Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Jimmywidge on January 19, 2011, 06:57:56 pm
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Quoted £120.00 to as custmers for cleaing carpets in a 3 bed unfirnished house in the sussex area and was under cut - I thought it was a fair price for the amount of work required. Just how flippin cheap are some people doing the job ?!
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Some may look at it like this.
4 hours work, £20 an hour, £80 for a mornings work.
Do that twice a day and you are laughing as a one man outfit.
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Was that another spelling mistake....should that have been £12.00
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3 bed empty house more like 3 hours.
I charge £95 for average sized 3 bed semi.
Tell them may be up/down a little if room
sizes differ from what they tell me but rare
I change it.
If anything there usually under sized with
one bedroom sometimes just a box room.
John
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I was told I was too expensive for a 5x4 sitting room at £45 she had rang someone who said he would do her whole house for £45,problem is people taking redundancy buying machine and happy making £100 a day
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Never ever worry about one persons view on your pricing, it's a complete waste of time. There will be some one else you say £80 to and they will say HOW MUCH?!
Then you will say £300 to someone else and they say Oh I thought it would be more than that.
Work out how long and how much grief and give them the price and get on with it. This also includes getting bent out of shape with the £8.99 mob, worry about running your own business not someone elses.
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Approximately what I would have charged.
Where abouts in Sussex you based Jimmy, I'm in Hailsham myself.
Paul
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I had a woman call and book in a job for £140 then call back to say she'd has now booked someone else for £70, so she booked and then rang round which is a little annoying >:( but about an hour later firm of accountants rang for a job which was £340, c'est la vie ;D
Shaun
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Think she might want you back in the future if she was not happy with the job shaun..
Or maybe just loyal to the dollar ;)
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There will always be those who want something as cheap as possible and I fear this year is going to be worse than many previous ones. That's just the way it is, what hurts most is when a previously happy customer goes to someone new (who they don't know) just because their a few pounds cheaper.
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Maybe all the price comparison web sites putting the thought in there mind that price is just the issue.
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Could be right Neil I've had a lot of price shoppers today all end of tennancy had one with in his words "a very dirty cream hsl and lound with blood, wax, make up" asked it I can beat £45? no thanks! January can be a quieter time but looking at my bookings it's not that bad but I'm not booked up like pre Xmas but realistically I shouldn't be unless I do some ectra advertising.
Shaun
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Hi
I think in the climate we are in at the moment price is going to be a big factor for lots of people, there are always price shoppers but if someone can save £50-70 then I think they'll go for it, even if they haven't used them before.
A lot of people are going to the wall.
Martin 8)
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Hi Guys
Don't get too bogged down with price shoppers, they always have and always will be there.
I quoted £200 for lounge, stairs, no hall and 2 beds around the beds.
Customer said I was much cheaper tahn her previous CC and better!
It's swings and roundabouts.
Cheers
Doug
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Funny how we all get hung up on price shoppers
then as soon as we want a trade what do we do.
SHOP ROUND.
John
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Guys
the question should be can you get the price you want day in day out and can you repeat the process that brings these jobs in. Shaun said a guy he knows got a job £15k, fantastic but its being able to repeat this.
Marketing should be like a well oiled machine you put your money in and you get the return every time.
I have always looked for a marketing system that i can control. if i invest £100 i want to know my return and be able to just keep doing it. this way you know that you can up the stake money and get a guaranteed return.
I have tried lots of offers and positions in the market and its been very interesting doing it and i am starting to get a feel for the market only just now.
For example, The pink flyiers, spent time and money followed what other did and in my area it did not work. but i would say that it has it place in the right areas. I think that in the UK there are areas that have a micro economy. Cambridge is one. I hear guys on here say stuff that's just does not match with my experiences. but i now am starting to believe some of it.
repeatable marketing systems are where i put my faith.
its my view that getting my diary full each week and then putting up my prices is the way forwards for me. putting that marketing horse before the cart. control is everything.
does it cost more marketing to find that £200 customer or can you spend less finding four £50 customers?
BTW steve when i said SEO is dead i ment for local marketing. ;)
Respect
Ian Harper
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The problem is cost of finding customer
Success Coach guys can spend £50 on recruiting customer because they charge £100 fo a Lounge and end up with £200 AVO
But pass on price shoppers
So if a marketing method pulls more at a lower price , ie £50 spend recruits 4 customers at say £75 AVO that can be good untill there are no more hours left
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i am the only one?? ???
