Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: gwrightson on January 10, 2014, 05:06:58 pm
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Priced a job today, small longe , ok minimum charge £45 , 00
" Oh no, I,m not paying that a company from Doncaster " ( 40miles away ) are coming for £17 50.
ohhh well dont need them , out of interest i looked for them https://www.facebook.com/BurtonandSons2013/photos_stream
Geoff
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I dare you to undercut the Doncaster Co.
Then turn up with a vax!
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So after fuel for 80 miles they'll make, what, a tenner for the morning?
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Forget about it.
Let them do it.
Don't drop your price, walk away.
You get these clowns in all trades unfortunately.
£45 is fair callout price for a professional carpet cleaner.
It's what I charge.
Anyone can be a busy fool. It's about making a living.
Rich :)
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Looks a really professional company, maybe that's why they command such high prices.
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mickey mouse comes to mind :o ::)roll
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Rich ,
I wouldnt even consider dropping my price , i am busy enough infact the busiest Jan i,ve had sice starting c/c .
As a side note, had a customer call for a static caravan clean , 20 miles away, carpets only, normaly i survey but quoted £120 over the phone, happy customer so far , arranged to pick the keys up from his home couple miles from me this morning, heres the good bit ::)roll
Got a txt last night , could he pay me a deposit and the balance at end of month , i replied full payment upon completion , again happy so it be it ::)roll .
Turned up for keys this morning as arranged , no answer to the door knock even though i saw them inside, waited 5 minutes knocked again and a young girl answered age around 9yrs , " I have come for keys to caravan "
She shouts to her dad, " a man here for the keys to the caravan " he peers sheepishly around the door, " O.m just getting ready for work cant come to door"
Did you ask for your carpets to be cleaned in your caravan ?
No not me mate !!!!
W-NK-R
geoff
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Geoff £45 is too low for a lounge, if it was a big lounge I guess you would charge a reasonable £65 but it would take an extra 10 minutes so you are increasing you money by 40% with only an extra 5% time taken (based on the amount of time invested in the job)
But in this case you reduced you money by 40% because the job was small so it would take 5% less time to do.
Just to confuse everybody :D :D
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not confused me Mike ;D
I see the logic, i just feel £45 Is ok for small lounge. if every thing goes well , half hour max .
maybe i should consider upping minimum charge, not done for cpl yeARS
Geoff
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Oh yes Geoff, we've all had a taste if that type if customer.
Mike, see what your saying, iv also been told £45 is to low,
but I gotta agree with Geoff, that's a reasonable price for a standard 12'x12' lounge.
Also, depends where you live, different areas can command higher or lower prices.
The art of charging is knowing what the going rate is and what people are prepared to pay.
Rich :)
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<snip> i just feel £45 Is ok for small lounge. if every thing goes well , half hour max .
Geoff, how do you manage to do a small job in 0.5 hr?
My quickest jobs take me 1.5 hrs, still.
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Doubt that includes setup and packing away,
though saying that hour and a half for a small lounge,
how much kit you got?? Lol ;)
Rich
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Don't forget the clock starts ticking the moment you put the keys in the van...NOT when you arrive on site.
£45 minimum charge is far too cheap
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Price is what you can sell at, we're always being told the story about the best carpet cleaners going out of business because they don't charge enough price doesn't mean that you are a poor quality carpet cleaner it may mean that you are poor salesman, the best salesman can get far more than me or many others but are then able to pick and choose their customers after so long and also have enough money in the job to become the best carpet cleaners eventually because they keep re educating themselves in training because they can afford it.
Think marathon not sprint.
Shaun
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Hi Guys
The way I look at this is that the £17.50 person was never going to be one of my customers so there is no loss.
What amuses me is that someone gets a ridiculously cheap quote and then rings around for something even cheaper.
Cheers
Doug
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Doubt that includes setup and packing away,,
how much kit you got?? Lol ;)
Rich
Either some of you guys are very slow , ;) or you are completly disorganised
It takes 2 minutes if that to pull out a suction hose and solution line and attach to a wand, 2 minutes to prespray a small lounge, 5 mins max to aggitate with rotowash allow another 5 minutes for the odd incindental
Now if i cannot extract , roll up some pipe and a line on to reel and collect my money within a good 15 minutes , i will think about doing some thing else.
Infact i have had this discussion with a few c/c .some on here as to how sometimes it can be embarassing when example . 2 bed bungalow , entrance , hall, lounge , dining room bath/toilet £150 .00 can be done in a little over an hour , providing all goes well , before the comment start appearing ;D ;)
Geoff .
ps A TRUCKMOUNT DOES HELP :)
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"how much kit you got?? Lol
Rich "
dO you really want me to list all of it Rich, you may take a while to read it ,
I only know one other c/c with more equipment Mr H .
Geoff
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Hi Geoff
Do you find the rotowash the best agitator?
