Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shaun_Ashmore on July 28, 2009, 11:02:30 pm
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Is it me or has everyone gone off clean them? I have only 2 booked in this week and only 1 last week, I do prefer carpets but I like my customers to have clean items all year round.
Shaun
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I had 2 Monday and 2 Today, like buses..
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Shaun
None yesterday, 4 today, 2 tomorrow and 2 Thursday and thankfully none (at the moment) for Friday.
Not planning to work Saturday at all. (But that may (have to) change.)
That's quite enough for one week thank you.
Roger
PS BTW Shaun I wish your observation was true!!
PPS "Just think of the money, Roger " :)
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In Roger's neck of the woods he is known as the Sofa Whisperer. The trick is not to chase them, let them come to you.
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4 in 1 day is nice on the bank balance but I prefer the carpets to increase ....... productivity ;)
My local CD's are charging some funny figures atm one was £95 for a 3 pc 5 cushion which I was quite surprised about. How much are yo guys charging for 3pc suites I am at £135 and £55 for protection?
Shaun
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About the same as you Shaun, taking 2-2.30 hrs now with the truck, need one of those fancy minitex things and custy making numourous cuppas and I can just about hack doing them now.
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£125 at the min and protection is half the cost of the clean or if I can hit it right than the same again , thats for the average clients , its a lot more for super wealthy , they want to pay more for more not that you can give more it just how they see it .
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Have 47 items to do over 3 days ranging from 1-3 seaters and they are in student digs :o que very bad back
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In Roger's neck of the woods he is known as the Sofa Whisperer. The trick is not to chase them, let them come to you.
Mike
That's because I'm a little hoarse :)
Shaun:-
Prices: usually £110 to 120, protection c£45. Depends slightly upon how far to travel, if in flat, parking access, if it's a new customer or not.
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I have been at 95 for 2 years now, i think the further north you go the less they pay, around here is expensive to live, and wages are generally low.
Talked to my other half about it just last week, how to charge over 100, without losing customers, till she told me they already pay 110 with the vat, thought i was quick one >:(
so hopefully will be putting up to 105 soon, once get thru recession, may even try an odd custy at 120, see if reaction :)
Andrew
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i have 2 prices, high quality clean price and high quality clean with accelerated drying.
ive put my prices down and may go a bit lower,
derek
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Got a 3 pce on tmor morn and one to do friday morning subject to the quote :)
I dont seem to get as much upholstery work to quote on as i did years ago but still do about 10 a month :)
All at just below the 100 pound mark as well (with an underpowered portie ;))
Maybe with the cheap suites for sale nowadays has changed things i guess.
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Hi Guys
I definitely get less suites as a percentage now.
Did two 2x2 seaters today which is unusual these days.
120 each both straightforward.
Cheers
Doug
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£120 each!!
That's good stuff.
Shaun
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Upholstery cleaning 1st half of '09 is roughly half of same period '08.
Things are never consistent though, I could have a run of suites now.... joy :)
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I have been at 95 for 2 years now, i think the further north you go the less they pay, around here is expensive to live, and wages are generally low.
Talked to my other half about it just last week, how to charge over 100, without losing customers, till she told me they already pay 110 with the vat, thought i was quick one >:(
so hopefully will be putting up to 105 soon, once get thru recession, may even try an odd custy at 120, see if reaction :)
Andrew
Hi Andrew
I certainly wouldn't try and tell you what to do as you will know your market. But....
Would I be correct in assuming you have reached one of those pyschological pricing barriers where the problem is that you have a problem with putting your price up above £100 when in fact your clients wouldn't know any difference?
I only ask because for a long time I stuck out at below £100 for this very reason. Once you commit to jumping through it you will probably find that you'll wonder why there was ever a problem and secondly that the price then rises again fairly rapidly.
Am I right?
Roger
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Im at £95 and get a 4 out of every 6 quoted.
Mark
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Roger, yes its been a bit "pyschological", have been at 95 + vat for 3 years now, it was the missus that told me i was getting £111.63 off the custy with the vat (17.5%) so basically, in customers eyes i have been well over a 100 for a while now.
My area is a difficult one local council area that i am in middle of is 2100km2 has a population of 51000 and there are 24 people per sq km it is one of the largest councils in the country, so very rural with a lot of travel, as mentioned wages are low, and is said northerners are tight.
I cant pick and choose my customers, a lot of city estates will have similar poulations .
Have got a few jobs today , and i stuck 20 % on and still got the job, i get nearly all i quote for, unfortunately none where suites but will try next one.
I thought i would have this problem when i went vat reg 4 year ago, but custies seem to expect it.
Andrew
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I thought i would have this problem when i went vat reg 4 year ago, but custies seem to expect it.
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Similar to you when I went VAT registered about 2 years ago. For a long time I absorbed the VAT on domestic jobs (although I did put up prices to some extend to compensate. Just wanted to avoid saying "plus VAT") So I know what you mean.
