Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on November 01, 2008, 07:55:12 pm
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I've made a couple of cock ups this week when it came pricing based on the size of the rooms, one job I ended working 2hrs for £70.
One thing I've always been good at is knowing how long a job will take me, a customer will ask... how long will you be? and I can tell them to within 5mins, and I'm always right.
also why should a bedroom cost the same (or often less) than a livingroom when it takes longer to do
So was thinking of just working out how long it will take and charging by the hour.
this system will be fairer all round, people will get what they pay for, If they want I can rush and do a 2 bed house in 90mins or take my time, (do a better job) still take 90mins but just do the L/R & H/S/L ....they will get what they pay for.
I tend to hit around £80 an hr now so thought I''d charge that figure.
this must be the most honest way to do it.
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Mike try charging per sq ft, you'll make more money. trust me ;)
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Must admit Mike when it comes to domestic carpets I usually get the £80 an hour mark but upholstery does go down umless there's a carpet involved. Only trouble is that if you mention £80 an hour to the custy you may have to get a defibrillator!!!
I don't think there's an easy way to get a win win scenario unless you up your first room price and then reduce your 2nd room and give away the 3rd.
Room 12 ft x 12ft = £80
Rm 2 12ft x 12 ft = £40
Rm 3 12 ft x 12ft = £FOC
Total £120.00
It could work like that, the need to sell more rooms on 1 visit is far more in your favour as if they ask for 6 rooms you could then say it is £40 a room thereafter with every 3rd room for free.
rm4 = £40
rm5 = £40
rm6 = £FOC
Total £200
Shaun
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Why tell the customer you are charging £80 an hour, ???
I have always charged by the hour the price depends on what the customer is looking for. ie quality of finish!
If the customer is looking for a freshen up they pay just that, if they want the full monty again the price reflects the time it takes.
There is no hard and fast rule, People know time costs money and there are those who will pay for your time and there are those who will not.
This is where the art comes in knowing how far a customer will dig into their pockets to pay for good service.
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personally i would veer away from telling a customer that you're being fair by charging £80 and hour, most like to think that your charging around £10 an hour!! if the penny drops after you have left so be it, i think we all drop a pricing clanger now and then but best just to grin and bear it and add a few bob onto the next one!
colin
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I always try and ask how much the carpet cost them to buy and have laid etc whilst Im on the quote, then when they have that price in mind the price you charge for bringing it back to its former glory seems like peanuts!
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Knowing Mike he'll not sell it by the hour, he's a saleman also so the calculation will be in his head.
I think the real art is 'selling to the customer' what you want them to hear! meaning like Dave says if they want to originally spend £50 let them spend it but for a little bit more they can have, this this and this and for a little bit more they can have this this and this extra, what do they want? well they don't really know until you offer it to them!
At first they just want clean at an affordable rate but we make money on bigger jobs with them spending more money but still offering value for money, the bigger the job ticket the more work you are doing at their home.
Shaun
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Nice one Ollie, customers and us can forget the fundimantals of why the cleaning is happening in the first place.
Shaun
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just to clarify like shaun said I won't be quoting £80 to the customers.
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Craig how will charging by the sqft make me more money? it'll do the opposite, a bedroom 400sqft will take longer to do than a livingroom of 400sqft but I would charge the same for them.
a little attic room on the 4th floor will take longer to do than a massive through lounge so it should cost more, even though its a quarter of the size
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Its good in principle but if you book over the phone it could be more difficult to establish if the bedroom is on the fourth floor, covered in hair, has a sledge bed which she wants moving and the skirting on the HSL has just been painted and is still tacky.
Mark
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Mark
I never book over the phone, maybe with an exising customer but I would tell them the price when I turned up, not before.
your senario is why you can't charge by the sqft.
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Mike your rate will go up and down due to condition/logistics/volume ect.
obvouisly a student moving out wont want to pay a premium for top class work like a wealthy home owner would.
PS you dont tell the customer a sqft rate.
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that makes sense, but it starts to work like my 'charge by the hour'
the time ( or rate) alters per each situation, so the price alters in unison.
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Ok maybe its the same end result with price for you, but I have found an advantage to sqft pricing is the customer much prefers to know the price is calculated
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:o
You mean people pay you £80 for a 4m x 4m living room that takes less than an hour??
John
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quick maths test ;)
i charge £80/hr
I do a living room in 45mins
how much do I charge the customer?
John were did you get 4x4 @ £80?
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£60 dead on
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WRONG
I HAVE A MINIMUM CHARGE OF £75 ;D ;D
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Sorry wrong end of the stick.
£60 sounds better.
Not to me but obviously to the customer.
John
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I mix and match.
Cleaning based on area but for fiddly stains (even on the same carpet) I charge on a time basis.
