Turns out the old timers were right about not using power stretchers on every job

I spent my first 3 years in the business thinking I was faster doing everything with a knee kicker. Finally had a job at a house in Springfield where the carpet was rippling after 2 months. The homeowner called the shop and I had to go back and redo the whole living room with a power stretcher. Cost me $400 in materials and a full Saturday. Has anyone else found that shortcut you took for years actually made things worse?

2 comments

2 Comments

william9172d ago

Man that $400 hit and losing a whole Saturday stinks. I hear you on the rippling carpet thing, I had a similar situation with a bedroom I did with just a knee kicker and the customer called me three months later saying it looked like a wrinkled shirt. Had to pull up all the tack strips and redo the whole thing because the power stretcher was the only way to get it tight enough around the corners. It's one of those lessons you only learn once.

noahcampbell2d ago

That $400 hit and a lost Saturday is brutal, but it's a lesson that sticks. I used a knee kicker for years on big rooms thinking it was good enough, then had a job at a church hall in Portland where the carpet buckled in six weeks. The owner was furious and I had to rent a power stretcher and fix it for free. It cost me over $500 in materials and two days of work. That shortcut of skipping the power stretcher actually cost me more time and money in the long run, and it's a mistake I haven't made since.