Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: chemoclean on July 08, 2006, 11:58:08 pm
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Had a cleaning flyer through my door today by a 'reputable' company (or so I thought) in our area
Lounge carpet any size £15
Diner carpet £9
H/s/l carpet £18
Bedroom carpet £8
Rugs from £2
3pc suite £29
10% discount oap's, single parents, students (what about the rest of us)
and the list goes on.........
why do I bother getting out of bed in the morning......humbugs!
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Wow they are cheap!
IF they're any good (doubt it) get in touch and sub them out making your bit on top!
You could stay in bed then and let them earn you money ;D
Kind regards,
Jason.
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There will always be cheap cleaners, just as there will always be cheap golf clubs, cheap groceries, etc.
If you check out House Buddies, you will find Cheap cleaning services and in this case, one who is blatantly targetting, already developed markets.
Who do think is going to achieve the greatest financial reward and remember, that's why you're running a business. Is'nt it ?
Think about it
Angie
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i have 2 rugs waiting for me to clean for customer charging her 60.00 i wonder if that company will do them for 4.00 for the 2 save me doing them and i still make 56.00
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hi
good idea im doing a rug next week £70 cost customer £4000 wonder if she would want to pay only £2 to have it cleanedi doubt it.
cheers nick
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Hi Guys,
It's worth remembering that there are cheap bottom end customers as well as cleaners.
They are welcome to each other.
Cheers
Doug
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Just do what most people do and throw it in the bin.
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might hav em out do mine! lol.
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£2 for a rug :o
£1.80 for rug if your old/skint.
That beats the all time lowest price i have ever seen. Has anyone seen lower?
Graeme
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I know of one local to me who quoted a 4 bed house with 2 ensuites h/s/l, living, office and dining totalling 130 square metres at £70, Andy
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The flyer did say rugs FROM £2, so I suppose either thats for a 2' x 4' cheap fireside, or, when they get into your house and set everything up they start uping the price, that is, if they have any machinery to set up!
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That's just funny ;D
Soon they're be doing it for free ::)
steve
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hi there,
these cheap boys come and go,
my new advertising has started in the Phone Book 14 days ago, the phone is ringing, i go out and quote, and if the customer wishes to acceot my price then they do if they want a cheap deal then thye go elsewhere.
thats about all there is to it.
regards
martin
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He's quoting £18 for hsl and £29 for suite???
There was reputed to be a cleaner in Wolverhampton who did a suite for £20.
He did the top of the arms, front of the back cusions and top of the seat cusions without turning anything over. 25 mins in and out!!
That how to do it! as Mr Punch would say.
Trevor
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At the end of the day like all things you get what you pay for, it doesn't bother me if a customer thinks my prices are too much, I would say we are pretty middle of the road price wise. Our pricing breakdown means people with bigger houses pay more. This helps us I think, a person with a small one or two beds home most probably has cheap carpets that you can whip out quite quickly and still get great results. Someone with a five bedroom house will more likely have more costly carpets, these customers will have more cash and more appreciation of the time, skill and cost of cleaning thier carpet professionally. Nearly all our quotes are done over the phone and I explain that the price may rise or reduce slightly upon full inspection. That way I am covered either way. I have no outlay spending time on an initial visit just to get a price, so I am quids in straight away. To be honest I have never revised a price once I got to the job. I have only had one complaint from a rust mark from forgetting to put down a cover under a table with metal studs, twenty minutes after we received the call the mark was removed from the carpet and the customer has been back many times since. I dont do a square metre price and his method works for me, I work out the time it will take. I average 50p to £1.50 per minute per job from which I can work out I am definately making profit. If a customer questions my price rather than get shirty I explain to them what I have just told you, educate your customer rather than be offended that they have looked else where. Also, I would not use local papers, customer satisfaction is key for us and recommendation is free. We offer customers who recommend us to friends discounts on thier next clean, but we dont tell them that so we know they do because they want to and not so they save a tenner. Anyone with a green Numatic can put an ad in the paper or yellow pages, I find people dont trust the sources so much these days. So keep smiling carpet cleaner cos that will get you more work too, one of our customers uses us because her old carpet cleaner was a miserable sod.