HOW MUCH FOR CASH? ;D ;D
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I think you work out what you want to earn, there will always be cheaper out there and if people want cheap they will always find it, I tell people I aint the cheapest but not the most expensive but I clean to the highest standard.
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Funny how we all get hung up on price shoppers
then as soon as we want a trade what do we do.
SHOP ROUND.
John
I agree, it's hardly surprising that people are focused on price in this economic climate, especially with VAT having just gone up along with just about everything else.
I've said this before plenty of times and I'll say it again... a low price doesn't necessarily mean a lousy job like so many on here constantly suggest.
People charge what they feel they need to charge to sustain a standard of living they are happy with and also with one eye on being competitive to secure work. I was one such person and I often charged half of what some people on here do.
Even doing that I was still earning something like £20 an hour, which is plenty for what is essentially regarded as an unskilled occupation. People who have served lengthy apprenticeships earn less than that.
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Hi Guys
Matt without being too harsh your low prices may have been one of the main reasons you decided to give up.
Takings should never be confused with earnings and low prices lead to a lack of money to invest in equipment, marketing and all the other things which lead to a successful business.
Cheers
Doug
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matt this i not personal at all but from a perspectve of someone who decided to throw in the towel what do you think the reasons were . did your costs rise and you struggled to raise your prices.
I would actually say you are correct charging low prices does not make you a bad cc . but from what i can gather companies that charge rock bottom prices work on massive volume to prob only record sim profits as a one man band. but in these times the customers who choose the cheapest because there decision was purely and simple made by price are in my opinion the customer sector that has dramatically dropped off .
One thing i am sure off is i get a lot lot less price shoppers this last year and my conversion from call to job is a lot higher. this i why i have come to the previous conclusion stated because those price shoppers generally are the ones who are just looking for the cheapest price poss and have got no perception on quality of workmanship.
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Hi Guys
If you sell on price then you have nothing left to give.
Sell on quality and the price is only one factor.
Cheers
doug
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Hi Guys
If you sell on price then you have nothing left to give.
Sell on quality and the price is only one factor.
Cheers
doug
spot on
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Matt without being too harsh your low prices may have been one of the main reasons you decided to give up.
Although Matt is in the same county (albeit about 30 miles away) I can understand what he has been up against with that crock of pooe doing his area.
When they are bombarding an area with telesales 'promising' £8.99 cleans and getting them, it doesn't leave much for those who advertise via books, leaflets and the web.
BTW I wouldn't know Matt if he walked passed me and said "Hi I'm Matt" so having a go at him was a little unfair when he can't get the phone to ring.
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Spot on doug with the quote that if you sell on price you have nothing left to give..
Least you have a go mat and maybe the new business in transport will be the one for you mate.
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Hi
People will always price shop.
You go shopping, a bag of one brand of sugar is £1.38 and the other £1.70 for the same thing, most of us would go for the cheaper bag.
Same for any service, people phone around for quotes.
Martin 8)
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Guys
the business model i follow now is priced based but thats because i have free time on my hands. when i dont have that then i will put my prices up.
when i am not working my price i sell my time at goes down and the more i work the more it goes up.
Now if i had staff things would be a bit different.
finding out how much YOUR type of customer costs has to be key to them repeating the process to move up the levels of business.
Has anyone found their repeatable reliable marketing method yet?
Respect
Ian Harper
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My repeatable method is ,
web, leaflet, trade shows, parish mags, then market to the customers obtained relentlessly. Give excellent service .
It has been said before that no failed carpet cleaner could not clean carpets , just could not market properly.
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Doing a job the other day when they got an asda delivery .The asda guy said he used todo carpet cleaning, just used a wet vac. Did a load before xmas where he was doing full houses for £50 , taking 2 hrs, good money he said.
The mind boggles!
Mike
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Its good money mike till he has to start replacing a vehicle or a machine upgrade etc
Then a year or two down the line realises there is nothing left in the pot i guess..
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Not unheard of to use a watering can to apply cleaner , brush in then suck up with wt vac
Mike
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Look at his out goings
Has a car already
Buy some detergent
Probably bough a wet vac
Some leaflets
Just needs customers, £50 less say costs of shall we say £10 for him leaves him £40 for the 2 hours CASH bet he doesn't get that at Tescos!
