[martin19842]

hi there

what is the definition of low???

the other interestng point is....

there are far to many people selling on price, and therefore they can only afford to pay low wages,

where a contract is won under tupe, you'll find that wage levels generally dont rise.

why does a potential customer change their supplier???

primarily becuase they want a better service or they want to reduce their cleaning expenditure..

the result of that ......   relatively low wage levels.

unfortunately some sectors of the cleaning industry are regarded as unskilled jobs, whilst others can be classed as skilled labours.

for example

an IPAF qualified cladding cleaning operative ---  will earn more than

the unskilled cleaner who cleans an estate agants office two hours a day.

regards

martin

[Paul Coleman]

Ok, now you got me worried!

Too confusing - that's what the accountant is for! I'm just a cleaner! Help!

I am printing off this board and grabbing my accountant by the throat first thing in the morning. lol  is that a'choking' smiley?

Back to low wages for cleaners?

let's face it.  If you could claim it all back you could put them all on 50 grand a year and let them treat you once in a while 

[myvanwi]

We started in business just 18 months ago.

Before this, we worked for employers in the cleaning sector for a pittance hourly rate.  (mainly in 'new-build')

With a bit of ambition, hard work, blitzing the credit cards and lots of luck, we managed to get our foot in the door with a major developer.  Although it is still relatively early days, our gross income in that time is around £72.000

We are a 2 person partnership and have only one part-time employee (15 hours per week - her choice)

Our single employee is a fantastic worker and we would miss her badly if she left us.  Worth her weight in gold (well almost)  We pay her a very good rate of pay compared with the rates we know about and see in the local job sections.
We allow holiday entitlement at 2 fifths of fifteen days per year: (DTI Guidlines for part-time workers - Regulation 2002(SI 2002/2035 EC Directive on part-time work - Prevention of less favourable treatment)

I won't say exactly how much we pay her, but I can tell you the two main reasons we pay a fair bit more than the going rate:

When you have a good worker - why pay them a pittance and risk lossing them?  Or worse, they go it alone and nick your contracts!


The contribution our employee makes to our business is worth thousands (maybe tens of thousands)
Yes, we understand that wages have to be paid, sometimes months before we get the return from the work carried out - but that aside:

To us, that is probably one of the best investments we have ever heard of!

Maybe we are being naive? (all sensible replies welcome)

So back to the topic...

Why low wages for cleaners? (or anybody for that matter?)

You are doing well to have that turnover in such a short amount of time.  You must be doing all the right things. How did you get into the builders cleans?
We have contacted all the big developers in our area and cant get anyone to speak to us or reply to letters. We have spoken to the site agents who all point us in the direction of their head offices.

[Small but perfectley formed]

supply & demand keeps prices for work low lots of competition mainly from people just earning a income from their business not making real profit

[Ian Gourlay]

Just like to say you have not done the business until you get paid.

With the Credit Crunch prices dropping a lot of builders will go bust