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I have cheapys in our area that are NCCA members and charge £18.00 for suites and carpets from £8.00 they have been in business for over twenty years mind you they are well known to Trading Standards!! Stuart clark
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NCCA member charging them prices :o
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and ncca members known to trading standards!!!
never ;D
do ncca know these members? for whatever reason t/s know them.
CVC strange that you only quote over the phone, you state more profit for you , have to disagree with you , yes you do save on extra fuel and time by phone quotes only,
inhouse quotes, must give you the edge though , the custy can see your professionlism first hand, they can be put at ease by yourself about any queries or probs, this can not be done as well over the phone.
you can attain higher prices, you can sell more of your services , or tempt them into having more c/c done , by been in house .and what about the survey, ? Are` you infact saying that you have never
come across any problems apon arriving!!
I would say the likely hood of more quotes from inhouse turn into custys, therefore the equasion been more profit, when all these factors added up.
Geoff.
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i only qoute over phone, sod all that driving looking at carpets ;D
it must waste alot of time and fuel.
i too never seem to need to adjust qoute.
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Craig
What percentage do you turn into jobs just from quoting over the phone. I find that customers that except quotes over the phone are really just looking for the cheapest price clean.
What about your insurance, I expect that your proivider wont except any claims without proof that a survey has been done before you clean.
Cheers
Neil
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I quote all my work from the internet over the phone for two reasons, one is they come from all over the place and it wouldnt be worth driving say twenty miles to quote only to be told they dont want you. Two i think theres enough info on my site to close the sale for me anyway theres not much i could tell them face to face thats not on my site.
Leaflet inquries i try to go out and quote as there all local and there not as much info on the leaflets so it helps to show them some before and afters and insurance ect.
As for survey, you can do it when you get there it only takes a couple minutes
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survey 2 mins???
what are you surveying? 1 scatter cushion ;D
takes me at least 10 mins , just to look for tears and suspect areas
Geoff
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I live out in the sticks- its a nice place to live but its 4 miles to the nearest town and 10-15 to the next largish town/city. It would be nice to see every job before doing it but its not practical. I find that quoting on the phone does not stop me charging a good price, I always say that there may be an adjustment when I see the job and sometimes I put a fair bit on. There have been three or four jobs in 15 years that I have refused on arrival, one was where the people allowed pot belly pigs in the house.
I do a lot for a posh building company and travel all over the West Midlands. Cheltenham to Leicester but mainly in Birmingham.
trevor
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i never quote over the phone.................i will offer an estimate but i insist seeing the carpet b4 i give them a quote!!!!
estimates are meant to be a rough price guide
quotes are a firm price!!!!
with a quote over the fone u dont know just how dirty the carpet really is or what the carpet is made of.........so would u clean a axminster for £35????
customers looking for the cheapest cc (i have found, maybe some of the others have too) normally have the dirtiest and cheapest carpets.
which means that you have to spend longer to clean them
how can u quote over the fone when u havent seen them???
any how..............once you have given a quote over the fone when u get the customers house..............u have lost the chance to charge for more!!!!!!
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so you like to get there and then bump it up?
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not necessarily.........................but at least they understand that the estimate that u gave them was just that. an estimate!!!!!
if for example....u have quoted £35 for a room...........and when you arrive it is much dirtier than u expected .............do still charge £35 when you have to work twice as hard??? :-[ :-X
do you have set prices that are the same for a axminster as for a cheap polypropelyne?? ???
isnt that where your sales skills come into play???
would you like odour, anti bac, etc.............extras!!!!!!!!!
you can earn as much from the extras as u can can from the basic clean
i am not having a go at anyone .........just expressing my opinion ;D ;D
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Cheap carpet cleaners are worth having around as they clean the carpets that on the whole most of us dont want to clean anyway. As for the debate on pricing over the phone. I dont, ever and would suggest to other cleaners not to either but each to their own. My theory is that if I priced over the phone I am sure I wouldnt get most of the customers that I do get. As I get every customer I see so to speak to it is worth it for me to go and see them. Again why should we work for price shoppers, let the cheap carpet cleaners have them, all of them!!! Best, Dave.
