Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Ian Gourlay on June 19, 2010, 09:32:12 am
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In an ideal world we would all clean carpets in clean homes , no stains etc and customer wanting to maintain appearance.
But every now and then we are asked to clean a carpet that has crud layes of food etc
Some of you willnot be in in this situation as Carpets are those at the lower end of the market.
I( am just wondering how much extra you would charge if you were cleaning a 20 square metres.
Would you aim for 100 % or just deal with main problem ie when you get beneath crud you find them.
Or would you just walk and not start clean
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in an ideal world all carpets would be like this? what is it with you guys wanting to clean clean carpets, wheres the satisfaction in that.
must just be me and my crazy way of thinking ;D
oh forgot, i'd charge the same. but thats nutty derek for ya ;D
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same as Derek, i like the dirty ones and charge the same. Qualify the customer well, plenty of pre spray agitate with rotary with brush and prowler out.
its the clean wool carpets with a couple of stains you cant get out that i hate
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When i started out i had a pricing scale,which went up according too the amount of crud ! The thing is with the real mingers,they are usually really cheap carpet,so you have to find a balance between cost of cleaning and cost of replacement.
I now charge more or less the same,just got back from doing a 1950s semi 3 bed 700 sq foot,booked me yesterday,as other person let him down,now i said wrough idea of price over phone,got there measured up was £214,said i would be happy with £180,job took 2 hours so i was also happy,he was not expecting miracles,but i got them cleaner than he expected,now i could have been a sly beggar and charged him more,as he was stuck,new people move in on Monday,but i would rather him be happy with price,so he will more than likely use me again ,and tell his friends.
Just my 2p worth
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just got back from doing a 1950s semi 3 bed 700 sq foot,booked me yesterday,as other person let him down,now i said wrough idea of price over phone,got there measured up was £214,said i would be happy with £180,job took 2 hours
To clean 65 sq metres (700 sq feet) I would have charged £325.00 and by the time I would have vac, pre-spray, agitate, spotting, rinse, groom, dry, pack away would have taken me betwwen about 4 - 4.5 hrs... the question is, what are you doing only taking 2 hrs? Are you following the correct procedures? Your job is to clean the carpet having the best possible outcome not just to make them 'cleaner'.. what equipment do you use to achieve these wonderful high speeds??
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The last tenant had attempted to clean with a rug wrecker,carpet was the thinnest polly available,no underlay,we are talking very bottom end of the market,hence why i said strike a balance,if it had been expensive woollen carpet,and not in a manky rental then yes,i would have charged more,and took my time ;D
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700 sq feet is only about the size of two large through lounges. I could vac, prespray, agitate, etc, with porty or truckmount, within 2 hours, without breaking a sweat. You just have to plan ahead and be methodical.
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Cleantom
Your price works out at £5 sq metre.
Very nice if you can get it and I am sure some do.
I would have been around the £3 mark and probably taken 3 hours or so, maybe bit less, depending if room/s empty.
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£325 yeah dream on.
£120 - 3 hours or so thank you.
John - in the real world.
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or should it be
John - living in the wrong place ;D
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Hi Guys
Similar discussion to the Fastrak one, some will spend a lot of perpheral time, drying , grooming, agitating etc, while others will just prespray and clean.
I always find myself in the middle price range, not being able to ask top prices on domestic, whereas on commercial I do!
It is probably because commercial is boring and out of hours and if I'm going to give up my time I want top money whereas domestic is more user friendly.
As for dirty carpets it is nice to tackle one sometimes but I wouldn't want them all day!
Cheers
Doug
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Might be me Joe I don't know, but after just over 2 years full time at
this I think my prices are more realistic than some of the dreamers on
here.
I convert approximately 80% of quotes of which 95% are over the phone.
I'm not expensive, I still charge only £65 - £75 for 3 piece suites but I get
the work which to my mind, in the current climate, is the way to go.
Some will say busy fool, wrong, I'm making a tidy profit.
The only fool is one that isn't busy because he/she thinks they should be
on £75 per hour.
One final point.
If some people out there do earn sums like that then I have no beef with
them they are obviously doing something right.
But I suspect one or two on here, as in any other forum, are dreaming.
To be a good liar you have to have a good memory, reading some posts on
here leads me to the conclusion that some on here have bad memories of
previous posts they have posted.
John - in my world.
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Might be me Joe I don't know, but after just over 2 years full time at
this I think my prices are more realistic than some of the dreamers on
here.
I convert approximately 80% of quotes of which 95% are over the phone.
I'm not expensive, I still charge only £65 - £75 for 3 piece suites but I get
the work which to my mind, in the current climate, is the way to go.
Some will say busy fool, wrong, I'm making a tidy profit.
The only fool is one that isn't busy because he/she thinks they should be
on £75 per hour.
One final point.
If some people out there do earn sums like that then I have no beef with
them they are obviously doing something right.
But I suspect one or two on here, as in any other forum, are dreaming.
To be a good liar you have to have a good memory, reading some posts on
here leads me to the conclusion that some on here have bad memories of
previous posts they have posted.
John - in my world.
John,
I charge £5 per sq metre for all carpets & to clean a 3pc £200. I aim my marketing at the right places. IMO you need to work smarter, raise your prices & relax a little before you blow a carbon brush!
Tom
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I push myself with my cleaning to get better everytime (and I've been doing it 22 years) I'll try various machinery, chemicals, procedures and techniques and I will do my upmost to offer better each time for the customer and myself, I do charge a premium (not £200 a carpet though), I'm not in the richest part of the country but I charge well compared to you because I push my customers to pay a bit more because I believe I offer the best.
Putting a ceiling on your prices is like putting a ceiling on your earnings before you know it you'll be earning the same as you were 5 years ago, I fell for that years ago and by talking to other business people I woke up, Chemdrys all over the country charge well for their services because most of the franchisees are 'businessmen' they understand profit, there's no such thing as standing still you either move forward or fall behind.
Try pushing yourself, do more and get more, as you get older you can then work half the hours and still make a decent living, there are quite a few carpet cleaners who are over retirement age but because they charge a better amount they can do just 1 job a day to top up a beleaguered pension which will only get worse!
You are not pricing for now you are pricing for your long term future.
Shaun
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I push myself with my cleaning to get better everytime (and I've been doing it 22 years) I'll try various machinery, chemicals, procedures and techniques and I will do my upmost to offer better each time for the customer and myself, I do charge a premium (not £200 a carpet though), I'm not in the richest part of the country but I charge well compared to you because I push my customers to pay a bit more because I believe I offer the best.
Putting a ceiling on your prices is like putting a ceiling on your earnings before you know it you'll be earning the same as you were 5 years ago, I fell for that years ago and by talking to other business people I woke up, Chemdrys all over the country charge well for their services because most of the franchisees are 'businessmen' they understand profit, there's no such thing as standing still you either move forward or fall behind.
Try pushing yourself, do more and get more, as you get older you can then work half the hours and still make a decent living, there are quite a few carpet cleaners who are over retirement age but because they charge a better amount they can do just 1 job a day to top up a beleaguered pension which will only get worse!
You are not pricing for now you are pricing for your long term future.
Shaun
I agree with you Shaun 100% :)
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If there Really bad and the results are not going to be top class then we offer to replace them !!