Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: nat1 on September 21, 2009, 07:01:33 pm
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Hi guys, I am taking on my first member of staff (domestic cleans) and was wondering how you guys get the customer to pay? what I mean is i'm going to be paying the cleaner around the £6.50-7.00ph mark and charging the customer x amount of pounds- do I get the customer just to put the money in a sealed envelope and get the cleaner to pass it on to me or get the customer to send me a cheque? probably sounds abit of a daft question, was just wondering what payment schemes you have for (staffed) domestic customers.
cheers in advance
Nat
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i have my cleaners pay me out of their bank account and they take the cash left, after their wage taken out.
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Send your customer an Invoice - for them to post you a cheque then no money is given to cleaner
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Hi Nat
Customer to send you a cheque,theres no other way.
I never let anyone i take on handle the customers money.
Also,keep the X amount you charge the customer your business not your staffs.
I'm sure the other members here could fill you in with other legal stuff to protect yourself,me,i just take on people who are self employed with a UTR and NI number that way it covers me.
This works for me,again i'm sure theres a few members here that will add to your post with more info.
good luck
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Hi Nat
Personally I'm very honest with my staff regarding how much the customer pays. That way they collect the cheques or cash for me and there's no cloak and dagger stuff although I encourage most clients to pay by standing order which is far my favourite method!
I pay a decent wage plus mileage allowance and they get guaranteed minimum hours so its never been an issue that I make a profit. I don't hire idiots who think I'm giving them a job for the fun of it and I also share my plans for the business with them because I'm creating opportunities for them too.
Hope that helps
Diane
www.freshlymaid.co.uk
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Hi Nat
Personally I'm very honest with my staff regarding how much the customer pays. That way they collect the cheques or cash for me and there's no cloak and dagger stuff although I encourage most clients to pay by standing order which is far my favourite method!
I pay a decent wage plus mileage allowance and they get guaranteed minimum hours so its never been an issue that I make a profit. I don't hire idiots who think I'm giving them a job for the fun of it and I also share my plans for the business with them because I'm creating opportunities for them too.
Hope that helps
www.freshlymaid.co.uk
Hi Diane
blimey,that is honest,what ever you do dont become an MP,lol
no,serious,i'm just going on my past experiences as an ex builder before i got into this,my very best friend went through the back door once,lots and lots of trouble unfolded then.
just my opinion
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Cheers Guys, will defo think of sending an invoice to the client and ask them to pay by cheque, the lady i have lined up as my 1st staff member is a friend and I know she can be trusted with handling the cash, I did however want the client to put the money in a sealed envelope as I do want to keep what I charge "hush hush". However when i do take someone unknown on I will go with your advice re cheque/standing order etc...
Many thanks Nat
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If you ever use a self-employed cleaner, the usual way is for the client to pay the cleaner their hourly rate and to pay you your cut by standing order or direct debit (maybe cheque). It is usually the agencies who work it that way and it's one step towards proving that the cleaner really doesnt work for you directly.
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Nat
I'd say be careful, we were very trusting when we first started up, treated staff like good friends, having cups of tea in my home - those same staff 1 we had to eventually dismiss & she then visited all our clients to get them to have cleans with her direct - the other told me she was leaving for a full time job & cleaned direct for at least 3 of our customers that I knew of. Thats why as I said in the past I get all cleaners now to sign an agreement they will not try to poach our customers.
So I'm sure your friend will be fine but you must be careful (just my opinion) ::)
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H Suffolk Clean,
I know where your coming from, re trusting people, do you get your clients to sign a statement to say they will not approach the cleaners to work directly for them?
Ta Nat
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This isn't a service we're providing at the moment but could be again soon - so havn't asked the customer to sign anything yet but it's a good idea. I would give EVERY member of staff something to sign so they know what will happen if they do contact your customers direct.
Barbara
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I would very much advise against most of these methods mentioned unless the cleaner is self employed.
Be careful - the tax men do check websites like this.
Cleaners need to pay tax on earnings, simple as. a p45/46 must be used and the IR need to know.
