Recession

« **on:** February 19, 2012, 10:55:45 am »

Hi Guys

I have spoken to a few CC's over the past few weeks who are really struggling.

How are you coping?

Cheers

Doug

« **Reply #1 on:** February 19, 2012, 11:52:55 am »

I Never had to mins to myself in January even working the first two weekends of the year so it was up on year. February been slower but always it is till march and the cold weather clears slightly in Scotland.

Volume of calls down this year so far.

Barry

« **Reply #2 on:** February 19, 2012, 11:59:18 am »

Hi Doug I had one £80 private job on friday and a £180 commercial on the saturday so the only upside is i did a quote for a large block of flats through a company i usually get the work from if i quote.It was half term though and as i had a kidney infection anyway i wasnt too concerned.Regards Alan

« **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2012, 12:00:04 pm »

Same as barry with the busy jan as usually steady but found it busy than normal..

The phones did go quiet at the begining of feb but picked up a bit last week thankfully..

« **Reply #4 on:** February 19, 2012, 12:02:52 pm »

Its slow...But i guess some people are are still paying for Christmas!
Plus there will always be a firm in your area prepared to quote a cheaper price just to grab the work... i know because their name is mentioned every time a custy calls me!

« **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2012, 12:12:01 pm »

Really quiet January, but on looking back over previous years its no worse than those.
Phone started ringing again as soon as we hit Feb so can only assume people were waiting to be paid again after xmas.
On a plus the jobs we are getting this year are higher ticket price ones and the year as a whole is way UP on last year.

« **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2012, 12:18:02 pm »

Looking back over my records, February is always worse than January, no matter how hard I've tried to change the trend. Towards the end of last month I picked up a lot of EOT work, so it was my best January so far.

I have done direct mail (email) shot special offers this month and the general consensus is that now, they'd may as well wait until spring has well and truly arrived.... Which shouldn't be long...

« **Reply #7 on:** February 19, 2012, 03:50:51 pm »

January was better than normal but some of that was jobs i did not get round to before xmas . February has been up and down but just about ok .

But have quite a lot booked in for march so looking ok at the moment.

Volume of calls is down but average price per job is up so evens itself out.

hoping the weather will warm up and the sun comes out so i can play golf i mean work

« **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2012, 04:21:01 pm »

no effect due to diversification AND turn over is up by 40% with 2 months till year end, been sort of not trying doing much in the way off site work for around 2 months building the new place interior from shack to something, we are talking walls knocked down and rooms built in some really big 10ft x 10ft been put in etc etc , its been a real eye opener to say the least and ive learnt so much from these early days of this place, working with eng desingers and welders etc etc. cant belive ive project managed the build from start to, well.......... soon as possible allowing for tweeks and stayed in budget

ready in hopefully a week

« **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2012, 06:03:42 pm »

Quote from: Ricky M on February 19, 2012, 04:21:01 pm

no effect due to diversification AND turn over is up by 40% with 2 months till year end, been sort of not trying doing much in the way off site work for around 2 months building the new place interior from shack to something, we are talking walls knocked down and rooms built in some really big 10ft x 10ft been put in etc etc , its been a real eye opener to say the least and ive learnt so much from these early days of this place, working with eng desingers and welders etc etc. cant belive ive project managed the build from start to, well.......... soon as possible allowing for tweeks and stayed in budget
ready in hopefully a week

What are you building Ricky a rug plant or something?

« **Reply #10 on:** February 19, 2012, 07:02:16 pm »

January was very bad for us

& February is the same as January..Looks like its getting worse in our area..Leaflet drop most of January...Recession hitting hard & customers who do ring say can you do it any cheaper?...Our lounge is only £25

Richard & Tara

« **Reply #11 on:** February 19, 2012, 07:40:06 pm »

Hard to tell, Jan was good, Feb is always tough, although still working 2/3 jobs every day, it goes up to 3/4 jobs 6 days a week from June onwards (normally). BUT, how busy would we be without the recession??

