more padding than you need and you will be paying for more installation costs than you should. This can easily add up to hundreds of dollars.
Not Enough Carpet to Finish the Job?
Inexperienced carpet salespeople are always afraid they will not order enough carpet and the job won't be completed without having to order more. This could take a bite out of their commissions, make the customer angry, make the store owner angry and make them look bad.
You certainly don't want them have to order more carpet. It could take weeks for it to arrive, or the color or style may not be available anymore. Either way, it will be a real headache for you to have to deal with this. Moving furniture again, taking time off work again, paying more money and having a less than perfect carpet job.
Accurate Carpet Measurements
An experienced carpet professional will not need to order any more material than is absolutely necessary and will not need to hide the accounting or measurement figures from you. You should be free to discuss all project details with the carpet salesperson including layout, seam placements, padding selection and installation.
When it's all said and done, you should know all the details of your selection including carpet specifications, padding specifications and have an itemized invoice including the cost of the carpet separated from the rest of the job total.
Important: You must have the price of the carpet (by the square foot, or by the square yard) and the amount of carpet ordered printed on the invoice. This is a requirement of the carpet manufacturer to keep your warranty in force. Insist on it!
Carpet Dye-Lot Problems
Then there is the matter of dye-lots. No two rolls of carpet are made exactly the same. The colors could be off a little or a lot, depending on when the carpet is manufactured. If two rolls of carpet have the same dye lot number, made on the same run, then they should match very well. If however, the rolls have different dye lot numbers and were made in different batches, then they may not match very well at all.
The reason this could matter to you, is that if the carpet salesperson doesn't measure your carpet accurately and fails to order enough carpet, then they will need to order more carpet in order to finish the job. In this situation there is no guarantee that there will be any of the same dye lot available.
If they use a carpet with a different dye lot to finish the job, you may end up with two different colors of carpet in the same room or area. That can really look bad.
Alan's Top-Ten Carpet Information Pages:
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Measuring Scams (You are here)
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Carpet Fibers 1 Nylon and Olefin
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Carpet Fibers 2 Polyester and Sorona®