All fully explained before I start-and quantified!
But there again how many of the fiddly stains which take time do we get? Most stains either come out as part of a general clean, or simply won't come out because of what they are, how old they are or what the customer has done to them.
MOst jobs often take less time than you may have thought (yes I did read your post Mike) so this more than makes up for the odd job where you miscalculate the time, and therefore the earning capacity price.
How many clients would think you were working more slowly than necessary if they knew you were charging on a time basis? And what if you have to take/make a phone-call, umpteen trips to the van or even chatting with the client?
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All I do is work out in my head how long it will take, then give them the price and wait for an answer. :)
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In an ideal world your first carpet should be say £80 regardless and then discounts after for multiples because it takes you time and fuel to get there.
Shaun
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Hi
By the same principal as above our minimum charge should be £80.
Dave
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"I've made a couple of cock ups this week when it came pricing based on the size of the rooms, one job I ended working 2hrs for £70."
Might need to sell one of the ponies at that price. £35 an hour!! Are you rubbing everyone else nose in it that you earn top whack.
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please tell me you are joking ::) ::)
in 2 hours I can clean a 3 bed house, So charging £70 is a good price for a 3 bed house, considering I'd be earning £35 an hour
if you are earning only £35 an hour you are either cheap or very slow.
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what cleaning process do you use mike, i charge on average £150-£200 for a 3 bed house, takes about 4 hours
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I have the new XR turbo dirtbuster T/M. 2000 times more powerful than electric machines :D :D
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thats nice for you then, try sucking up some of the comments you've made on here then!!
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i like to earn around 100pound perhour
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Russell anyone inperticuler?
Ross I'd like to earn £200 an hour but I can't see much chance of it but £100 is achievable maybe not on every job but some
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mike, how do you clean a 3 bed house in 1.5 hours, do you pre-vac? move furniture?
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Russell I said 2 hrs not 1.5.
but no I don't prevac, but I will move any furniture the customer wants moving
If I'm completely honest not every 3 bed house get done that quick but I did one last week in that time
the point i was trying to make to Diamond is we need to be aiming higher than £35 an hour.
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i agree, but why dont you pre-vac, it get a lot better results when i pre-vac, and less comebacks
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I can't remember the last time I was called back to a carpet, and I carry a commercial vac on the van but I can honestly say I don't see any difference in the final result when I have pre-vacced the carpet.
when I bonnet clean I use the vac but with the T/M I rely on the high flow to flush out all the dirt.
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If your earning (Dimond and anyone esle) £35 an hour your never going to run a profitable business, remember your only actually in someones house cleaning 1 to 5 hrs a day, unless your real slow, so a quiet day your looking at £35 good day 175 so unless your busy all the time your going to struggle. Is that what you find?
£75 per hour is what you want minimum!!
not saying your hit it all the time but aim for that or above.
Craig
PS did not know there was a new model of the poopbuster out ;D ;D ;D
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fair enough, but just because someone can do a house in 2 hours, why lower the price for that reason, should still be same price as someone who does it in 3 hours like me, why buy expensive equipment to lower your price????
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I think I must be very slow compared to some of you guys, but it could be the Truckmount thing.
Sometimes just filling up buckets can be a long winded affair with dribbling pressure HW taps. Then you get custy just wanting to talk or gets in the way.
prevac & aggitation could be dispensed with in many cases if had TM
Then theres spotting, I don't know how keen I am compared to others but I can be ages here too.
Takes me 10 mins to pack up and down so that 20mins on every job.
Oh and then there's custy going upstairs to find their chequebook 10 mins!
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I'd allow 3 hrs for a 3 bed, maybe down to 2 if straight forward.
its not a race, sometimes if i have a good price I take my time to ensure an expeptional job.
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If you're good at cleaning carpets, you don't get call backs...............never had one in 25 years, but you must qualify your expectation, with the client's expectation and ensure the gulf is not too big.
I have made a habit of TELLING THE CLIENT how well their carpets have come up and TELL THEM the marks have all gone, even " that one " you had doubts about!
If you give a FALSE or EXAGGERATED EXPECTATION and fail to get a decent result, how can you expect to get repeat business, which is what a service business is built on and how can you expect someone to pay you 4 or 5 times their own, or their partner's hourly rate.
If you LOOK THE PART and SOUND THE PART and do an excellent job and have proven yourself over at least a couple of years, you are justified in charging a higher rate than JOHNNY COME LATELY'S, including those with their little bits of paper
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Same here i would take about 3 hours and thats with a chat with the client as am cleaning etc :)
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Best to aim high like 100 an hour and hit short of that even if down to 50 than aim for 50 and never get more.
god i give some nugetts! ;D