Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: ian harper on July 25, 2014, 08:07:33 am
-
How Much Do You Charge For One Room Callout
opps made a mistake it should be £51 to £75 its important as I think £50 is going to be the winner
-
wheres the rest of the options? i know some guys who's minimum is £180 regardless.
-
I have a call out or minimum charge but it doesn't cover a room in most cases.
Shaun
-
How big is the room ?
-
£99
-
Will you clean more than 1 room for £99 Colin or is it £198 for 2 rooms ;D
-
Derek
and the proof to that statement and its context is?
See You On G+
https://plus.google.com/+IanHarper/
-
you calling me a liar Ian?
-
I know ian he's not confrontational he's asking questions and wanting proof it's how he works to understand it all.
Minimum charges aren't understood by many customers hence why I keep mine quite low or affordable.
Shaun
-
Depends on the size of the room.. I would charge £99 to anyone once I have to start up the truck .. So It could be for one stain like a tea or wine spillage etc
-
So you call at a regular customer who may have spent £1000s over the years and you charge them £99 to to remove a stain that may take 10 minutes? :-\
-
Why does it matter what other people are charging who are in different areas targeting different demographics offering different levels of service.
Apart from the above meaning this is meaningless data, my main point you are making a mistake that many people make in business; Don't worry about what others are getting worry about what YOU are getting.
-
Charging an old lady £99 to treat a stain or clean a room is like something I saw on watchdog once!
My mum was charged £90 last month to have a tiny area pressure washed that took 20 mins, he had explained the minimum charge to her beforehand but when she told me after, the first thought of mine was what a complete rip off!
I know it's our duty to get the best price possible but some carpet cleaners are on a different planet, it's not rocket science, £180!!! ... what's that all about.
I bet they don't get the jobs over the phone at those prices. All the carpet cleaners I have found that charge far more than the "norm" all have one thing in common, they go out to quote. Nothing wrong with that but a customer will act entirely differently when face to face and no matter how much you pride yourselves in the "soft sell" most customer will always act differently while you are there and say yes to a price or job they would not normally do.
-
What if a cleaner says that if they don't get rid of the stain its free? but the cost is £180.
Wins some lose some but it's a good business idea? if you are proficient at spot removal and colour dying then its feasible and would be worth £180 IMO
Some customers like to pay more believing they'll get a better job, some cleaners charge more because they think they'll get a better customer.
Shaun
-
I travel to job to remove a stain it might take an hour out of my day if I travelled to the same house to clean the living room it would take me the same hour maybe an extra 10 minutes..... (But I could spend longer removing a difficult stain than it takes to clean a living-room). Why should I charge less for one than the other?
I tend to be fully booked most of the time If I do a stain then it takes away the space I would be doing another job so I always do the maths, it pay me the hourly rate I want or I don't do it.
My minimum price reflects this ( unless it's a regular customer than my attitude is flexible)
-
So what's your minimum charge?
Btw I agree with your statement but if I said to many customers it's £120 to come and attempt a removal of the stain on your carpet with no guarantees it will be fully gone then I think I'm on to a loser.
Shaun
-
£75 for a stranger who want an exact time on an exact day.
But I'm not daft about it.
Eg Imagine this conversation.....