Clients would not be impressed if they found out that cleaners are evading tax and you are likely to lose them all if it was ever found out.
There is a rather hefty fine to pay if you get caught out.
If you are employing the cleaner you are responsible for tax (n.b. both emplyee and employer taxes should be arranged by the person employing) . NOT the cleaner
Just read that back and my reply seems harsh, it isn't meant to be, and I may have mis-understood. As I said - with self employed cleaners this is fine.
C x
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anyone brave enough to give a rough amount on how much do people actually earn from regular cleaning of houses?
often companies around here are charging around £9 per hour, sometimes slightly higher but never much, however if i was to charge that, then pay the cleaner £7 per hour, i'd be left with £2 per hour to pay for holiday pay, n.i, cleaning materials, and then company profit, which is crazy and not worth my time.
does regular cleaning actually make any serious money?
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Greencleansolution - 18 months ago we were charging £10 per hr and stopped it for those exact reasons. It is a high maintenance service to provide customers changing their cleans, the moany ones who expect their 3 bed/2 bath house to be cleaned top to bottom for 2 hrs every fortnight - it was a huge stress I'm not sure we even made a profit with the time involved. When we decided to stop offering this service I contacted local companies they want £12 min. per hr one company charges £20 per hr! I'm considering offering this service again for something between the 2 so we can actually make money from it. ???
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We charge between £12.50 and £15 per hour and pay staff £7.50 per hour. This obviously makes a small profit and you would need a large number of clients if this was the only service you offered.
For us it is a nice bit of regular money coming in to supplement (or even cover in quiet times) the more profitable one off cleans.
Simon
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The £9 per hour outfits are usually agencies, a lot of whom use self-employed staff, so after the staff have been paid (often by the client) the agency fee -usually paid by DD or standing order from the client to the agency- is the agencie's money.
To be honest though, the fact that people are running cleaning services with materials, staff, and insurances all in one, and are charging hourly rates (of however much) and not agreed 'quoted' prices, seems odd to me, as round my way those who work like you do will not give a price over the phone, they will want to come and see the job and charge for doing it, not for the time taken.
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We charge £15 per hour. I prefer the hourly rate as its transparent but I know the franchises prefer to quote by the job.
We make a healthy profit but it can be a really high maintenance business with clients on domestic being wayyy fussier than office cleaning but we have to charge less for office cleaning so it equals itself out.
Cheers
Diane
www.freshlymaid.co.uk
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Nat
I'd say be careful, we were very trusting when we first started up, treated staff like good friends, having cups of tea in my home - those same staff 1 we had to eventually dismiss & she then visited all our clients to get them to have cleans with her direct - the other told me she was leaving for a full time job & cleaned direct for at least 3 of our customers that I knew of. Thats why as I said in the past I get all cleaners now to sign an agreement they will not try to poach our customers.
So I'm sure your friend will be fine but you must be careful (just my opinion) ::)
Hi could i get a Doc copy of your agreement please? the only one we have is in a ten page contract but looking at reducing this. andrew.lawson@applemaidcleaning.co.uk
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anyone brave enough to give a rough amount on how much do people actually earn from regular cleaning of houses?
often companies around here are charging around £9 per hour, sometimes slightly higher but never much, however if i was to charge that, then pay the cleaner £7 per hour, i'd be left with £2 per hour to pay for holiday pay, n.i, cleaning materials, and then company profit, which is crazy and not worth my time.
does regular cleaning actually make any serious money?
we would rather do end / spring cleans, regular is ok as you go from one to the other using the same products so a van is ideal for mobile staff, we charge £9.50 regular pay £6.25ph products work out at about 40p per clean!!
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Nat & Andrew u have mail
Barbara
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We charge £15 per hour. I prefer the hourly rate as its transparent but I know the franchises prefer to quote by the job.
We make a healthy profit but it can be a really high maintenance business with clients on domestic being wayyy fussier than office cleaning but we have to charge less for office cleaning so it equals itself out.
Cheers
Diane
www.freshlymaid.co.uk
Not just franchises who do this. I was meaning cleaning companies in general.