[lisa123]

hi everyone

Can any domestic cleaners help out?
Do you send 2 cleaners to a client  and charge say 9p/h x2?

I have a customer to ring who wants weekly housekeeping.
Should i discuss over the phone and then visit when she wants to go ahead, or should I ask for an appointment to meet and go through it all then?

I need to phone her today, any tips?

[garyj]

Oh come on Lisa, what do YOU think.

[blacksheep]

i think you need a visit,see state of house/job your taking on first.then discuss terms and payment

[lisa123]

thank gary, very constructive! just looking for experienced people to help out the very inexperienced ie ME.

I think I should visit, but just wondered what others did.

[lisa123]

just an update
I have spoken to th potential customer, and have quoted our regualr domestic rate for 3 hrs per week. totals £27 for 1 cleaner. I asked if she would prefer 2 to reduce the time, and she would prefer just the 1 cleaner.
I am going round to see her on thursday evening, to discuss duties, payment and take a look at her house.
i am going to say payment upfront weekly or 4 weekly to suit.
take task lists, agreement/t&C and declaration.

anything i'm forgetting?? cos i'm bound to forget the most important thing, usually

[Jan K]

Hi Lisa!

You are approaching it in exactly the way I would.......looks like you have it all in hand......good luck and let us know how you get on!

Good luck

Jan

BTW don't take any notice of Gary, he can't help himself!!!

[garyj]

Jan, you've no idea just how much I restrained myself.

I've had help on here, and ( I think ) have helped some people, but.................

[blacksheep]

hi lisa,now i know nothing about domestic have only done industrail and my own house BUT if i were a client i think i would like to see the job done first before i handed over my money, what you call clean someone else might not think so. also i may be wrong but dont the folks on here who do domestic send 2 key people around for safeaty

[garyj]

Well done Lisa you've come up with the right answer

And guess where you could have found it all along......
On YOUR website.  :

www.llcleaningservices.co.uk

[Jan K]

Gary

I think you missed my point......I was not inferring that you aren't able to help with regards to providing relevant information, I simply meant you can't help being sarcastic!!

Look back over your posts, especially recently, it appears that you can't help having a dig! Perhaps that's just your way and you don't intend to come across as being sarcastic, but unfortunately that is how I read your posts (not everyone will I am sure)

I have no doubts you run a perfectly good business and are very successful! We are all successful in some degress, and personally I think we should all give ourselves a pat on the back and congratulate ourselves in being successful enough to get a cleaning business of the ground, bearing in mind the lack of available staff, clients willing to pay good money for an excellent service, and of course managing it around a home life too!!

[garyj]

I got your point, thats what the first line is about, I even typed it slowly so you'd understand. 

Its not just recently either, I can remember having digs at you in the past, and it didn't do you any harm, did it?

I hoped they are being read as sarcastic.

No I'm not very successful, just run a small cleaning company with 30 odd staff. ( some of them are odd!!)

Maybe Lisa might learn from what I have written. She might think a bit before she asks a question and realise she knows the answer herself, this will make her a better manager and company owner in the long run as well as giving her the confidence to make a decision, and make a few mistakes.

Yep, some people have a go at me sometimes, but on the whole, I don't think I've ever been 'out of order' and I bet you whatever I've typed that has upset a few people there are a load more who agree with what I've said.

[lisa123]

i would prefer it if you spoke to me not about me gary!!

and yes i would normally send 2, if i thought it necessary, but that would bump up the price, and the customer only wanted 1 cleaner.

I thought i was sarcastic, but u r the sarcastic king!!

congratulations, here is your trophy  :

[garyj]

To quote your website " we always send 2 cleaners".
( Have you actually read your own website? )

I could go on,

bored now.

[lisa123]

would you charge £45 for 2 cleaners for 2.5hrs pw??
to me that sounds alot, and to my customer i spoke to who wanted 3hrs, £54 did sound alot to her.

In an ideal world I would send 2 cleaners and charge the above i don't think people in shrewsbury would pay that!

i am having to change and adapt the website and my business as i see fit, as i get more info and more experience.

Can you leave me alone now gary? or have you not got anything better to do??

[Fox]

Lisa

I haven't been in the domestic market for a long time now but when I was I always sent two cleaners.  There are lots of reasons to do this and they have been discussed on this forum before but they include - security, more clients per day, sickness/hol cover.

You can send two cleaners to any job and still charge the same price whether it be 2hrs, 3hrs or 4.5hrs. 

You will be charging for 'people hours'  so your three hour job will still cost the client £27 for two cleaners to attend but the cleaners will stay on site for 1.5hrs each equating to 3hrs work being carried out.

Fox

[lisa123]

Hi Fox

I didn't look at it like that   

gosh! i really am being an idiot 

I haven't got staff yet, just me and my biz partner. but i see what you mean.

thanks for opening my eyes 

Lisa 

sorry, amended post

but cleaners will both be on site for 3 hours, therefore they should get 3 hours pay each.
I'm really confused now.
so a customer wants 3 hrs work per week, we send in 2 cleaners for those 3 hours, therefore 6 man/woman hrs.
although the work has been divided by 2, is this how you pay your cleaners??

that doesnt sound right to me??? sorry but i'm confused

[lisa123]

i have updated my website prices, i think that it looks right now.

before gary says it, can i say it

I AM A DIMEBAR!!   

