[*paul_moss]

                                     Just a Thought

It would be good if all carpet cleaners got involved in this cleaning forum and came up with a national fair cleaning price.
Then every body would get a fair wage and proportion of work

[Mark Betts]

Not all clients book on price !!!

[*paul_moss]

Thats very true Mark but there are always new customers and a basic start price I feel would benifit all.

[Mike Halliday]

Paul what a great Idea, we should start a union and make show all our member charge the customer a fair price, I suggest £55 for a suite and carpets at 90p a square yard.

we could have annual meeting where we all get together and dance naked with cucumbers stuck up our bums singing Slim Whitman songs.

If these sound like  stupid Ideas don't blame me, you started it  

Mike

[Mike Halliday]

now a sensible answer

who would this price be fair to, the customer or the carpet cleaner.

why should i earn the same wage as a carpet cleaner who uses a Karscher Puzzi 100 after I've spent £1000's on equipment?

all carpet cleaners are different so deserve different wages, should a IICRC journeyman cleaner earn the same as a carpet cleaner who has'nt bothered getting any training.

ther're are too many variables for this to work

Mike

[*paul_moss]

Mike thanks for your sensible response.I will put your first answer down to the long hours your working this time of year and of course your age.
All I would add is that if you where to buy petrol from a large seller such a Esso or a small private one man operator you would pay roughly the same price per litre. Same if you were to call out a plumber, the price per hour would be similar.
In our business a customer calls us out to clean a suit and can get a price from £10 to £120 . Where is the parity ?

[*paul_moss]

That should read suite not suit

[Ivar_Haglund]

Pricing is the biggest joke in the world

reguardless what you say you charge some guy is going to say he charges more than you.

There will always be lowballs and there will always be those who tell lies on how much they charge

Just a internet fact

worry about what you need to make a living

Be honest do good errrrrrr great work and dont worry about what someone else is doing.

IVAR

[Dynafoam]

Paul,

Your petrol analagy falls flat on its' face - the petrol from either supplier will be identical.

However the quality of workmanship is variable in the cleaning industry. Irrespective of the standards of equipment used  I am certain that the first suites I cleaned 37 years ago could not have been cleaned to the same standard as those I cleaned last week - all were cleaned to the best of my ability, what is different is the equipment, the chemistry and the experience.

John

[Alex]

Sorry Paul, but I agree with Mike and John.

I've only just got into the carpet cleaning game and I'm already getting referrals because of the training I've gone through and the equipment I use.

Just today I went to a customer who wasn’t happy with her carpets that had been cleaned only yesterday by some total dick who used some sort of wet/dry hover that she said looked like it had been hired. I arrived there this morning to find the carpet smelling because it was totally drenched and full of soap. Granted I was double what he charged her but I left with the carpets completely clean, dry and a VERY happy customer, now there’s no way I would want my price to be the same as this guy and I’m middle of the price range.

LOL @ Mike’s 1st answer!!!

[ALEXDH]

how much do chem dry fellas charge , I think we need to look at the franchise pricing and then price accordingly. They have to pay out more so must charge at the higher end surely.

Do the franchises have fixed pricing ?

[*paul_moss]

Totally agree with you all Quality is everything.
And yes better quality of machinery, work and experience dictates remittance.But I still feel that there should be a basic nominal price for cleaning.
Those who do poor quality work at the end of the day will not last long anyway.As you all know the best advertisment is word of mouth from customers that has been built up over the years from quality consistant performance of your work.

Paul

[stevegunn]

There is a guy in my area been going for over 20 years who charges silly prices but is still in business and his quality of work is poor the amount of customers i've been to who would never have him again but he has been going 20 years so charging silly prices does not necessarily mean they won't be going for very long :-/

[Ken Wainwright]

I'm going to steal a thread from Mike Halliday. Many moons ago he made a very valid point on the pricing issue that a 3 bed semi-detached in London will cost a lot more money than a similar house in virtually any other part of the UK. And because of the higher cost of living, most London workers receive a  salary "weighting".  So how could a person in the business of cleaning carpets hope to survive in London, charging the same rate as a colleague in Derby, Dunstable or downtown Dunkeld. We are selling a local service, not a nationally distributed branded box of plastic and silicon. And that service differs from business to business as well as from job to job. And don't forget, cartels and price fixing are illegal.

Safe and happy cleaning:)
Ken

[Dave Parry]

:DAgree with all thats been said, but also I charge more for the well heeled than for a pensioner. Should I charge the same for a worn bit of floral pre war allied carpet than the £ 38 k's worth of bedroom carpet, I did Thurs. The treatment may be the same, but the risk certainly is'nt.

[Dynafoam]

Dave,

A very valid point re. risk factors.Reminds me of a conversation I had with Ron Tilley (Prochem MD), some 20 yrs. ago, in which he advocated that the minimum price that should be charged for any job should be 10% of the value of the items cleaned.

(Want to re-think the price for that bedroom, Dave?)

Though I did not addopt this policy I do make adjustments allong these lines.

John.

[nick.solution]

Hi Guys
When quoting domestic customers, being surrounded by
half price wondercleaners, if the customer questions our price we normally ask how much they paid for their 3 piece suite then ask if they really believe someone can clean it properly for £30 it doesnt normally take them long to give the correct answer