£95 minimum call-out charge

« **on:** May 24, 2009, 02:34:22 pm »

Hi all,
Does anyone have a minimum charge this high? I was told a while back from a friend that a marketing company recommended to have it this high.
Any thoughts or comments appreciated
John

« **Reply #1 on:** May 24, 2009, 02:45:03 pm »

I charge £55 call out charge, i think £95 is to high as you need to get into the customers house, then you can start adding per room.

« **Reply #2 on:** May 24, 2009, 03:10:32 pm »

Quote from: sherco on May 24, 2009, 02:45:03 pm

I charge £55 call out charge, i think £95 is to high as you need to get into the customers house, then you can start adding per room.

agree with sherco i have min charge but £95 is too steep and encourages people into hiring the evil rug devil grr.

try my best to go round and quote each job depending on distance and when i get there explain about the min charge and reasons. normally situation arises when it is just one room they want cleaning can often then add a little sweetner eg do the hall for same price if a small area. i think when you harp on about minimum charge too much you can lose possible customers at the first call.

plus i am great believer in working whatever the job cause you can get refered more often than not. especially with incentives eg £10 m&s voucher.
eg this last week.

one call small lounge did hall as well included for 65 min charge told 2 friends
got both jobs
1 job lounge hall carpets plus protector 3 seater sofa and armchair.
next job 38 sq m of carpet

love the power of referals.

« **Reply #3 on:** May 24, 2009, 03:35:28 pm »

I cleaned a Kitchen on Friday they had rang their regular carpet cleaner, they had just upped their min' charge to £90. this customer had used them for 6yrs, twice a year (upstairs then later the down stairs)

they have lost them for ever.

I'm all for a high min charge but you need to be flexible otherwise you will lose customers.

« **Reply #4 on:** May 24, 2009, 04:28:29 pm »

Hi,
i,m all for a minimum charge but £95 is far too high, i think Mike said it all.

Ben.

« **Reply #5 on:** May 24, 2009, 05:41:52 pm »

Fixed prices for anything can be costly, unless of course they are very competitive fixed prices. The little jobs give the important cash flow and without that you won't survive.
Sure, it can be a pain setting up / putting away for £45, but an extra £45 at the end of each day mounts up!

« **Reply #6 on:** May 24, 2009, 06:46:43 pm »

I have a flexible min charge, like Mike I believe that a smaller min charge can gain a customers work or even trust, we are still a luxury product not like a plumber who are a must as you need then but 'want' a cleaner.

If you can get £95 good on you.

Shaun

« **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2009, 07:04:39 pm »

As mentioned the objective is to get customers who will get you more customers NOT because you're cheap ( which you don't want to be ) but because you are FANTASTIC and give excellent value for money.

« **Reply #8 on:** May 24, 2009, 07:13:31 pm »

My reply was a similar sounding phrase as "Clucking Bell!" However, if your in a position to demand that sort of minimum call out charge, you're doing bloody well and good luck to you!!!

« **Reply #9 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:17:59 am »

oo min charge am reviewing this right now
anything is going to be better than £20
well thats what it was

« **Reply #10 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:35:20 am »

Wow! Never been as low as £20
Mine is £50 but if its local, like within 2 mile I will do £45

« **Reply #11 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:47:35 am »

Same as joe round abouts as i think thats fair

« **Reply #12 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:43:11 am »

Ouch that is high !
I have min £65. but if they are only a few miles away and only want 1 room doing then i lower it accordingly

« **Reply #13 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:43:34 am »

I did a stain removal on my road last week, and charged the guy £20, my min is £46. But I was in and out in 20mins, and felt quilty at £20, as he was a neighbour-ish, but then again it was the first time he used me.

£95 for a single room is too high, cos you could replace/almost replce the carpet at that price, for bedrooms and rented stuff

« **Reply #14 on:** May 25, 2009, 11:25:25 am »

My call out charge is £35.

Spot and stain removal from £20 (depending how long I'm there and what I use to remove)

Why should carpet cleaning be so expensive?

« **Reply #15 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:09:34 pm »

Well the way I see it to be going around for £20 here and there is just not worth it surely? Your time would surely be better spent searching for customers who are happy to pay more? £95 would probably be way too high for stain removal but I rarely get asked to go out just for one stain and unless its very local I decline. But two £95 jobs a day almost equates to £1000 per week. My min charge at the moment is £50 which I am now thinking is too low. John

« **Reply #16 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:15:03 pm »

My min charge is based on where and who, so a very good customer may get a freebie but a new customer miles away will get charged £59 but there's no definate price as if I was working within a short distance of the new customer and providing they fit in with me then I will be flexible providing I can see a long term benefit.

Shaun

« **Reply #17 on:** May 25, 2009, 01:00:01 pm »

My minimum charge is £65.00- £80.00 depending on the distance and I am based in south east.

Regards,

Bosh

« **Reply #18 on:** May 25, 2009, 07:27:44 pm »

I think a lot of minimum charges are just plucked out of thin air. The idea is that it is the amount you need to turn out and do the job and make a profit. You therefore need to work out your break even point, how many jobs you can expect to do in a year (its not easy but a good guess is better than nothing) Then you can work out how much you need to charge to make the profit you require.
Having a minimum and then reducing it because they are near or it was a small job defeats the object.
Or am I wrong?

