Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Pamo on January 20, 2005, 05:33:51 am
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Hi all.
I have really enjoyed reading all the very interesting and informative posts on this forum ;D
I currently run a pet sitting and dog walking service in Wisbech Cambs. I am in the process of starting a domestic cleaning service and will start distributing leaflets and shop adverts within the next few days.
Initally I will be using clients own hoover but my own cleaning supplies, I hope to invest in a "Henry" ASAP. After reading all the posts on pricing I have settles on a figure of £7 ph for general cleaning, ironing etc and £8 ph for spring cleans, after party, moving in/out etc. How does this sound? I will be working on my own initially but obviously if demand is there I will have to look at taking someone on :o
Anyway have enjoyed the posts and hope to be a regular contributer to these forums.
Pam O
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Hi Pam,
Welcome to the cleaning world and best of luck in your new adventure.
You will have to let us know how things are going in a few months time, and look forward to reading your contributions on the postings.
After reading your post, I would suggest that you may want to rethink your pricing!! especially as you may want to employe people in the future. I say this, because as many have said in the past, we are working for the money.
Have you phoned around and asked how much your competition is charging?
I am based in Hertfordshire, and one of my friends has gone out on her own cleaning peoples homes. She has her own equipment and charges £12 - £15 per hour. She has no staff and doesn't intend to. She just wants a wage at the end of the week, but you still have to account for equipment, insurances and fuel and your vehicle etc etc
Ironing I would expect around here to be around £10 per hour or there abouts...
Hope this will help you and keep on looking at the various topics on this forum.
Regards
Tim
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Cheers Tim.
£12 to £15 per hour!!!! I cant imagine people round here wanting to pay that much, some of them nearly keel over when I quote £36 a week to visit their home and walk/feed/play with their dogs ::)
As for competition, I am sure that there are some big companies who cover this area but there was not a single add in my local free paper for the last three weeks for domestic cleaning services. I have seen some adverts in local shops, usually scribbled on the back of envelobes, from cleaners advertising but have never seen their rates mentioned.
I suppose I could push the fact that I am insured (or at least will be) which I doubt the corner shop advertisers are, use my own equipment and supplies and am already running a business where I have access to peoples homes and hold clients keys.
One question I have is, when you employ someone as a cleaner do you supply their vaccum cleaner and cleaning supplies etc? As exciting as the prospect is of having enough business to employ someone is, it is also dauntine with the paperwork, tax, ni, laws etc etc :-X
Anyway thanks for your welcome.
Pam O
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Pam, yes I would supply the cleaners with their own equipment, as the expence of buying them comes off the Tax bill.
If you get to the stage where you need to employe people, you can go to the Tax Office where they do regular courses for free as regards Tax issues, employing people etc which is very informative. If you look at other postings they mention joining up with other small business federations for free advice.
Anyway, that is for the future.....enjoy the cleaning / Pet sitting service because it will be rewarding. As regards your rates, the customer is paying for a service and after you educate them on why you are better than the others, they will pay!!
Regards
Tim
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Pam,
Hi and welcome to the website. I say the same as Timbob you will need to look at your pricing. Once you start employing people you will also find that your insurance will increase as well as everything else. I charge between £10 -£15 per hour.
Best of luck
Kim
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Hi
Welcome to the cleaning industry!
Again your pricing is way out. If you only charge £7-8 p/h and want to employ. Then you will need to pay them a minimum of £5.50 - £7.00 plus materials, fuel, tax, wear 'n tear on your vehicle, equipment, PL insurance which if you employ is more expensive!
End of tenancy in a minging property (happens a lot) can take you up to 12 hours (depending on property)
At £8.00 p/h this would be a bargain and a half!
Cleaning is definatley a learning curve and at times a very steep one.
Good luck
Regards
Martin 8)
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Cheers for all the advice 8)
Right, so I am severely underpricing myself.......ok :o I think I will start off at between £10 to £15 per hour and see how I go. This area is slowly becoming more affluent with more and more people commuting to london for work, 100% of my pet sitting clients are not "natives" ;) of Norfolk or Cambridgeshire but have moved into the area.
Another question......Is it worth publishing my prices on my web site, I notice many domestic cleaning companies don't, or would it be better to either receive an e-mail or a call, where I would quote then sell the service justifying the cost?
Thanks again you lovely people :-*
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Hi Pam,
I like pet sitting service looks pretty good idea. Nice websites as well.
All the best
Justin
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Hi there
pamo,
Peterborough will pay £12-£15 per hour and even more. remember that once youhave taken out expenses, operating costs and your wage you still need to show profit as this will provide the financial route for expansion.
have you set yourself a target as to number of clients, and annual turnover that you are looking for.
If you want you can PM me as i am more than happy to provide any more forecasting info.
for example 50 cleints, will generate some £100k of turnover per year.
good luck
regards
martin
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Martin,
Just wondering how out of 50 clients you are getting £100k turnover. If you are achieving that then please could you give me some advise, as I must be going wrong somewhere.
