[D4ch0l]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share with you something.
There is a cleaning company in my area of which name I don't want to mention, so no one can accuse me of anything.

I know they charge £9.20/h for their services no matter how many hours a week you ask for. Yeah, I thought the same thing... A little bit cheap.

I spoke to the women who worked for them and she told me, she's been payed £4/h. It is below the minimum wage what makes it illegal.

What do you think about it? Have you ever come across something like that in your area? How desperate these people must be to work for £4/h? It is lack of self respect.

I pay my cleaners £7/h if I can, because I know how much hard work good cleaning involves, £6.31 is fine for someone average, but £4/h, come on...

Regards,
Adam

[dmckellar]

The problem with the cleaning trade (and others) is that companies now will sell so short of what they should be just to get the work.

We only do new build cleaning and the prices aren't great, I pay £8/be because they are good and I get work off the back of them but I've seen tenders where larger companies are just breaking even to keep staff in work.

That hurts people like myself as we need the money to live on, not play on

[cidcleaningsvcs]

I have just had this happen to us we had a job cleaning a large factory offices and canteens etc we had the job for nearly 2 years thec ontract was up for renewal I quoted 12 per hour this other company which is a large  company undercut me by charging them 8.25 per hour they supply vending machines to the same company as well it just seems at the moment  everybody is dropping their prices lower to get the work so they are prepared to brake the law and pay less than minimum wage personally I would report them its companies like them that make the cleaning industry a hard place to get work were we are in the leeds area this is happening a lot.

[Tony Hodgkinson]

I find these days there is someone always cheaper than your company. A lady close to me has started her own cleaning Business charging £7.50 per hour and hiring cleaners for £6.31. Once you take your insurance out, your fuel and all your other expenses you are earning below minimum wage. The best thing to do is stick to your guns and charge the price you want to.

We charge £10 per hour for general cleaning of a domestic property. We pay all our cleaners £7.50 per hour and we find that works for us. Its all down to personal choice and the area you live in. 

[anders170]

The thing with paying staff 6.31 (soon to be 6.50) and charging 7.50, is by law you have to pay them holiday pay. How on Earth do people make any profit? There must be a lot of people breaking the law. The big companies like Time for You only take on Self employed cleaners which is how they can charge so little, but I believed the most important criteria of whether someone is "employed" or "self employed" is that self employed people decide their hourly rate - I'm pretty sure the big companies are breaking the law here otherwise how can they state their prices, so how can someone be honest and make a profit?! 

[Tony Hodgkinson]

All being honest most of my staff are self employed. The contracts on offer from companies offer no stability what so ever at the moment and can go with the drop of a hat.

[Nathan Hartigan]

Some of the big firms are also using apprenticeships where they can legally pay £2.82 an hour then get new apprentices once the others qualify

Legalised Slave labour I think

[Tadgh O Shea]

I think what ruins our industry is the big brand companies who produce harsh chemicals which cause detrimental damage to surfaces from continuous use, these same companies could not give a rip about the damage their products cause to peoples heath or the environment as they have been getting away it for years, but its good to see many of them are now realizing that the game is up and they have to start changing their ways or else they will be left behind, as many smaller companies are introducing safer and more effective cleaning technologies and are eating into their bottom line. this will be of benefit to our industry as the future is definitely looking greener.

[Office Cleaning Company]

Probably ourselves.

Undercutting everyone and not being paid a fair wage for a fair job and mass competition leads to the pitful sums being charged. The rates charged now are around 50% less than 20 years ago which does not account for inflationary increases.

I dont know who'd work for £4 p/hr though, I wouldnt believe everything some cleaners tell you.

[Churchill Contract Cleaners]

The facts would suggest that people charging only a fraction above what they are paying in wages are not paying correct holiday pay, insurance premiums etc and are probably cutting many corners like watering down chemicals, not PAT testing equipment etc.

In my experience these type of companies come unstuck at some point and either collapse or are prevented from growing any further.

Your smaller office cleaning jobs are likely not to care too much about the ins and outs of the cleaning company they employ and its these jobs which are stolen from beneath you by the under cutters if this industry. 

I found the best way to keep hold of contracts for a long period of time is to seek out loyal customers, target the larger companies who require and appreciate a 'proper' company doing the job.

We operate a daily office cleaning division which has a vast range of clients from small 3 person offices to large leisure facilities but we also operate an industrial division specialising in builders/sparkle cleans.  The difference in the two sectors is huge - an office will call us up get a price and start us on Monday no questions asked, but a construction company requires a whole host of background information which simply cannot be fabricated or falsified.

In short - find and stick with the work which means the cowboys are weeded out!

[Neil Worsnop]

There is a chap lives next door but one to me who has started working for one of the contract cleaning companies that is a fairly big name in town.  We have a chat occasionally. 

A friend is a volunteer at her church's community centre.

The neighbour cleaned the community centre kitchen floor, badly.  They called him back and still it was a poor job.  He takes his 16 year old son to help.

I did the floor a month later and the staff were amazed at the difference I made.  Just a very basic tile & grout clean.  Neutral floor cleaner, rotary with red pad, grout brush and wet vac.  In and out in just over an hour.

But it isn't my neighbours fault - he is employed at rock bottom wages and is provided with little equipment or training.  Perhaps if he was paid more and given some proper equipment and training then he wouldn't be getting call backs which further erode the £s per hour coming in.

The best bit is the work its generated.  The community centre is in a rather run down area of town, but the volunteers who run it mostly seem fairly affluent and willing to pay a decent rate at home.

[TomCrowther]

Some good advice from Neil and Robert. I have a small company with a partner and we have just short of 60 cleaners. Some only doing 2 hours per day, others full time across a variety of different sectors.
If you charge a fair rate, pay above minimum wage {where the rates allow} and train the staff. You will grow steadily. It's not all about the rate.