Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: M.Acorn on September 12, 2008, 05:07:53 pm
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Righty ho,i do quite a bit of work for a very prestigious letting agy in Cambridge,trouble is they want to get property rented out fast,did a job a couple of weeks ago where the tennant was still there,supposedly cleaning,still lot`s of clothing furniture etc,so did my best and worked around it best i could !
Got a call back the day after cleaning from agy saying carpets were terrible ! tennant had put crap all over my clean carpets,dust,fluff etc ! so i said ok this time i will go back and re do the worst bits,no charge ;)
Went to do another one today ,got there 2 bed house,indians there about 5 of them,furniture ,clothes ,kids etc,thet were just about to sit down and eat ! they move out tomorrow and then new people move in sunday ! What am i supposed to do ?
Siad no way am i working around all that to be faced with another call out once they get muck all over my clean carpets again !
Booked them for monday morning now.I need to get some sort of terms and conditions written up i think,as had wasted journey in Cambridge traffic and lost about 2 hours of my day..Wi;ll be putting extra on my bill to cover.
Any suggestions folks ? am i being unreasonable
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You cant be held responsible for the state the carpets are left in if the tennant is still there after you have cleaned the carpets. I would only carry out work in future once the tennant has left, the property is fully empty and any other cleaners have been in, explain that the carpets should be the last job to be completed before viewing.
Mark
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Yes need to get that down in some form of contract,really dissheartening,when you slog your guts out ,then that happens ! That`s why i walked away today,not putting up with it !
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Frustrating isn't it :(
It depends on your relationship with the agency as to how you can play it.
If you're their sole supplier and get the work based on service etc, I think if you keep it in your mind that they need you more than you need them you can call the shots a bit more.
If they're price-fixated you don't really have much bargaining power, if they get any "grief" (as they see it) from you they'll just go use someone else.
Landlords and agents don't NEED to get the new tenants in the very next day after the old ones leave, a little bit of down time comes with the territory and is generally accepted.
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A close friend of my brother in law is my contact so i am on pretty stable ground with them,went as far as saying they would let me know if i am competing on price with anyone else ;D
However i don`t wanna rock the boat too much either ! my contact also has a number of rental props that he owns,so i also get all of his end of tennancy stuff !
He gets a good price from me as far as that work is concerned ! with the agy stuff he said to put an extra 10% on top of what i would normally charge as their fee which i am also happy with ! they planned on taking on 10 rental props per month,as it stands at the mo the are hitting double that ;D
So going to be plenty of work for me,It`s just really hard work trying to pin him down for an informal chat as he is allways running around like a loon,don`t want to be really formal by writing to him really.
But it`s getting to the point now where i am trying to up my image and be more professional in how i conduct my business.So could do with a terms and conditions type thing ! To cover my back as well as thiers
Should take delivery of my new embroidered polo shirts next week ,thought i would look more professional in that rather than black 501`s and random t shirts,especially for the kind of money we charge !
Also aggree with at least a couple of days inbetween tennants,just for sorting out the little jobs etc,and giving the carpet time to dry at least ! before it gets trampled on by removal men etc :-[
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had a day like this last week...........the decorator was still working......was told to work around him which slowed my day considerably.......then the cleaners were going in after him.... :o.......agent called me next day .......not happy with job i did :o
explained to them that i should be the last one in.....was accepted but still did a quick once over to remove dirt/dust to keep them happy(as i enjoy the amount of work i get from them)
funny but they are also estate agents....
must be the crunch kicking in and people wanting the change over quicker.....??
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Mark you will look like a rock radio dj ;D
You will feel a bit more professional with your new gear too :)