Some customers aren't bothered if you are insured or not or what you use or if they will use you again it's a one off purchase, I bet lots of things go wrong but they know the score but that's what they see as 'value' the risk is cheap cleaning but nobody says that anything can go wrong all they want is a slightly brighter carpet not the softer feel or drier or stain free or residue free that we offer.
Education is paramount but you have to choose to who will listen.
Shaun
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In the past week I've looked at two web sites advertising carpet cleaning at very low prices. One in London adverising £20 for a lounge carpet, the other in Glasgow and Sheffield offering THREE CARPETS for just £38
Both had professional web sites and both were running T/M's................so it's not just part timers or newstarts charging low prices.
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With a truckmount you can easily ramp things up by offering £20 for each room in the house. A typical three bedder with HSL you could walk away with over a ton. It's getting the phone to ring and getting in there that's 3/4 of the job.
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Robert which website was offering 2 for £38 in Sheffield?
Shaun
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Hi Guys
Ian I can see from your adwords title that you are offering cheap cleaning.
What happens when you get recommendations and repeat business, you can hardly double your price just because your busy!
Cheers
Doug
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I was thinking the same.
How do you justify charging more the next time the customer wants something cleaned? Might only be a month or two down the line.
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I think the best way of doing cheaper carpet cleaning is to 'bundle' it up like the Americans do,
3 room special $ 69 or whatever, at least you'd get a decent spend.
I once saw a half price cc company do a package system where they offered £18 for basic £25 for medium and £35 for gold, (can't remember actual prices) this also went onto bundles so you got full house basic £75, medium £100 and £125 gold great way of upselling.
Shaun
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I saw an add in a local paper in the cheshire area and they do a suite and carpet for 50 pounds...
Shaun yes wouldnt you try and do a good few carpets in the clients house and walk out with over a ton.
As wynne posted its getting them to ring first so mwe get the chance to use the bulk selling.
Many cleaners used to have a price guide for each room etc and now it seems more are offering bulk cleans much cheaper.Maybe thats going to be the trend. ???
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Supermarkets do this but can switch it on and off to suit the season, upto Xmas there are no or little offers in the new year there are lots but they can blame suppliers for the change in price.
Shaun
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a lot of the time the problem of price is in your own minds, it is up to you to get the message accross to the customer that standards vary and not all people are honest caring individuals. Everyone on this forum will have low priced compettiion in their areas,, selling your service is part of the business and if you cannot do that you will fail. It does no good to ponder about it all the time, When you have customers on the phone you have their attention until you give them the price you have to sell your services before that. I pride myself on being better and using better equipment and people will pay for that.
I have some real idiots cleaning carpet around me and I am quite happy to put myself into a different price bracket so that I will not get associated with them.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com
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Shaun
" Please accept our apologies if we failed to turn up............."
That statement is there for all to see when I put glasgowcarpetcleaner.com in the search facility.
It takes you to a site called Perfect Clean making claims to be the best carpet cleaning around and with an offer to clean three carpets for £38.00
They say the operate in Glasgow and Sheffield............but they also appear to have mentions in Aberdeen and elsewhere. A Glasgow address is listed and an address which surprised me.
They list an address in the Phoenix Business Centre in Limwood which is where I 've been based for the past 10 years but never seen their rather hard to miss vans.
Passed an advert of their's today ---the tie on a traffic light pole type ----with the £38.00 offer.
Passed a set of traffic lights an hour ago with one of their tied on adverts bearing the OFFER..........
3 carpets for £38.00.
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3 bed empty house more like 3 hours.
I charge £95 for average sized 3 bed semi.
Tell them may be up/down a little if room
sizes differ from what they tell me but rare
I change it.
If anything there usually under sized with
one bedroom sometimes just a box room.
John
John, IMO this price is not enough, I have cc's round me charging these very silly prices, they use good methods and very expensive equipment... as you also maybe do.
You should be charging at least £95.00 just for the 3 bedrooms!
If all cc's on here and others that deliver a quality service stuck to at least £3.00 per sq metre, our lives would be better and much easier when quoting :)
I have two jobs consisting of the deep cleans of some toilets at two locations booked in for nxt week, it will be 50 man hours, my earnings will be around £900.00 after tax, all other overheads and wages for my 6hrs work. This work requires a rotary and two black pads, a wet vac, 4 buckets, 4 staff (paid time and a half) some cloths, gloves, hot water and a few quids worth of chemicals.
regards,
Paul
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Hi Guys
Matt without being too harsh your low prices may have been one of the main reasons you decided to give up.
