When I heard Jake Grant, Superintendent for Facilities and Operations, Barrow County School District say “We are too poor to buy cheap” I was a little confused. Isn’t cheap always less expensive?
This statement may not make sense at first but it will after you think about it for a minute. If you cannot afford to buy a high performance carpet that will last 8, 10, 12 years and beyond than you really can’t afford to buy a cheap carpet that will only last 4 to 6 years.
It is a proven fact and there are studies showing buying a cheap carpet will actually cost you a lot more money in the long run. Let look at this example, do you remember these math problems from grade school:
- Fred buys a cheap, low quality carpet to save money on his budget. Fred spends $15,000 on new carpet that lasts for 4 years before it uglies out. How much money will Fred spend if he buys carpet 4 times in 12 years?
- Susan understands total life cycle costs and buys a high quality carpet. Susan spends $19,000 on new carpet and it lasts for 12 years before it is worn out. How much money will Susan spend if she buys carpet 2 times in 12 years?
Fred will pay $60,000 to buy carpet for the 1st installation and again 4, 8 and 12 year later. Susan will buy carpet for the 1st and then again for the 2nd installation 12 year later; her carpet cost will be$38,000.
But wait there is more, this simple word problem only address the carpet cost, we need to calculate the total cost of ownership. The total cost of ownership has 3 categories that need to be considered to calculate actual life cycle costs:
Initial Costs:
- Carpet Price
- Installation – includes labor and materials such as floor prep, adhesive etc
Maintenance:
- Vacuuming
- Spot Cleaning
- Deep Cleaning
- Equipment/Chemicals/and supplies
Replacement:
- Furniture moving
- Wiring and Computer
- Carpet Removal
- Floor Prep
- New Carpet and Installation
- Carpet Disposal
- Employee Down Time
Looking at the total life cycle costs let revisit Fred and Susan’s real world costs over the same 12 year period, but this time let’s make it interesting and say it is a 10,000 square yard multi-use office building.
Fred’s Cheap Carpet:
10,000 SY of new carpet every 4 years $150,000 x 4 = $ 600,000
Carpet removal and disposal every 4 years $ 30,000 x 3 = $ 90,000
Carpet installation cost $ 50,000 x 4 = $ 200,000
Maintenance costs per year $ 17,500 x 12 = $ 202,500
Total Life Cycle Cost $1,092,500
Susan’s High Quality Carpet:
10,000 SY of new carpet every 12 years $190,000 x 2 = $ 380,000
Carpet removal and disposal every 12 years $ 30,000 x 1 = $ 30,000
Carpet installation cost $ 50,000 x 2 = $ 100,000
Maintenance costs per year $ 10,000 x 12 = $ 120,500
Total Life Cycle Cost $ 630,000
As you can see Susan’s knowledge of total cost of ownership saved her organization $462,500. This example does not include furniture or electronics R/R or Employee Displacement. The maintenance costs vary by $7,500 per year as well. This is because it costs more money to maintain a lower quality carpet.
Low quality carpets are made with inferior fiber systems that do not resist staining and soiling as well as a premium fiber. Fiber shapes vary and the cheaper fibers have more peaks and valleys to trap and hide dirt particles. The fibers tend to mat and crush faster because it does not have the same resiliency so you develop “traffic lane graying” or “Ugly Out”.
Low cost carpet backing systems are made with water based latex vs. a performance backing such as Poly-Urethane, PVC, Vinyl or Rubber. Latex absorbs liquid spills making it near impossible to rinse out. It is very common to have a spill that you clean; it looks clean for a day or two and then reappears, over and over again. One of the main reasons for this is low cost fiber and backing systems grab the spill and hold onto it. A high performance fiber and backing system will resist trapping and absorbing the stain so when you properly clean the spot it is easier to rinse it out of the carpet.
There are documented studies showing how organizations that purchase a high quality carpet have increased their carpet life cycles from 3 to 5 years to over 12 years or from 5 to 8 years to over 20 years. They have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by extending the life of the carpet and reducing their maintenance budgets.
Information used for this article came from Daniel Simpler from Florida State University’s report “Life Cycle Costing” as well as and from Jeffery Campbell and Jay Newitt with Brigham Young University’s report “Extending the life or Commercial Carpet”
Cary the Carpet Guy 