Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: lisa123 on August 30, 2005, 01:55:57 pm
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just wanted to say thanks to every1, my 1st day went smoothly,although, the guy saud 1-2 hours job actually took 3 and half hours because of all the inside windows and when he said 8 offices it was more like 30 desks 3 toilets 2 kitchens and spread over the upstairs and downstairs of two buildings, and we had to hoover 2 flights of stairs.
Anyway, so it took a little while longer, i chraged him £80 which i think was about right seeing as we used all of his cleaning supplies and equipment.
His house on the other hand, which he showed us around for the 2nd job, was a very large 5 bed house, very large rooms and the biggest kitchen going. downstairs 3 rooms and hall area, upstairs 5 beds with 1 toilet, 1 large bathroom, and 3 ensuites, and attic space which could have easily been divided into 3 bedrooms, all carpetted, the only spaces not carpetted were the kitchen and downstairs hall area. As it is a 200 yr old house, there are also lots of low beams, lots of staircases and funny cupboards hidden in strange places, oh and lots of large inside windows to clean.
The guy reckons as the house will be empty, just carpets, it should take 2 of us about the same time as it took to do the offices, about 3 ish hours.
I think that is completely under estimating the time. I was thinking about 6 hours total, dust polish decobweb, sweep, mop, hoover, windows, inside cupboards.
What do you think? any advise to give me? if i quote him £200 for his 3.5 hours, the job won't be finished in time.
I said i'd let him know the quote and duration when he phones to book us.
sorry it is long :)
Also on the training, should we do health and safety, coshh, manual handling, risk assess and all that, just to be up to date? we have had training in previous employment, but feel we should get our certificates for our business, where do we find out about this?
Thanks
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HI Lisa,
I am glad ur first day went smoothly; I would have charged him slightly more though.
With respect to his house, I would honestly say, you should charge him a day rate by the hour. Explain to him, you feel it would be hard to put a time limit on the clean due to the size of the house. It would be in his benefit to book the two of you in for the day 8 hours each (quote him a price for this), however, you will actually only charge him for the length of time you are their i.e. 4 hours each. By doing it this way, he knows the max he will have to pay and also he will be aware that he won’t actually pay this.
The trouble with clients is, they all assume times, and it will only take this long or that long. When the reality of it is allot more. Also similar to his office, it is only this size, when in fact, it is allot bigger.
Concerning your training. You can seek this from the likes of BICS; however, this can be an expensive route, if you are just staring out. Contact your supplier (chemical supplier) and ask them what training they can offer you. You should also requests COSHH sheets on all the chemicals you use. You should learn these and always carry them with you (when you are at work and for the particular chemical you are using).
You can devise your own in house training programs for your staff. This can be based on product knowledge, usage, COSHH, etc. Providing you keep records of these training programs, it will be accepted by the HSA (providing the training you devise is adequate).
Hope this helps and well done again.
Andrew
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Hi Andrew
If i say the maximum cost will be £240, thats booking us for a full day of 8hrs, at £30 ph (between the 2 of us),
when in reality it could take 4-6 hours so costing him £120-£180, do you think this sounds about right? this will pay our wages, travel cos he lives 25 miles away, our overheads (supplies/ins etc to buy and pay for) even though use his materials. Although we will be bringing our own gloves, overalls etc.
If we buy household cleaning supplies, say from wilkinsons, can we contact the makers for coshh info?
sorry about all the questions :) i'll get there in the end
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Hi Lisa,
Your pricing sounds about right
I don't know if you can get the COSHH info for domestic use products.
I would advise you to log onto http://www.jangro.net/coshh.asp and download the COSHH on their products, this should cover you for domestic purchases i.e. polish etc
Hope that helps you
Andrew
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If you buy wilkos products they will supply the COSHH sheets just give them a call and they should fax you them.
Fox
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do they?? Thats fab, loads of info on that website andrew.
Cheers guys.
One day i'll know what i am doing!! ;D
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Anyone who sells a chemical HAS to supply a COSSH sheet on demand by law.
Shame you missed my earlier post today on Special High Intensity Training. It got deleted for some reason ::)
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Hi Lisa
Re the training , get in touch with your nearest college. Ask to speak to the business devl. dept. , ask them about nvq training in cleaning level's 1,2,3, coshh, h&s training, in a lot of cases there is fully funded course's so it wont cost you and it's done on site during the time you are working. a win win situation
Hope this helps
Patrick ;)
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Looked at those courses myself, but don't think there is much point with domestic cleaning!!
Wait for the backlash lol!!
Jan