Takings should never be confused with earnings and low prices lead to a lack of money to invest in equipment, marketing and all the other things which lead to a successful business.
Cheers
Doug
The main reason I gave up was simply because it was getting harder and harder to gain work and keep the phone ringing. I was making a reasonable living charging lower prices - certainly enough to hit the targets I set myself.
When you are a newbie and have lot of competition including a shower like Enterprise running a huge operation you find yourself fighting for crumbs of work. They are turning over £20k + a week and have a fairly large telesales team on the phone at least 6 days a week offering the £8.99 bait and switch scam. It's very hard to compete with that.
I also had some well meaning but misguided people in my area distributing leaflets warning about a rogue carpet cleaning company. Unfortunately, the leaflets didn't bother to name the company in question, so that didn't help either.
I have spoken to an awful lot of people about Enterprise over the last year or so and it is amazing just how many people have had them in to "clean" their carpets. Everybody seems to know someone who has fallen for the scam. It is little wonder there isn't much work going around here at the moment.
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aren't they the same people that will never use them again but still will want to use a carpet cleaner in the future, my campaign would be.....
have you been scammed by carpet cleaners in the past, blah blah blah we're honest cc, no hard sell, the price i quote is the price you blah blah blah.
simples
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Derek has hit the nail on the head there it's all about adapting to the market, Chemdry would be out of business if it was all about the cheapest, yes they can have bigger marketing budgets but that brings more expenditure, Chemdry franchisees only start off the same as you and me.
Shaun
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I was speaking to a Chem dry today , on one insurance contract they have , they can only charge £75 to clean a 3 bed house full of carpets.
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have you been scammed by carpet cleaners in the past, blah blah blah we're honest cc, no hard sell, the price i quote is the price you blah blah blah.
simples
Like that, might just use that on future leaflets
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aren't they the same people that will never use them again but still will want to use a carpet cleaner in the future, my campaign would be.....
have you been scammed by carpet cleaners in the past, blah blah blah we're honest cc, no hard sell, the price i quote is the price you blah blah blah.
simples
I did think about doing something like that Derek. I mentioned the term "bait and switch" on the website and also the fixed price stuff etc but never tried it with leaflets.
In the end I just felt like this was a bad time to be a newbie in this industry in this particular part of the country. I had a choice between spending quite a lot on more marketing or cutting my losses. With all things considered I didn't see throwing money at it being likely to make a significant difference.
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Hi
We all know our particular area and what is working and what isn't.
Matt obviously feels that carrying on is throwing good money after bad and is probably tired of the constant struggle.
yes, with hard work he may come out of it, or he may end up in more debt.
there comes a time in almost every business where you feel it's not worth going on and you have to weigh up your own personal circumstances.
good luck matt
Martin 8)
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Hi Guys
Matt I apreciate what you have said and you have been brave and honest facing this setback which will stand you in good stead for the future, good luck.
Coming back to prices the nearer you are to the bait and switchers will make you more likely to be dragged into the 'just another CC' bracket, whereas at the middle to higher end you can stand more aloof.
Cheers
Doug
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Wynne
Your comment about how quickly a t/m operator can skim over three rooms has no relevence to my post which was about companies with quality web sites, memberships of NCCA,etc, highly visible vans and a high monetary investment............but pricing at low ( not moderate ) low prices.
With their massive investment they will need to get a huge volume of work and work at least 5 LONG days each week.
If they were using a small van and low cost portable they would still need a reasonably high volume but would be in profit much earlier.
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"You should be charging at least £95.00 just for the 3 bedrooms!"
For 90 minutes work if that?
I like to think I give value for money.
Two 3m x 4m bedrooms and a box room £95, I don't think so.
It would be nice though.
John
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Hi
We all know our particular area and what is working and what isn't.
Matt obviously feels that carrying on is throwing good money after bad and is probably tired of the constant struggle.
yes, with hard work he may come out of it, or he may end up in more debt.
there comes a time in almost every business where you feel it's not worth going on and you have to weigh up your own personal circumstances.
good luck matt
Martin 8)
Thanks Martin.
I'm not afraid of hard work and I'm sure I could have kept going had my heart really been in it, but it would have been an awful lot of hard work for little reward.
I hope that most carpet cleaners will get through these tough times and be stronger for it. I dare say it will also teach people a few valuable lessons as a result of having to put more thought into getting business and trying different things.