[garyj]

More Fruit And Nut than Dimebar  :

[Paul Kettless]

Hi Lisa,

I am a relative newcomer to this site, and I hope that this does not mean that my comments do not count.

I think that your confusion is in the actual amount of time that a customer wants you at the property v how long the clean will actually take.

For example, my company cleans a large amount of holiday homes.  For the average size property we know from experience that it will take approx 2 hours.

We use teams of four, thus meaning that we only spend 1/2 hour in the property, but we charge the customer 2 hours.

Putting this theory to your new client, if you had 2 cleaners in the property for 1 1/2 hours each, they would still complete 3 hours work, therefore you would only need to charge you client the same, 3 hours.

This is just my own opinion but I never ever quote a cleaning job over the telephone.  I will have a general discussion about hours wanted, time, regularity etc, but that's it.  The rest is face to face.  This gives me the opportunity to look at the job, i.e how clean the property is (or not as the case maybe) and be honest with the customer.

For example, I have just about to turn a potential customer away, as her five bed property was absolutely filthy, she wanted us to come in for two hours a fortnight.  This was not even going to scratch the surface.  I explained this to her, and the fact that I would not be happy leaving the property not to our standard.  she was o.k with this, and appreciated my honesty.  We have now succesfully tendered a thorough one off clean, and are now more than happy to continue regular cleans.

I hope this helps, and sorry if I have confused you even more

Kind regards
Paul

[Fox]

2 cleaners work 1.5hrs each = 3hrs cleaning

Cleaners paid 1.5hrs each = 3hrs pay

Client pays for 3hrs cleaning

[lisa123]

i'm quite partial to a fruit n nut bar 

I get it, we get paid half the time each.

so for example we pay ourselves 4.85 p/h

customer pays £27 for weekly 3hr clean

we pay ourselves £7.27 each for this 1 job.

wages £14.52,
the rest goes in to the kitty for travel, materials, overheads

right, i think i have that clear, excuse my stupidity i'm having one of those days again.
 

[garyj]

JEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZUSSSS


 : : :



Has anyone read my tagline??

[lisa123]

have you ever thought that just as much as you like being sarcastic, i like to wind you up 

I knew you would be following my silly posts.........
whats it like to be led up the garden path gary??

lol
 

[garyj]

Brilliant wind up.

Even went to the trouble of making a comedy website.

I was starting to wonder if ANYBODY could really be that thick.

Nice one, so you're not the complete dork I thought you were. Shame some people went to the trouble of trying to help you, perhaps they won't  bother in the future when another thicko comes along.

[dustdees]

Lisa,

When we take on a new client, I send them a quide to services, which covers 90%  of any questions they have. I arrange to call them a couple of days after receiving the guide, to "find out their views". Most cases say they want me  to come out and put together a personal home cleaning plan.For instance, I have a client who doesn't want us to clean his toilets, he likes to do it themselves. :

I will then go into the property write down what they want doing in each room, put in into a details quote, work out the expected task time, then send them a quote.but we insist when taking a a new contract, that we must be allowed for carry out a full spring clean, leaving us a clean canvas to service each visit.Otherwise we find that we don't really achieve anything much in the way of quality cleaning.

Most a very happy to have there home cleaned thoroughly, in fact some say it's a relief.

Personally, I recocken that the first cleaner you should employ should be a cleaner driver.It would make life so much easier for you, poor girl travelling on public transport.You will end up with muscles like a trooper, bless you!!!


Just a few of my thoughts, again other may disagree with me, but what the hell it works for me. Good luck, girlie.

Personally I think your website is great.

Keep up the good work!!!!

[dustdees]

NICE ONE LISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO GET'UM GIRL!!!!!!

[lisa123]

Hiya
Thanks for the response dustdees

Thats a good idea to go the heavy clean before the light cleans take place.
do you charge the full heavy clean price for this?

the lady i'm going to see tomorrow has 3-4 bed house, and my prices would be around £120 depending on the state of repair for the heavy clean prob around 4 hours and 2 cleaners.

is this how you operate?

[dustdees]

Lisa,

Yeap, we charge to full rate and they are happy with that.

Love

Denisex

[lisa123]

Thanks Denise
(couldnt remember your real name lol)

The lady has postponed the meeting due to having to work late, but will phone me again next week.

I think i'll send her details in the post anyway.
I'll send a pack with a cover letter. price guide, Summary of T&C, Duties checklists to tick and amend and return, and add to. and a list af FAQ

she will at least have details to hand if/when she does call again.

I'm thinking of sending one of these packs to each client who enquires, instead of us going round to see them straight away.

Only to go around once they have decided to go ahead, to view property and finalise quote.