« **Reply #19 on:** May 25, 2009, 07:37:38 pm »

To be consistant John I agree but if you can smell a bigger job out of it then that's when the rule book goes out of the window.

Shaun

« **Reply #20 on:** May 25, 2009, 07:43:17 pm »

Joe was £20 when I took over but I really dont have a min as such
YET
BUT

« **Reply #21 on:** May 25, 2009, 07:52:20 pm »

If I'm driving from A to D and I pass B no matter what my outgoing are (or how much I need to make) if I stop at B the money i make will be total profit ( apart from the pennies of chemical and a quids worth of fuel) so why stick to my minimum.

if I'm travelling from A to D and drive 20miles to Z then I charge a minimum charge.

...................................................................................................................................................

If i put an advert in the local paper that cost me £100 and I only get 1 job worth £120 how is this job different from me doing a job for £20? this theory blows the argument for a minimum charge out of the window

« **Reply #22 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:08:57 pm »

John Kelly

John I think it was you who told me about a marketing meeting (possibly in York or thereabouts) that recommended a min charge of £95. I could definitely see you loosing business charging such a sum but might be a good idea to lower it when your less busy perhaps???

« **Reply #23 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:36:37 pm »

All charges are based on supply and demand, if you get customers that will pay £95, that means that they love your work and nobody else will do or that you are getting too many calls so they can take it or leave it or that you have little or no competition. Small amount of calls and no takers and no dinner on the table means that £20 looks good.

Shaun

« **Reply #24 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:37:33 pm »

Mike, that is where monitoring your advertising expenditure comes in. That would obviously be uneconomic advertising unless it was over a long term and worked out over the term.
You could go on and on over this. All I was trying to point out was if you are going to have a minimum charge make it meaningful.

« **Reply #25 on:** May 25, 2009, 08:44:26 pm »

Is meaningful affordable to your customers? however I do my sums and even with a decent database and regular incoming calls but I feel confident (don't know for sure) that I would slow my calls significantly with a min £95 job ticket.

In the USA cleaners do have these higher min charges but IMO I think carpet cleaning is far more frequent in the average home albeit that they have to travel further as the cities are bigger and fuller with traffic.

Shaun

« **Reply #26 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:19:58 pm »

a minimum charge must be the minimum amount you can charge for it to be economical viable to do that job or is it how much money you can make for a specific amount of time.

if I had every single hour of my working day booked with work and on average I earned £65/hr then any job I attend must pay this amount....... because why spend an an hour attending a small job for £40 if while attending this job I could have been attending a job that earned £65/hr (hope this make sense)

but if I'm only working 70% of my working day and a small job can be done as an addition rather instead of a higher paying job then it makes sense to do it, even though I'm earning less per hour.

minimum charges are what ever you feel comfortable with, I could do a job for £10 without being out of pocket but I wouldn't.

« **Reply #27 on:** May 26, 2009, 07:23:27 am »

Hi Guys

Minimum charge is a basic cover the costs plus a bit of profit, say 40.

Then add what ypu really like to earn and how concerned you are with working every minute.

There are lots of other things which can be done with spare work time, such as marketing, web sites etc.

I have an economic min of 60 but do not do many jobs under a hundred as there are ways of increasing the amount or dare I say, discouraging the potential customer.

Cheers

Doug

« **Reply #28 on:** May 26, 2009, 08:07:53 am »

And then it also depends on your clients. If you went into a multi-million poud property and quoted £20 for a stain removal, you probablt will not get the job, where as if it was a council estate, you probably would.
I suppose you min chargemust depend on your client market

« **Reply #29 on:** May 26, 2009, 08:12:53 am »

Well after reading down the comments above it sounds that not many of you have a minimum callout.

Joe I remember when our minimum call out was as low as £15.00 but then again that was 30 years ago

Regards Tony

« **Reply #30 on:** May 26, 2009, 09:54:45 am »

That is high!
Mine is £45, for regular customers would remove small stains free of charge.

« **Reply #31 on:** May 27, 2009, 01:24:55 pm »

my minimum charge is £50..........

i find that it is enough to slowwwww the price shoppers!!

thinking of going to £60......as all costs are rising.......

Quote from: Ralph Smith on May 26, 2009, 09:54:45 am

That is high!
Mine is £45, for regular customers would remove small stains free of charge.

do u make any money.........would never spot clean for free.......all my clients would tell me to spot clen the whole house!!!!

« **Reply #32 on:** May 30, 2009, 11:36:19 pm »

It all depends on how busy I am. If I'm busy it's £50 but if not then I will do a small job for as little as £35

« **Reply #33 on:** May 31, 2009, 12:40:01 pm »

I think it's all about 2 words: Flexibility and Adaptability. If you are flexible in your outlook and can adapt to different situations you can cover all bases without losing out through lost potential customers. Some people may be willing to pay £95 to have their bathroom carpet cleaned, but I would imagine the "Pareto Principle" ( 80-20 ) rule would cover this situation with 20% going for it and 80% not going for it.

If you do not get in, you have no chance to impress, no chance to develop a long term and profitable relationship with your new customer. Plus the recommendations that would follow. Anyhow!! in my case, mimimum charges come into play in only about1 in 10 enquiries.

Perhaps we should ask ourselves: If we were not carpet cleaners, how much would we be willing to pay for a callout?