For designers and rug wholesalers
The moth service Chicago's trade passes on — for stock, for showrooms and for the pieces already installed in a client's home. Wool, silk, cashmere and hand-knotted rugs.
A moth problem in the trade is not the same problem a homeowner has. The piece is the point. It has to come through the work as it went in, the client frequently must not be inconvenienced, and there is usually a deadline attached to somebody's install.
That is why the designers and rug wholesalers we work with call us rather than a national chain. A treatment planned for a baseboard is not a treatment you put near a hand-knotted rug, and the difference is not something you can find out afterwards.
How the work is planned around the piece
- Full inspection first — every affected piece found before anything is treated, so the job is scoped against the real extent rather than the visible damage
- Treatment aimed at the harbourage, the backing environment and the voids where larvae pupate, rather than saturating the textile itself
- Application planned around pile, dye and backing, and around what the fibre actually is — wool, silk, cashmere, fur and feather do not all behave the same way
- An honest call when a piece needs a specialist cleaner or a restorer instead of a treatment, rather than working on it anyway
- Pheromone monitoring afterwards, so “it is finished” is something we can show you rather than something we assert
Where we work
Stock and storage
Wholesale stock and warehousing, where a problem usually starts long before it reaches anyone's floor. Treated quietly and scheduled around your movement of goods.
Showrooms
Worked around trading hours so the floor is never disrupted, and handled so that nothing about the visit is visible to anyone browsing.
Client homes
Installed pieces, private collections and whole-property work. Discreet, and reported back to you rather than around you.
Discretion, in practical terms
A designer sending someone into a client's home is lending them their own reputation for the afternoon. So: unmarked arrival, no conversation with the household beyond what is needed, no comment on anything that is not the job, and findings reported to you first so you are never the last to know about a problem in a project you specified.
Pro-Max is one person. The person who quotes the job is the person who turns up at your client's door, which means there is nobody to brief, nobody unfamiliar with the piece, and one number to call if something needs to change on the day.
What helps when you call
- What the piece is made of, and roughly what it is worth
- Where it has been for the last six months, and what was stored next to it
- Photographs of the damage, and of the back of the rug if you can turn it
- Whether webbing is present — that is what separates moths from carpet beetles
- Any deadline: an install date, a client return, a shipment going out
On that fourth point, it is worth ruling out the common look-alike before anyone comes out. See moths or carpet beetles — a good share of trade “moth damage” is carpet beetles, and the source is then somewhere else entirely.
Terms
Every job is priced before the work starts, and nothing begins until you have agreed the figure. No contracts, no annual plans, no auto-renewals. We come when you need us — that is the whole arrangement. There are no trade accounts to open, no minimums and nothing that renews. What the price includes is set out in the cost guide.
Common questions
Can you treat a rug without damaging the pile, dye or backing?
That is the whole basis of the work. We treat the harbourage, the backing environment and the voids where larvae pupate rather than saturating the textile, and we plan the application around what the piece is made of. Where a piece needs specialist cleaning or restoration instead of treatment, we say so rather than working on it.
Can you work in a client's home without it being obvious?
Yes. Unmarked arrival, no discussion with anyone but you unless you want otherwise, and scheduling around whatever the household or the showroom needs. A good share of this work happens in homes where the client would rather nobody knew there had been a problem.
Do you work on stock and showrooms as well as installs?
Regularly. Wholesale stock in storage, showroom floors and pieces in transit are all part of it, and stock is often where a problem starts before it reaches anybody's home.
How quickly can you look at something?
Call and ask — it depends on the week. If a piece is about to go out or an install is imminent, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly whether we can get to it in time rather than booking you in and hoping.
Do we need an account or a contract?
No. There are no trade accounts, contracts, retainers or minimums. Each job is priced before the work starts and you call when you need the next one.
Who actually turns up?
Ahmed. Pro-Max is one person — the person who quotes the job is the person who does it, and there is nobody else to brief. On trade work in a client's home that tends to be the point.
Moths in a piece you are responsible for?
No contracts, no plans, nothing to cancel — and every job priced before the work starts.
Request a quote
Tell us what you're seeing.
The more you can tell us up front — where, how long, how many — the better prepared we arrive. Most of the time we can narrow the species down before we even get there.
- No contracts — you book us when you need us, and never before
- We identify the species properly before quoting anything
- The job is priced before the work starts, and agreed with you first
- Specialists in moths in wool, silk, cashmere and fine rugs
- Organic and IPM-led options, safe around children and pets
Request a quote
We'll get back to you to arrange a time to come and look.