Many thanks kim
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Is this 100K for domestic or contract cleaning? I will only be taking on domestic cleaning and as many clients as I can cope with in a days work initially.
Pam O
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Duh :-[ that should have been commercial not contract
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hi there,
kim,
have pm'd you
regards
martin
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Thanks Marti
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well I am down in Plymouth and I get gasps of fright when I tell people i charge £7.50 per hour, with staff being paid £5.50 per hour, I won't make much in the way of profit. But my overheads are low, my insurance costs me £140.00 per head per year the CRB check if I need to do one is between £28.00 and £33.00 per person and along with my other outgoings I keep everything to a minimum. I currently have 15 clients and 2 employees this year will be lucky to meet my tax threshold, but thems the breaks! I am taking real sloooooow!! ;D
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hi there,
jan,
it is as i have said before on here, everybody sets out their stall and everyone has their goal. everybodies expectations are different, so irresepective of whether you are running a 50k or 300k business, the same business principles are used.
so good luck
regards
martin
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Hi Jan.
Would you be able to charge a higher rate in your area and keep your existing clients as well as getting new ones?
I have put the figure of £10 ph to some of my friends and they have all said that there is no way that anyone in this area will pay that :-\ I am now in the situation of knowing approximately how many clients I would need and what I would have to charge to make a living and cover my expences, but it may put my cleaning services out of the reach of people here. Well I guess I will wait until my first enquirey and if I hear hysterical laughter on the other end of the phone I will know my charges need a little adjusting ;D
Pam O
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Hi
£10 per hour is not unreasonable. I think you will find that if you get your patter right people will use your services. I am sure someone would happily pay £20 per week or £30 per fortnight to have the cleaning/ironing done.
You don't have to say to the client 'it's £10.00 per hour". Get your appointment see the client have a look at their house tell them all the benefits of using your company then quote on the basis of "we can come in weekly and hoover, dust, etc for £15". Sounds alot better doesn't it?
If you discuss the hours and let them know this is for 1 1/2 hrs they may question that this is not enough time. Explain that you don't expect a coffee break in this time and that you always prefer to start with minimum hours - afterall you can always increase the time in the future but is much more difficult to take time away and expect the same amount of work done. (I hope this makes sense!) ;D
Go back to your friends and say to them "I will come and clean your house for £20" See what reaction you get from this!
Fox
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Hi
£10 per hour is not unreasonable. I think you will find that if you get your patter right people will use your services. I am sure someone would happily pay £20 per week or £30 per fortnight to have the cleaning/ironing done.
"we can come in weekly and hoover, dust, etc for £15". Sounds alot better doesn't it?
Fox
Thanks for the tips Fox, I do need to get the sale patter right, and £20 a week does not sound much at all ;D
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Hi Pamo....back in September just before I launched I was charging a range of hourly prices to my exisiting Clients depending on what I was doing.....not to extreme, £6.00 p/h, £7.00 p/h (my usual price) and £7.50 p/h (offered by a Client). I informed them all I was soon to be launching and at the beginning of Januarywould be increasing my prices to £8.00 p/h as this was what I would be charging my new Clients. Immediately I lost the lady who was paying £7.50 per hour, I also lost another who was paying £7.00 per hour. The lady who paid £6.00 p/h and another who paid £7.00 p/h said they would finish in January. As these were my personal Clients and I had nobody else cleaning for me I stood to lose nearly all my Clients if I carried this out. In the end I decided against doing this, even tho my final 2 Clients weren't bothered.
My partner pointed out that most of these people view a Cleaner as a luxury and that when I set my prices they were happy to pay them. If I wasn't to offer them anything extra in my cleaning for the extra in my prices then I couldn't justify doing it.
Now I charge my exisiting Clients the same and even when passing them onto my Cleaners they will strill pay the same. My new ones I charge £7.50. I pay my Cleaners £5.50. That is towards the upper wage range for Cleaners down here. Most of the Cleaners in the Plymouth area get between min wage and £5.00 with the occasional £6.00 per hour, and sometimes more but only ats weekends or nights.
Most of Clients now are reasonably well off, but some to expect mirables for their money. When I worked through an Agency, they had one Client who ran a very successful business and was pretty much loaded.....I worked for them for 3 months, they paid me each week, but never paid the Agency....thems the breaks eh?
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When we started our cleaning business in Hampshire, we charged £9.50 per hour, we thought we would not get many take us up, but we do a good job
and we have gradually increased the prices and now charge £12-15 per hour
the average wage here is £6.50 per hour which is what we pay our cleaners we also supply our cleaners with their own cleaning equipment and cloths.
all cleaning products are supplied by the client,unless one off or builders cleans, we do not use any bleaches and the clients seem happy with this arrangement. ;D
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Lesley,
just out of interest where are you based in Hampshire.
Rgds
kim
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Really enjoying all of these comments and priceless info - just starting my 2nd cleaning business - first one was a partnership say no more! I already have an ironing business Crease Lightning which is getting busier and ive now decided to combine it with a home cleaning service The Pink Ladies
I charge per home but generally works out at 10 - 12 per hour .. i supply all materials and equipment. I just find all the paperwork that comes with a business a nightmare!!!!
