Clean It Up

UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Richy L on February 20, 2008, 07:54:49 pm

Title: spring cleans
Post by: Richy L on February 20, 2008, 07:54:49 pm
i know its a bit vague, but how long, or how much should i charge for a 3 bed semi sping clean. i.e. behind the cooker/ all kitchen cupboards/ etc job.

I have a job to price on friday but i have no idea how long it would take.
Any help would be great please guys. :)

Richy
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Alan Rowley on February 20, 2008, 08:35:46 pm
I'd be interested in what others charge for a spring clean too. I generally pitch in at around the £250 mark, depending on the state of the property.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: CLEAN-MASTER on February 20, 2008, 08:46:53 pm
Maybe I'm under charging but for a 3 bed I'd charge around £88+VAT, based on 8 hours cleaning time at £11/hour + VAT. Will people really pay £250, how many hours do you spend cleaning for that amount?

Robin.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Alan Rowley on February 20, 2008, 09:04:02 pm
Will people really pay £250, how many hours do you spend cleaning for that amount?

Robin.

Yes they do Robin. The most expensive one we did cost the customer £300 and it took us 20 hours. That was for a four bedroom house.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: robert eyres on February 20, 2008, 10:01:12 pm
i have also just done a big house, six bedrooms, three bathrooms and two living rooms, price, £380 plus vat, client very happy aswel.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: sam1975 on February 20, 2008, 10:04:35 pm
do you have to clean cd covers and books?
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Alan Rowley on February 20, 2008, 10:11:19 pm
do you have to clean cd covers and books?

On spring cleans, I normally tell my staff 'if it wants cleaning, clean it'. So the answer would be yes. Although personally, I have never done this - straightened them up a few times, though.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: sam1975 on February 20, 2008, 10:35:21 pm
just figure how long it would take you
normally i probably work 2 to 3 times faster than my staff (on a good day) for obvious reasons.
we have just done a 6 bed 6 bath spring clean in 2 hours. How many people? do you think?

Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Richy L on February 21, 2008, 04:54:48 pm
Cheers for your help guys, i have an idea now.

I'd say at least six people on that?
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Nick Vassilev on February 21, 2008, 09:16:35 pm
A standard 3 bed semi with 1 bathroom will take anything between 8 and 12 hours.

do you have to clean cd covers and books?

On spring cleans, I normally tell my staff 'if it wants cleaning, clean it'. So the answer would be yes. Although personally, I have never done this - straightened them up a few times, though.
I once made the mistake to include everything that needs cleaning in the price and was presented with a bookcase full of dusty books. Hundreds, maybe more :o! We had to take all the books out, wipe every single one of them, dust the bookshelves etc.  As you have guessed I did not make any money from that job but learned an invaluable lesson. Now I ask more questions and charge for extras like: cupboards full of stuff, wardrobes, drawers etc.   

Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Richy L on February 21, 2008, 09:50:04 pm
does anyone have a checklist of work to do for spring cleans by any chance?
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Nick Vassilev on February 21, 2008, 09:53:10 pm
This may give you an idea: http://www.anyclean.co.uk/end_of_tenancy_cleaning_checklist.html
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Richy L on February 21, 2008, 11:07:42 pm
so all that for £250 eh?
im thinking of putting two people on the job for a day.
with enough for room for an overlap of half a day if needed.
Do you think this is realistic?
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Alan Rowley on February 22, 2008, 08:15:56 am
so all that for £250 eh?
im thinking of putting two people on the job for a day.
with enough for room for an overlap of half a day if needed.
Do you think this is realistic?

I would put four people on the job, if I had them to spare. However, I have always found that two per team is the most cost effective. The more you have, the less per hour I seem to make.

Anyone else found this?
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: turneylogan on February 22, 2008, 08:41:24 am
so all that for £250 eh?
im thinking of putting two people on the job for a day.
with enough for room for an overlap of half a day if needed.
Do you think this is realistic?

I would put four people on the job, if I had them to spare. However, I have always found that two per team is the most cost effective. The more you have, the less per hour I seem to make.

Anyone else found this?

Yes we found that two was the optimum. 3 made the job easier and difficult days more tolerable but didn't take one third off the time. 4 causes chaos unless well managed but sometimes completely necessary on big jobs.
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Alan Rowley on February 22, 2008, 01:46:18 pm
That's what we found too. Only take three on difficult days now - usually to make life easier for me.

 ;D
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: letzclean on February 22, 2008, 02:47:38 pm
I am based in central London and would charge £350 - £400 minimum but a 3 bedroom semi down here cost about a £1mil so they don't mind, not sure where your based but that is a crucial factor to how much you can charge ;)
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Janey on February 25, 2008, 04:01:49 pm
Hi

It really depends on the state of the place.  If it were really bad i would charge around £350.  I recently did a 2 bed bungalow which was filthy, not been cleaned for five years and charged £500 but this included two carpets.  The customer was delighted and so were we!

regards

Janey
Title: £150 for a 1 bed flat and price increases to
Post by: Suehuitt on February 25, 2008, 06:43:22 pm
Hi There
We charge from £150 for 1 bedroomed flat and up to £600 on 5 bedrooms and 3 on suite and we are never short of work
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: Richy L on February 25, 2008, 07:54:11 pm
it turns out it was actually a four bedroom house!
With one bathroom, two reception rooms and a conservatory.
She wanted everything cleaned. including a double oven, all kitchen and bathroom cupboard emptied and cleaned.
All books taken off shelves and cleaned individually.
Also the inside and out side of her conservatory roof cleaned and windows and frames inside and out!!

I saidit would be £250 for everything inside, and just £60 for the outside of the conroof and windows and frames.
So I said call it £300 for everything....


She said it was much more then she thought and she'll let me know......   i'm still waiting for a reply! ::)

How much was she expecting to pay? ??? ::)
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: richyvezy on February 25, 2008, 09:38:23 pm
it turns out it was actually a four bedroom house!
With one bathroom, two reception rooms and a conservatory.
She wanted everything cleaned. including a double oven, all kitchen and bathroom cupboard emptied and cleaned.
All books taken off shelves and cleaned individually.
Also the inside and out side of her conservatory roof cleaned and windows and frames inside and out!!

I saidit would be £250 for everything inside, and just £60 for the outside of the conroof and windows and frames.
So I said call it £300 for everything....


She said it was much more then she thought and she'll let me know......   i'm still waiting for a reply! ::)

How much was she expecting to pay? ??? ::)

I think you gave a very very fair price for what she expects so I wouldn't question your price mate. It's hard to get these clients to see that we have a businesses to run with bills, overheads etc - I bet she was thinking around the £150 mark which of course is totally ridiculous.

We've done alot of domestics both regular and one-off deep cleans and can't command the prices we get for doing similar work for the End of Tenancy cleans for our letting agents or private landlords. Domestic clients are more demanding and critical and do expect an awful lot for little outlay. This is why we have decided to steer clear of domestics and concentrated more on getting more contacts within the letting side.

Richy
Title: Re: spring cleans
Post by: suffolkclean on August 12, 2008, 12:52:05 pm
Hi Richy
Could you give me some tips on how you go about getting more work from letting agents