Does the terms 28 days to pay for the initial heavy clean, and 1st month trial period upfront, there after end of each week payments sound acceptable to you?

You have been a great help, I feel confident that i finally have got to grips with what i'm doing, cheers 

[dustdees]

Lisa,

If I were you, please don't quote on a proerty until you have seen it. each property is different, less or more furniture, office doesn't need cleaning, etc etc.You could be walking into a bomb site, and expected to clean it in three hours.Can;t be done mate!! Be very careful indeed.

Well my clients pay cash on the day of all cleans, if they want to pay by cheques then they must pay 4 weeks in advance.

You contract would be better, if you are going to spring clean first of all, would be minimum cantract period 3 months.That's what we do , again client happy.Just remember that small extra mile goes a long way.

Let me know what you are going to do.

Love

Denisexxx

[lisa123]

I'll put a clause on to say that we can and will amend clean duration on viewing property.

It just gives people an idea of our prices. Obviously the deep cleans are set at FROM price, regular cleans will be per hour, and the number of hrs will just change if it is a yucky dirty place.


Dear

Further to our recent conversation regarding regular domestic cleaning, Please find enclosed a copy of our guide to services.

Included in this guide

Price guides
Duties checklists for light and heavy cleaning
Terms and Conditions of Service
Frequently Asked Questions

What Happens Now?

We require you to complete the checklists on the following pages.
The duties on the light cleaning checklist will form the basis of your regular clean.

We do insist that new clients under go a heavy clean service before any regular cleaning is carried out. This is so we start with a ‘clean canvas’ to carry out our regular cleaning duties.

The checklist for the heavy clean is also enclosed.

If there are tasks which you do not want us to carry out, please place a cross in the corresponding box.
Also, if there is something which you would like us to do that isn’t listed, please write it in the additional information section, along with any other notes which may be important.

Once you have completed the checklists, you will need to post it back to us in the envelope provided.
We will then send you a detailed written quote based on the details given.

Please note that we may need to amend the duration of the cleaning that you ask for, if we feel it necessary.
The price guide, is just that, and full details will be supplied when we visit the property.

Booking Services

We will then contact you, or if you like, you can contact us to arrange a meeting, so we can view your property and finalise the quote.

When you are happy to go ahead, a date will be booked and cleaning shall commence from then. We will require you to sign the terms and conditions for your records and for ours once you decide to go ahead with the services.

In the mean time, Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions, we are always happy to help.


We look forward to hearing from you soon

[dustdees]

Lisa,
 
I like your letter, but make sure you aven't already put somw of that information in your t &c's, All that information should really be included in your T & C's.

Personally I think the letter is a bit too long, but again if it works for you then, go ahead.

Phone calls are always the best route in my opinon, communication, via phone or face to face always works wonders.

Love Denisex
 

[Art]

"We do insist clients undergo a heavy clean" in my opinion i think you'd be better off leaving that bit out and waiting for a face to face meeting. Reasons being ,It's a service your giving clients which they are paying for, that phrase i think would get alot of potential clients backs up, it sounds abit like a demand or it could be taken as there house is in need of a good clean. Only my opinion 

[lisa123]

Hi James

you could be right there, maybe i should add it to my T&C's that heavy cleans before regular cleaning is optional but advised.

thanks for your input

[Jan K]

Hi Lisa!

You could change 'insist' to 'recommend'

Jan

[Art]

Lisa, Just another bit of advise you need to cut down your letter abit aswell it's a bit to long winded  long drawn out letters don't have full impact try and only use words that are going to work for you, read it as a client would. Show it to family and friends and tell them you want constructive critisism. 

[lisa123]

its only the welcome pack, obviously if it was first contact it would be shorter.

what i want to get across is, hello, thankyou for contacting us, please fill in duties sheets and return, i'll pop out to meet and they the work gets carried out if everyone is happy.

i have passed it about today, the full thing, cover letter, price guide, duties sheets, customer details page, T&C's, and FAQ. The response was that they were very comprehensive, professional and of good quality, but also had an air of friendly aproachability.

different locations, different customers, i might just rearrange the wording a bit, see if i can knock off a few paragraphs, i know what you mean, it is quite long, but wouldn't you want to trust a business who had provided you with all the info up front, so you knew what you were getting into? 

[Art]

Another good selling point i've found is a professionally written health & safety policy. As a small business you won't need one by law but it's another way of letting clients know your a serious company and also as your business grows it's one less thing you'll have to do and you sound dedicated and commited so your business will grow, as long as you stay focused because in the early days don't expect to make much money and do expect to be under pressure. Think i'll stop there incase i start to sound boring

[lisa123]

I really appreciate your help james, you aren't boring

I suppose that would complete the welcome pack, even if people decide not to go ahead, they might do in the future if they have all the info there ready to go.

I am the hardworking capricorn, can't help it, it's my nature. I want to be lazy and chill out, but my boring capricorn nature won't let me 

I will make this work, and then i can stay in the office and my employees can do the cleaning (prob in 10 years time lol)