[wynne jones]

That one where people are asked what they want to pay is another crafty one which most people won't do because they are worried someone may get one over.

Again do it in good areas. One the average you will probably get paid more than your own prices. It's part based on people not wanting to look cheap, yet they would happily ring round for the cheapest price. Isn't that strange!

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

I also think it's on the low side and only posted as it's what's being advertised on a web site by what appears to be a network of carpet cleaners  around middle England.

I'm not knocking it as they may be a very professional bunch of people and do excellent work and may have higher tickets than the posted price suggests.

They have an excellent website with some interesting claims in it which should get their phones ringing.

Yes £75 is a fair price, this is what OUR customers pay. Yes our phones do ring, Yes we do get recommendations, Yes we do vacuum and move furniture and Yes we do have happy customers.

Yes we do get bigger tickets

Yes you do the Maths

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

 no professional carpet cleaner should be charging such a silly price and if you think, well
its to build up a client base, they will all want it done at this price

How true.
Keeping a long story shortish, had a couple of jobs passed on to us, by a local guy who now can't keep the appts!!!!! he had priced over the phone, got no details whatsoever except it's a lounge and hsl!!!!! on both jobs. . All I can say is the guy doesn't want to make profit on his work! I have called the custies and explained what has happened and we have agreed to Quote (properly) and then it's down to the custies what they want to do. One of them has already said "well I don't want to pay much more than this, so how much will yours be" I explained it again to her that the price already given was a guess as he had no idea of what he was coming to and only on that second explanation did she seem to start to understand. Now that I have some flimsy details of the jobs, I have worked out that matey boy likes to work at something like £15 p/h. Oh by the way he has an employee who does the cc'ing as well so his wages have to come out aswell as normal overheads.
I know for a fact that he only had these 2 jobs booked for the rest of this week so how is this side of his business surviving? £100 ish over 2 jobs (both lounges and hsl) and one 10 miles out of town so 20 mile round trip for that one!) and that includes vat so £85.11 nett. to pay 2 days wages and overheads : :

This is Definitely not us

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

If you don't mind I would rather you didn't slag off the standard of our cleaning and about how my business operates.  As the owner I have 18+ years experience as a professional carpet and upholstery cleaner as well as other business managment qualifications. I am an advisor for other businesses both here in the UK and abroad. My business ethos is little and often providing a service for ALL. This is implemented in all the businesses I advise for and has been proven to be very successful for them and their customers.

[Matt Seymour]

Fair play to you Monty.

I actually quite like the thinking behind the way you do things. My guess is that you are trying to offer a kind of "carpet cleaning for all" regardless of their ability to pay.

Am I right?

Pricing always seems to lead to a heated debate and this occasion appears to be no different.

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

We dont offer a "carpet cleaning for all" regardless of their ability to pay... We supply a professional service at a price people can afford regardless of their circumstances.

[Linds Russell]

Charging by the square metre, this must be about £1 per square metre if you're lucky.

[Matt Seymour]

We dont offer a "carpet cleaning for all" regardless of their ability to pay... We supply a professional service at a price people can afford regardless of their circumstances.

That's what I meant Monty. It wasn't intended to suggest that you are unprofessional, simply that you don't just go after all the high end jobs so you can charge top dollar like a lot of carpet cleaners seem to.

As I said, I like the idea.

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

We find that the lower to middle end clients are more gratefull and live in the real world. Oh and there is allot more of them.

Thank you for your comments - At least somebody understands

[Matt Seymour]

We find that the lower to middle end clients are more gratefull and live in the real world. Oh and there is allot more of them

That is exactly the thinking behind my pricing structure.

There are a lot of carpet cleaners in my area who have been established a long time and with most of the business in this game coming through referrals it will be pretty difficult to poach customers from them.

I decided to go with a similar approach to you and try and tempt those who might ordinarily not have their carpets cleaned with affordable prices and not just concentrate on those who have bulging wallets and are stupid enough to pay £100 to have one room cleaned.

[ianharper]

With respect Guys

you are all saying how cheap it is, so how do you sell your service to your customers. if your face to face Its easier but when your quoting over the phone its harder. This is one reason we have different levels of service

Plus most big jobs are move out from tenants surly your not telling me that you get those high prices on these jobs.

Plus you Tm guys are always going on about how quick you are. I could extract a four bed in under two hours if its empty, no stain removal, or vacing.

My point is that by saying you get high prices you must have to prove value. this works both ways cheap and expensive.