Thought:
Be passionate and excited about what you can offer and what you believe you can do - others will then be drawn to you.
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Pamo,
Im just down the road from you and I know where you are coming from on Price.
I know some people are advertising about £8.50
Which is one reason why i would not enter Domestic Cleaning Market.
However if you want a real business you would need to charge a higher figure.
Martin says higher prices are being achieved in Peterborough. I bet higher prices are also being acheived in Wisbech.
Your friends are they the type of people who normally pay for help. Our they Soliciturs, Doctors Bank Managers Property Developers etc or do they jist want a cleaner on The Cheap.
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Hi all.
Well I am still reading and still learning 8) I have started to put flyers in shops etc, I cannot afford to advertise in the local press yet, no response so far but fingers crossed. I have just seen a local ad in a shop offering cleaning at £5 per hour! :o
I have settled on £9 per hour and will supply all equipment and materials, with a 2 hour minimum on weekly cleans and a 3 hour minimum on fortnightly cleans.
Ian, the friends I have asked about the price do not employ cleaners, that was just their opinion on the prices I was trying out on them ;D
Pam O
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hi there,
pamo
what price are you then charging out ie the wage per hour? either to yourself or your employee?
re advertising, pop down the local print shop we got last year 4000 A5 one colour flyers, for a totally different business, and then leafleted on area, we are going to do the same area this year, and hey we got enough response and business in.
i am very concerned, that at £9.00 per hour, less the materials, less the wage cost theres not much left in the pot. unless you scale the operation up to a largeer number of clients to achieve the economoies of scale.
you need to make profit, to expand, and to replace kit etc. and lets be honest the only reason we work for ourselves is to make money, for oursleves and not someone else.
if you are cleaning a clients house what are they doing, they could be working for themselves earning £100 an hour as a solicitor. as an example.
just an opinion
regards
martin
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Hi Martin.
Thanks for the advice.
This is what I have worked out....(probably seriously flawed maths was never my thing :-[)
It will cost me £3.87 to do 1 cleaning job 10 miles from my home base.
That includes a days biz insurance, car tax, car insurance, petrol and equipment.
I will charge £18 for my 2 hours minimum clean.
I will be paying myself £6.00 per hour.
If I have only one job in a day 10 miles from home I would make a profit of £2.13.
Compared to my pet sitting...
Same distance costs me £3.30, I charge about 7.20 per visit (45 mins) I earn £3.90 per visit ::)
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hi there,
Pamo,
what can i say, brutally honest, from my point of view it just doesnt make economical sense.
i refer to several of my previous posts on here, we must really be driving prices up, value the service that you deliver and then value yourself.
you risk falling into a trap, where you will get recommendations, but all will be looking at the price you charge Mr or Mrs 1st customer. you will then quickly hit that dilemma, of having too much work, for the amount of time that you have, and then the decision of whether to employ cleaners. I seriously cant see you being able to employ cleaners or the figures you are quoting, and ex's etc
i would seriously be recommending charging premium prices, yes some customers will not ride it, but you will create better and more viable ecomomies of scale.
as it is we are having to delay our domestic service purely because, we have an expansion programme in place for our commercial work of a new vehicle on the road every month till June. a rapid increase in business and profit.
regards
martin
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Pamo Ive only looked at you costing quickly but it apears you are one major cost missing Your Car
20 Miles needs to be costed at a min of £5.00 as this is what a good employer would pay staff.
If you want to replace vehicle in two years time you need to be looking at £16.
Oh dear I think it mean you and many others are running your business at a loss.
What does the team think.
Not trying to put you off Pamo as we want to see you succeed. Obviously as time goes on Clients will be closer together.
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hi there,
Ian ,
Pamo and i have exchanged a couple of pm's it appears that she is facing some local opposition, in the ventures that she is currently pursuing, and therefore she is finding it hard.
i agree with you however.
regard
martin
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Pamo , Martin.
I think in an earlier post I did say that I understood where £8.50 an hour comes from.
I personally feel it is harder to start any enterprise in a small market town as you will always find someone notices what you are doing and takes defensive action even if you are not hurting their businerss.
Also this part of the World has a high proportion of people trying to earn a living on a self employed basis which drives down prices.
Altough good Salesmanship can achieve higher prices and a wow service I think is the jargon it is difficult.
Everest Home Improvements have found that out,in this Area. The majority of Window installations are by smaLL family companies.
I would just like to reasure Pamo apart from Cleaning Carpets I am not a rival business.
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Pam ive been around for a little while and have learnt most of what i know by doing things the hard way. try and forget about how much youre charging by the hour and concentrate on the total bill. for every person that wants something for nothing there is another one who is prepared to pay a good price for a good service. my advice is to drop some leaflets through the letterboxes of the most expensive houses in your area and see what happens.
Good luck anyway :D