Is it the "done thing" to tip carpet cleaners?

[FrustratinglyIrrational]

We've got someone in doing a full carpet clean in our new house, and I'm wondering if it would be normal to tip? And if so, how much? (We're paying a little over £200 for all the carpets, and based in London, if that matters.) I'm not very clued up on where tips are normal/expected!

No I wouldn't. Unless they went above and beyond, had to move loads of furniture and so on, then £10-20.

The guy commented that the bedrooms are bigger than he'd expected ("larger than standard London doubles"), and so now I'm worried that he feels bad about taking on the job. There is no furniture though - we had some overlap with our old rental place, so thought we'd get this done before moving the furniture across.

Not the done thing as far as I know. If the house is empty it sounds an easy enough job.

The guy commented that the bedrooms are bigger than he'd expected ("larger than standard London doubles")
That's on him. It's not your fault he underquoted. He's supposed to be the clued-up professional here.

I thought the rule was that you tip employees but not business-owners.

If it’s not his business, £10 doesn’t hurt: IF you think he’s done a good job /been pleasant to deal with

If it’s his business: no tip

I feel awful - he said he cancelled his next job because this took so long due to the size.

Didn't he come out and measure it? I mean, he had to bring the right amount of carpet? At worst he sounds incompetent. Don't give it another thought.

Well he won’t do it again will he? How long has he been a “professional”?

Sounds like not that long.

If you buy from a store the carpet fitters often are sent out but havent measured up themselves.

His fault if he didn't bother to find out how big the house was. Ignore his guilt tripping. He sounds thoroughly unprofessional.

OP said carpet cleaner not carpet fitter. I wouldn’t normally tip a carpet cleaner even though I do tip in restaurants/taxis/ hairdressers

I would not tip a carpet cleaner or fitter for that matter. The gave you a quote, you pay it.
He was very bad timing if having 20 square feet extra meant he had to cancel the next job.

Oh doh I misread. Yes their own problem.

I feel really flipping angry. My partner tipped the guy £20, and I don't feel that was right at all. It was totally unprofessional that he made me feel guilty about it. He even said "it's okay, I blame myself" at one point, but there shouldn't be any talk of blame. He had estimated 3-4 hours for the job, and took about 5. Surely we could just as well have been annoyed that it took longer than he estimated? Instead I was there feeling guilty for taking up his time. I feel like an idiot.

I'm especially annoyed, as the few stains that I was hoping would be removed are still there! It may be that some stains are impossible to remove, but the carpet was in generally good condition, so the main reasons I wanted a carpet clean were to freshen the place up, and to remove those stains. I feel he didn't give them any special attention, and that he should've been looking out for them.

Is there anything I can do now? This is weighing on my mind disproportionately, and I was in a foul mood all of yesterday as a result (also exhausted from the ongoing move, which doesn't help).

No there’s nothing you can do, I would just move on from it mentally.
We use a carpet cleaner who is quite good at managing our expectations. He tells us at the beginning which stains are unlikely to lift and then we can only be pleased at the end if in fact he does manage to get them out. But certain stains never lift properly like vomit for example

Your dh is a lovely generous tipper - that is a really good quality to have in him, so I'd take that as a plus. Better overtipping than being mean.