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Just got hold of a leaflet yesterday - you wont believe this!
Lounge, diner, hall, stairs, landing, 3pc suite........wait for it...... £90! :P
Sponge and a bucket, and rug doctor me thinks ;D I feel sorry for the custy...
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I dont feel sorry for em, as one of Sheffield Shaun's customer says "You pay cheap you pay twice" you get what you pay for in this life, sometimes less!!!!
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Just got hold of a leaflet yesterday - you wont believe this!
Lounge, diner, hall, stairs, landing, 3pc suite........wait for it...... £90! :P
Sponge and a bucket, and rug doctor me thinks ;D I feel sorry for the custy...
:o Bit expensive that, weve got one round here, 3 bed house £36.50, 3 piece suite, £25, £61.50 for the whole house and the 3 piece then, unless you would like to haggle ;D
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:P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :o :o :o :o :o :o
Ouch!
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It must be remembered that they are quoting stupidly low prices simply to get a foot in the door.
That rug that was going to cost £2 to clean ends up costing £20 by the time they have put 'invisible' stain protector on it. before they leave they have also convinced you to have your sofa cleaned and 'protected' for a further £80..etc..
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Just got hold of a leaflet yesterday - you wont believe this!
Lounge, diner, hall, stairs, landing, 3pc suite........wait for it...... £90! :P
Sponge and a bucket, and rug doctor me thinks ;D I feel sorry for the custy...
I'm a newbie and it's always difficult coming up with a price..
I had a phone call t'other day asking for an estimate on a 3 bed house (No hall or kitchen) no stains but dusty carpets and I said it'd be roughly £220 to £250 plus.
She seemed quite happy and says she's phoning back in a couple of weeks.
Was I way off with the pricing?
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I would'nt hold your breath about them calling back.
the biggest lie in carpet cleaning "I'll call you back ::) ::) ::)
Mike
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Calmore
As Mike said, forget the lady now - she wont be ringing back. As a newbie its very easy to feel that to do the right thing you should give a price over the phone. This is why she wont be ringing back!
Dont be tempted to give her a price. If she is shopping around for the cheapest price (ask her) then dont bother - you wont get it - or want it.
However, you can turn a good percentage of these calls into prospects by explaining that you cannot quote over the phone because you need to: see what your cleaning, how many square metres/feet there are, level of soiling, fixings/seams - are they ok?, wet clean or dry clean, insurance purposes (if it goes wrong insurance may not pay out unless you can prove that you have surveyed the work first), you do a very high quality clean using all the correct machinary/chemicals, you have guarantees - and that you are not a cowboy!! etc etc the list goes on, but the lady may then start to see where your coming from and respond to the fact that she will only get what she pays for. If she doesnt - dont worry about it!
As for the price, for a newbie thats about right. I think seasoned professionals would be charging approx £275.00 - £325.00 for an average 3 bed semi (with no kitchen).
Hope this helps ;)
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Geoff,
Whats wrong with two minutes survey ? plus ten minutes telling what a dog and cat lover you are, then the decor ten minutes, then the kids ten minutes, then you cant get out of the door, theres thirty two mins,
Mike
classic - have to ask my husband when he gets home ;D
Conrad
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Quoted one today, asked if they had had any other quotes, the reply, just Chemdry, their quote, 62 metres of carpet and a 7x4 rug, £100, (£1.61 a metre and a freebie on the rug) tossers!
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i suppose adding to the last post its worth considering how long the job would take and if you are happy with earning the amount in that time. as we all know some jobs take far longer than others for several reasons . so it does not necessarily depend on the area size .
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i suppose adding to the last post its worth considering how long the job would take and if you are happy with earning the amount in that time. as we all know some jobs take far longer than others for several reasons . so it does not necessarily depend on the area size .
3 bedrooms, move all furniture and theres lots, a living room/diner same again and a b*stard shaped set of stairs.
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All day job - would have gone in with a price of £180 BUT would have asked them to move all furniture for H & S reasons (where carpet cleaners not removal men)