"Hello this is the house manager for mr Smedley-Jones from Goldthorpe manor, the family corgi has made a mess in our library, I wonder if you could pop along and see if it's something you could help us with"
The potential of this job is worth doing a freebie to get my foot in the door :)
I have a minimum charge but know the value of dropping it if the circumstances are right
-
I agree whole heartedly there is a bigger picture it pays not to be too ridged but you can't systemise that lol
Shaun
-
most people do NOT phone for a small stain, they usually have dirty carpets that need cleaning anyway or you will leave a clean patch, so most people will ask for a cleaning price, within that price i will attempt to remove the stain so the min charge is not relevant anyhow
most jobs i quote for are way above £99 so for me its never an issue
however if i'm in the area and its something i can remove with a spotting liquid then i might charge £20
not every STAIN is a STAIN just a spot so nothing is ever black and white
i know its not rocket science but i think some on this forum forget that most of us are professional and have put a lot of hard work, money and effort learning the craft of our business with ongoing training to make us a the top of our craft,
so as professionals we deserve to be a success
just because somebody else disagrees with pricing doesnt mean its wrong in fact i feel sorry for people who have this "you cant charge that in my area b******s" stuck in their heads, its just tells me you are going for the wrong clients
that is nobody elses problem but yourselves
ps recommendations and repeat clients for me are at an all time high, so that tells me that most people want a great result NOT a cheap price
-
£195 + VAT
-
Just put my minimum call out up it's been £60 for the last 8 years it's now £75 but like mike says there are exceptions . By the way £75 pounds is on the survey twice . Del
-
The question was about minimum price for a room and most answers have been about minimum charge.
In the great scale of things and at the end of the day the true 'result' is the percentage of profit.
You can maybe get away with charging highly for little work or charging little for much work, it all depends on how much getting the work costs.
If you are needing to spend say £25,000 per year on marketing to turnover £50,000 (I know someone who did) then you are not charging enough, your marketing is not working or you are not converting enough quotes.
If on the other hand your marketing spend is only £250.. to reach the same £50,000 turnover (as I did the same year) then you don't have to concern yourself too much about marketing or minimum pricing.
So what is the big difference between the two business - the first was fairly new start up, so needed to market heavily to find clients, whilst the second was long time well established with a good repeat business and most new clients generated from referrals.
The point being that people on this forum are all at different levels in their business's so thoughts will differ.
It all depends on the type of person you are and what you want from your business.
If your customer is happy with what you charge and the job you have performed, then you have succeeded so long as you have made sufficient profit for yourself.
To answer the question my minimum is £55.. which would cover a small lounge. For attempting a small stain for a repeat client, I would do it for free when passing, or even a new client if it was nearby and I had the time.
My marketing costs by the way are still minimal.
-
Yeah but you did acquire an expensive truckmount a few years ago,
So you needed to factor that cost in.
-
He's selling it to me, he's far too old to clean carpets, Dave usually gets lost on fells when he goes out for a paper in the morning.
Shaun
-
Thought you got a new one about the same time . Is HIS BIGGER THAN YOURS
-
Faves tm is one of the biggest and best.
Shaun
-
the amount spent of advertising is costly at the beginning of a business, agreed, but i dont see how having less to pay out a few years on makes any difference to a min spend, just means you make more profit, i thought that was the whole point of building a business, and staying in business long term, isnt it?
-
Colin, what I was meaning was, that if in the early years having a high marketing overhead, then each job has higher cost compared to later on when the marketing costs can come down, and the minimum charge can be more flexible. To be honest Ive never been too concerned re minimum charge and treat each individual job on it's own merit. However I do agree there's no reason to alter or decrease ones minimum charge just because overheads decrease.
-
Usually £40 minimum then i discount to £35 2 rooms and £30 3 or more and just about to do a 2 room £49 special offer i'm happy with that and i do a good job so value for money i would say and not cheap splash and dash :)
-
Phil in the nicest possible way ;) people was charging more than that in the 80s when you could buy a nice detached house for what £30k. ?
My osteopath was telling me she paid £60 to have her lounge carpet cleaned when she was student in 1990
Now in 2014 to fill up my van and TM with fuel costs £120. and a detached house costs £260k but you are charging less.
To make more money you could make a time machine or put your prices up.
Food for thought.
-
It's plenty enough for me mate I can do 2 rooms in 1-2 hours and I charge more if going further a field the £49 for 2 rooms is just a special offer not permanent I have a 3 room job in a bungalow for £90 il be no more than 2 hours to me that's good money and a good living can be made on those prices