What's actually in the price.
Five factors set the price of a rug cleaning at our atelier, and they sit in roughly the same order across every honest cleaner in the field. Fiber comes first — wool cleans differently to silk, antique wool cleans differently to modern wool, and a mixed wool-silk piece is calibrated to its most delicate component. Silk is always the most expensive square foot of fiber to wash because it is the most delicate to handle.
Size sets the floor — a 4-by-6 area rug and a 10-by-14 palace-scale piece cost different amounts simply because of the labour at the wash floor and the slatted-frame space at the drying stage. Age moves the calibration: a contemporary Persian washes with the standard hand-wash, an antique vegetable-dyed piece needs the slower antique wash, and a 200-year-old rug may need conservation-grade work that takes ten times longer.
Condition is the variable that surprises clients most. A rug that arrives clean of sand and pet history washes faster than one that has not seen water in a decade. Heavy soiling can require a second wash. Dye instability requires a different soap chemistry. Foundation weakness changes the handling. And restoration — reweaving, fringe binding, foundation repair, colour work — is priced as a separate line item, calibrated by hours at the bench, never bundled into the cleaning quote.
Typical price ranges in 2026.
We do not publish a fixed list because no two antique rugs are the same. But to anchor expectations: a hand-wash on a contemporary wool rug typically sits in the low hundreds — meaning a few hundred dollars for a small-to-mid-size piece, sized by the square foot. A standard hand-wash on a mid-size antique Persian or Turkish wool rug usually lands in the mid hundreds. A Hereke silk or Qum silk piece, washed alone in dedicated water, tends to start in the high hundreds.
When restoration enters the conversation, the numbers move. Light fringe binding or selvedge repair on a contemporary piece is in the low hundreds on top of the wash. Foundation rebuild on an antique Persian where moths have weakened the warp is in the low thousands. Reweaving missing knot rows by hand — colour-matched and tension-matched to the original weave — on a 100-year-old piece can reach the high four figures depending on how much of the rug is involved.
Conservation work on rare antiques — a 17th-century carpet, a museum-quality Persian, a piece worth $200,000 or more — is priced as a project rather than a service. Six weeks at the restoration bench is not unusual. The number reflects the time, not a margin. Every quote is itemised and written down before any work begins, and you are welcome to walk away.
Why prices vary so much across cleaners.
The same 9-by-12 antique Persian can be quoted at anywhere from a low-hundreds wash-plant price to several thousand dollars at a master atelier. The spread is not arbitrary. A commodity cleaner runs your rug through a rotary machine in an hour, with chemicals designed for the average wall-to-wall carpet, in a warehouse alongside dozens of unrelated pieces. The price reflects the labour: minimal.
A hand-atelier puts the rug on a dedicated wash floor, washes it individually, calibrates the water temperature and soap pH to the dyes, hand-rinses, dries it flat on slatted frames, and inspects it twice by hand before it leaves. The same piece may spend a week with us. The price reflects that labour — and it reflects the insurance we carry on the rug while it is in our care.
The honest test is this: when a price seems much lower than the rest of the field, ask where the rug is actually cleaned, who handles it, and whether dye-testing is done before water touches the pile. The answers tell you which process you are buying. For an irreplaceable antique, the cheap price is rarely the saving it appears to be.
What an honest quote looks like.
An honest atelier quote is itemised and in writing, and you see it before the rug is touched. Wash is one line. Restoration is a separate line. Any specialist work — moth treatment, colour work, fringe reconstruction — is its own line. Pickup, delivery, and insurance are noted. The expected timeline is on the page. The master artisan's sign-off is built into the process.
What you should not see: a single round number with no detail. A verbal estimate that changes when the rug arrives. Up-charges added after work has begun. A refusal to write the quote down. A push to start work before the inspection is complete. Any of these is a sign to slow the conversation, ask for the quote in writing, and decide whether to proceed.
At our atelier, the inspection is complimentary. The pickup is complimentary. The written quote is complimentary. If you decide not to proceed, we wrap the rug and return it home at no charge. The decision is always yours, and it is made with all the information on the page.
When you need restoration, not just cleaning.
The signs are usually visible to the owner. Fringes that have started to unravel beyond the foundation knot. Selvedges that have come apart along the long edges. Pile that has worn down to the foundation in high-traffic paths. A faded patch where the sun has hit the rug for years. Moth larvae or webbing on the underside. Any of these means the rug needs more than a wash.
The harder calls are structural. A small foundation tear in the corner can be invisible from the top but will worsen quickly under the next vacuum. A weakened warp from moth damage can hold under wear but unravel during a machine wash. The inspection at our atelier looks for these specifically — we read the rug by hand from both sides before we write the wash plan, because cleaning a structurally unstable rug without first stabilising it is how rugs are destroyed by good intentions.
The honest answer is sometimes that a piece needs cleaning today and restoration in a year, or restoration today and cleaning next month. Sometimes both at once. Sometimes neither — an antique with patina that should be cared for, not erased. The inspection is where we tell you which it is, and the quote follows from the answer. Always in writing. Always before any work begins.
