[craigp]

Try charging £45 for a lounge as an experiment, you'll be supprised, in fact customers dont like it if your tooo cheap, they wonder whats wrong. Remember alot of customers ideas of prices come from long ago when franchises ruled and so expect to pay lots! i find,

at £45 a lounge ive had people on rough council estates tell me im cheap!

[Damian]

formula6. i never said i earn 6 pounds an hour! thats the average earnings of average bloke in my city and so to quote them 100 plus for a suite makes them grimace and ring for someone with a vax out of the pub for twenty five! its just cleaning to them? its all the same they say! when im doing solid days i know what i aim for per hour and its substantially more than that! and i nearly always hit it. just means i dont have time to stand chewing the fat but that suits me fine.                                                                                       regards Damian.

[bennymon]

i will never clean a sofa for less than £30 per seat  its time consuming work and i dont like doing it .   give me carpets all day every day and i will be happy 

[John Kelly]

Damian, I see you live in Sheffield. That is a similar city to Newcastle where I am based. We have vast areas of smart middle class homes where they are certainly not on £6 per hour. This is our target market. Double benefit of them (most of them) not being price sensitive and resonably clean carpets & furnishings.

[Mike Halliday]

there are people on here who eggagerate there income who in my opinion are a bit daft but they do no harm.

But the people who really do cause harm are people like Angela who write things like;

'The prices quoted for a suite and hsl, seem fine to me'

'semi skilled work, indoors, with minimal stress, you should be rejoicing'

'the majority will be lucky to exceed the national minimum wage'

she obviously knows nothing about running a serious carpet cleaning company. but hopefully she will enlighten me with her vast experiance

Mike

[craigp]

yes mike i agree, angela needs to remember we run BUISNESS if you just earn a wage thats not enough, you need a turnover that will pay your wage plus the buisness expenses!

perhaps she could call some of us for a quote, then she'll see we dont all lie!!

[Kev Loomes]

Bang on Mike.

Quote:

'semi skilled work, indoors, with minimal stress'..... I think you'll find that us professionals (and acknowledged as such by the NCCA & IICRC), who have worked hard to build up a reputation and regarded as experts would argue with that. Minimal stress? running a business does carry stress - whether you like it or not!

'But how many of you, really earn as much as this, for so few hours and little effort ?'......Er, has she actually done any carpet/upholstery cleaning? doesnt sound like it - the work can be incredibly tough as we all know. Maybe she is stronger than all us blokes?

'Men, tend to exagerate two things in particular, sexual prowess and earnings'......Now come on thats a bit un called for!

[Robert Watson]

"little effort "

Just done 6 hours graft with 2 quick fAg breaks.
Tell that to my back.

Then there's the marketing, keeping track of the money 
and all the rest. Yeah its easy,
Nae Problem

[Mike Halliday]

kind of reminds me of the Chumonley-Warner sketch from  Harry Enfield:

 Women know your place!!

where a woman tries to join in a conversation with the men, but her brain isn't developed enough,

Angela, stick to Kittens & puppies, topics more suited for a women .

Mike

[Martin S]

Mike.  You crack me up.   

[Bob Robertson]

Fibreclean

Check out your namesake's prices in Glasgow . Or is this you  :

http://www.fibreclean.co.uk/prices.html


tihson

[David_Annable]

Hi

I quoted a job this morning.

The lady looked at me as if I'd kidnaped one of her children

Dave

[angela carlton]

formula & mike

Hate to disappoint you you boys, but, yes I've been there done it and got the tee shirts, however..........I have to admit to being one of the weaker sex.......like hell!

Admittedly, my experience only extends over 24 years and includes industrial cleaning, but mainly carpet and upholstery cleaning, which I've only returned to recently, following my husbands serious health problems and in order to bring our son into the business, via hands on learning, prior to formal training.

None of you would regard me as a mere woman, were you standing in front of me in a martial arts competition, where I have no difficulty in decking males of any size. I'm also a registered football coach

Stress...........I am also a director of a Domicilery care company which turns over £500k and employs around 24 people...........there is more stress in that business in one week than the Stress busting physicality of cleaning.

But I'm not on here to insult, just to give hope to the less ambitious or greedy by adding a little balance to the high fliers, imaginery, or otherwise.