If your busy sure you can and should put your prices up. but if not like me i would do this job with no problem provided it was empty or a highlight clean.

I am very interested in how you get these prices so come on guys lets us know please, I am sure I could do with the extra money.

Respect

Ian Harper

[Helen]

 no professional carpet cleaner should be charging such a silly price and if you think, well
its to build up a client base, they will all want it done at this price

How true.
Keeping a long story shortish, had a couple of jobs passed on to us, by a local guy who now can't keep the appts!!!!! he had priced over the phone, got no details whatsoever except it's a lounge and hsl!!!!! on both jobs. . All I can say is the guy doesn't want to make profit on his work! I have called the custies and explained what has happened and we have agreed to Quote (properly) and then it's down to the custies what they want to do. One of them has already said "well I don't want to pay much more than this, so how much will yours be" I explained it again to her that the price already given was a guess as he had no idea of what he was coming to and only on that second explanation did she seem to start to understand. Now that I have some flimsy details of the jobs, I have worked out that matey boy likes to work at something like £15 p/h. Oh by the way he has an employee who does the cc'ing as well so his wages have to come out aswell as normal overheads.
I know for a fact that he only had these 2 jobs booked for the rest of this week so how is this side of his business surviving? £100 ish over 2 jobs (both lounges and hsl) and one 10 miles out of town so 20 mile round trip for that one!) and that includes vat so £85.11 nett. to pay 2 days wages and overheads : :

This is Definitely not us

I know it isn't

[robert meldrum]

Monty

Well done for coming on and defending your trading style I posted the original comment expecting a reply from someone involved in the network.

From reading your web site I reckon you have a good business model

[wynne jones]

I say good luck to him. I also say best of luck to people who charge 5x that. I really don't care what others are charging, it has ultimately no impact on my business therfore I don't care.

Now, if you are not making as much money as you want, then it's a different story. You are competing against people who are undercutting you and you are 'losing' work and you begrudge those who are able to get work yet are charging way more than you.

Get your own house in order, then other people's pricing is a non issue.

[james roffey]

If i were losing a lot of work because of my prices i would be concerned but i am not, i think for the service and hard work i put into cleaning carpets and upholstery i am good value if that means i charge more than £75 for a four bedded house so what, i still get referrals from these customers so they must also think i am good value too.
people will pay well for trustworthy professional work,so why undersell it ?
I remember my first few jobs that i priced i modelled my pricing from guys on here doing well, but I rembember when i calculated the price on those first few jobS but i stuck to my guns even though i was thinking thats a lot of money why would they pay me all that it was much more than i earnt in my previous line of work but i got those jobs and got repeat work from those customers, If a customer is happy thats all that counts, all i know is i would rather not rush around earning a crust but take my time to do the very best.

[mark_roberts]

Tell us how you make money at this price level.  By my calculations based on the following

5 days a week at 5 hours a day.  Other 3 hours spent driving or on phone.

£75 to clean a 4 bed regardless of vacing size etc will take around 2-3 hours unless you want an early grave.  So thats around £180 a day less £80 a day expenses.

Thats £100 a day less tax, holiday pay, sick pay, pension.

Thats not a good wage for someone self employed.  You can and should be doing better. 

Mark

[Carpet Dawg]

£80 expense on a 180 day!!!! i  dont even spend that much a week!

[JandS]

 "Other 3 hours spent driving or on phone."

How far do you go between jobs??
If I do 2 or 3 jobs a day I'll still spend less than
an hour in driving.

 "So thats around £180 a day less £80 a day expenses."

£80 a day for expenses? How much are fish and chips in your area?
Probably do on average about 20 mile a day for work say 120 mile
a 5 day week, that's less than 3 gallon @ £5.40 ish a gallon.

John

[Carpet Dawg]

Ahhh "The Irish One"

Must be the semtex weighing the van down 

BANTER...

[Matt Seymour]

Tell us how you make money at this price level.  By my calculations based on the following

5 days a week at 5 hours a day.  Other 3 hours spent driving or on phone.

£75 to clean a 4 bed regardless of vacing size etc will take around 2-3 hours unless you want an early grave.  So thats around £180 a day less £80 a day expenses.

Thats £100 a day less tax, holiday pay, sick pay, pension.

Thats not a good wage for someone self employed.  You can and should be doing better. 

Mark

£80 expenses on a £180 day? You must be doing something wrong!