Had a bit of a Damascus Road experience earlier this year and now quote with VAT (Without having put my prices down.) My only concession is that if they are new customers I may still absorb the VAT but at the end of the job when we get to discussing repeat work I then mention that I'm VAT registered and that this has in effect been a discount I offer on the first job only whilst they get the measure of the quality of the work.
I should mention I am in the Flat Rate Scheme for VAT so the book-keeping for this method of working is dead easy.
Roger
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Hi Guys
There is no doubt that pricing problems are as much in our heads as our customers.
Worried about breaching 100, quote 95 custy who says yes would almost certainly say yes to 120, custy who says no would probably say the same at 75.
Cheers
Doug
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Good point Doug, and the ones saying no to 75 we dont want anyway.
Andrew
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I'm £80 -£100 still. Did someone mention doing 4 in a day - no way !!
Mike
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Did two 3 seaters on Tuesday - £125 no problem.
Charge the same for leather but finding getting less conversions - probably due to the amount of cheap leather suites and customers cant see there way to paying a quarter of the cost of new just for a clean.
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i never do a full 3 piece for less than £195
takes 2-3 hours and i find a complete pain in the whatsit
i'd rather just do carpets, but not really pratacle
if i protect its £292.50 so thats not such a pain
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No wonder people don't like cleaning suites.
Try quoting £160. You'll clean less suites but get more money for less hassle, less grotty ones to clean, and the bonus of more chance of adding at least another £50 for protector too :)
Try it for your next 10 suite quotes and see how it works out!
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£140 (protector plus £45) to £160 (protector plus £60) dont have a problem getting them.
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I really must go on some of these sales courses some of you have been on.
£195 :o
I've heard people faint on the other end of the phone when I get as far as saying nine, not even reaching the 'ty' bit on the end ;D by the time I say 'plus vat' I'm hearing the sound of sirens on the other end ready to take her off to hospital.
Granted if it's 10 seater suite in a multi roomed detached property then it's time to make hay. Unfortunately most of our customers have mucky untrained kids who have dirtied your £350 DFS special. You're not going to get £100 for something that can be replaced for £350.
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, need one of those fancy minitex things
Only once have I tried doing a suite with a minitex and I won't do that again, unless you put up a wall around the working area, as fluid flies out in all directions for some distance.
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You're not going to get £100 for something that can be replaced for £350.
Why not? Cleaning costs much less than replacement, it makes economic sense!
I've never been on a sales course in my life by the way ;)
You're worth a decent price for a decent job. Try quoting £150+ for suites, spend 3 hours on them and then tell me it's not worth it!
You just need to be confident in the price you're quoting and try to quote on-site. Phone quotes can often end up in a dead end, but sitting in someone's lounge selling it to them gets 80% converted I reckon.
What you'll find is the work becomes easier once you're at that price level. Because you know you're earning well, you put the effort into it, and at the end of the job it all makes sense. Try it :)
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Minitex does splatter a bit with the bonnet pads. Tampico brush is great though, good for the tough ones!
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When I first started I didn't know what to charge and read someone saying £140, so that's what I did.
Seemed to get the jobs no bother the only resistance came when I made the mistake of mentioning it on here.
Anyway I still charge about that a few years on so with inflation the price is more acceptable to other carpet cleaners now. LOL
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Good post Mike.
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I have reduced my upholstery prices in the last two years as have my local CD competion.
I was acheiving an average of £180.00 2 years ago but now around £160.00 usually gets me the job.
3 hours hard work + the hour going to quote, test ect is only £40.00 per working hour, less costs......must try for £170.00 from now on.
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The problem with suite cleaning in the UK atleast is that people leave them for too long before calling us in and so it then becomes a restoration clean which should be costing up to £200 or more plus protector if it going to compete with carpet cleaning. If I was booked up for weeks on end this is what I would be charging.
If people would get there upholstery cleaned anually then we could charge a more every day cleaning price, £85/£95 maybe.
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Hi Guys if you aim low you are never disapointed
I had a phone call asking for a quote on a three peice suite and two singles quoted £120.00 ( i price at per hour if i finish early its a bonus) the guy laughed at me and said he only paid £16.00 last time so i said good luck and put the phone down,three days later i get a phone call same guy he had had his suit cleaned and it was still wet wanted to know if i could would help so charged £40.00 to dry the suite with my dries Who had the last laugh ?
Oliver Rise & Shine Cleaning
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answer
he did.
he had his suite cleaned and dried for £56. or am i missing something.
personally i would of said, "course i'll dry it, that'll be £120's please."
derek
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Yes, I would have been charging more then £40, lot more
for one - I would have gone over it again cause I dont know what cleaning fluid (or maybe soap powder) the other guy may have used, so I would have rinsed out and then dried with the blower.
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Ditto
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Missed a bloody trick there Ollie!!
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I would of said if its still wet its not been cleaned properly and it will need to be done again right .
also if a rung some 1 for a service and they ended up putting the phone down I would not ring them back .
there is a rabbit off there !!