Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: proclene on August 01, 2007, 06:20:16 pm
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Dear All,
I get numerous calls everyday for domestic cleans and when i say that i will be doing the cleaning, I get, well ok I'll phone back after I speak to my husband or after i have a think about it. is the problem here because i am a man going to be cleaning, are women uncomfortable with the idea with a male cleaner, not sure myself.
Anybody any views on this.
Maybe i should hire a female cleaner?
???
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Xxxxx
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I have just reviewed my prices today and will charge £7.00 per hour instead of £8.50 for domestics as i think this was an issue with some people, but i think some people think that you should be charging about 5 kwid an hour just because 'we are just cleaners'.
More men are coming into the cleaning business and i think people should just get used to this, and i agree that most of the best cleaners i know are male, not being sexist but i would hire a man just as much as i would a female to clean.
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It’s a fact of life, unless the customer knows you very well, a man turning up to clean does not go down well on domestics, and it works both ways, if and when I help out I am very uncomfortable cleaning houses even though I am with a girl. Instead of beating yourself up why not just work round it. Its just people perceptions, after all how many men do you know make good cleaners? I get requests from some customers to accompany the girls on large houses because I quote "it gets cleaned much better when Phil’s there" I am quick and very very thorough
On another note, what are you doing charging yourself out at £7.50 you need at least £10 ph
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What an interesting thread!
As a male cleaner myself i have had no shortage of work BUT.............mine is ALL reccomendation and so i've little or no need to explain or sell myself as the person recoommending me does this on my behalf. They know my background etc already.
Then again, i work alone, and clients know that what they pay me (less expenses) is my salary. I am not at all cheap (though by comments on other sites i've been told i'm cheaper than a lot) and the clients are satisfied i am paying mysefl well.
However, if you employ a 'big' company or agency you know that the staff only get a fraction of the price charged. Call it a stereotype, call it sexism, call it what you like, is still a widely held belief that ladies who have children of school age are drawn to part-time local jobs (such as cleaning and supermarket work etc) and as such people will consider a woman working for £5.50 - £6 an hour quite 'normal'.
The same cannot be said of a man, where the belief is that he will activily seek well-paid full-time work and to be told that you'll be sent a male cleaner to do your housework (for the typical wage) is a bit of a worry for many.
Now, please please please dont get me wrong and dont try to second guess what my own opinions are in this matter (so far i've not shared anything). I am simply explaining part of the issue.
It is very hard to explain and understand where folk are coming from without being rude and offensive to cleaning personelle. But to summerise a man cleaning houses on his own (or running a company) should have no problem attracting work, but one working for a company will raise questions....
Having read your post again i see that you are working alone, so these people who call you, how do they get your details? Also why are you giving prices out before you meet them? Dont forget that that by being TOO cheap you will put people right off, in my experience (and i have much of it) 99% of people who want a cleaner are quite aware of just how much it will cost before you even quote them, and i've yet to work for anyone who begrudged paying the 'going rate'. My clients see it as a 'commitment' on their part and see no point in paying a few pounds less for a crap service if they can pay a bit more and get better.
Let us know what you service entails. My service is a completely no-obligation one where i quote a price per job (i could not afford to work by the hour and thats not the only issue with hourly rates) and i take all equipment and products. When the client needs me to go i go, when they dont need me i dont go and i dont charge any or all of any job that is cancelled before i begin it. But thats just how i do it, you may prefer a different way.
I never give prices out until i have met the client and seen the house, and then its usually a written quote.
Whenever the phone rang from someone who'd not been reccdomended personally (doesnt happen often, in fact only when i first put leaflets out years ago) i never mentioned i was the cleaner (unless asked, and only one ever did) i just made an appointment to visit the client and made sure that when we met we 'hit it off' before they knew it was me who did the work.
But then again as i said i've only advertised in the early years as the work found me. Most of my clients at teh begining were friends or aquaintainces, or friends-of-friends etc, it is simply amazing how many people i knew needed a cleaner or knew someone who needed a cleaner. Once i'd got the first 6 or 7 the rest just found me at a steady pace.
I suppose you just gotta make a good name for yourself.....anyway tell us more about your service. Cheers.
Stephen
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As a male cleaner, I can honestly say that I have never experienced anyone having any problem with me doing their cleans.
Since my business partner's daughter became ill, I have also been doing all the quotes and I don't recall anyone not booking me because I'm a man.
I usually turn up at the clean with one of the girls, but I have done cleans on my own. The clients know this and are not concerned.
Also, proclene, you are under pricing yourself in a big way. I quote by the job and I am averaging in excess of £12 per hour since we started trading in April.
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£7 AN HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!! We charge £16. Do you cover your chemicals, equipment, petrol, insurance??? You may as well go work for a company at that price.
We never get turned down for being male and to be honest most female customers like 2 strapping young lads cleaning the house for them. ;D
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There is never a problem for me being male - as a New-Build cleaner.
The perception is that it is 'heavier' work than other types of cleaning and is more suited to a man.
I think they believe I am doing the 'manual' work and the ladies are doing 'a bit of polishing' when we all go in to do a build-clean.
Mind you, when I turn up on site on my own and all the lads turn to see who is cleaning that day. The look of disapointment on there faces is quite comical!
I don't think THEY want male cleaners - just eye candy instead!
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I expect the same look the women have on their faces when they know a male cleaner is arriving and then i turn up.
Think: love child of Kim Woodburn and Graham Norton. Thats me.
Cheers
Stephen