Cheers
Doug
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Geoff, calm down calm down
Rich was talking to David not you, with the mention of the equipment.
Take a chill pill!
A lot of old women on this ;D
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Carpet dog ,
i,m perfectly calm :) dont know why you got the impression i wasn,t.
Doug , i use the truvox multi wash on most carpets , but yes roto wash does just have that little more bumf, the one drawback , its much heavier.
Geoff
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What about furniture moving? Sometimes that can be half of the job (well not quite) I went to clean for an old person on moving the bed I think 'the borrowers' had placed all of their finds underneath.
To make good profit you have to have a good pace about you but not appear to be rushed efficiency with knowledge and good machinery can be achieved everyone needs to have order in the galaxy.
What a good a question is? How long would it normally take to clean a 2 bed bungalow from start to finish for everyone furnished? Or how long would you allow in your diary?
From pulling up to pulling away.
Shaun
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Hi Guys
The way I look at this is that the £17.50 person was never going to be one of my customers so there is no loss.
What amuses me is that someone gets a ridiculously cheap quote and then rings around for something even cheaper.
Cheers
Doug
Doug you make a excellent point , The reason I think they phone for another quote is to reassure themselfes that the price is genuine as they cant belive that omeone can do it that cheap and they are questioning the price themselves ,
They want you to explain why they should pay more and the reasons why , but a lot of cc just say I cant beat that instead of selling themselves .
I know this company and at first glance it seems crazy , but I think they have a good short term business model , they do set areas each week , they charge low prices that are affordable to a group of people that don,t care how you clean their carpets. they have a £20 budget so that,s what they supply , they will do a 2 bed flat in forty mins for £45. 4 jobs x £45= £180 x 5 = £900 .
over a 1000 likes and excellent comments seems to be working for them .
seems a lot of work to me , but good luck to them they are obviously supplying a service to a group that want it Niche at it best or worst , who are we to judge the carpet cleaning police
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If you service your niche well then you can profit but the service they do (not that I have seen it) can mean that they are selling on price which I find means dirtier carpets (not a problem) but also plenty of no shows or cancellations, I started out in that market it wasn't a long term business plan I could depend on so I moved in a different direction, one thing it does do is give you plenty of recs as people get hooked on price.
Shaun
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Hi Guys
The way I look at this is that the £17.50 person was never going to be one of my customers so there is no loss.
What amuses me is that someone gets a ridiculously cheap quote and then rings around for something even cheaper.
Cheers
Doug
Doug you make a excellent point , The reason I think they phone for another quote is to reassure themselfes that the price is genuine as they cant belive that omeone can do it that cheap and they are questioning the price themselves ,
They want you to explain why they should pay more and the reasons why , but a lot of cc just say I cant beat that instead of selling themselves .
I know this company and at first glance it seems crazy , but I think they have a good short term business model , they do set areas each week , they charge low prices that are affordable to a group of people that don,t care how you clean their carpets. they have a £20 budget so that,s what they supply , they will do a 2 bed flat in forty mins for £45. 4 jobs x £45= £180 x 5 = £900 .
over a 1000 likes and excellent comments seems to be working for them .
seems a lot of work to me , but good luck to them they are obviously supplying a service to a group that want it Niche at it best or worst , who are we to judge the carpet cleaning police
Quick comment on the section I've put in bold..........
So every job is a ,2 bed flat to earn £45, what about the single living rooms if the do 4-5 of them a week and that £900 drops dramatically, plus what marketing to they use to get those 4 jobs every day plus they a working their bums off for less £450 gross a week
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Mike and shaun , in bold
Hi Guys
The way I look at this is that the £17.50 person was never going to be one of my customers so there is no loss.
What amuses me is that someone gets a ridiculously cheap quote and then rings around for something even cheaper.
Cheers
Doug
Doug you make a excellent point , The reason I think they phone for another quote is to reassure themselves that the price is genuine as they cant belive that omeone can do it that cheap and they are questioning the price themselves ,
They want you to explain why they should pay more and the reasons why , but a lot of cc just say I cant beat that instead of selling themselves .
I know this company and at first glance it seems crazy , but I think they have a good short term business model , they do set areas each week , they charge low prices that are affordable to a group of people that don,t care how you clean their carpets. they have a £20 budget so that,s what they supply , they will do a 2 bed flat in forty mins for £45. 4 jobs x £45= £180 x 5 = £900 .
over a 1000 likes and excellent comments seems to be working for them .
seems a lot of work to me , but good luck to them they are obviously supplying a service to a group that want it Niche at it best or worst , who are we to judge the carpet cleaning police
ps Mike . i once told you i lived in cornwall so my catchment area was upto 50 miles to make a profit , you told me to move .
I did and you were right I dont go futher than 5 miles usually.
a population of over a million in a 20 mile radius 4 jobs a day should be easy