« **Reply #12 on:** February 19, 2012, 07:52:50 pm »

Quote from: Carpet2Clean on February 19, 2012, 07:02:16 pm

January was very bad for us & February is the same as January..Looks like its getting worse in our area..Leaflet drop most of January...Recession hitting hard & customers who do ring say can you do it any cheaper?...Our lounge is only £25

Richard & Tara

Richard, this might sound like an arrogant reply - but look at changing your target market so that you are not dependent on the type of client you have just described.

« **Reply #13 on:** February 19, 2012, 08:04:20 pm »

This Jan almost £ for £ the same as 2011, mind you this one was saved by a Royal visit to one of our sites, otherwise we would have been down.
Feb seems to be going Ok but again that will be boosted by an unexpected call from a gas supplier who wanted 15 houses cleaned up after their contractors had walked through them following a gas explosion.
Leather cleans, repairs and recolourings have been popular the last couple of weeks too.
Put it this way. It could be worse but not as good as others are experiencing. Leaflets are producing the average return whilst a call on Friday was from a leaflet delivered about 3 weeks ago

« **Reply #14 on:** February 19, 2012, 08:08:22 pm »

I had a good January and like others have said feb has been slow to start but still working every day and worked this weekend.

like Niel I'm seeing an increase in leather and furniture repairs, which i pass onto my mate on a commission basis

« **Reply #15 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:23:33 pm »

Hi Steve..Thats ok

We have tried to do the up target but the phone didnt ring (Leaflet drop top end houses) with good looking leaflets.

Richard & Tara

« **Reply #16 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:44:48 pm »

Richard & Tara
When you say you leafleted these high end properties how "high" do you mean. Those at the top end rarely buy from leaflets. What you should be targetting is the mid market- nice middle class estates. The leafleting has got to be an ongoing campaign targetting the same properties over and over again.
I'm afraid the £25 market is over subscribed and the people who buy at that price tend to be price conscious and will flit from cheap cleaner to cheap cleaner.
I speak from experience as I made the same mistakes when I started and was gobsmacked when I trebled my prices and started to get work.
We are in a so called depressed area in the North East but there are cleaners here with 65-80-90 quid minmum charges with multiple vans on the road.
This work is there but you need to go out and get it and it doesn't happen overnight but takes a good few years.

« **Reply #17 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:56:24 pm »

Quote from: John Kelly on February 19, 2012, 09:44:48 pm

Richard & Tara
When you say you leafleted these high end properties how "high" do you mean. Those at the top end rarely buy from leaflets. What you should be targetting is the mid market- nice middle class estates. The leafleting has got to be an ongoing campaign targetting the same properties over and over again.
I'm afraid the £25 market is over subscribed and the people who buy at that price tend to be price conscious and will flit from cheap cleaner to cheap cleaner.
I speak from experience as I made the same mistakes when I started and was gobsmacked when I trebled my prices and started to get work.
We are in a so called depressed area in the North East but there are cleaners here with 65-80-90 quid minmum charges with multiple vans on the road.
This work is there but you need to go out and get it and it doesn't happen overnight but takes a good few years.

Good post John - we need a "like" button on this forum

« **Reply #18 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:59:11 pm »

Lettings/End of tenancy is still a growth area here , you have to knock on doors , not wait for them to approach you , this is a constant flow of people moving in and out of cream carpeted crappy flats .

« **Reply #19 on:** February 19, 2012, 10:00:48 pm »

Hi Guys

Interesting results showing the market is tough but CC's are a reslient bunch and are fighting hard.

It is important to keep prices up, going cheap usually leads to disaster as almost no job becomes worth much money and you are left scratching for scraps, far better to target better priced work where one or two good jobs a week can boost the bank balance.

In the early nineties I survived a very tough recession by calling on Nursing homes, offices etc.

Good luck

Doug

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