Go and be nice to your wife Mike, she's probably much tougher than you think.

As usual , John Kelly posts a sensible comment and if you read what I actually write, you won't find me advocating, low prices.

With the relatively low overheads in this industry, someone with absolutely no experience, can earn a substantial living, without charging, what I regard to be excessively high prices.

Yesterday, I cleaned a suite for £69 which was a relatively small suite with minimal soiling.........the job took less than 90 mins and was close to an earlier job which earned me £150.

A local c/d franchisee had quoted £270 for the suite............

While the aim, should indeed be, to raise the profile and status of the industry, it certainly won't be achieved by overcharging.

Just look through the articles for sale section, or comments about products and see what is uppermost in the potential buyers mind..................price and YOU are the potential buyer.

Nuff said

We have 3 jobs today worth only £210, but I am personally, very happy to get £210 for 5 hours work.

angie

 
 

[Doug Holloway]

Hi angela, mike et all,

It's always better if we can stay away from sexist comments which only obscure the discussion.

On price , I have increased mine substantially over the past couple of years, which means I don't convert as many enquiries but the ones I do pay better so, less work for the same or more money.

cheers

Doug

[Fibreclean]

formula & mike

None of you would regard me as a mere woman, were you standing in front of me in a martial arts competition, where I have no difficulty in decking males of any size. I'm also a registered football coach

Angela, I don't like this comment. I too do martial arts, in fact I'm a black belt in kempo karate (24 years) however I never mention it in the context you have done above. Show more professional restraint as you will only do damage to our sport. 'Decking' someone, anyone with our skills can be fatal.

As usual , John Kelly posts a sensible comment and if you read what I actually write, you won't find me advocating, low prices.

You contradict yourself on this issue time and time again.

Yesterday, I cleaned a suite for £69 which was a relatively small suite with minimal soiling.........the job took less than 90 mins and was close to an earlier job which earned me £150.

If you have to go out and do the work then you cant have a much of a 'big' business as stated in your previous posts.

In this forum, your coming across as arrogant and rude which is a shame because I'm sure with a different approach members will take you more seriously.

 

[calmore]

Fibreclean

Check out your namesake's prices in Glasgow . Or is this you  :

http://www.fibreclean.co.uk/prices.html

£40 for a suite AND a main carpet? 

[john rees]

Hi all
        We did a job yesterday on a council estate, which we quoted over the phone lounge diner 75.00 pounds, the customer told me that most quotes were for about 45.00 pounds, but when she asked what method that other companies used she was told that "we just clean them". where as I had explained exactly our methods....... prevac, prespot,prespray, agitate,and rinse. and as it happened we were on par price wise with another company but when she was told the other companies lady cleaner would be in here area on a particular day she was mortified........" I'm not having a woman cleaning in my house was her response". while working there we ended up doing her next door neigbours lounge too!and as she said she got what she paid for! the best possible clean! oh! and we are going to do her mothers carpet too in a fortnight! and the next door neighbours sisters too! people will pay for quality we probably take more time and charge more for a job than most local cleaners in this area, but are busier than most too! we are not booked up 3 weeks in advance! if we were we would get a third T/M on the road because we would be losing work as most people want us yesterday!

                all the best
                                  John

[Fibreclean]

Fibreclean

Check out your namesake's prices in Glasgow . Or is this you  :

http://www.fibreclean.co.uk/prices.html

£40 for a suite AND a main carpet? 

No I operate from and around Portsmouth. I haven't got a web site.

[Terry_Burrows]

very Interesting talk here we have always done cc but we are known for wc,but over the last year we have spent lots of dosh on adds yp bt book lots of local papers we have a web site for cc,this is not linked to wc because I dont want it to for good reasons.prices are hit and miss some people say thats cheap and you think ***t and some say what
its areas if it was not for the wc which we do want to put to bed in the normal world,and grow cc its far more better than wc,I to am a Black Belt
in karate which has helped me in my world records so is my son,but this can be used in many ways and not phisical well done to angela I have sparred whith quite a few ladys that would deck most men because men dont expect it on another not back to cc its been very slow in essex in our area we do not know why this is,we are going to do a leaflet drop of
10,000 in one estate to see what happens this will cost us about £250
including the drop and prints,we shall see

[Fast 1 *]

Terry,do you still personally do traditional window cleaning?