[Paul Simpson]

Got a call from a care home wanting a price for the whole place to have the carpets cleaned, 20 rooms including lounges, plus hallways and stairs.
Called today and she showed me the 5 worst rooms she was most concerned about.....urine, feces & food stains. She explained that most of the other rooms were currently occupied but they were of similar size but not quite as bad as the rooms already seen and asked me to based the price of the rest of the rooms on an average of the ones already seen.
So approximately 4750 sqft incl. hallways plus 40 steps/stairs.
Told me she'd already had a quote from someone who came and looked in 1 or 2 rooms, took no measurements or did no examining and gave a price of £650 and that the owner is gonna go with the lowest quote.

£650 seems kinda low to me, especially since the ammonia smell in one of the rooms from urine nearly knocked me off my feet, not to mention the stairs involved and how the rooms are spread out all over the building.
When we were back in the managers office I pushed her for who the other company was and she starts pushing paperwork around saying "I know its here somewhere", but she never found it.
Could she just be pulling a fast one and trying for a low quote, for all I know the rest of the rooms could be just as bad as the 5 already seen.
What would you charge? 

[rs_cleancare]

I would be looking at a minimum of £1400 but always very difficult to price without seeing and smelling .

Rob.

[gwrightson]

I dont know if Im doing my sums correct but,
i work that out at around 1.4p per sq ft  thats thats with out cleaning the stairs , 40 steps , on average 13 steps a normal house at £45.00 a flight   theres £150  alone  , not forgetting all the extra work in deodourising , stain removal  and do you need to treat the backing and flooring itself?
seems cheap to me .
I did  7 flights , small landings last week , nylon easy to clean , just the normal soiling and odd stain
price   nearly as much as you would be getting for the whole lot

Geoff

[Liahona]

£3 000:00.  For all that work to clean and extra work to attempt to have it smell nice I wouldnt do it for any less.

My question to you is can you make a profit at 650 to do all that work?  If you can then take it on, just for me and mine, nothing less than £3 000.  Best, Dave.

[Joe H]

I'm going along with the others - quote at least double the figure you were told ie make it at least £1300.
I think they are just testing you out with that figure of £650 - and not being able to find the quote amongst the papers.
Just stck the quote in and sit back - you maybe be "lucky" enough to get the job!!

Joe H

[Steve Chapman]

Hi Paul,

we do alot of care homes and they always want something for nothing :

That sounds like pretty fair area to do though and care homes are normally hard work and haven't been cleaned regularly.

I wouldn't guarantee getin  rid of any odours as the smell can easily be in the floorboards and other furnishings, one home we did had to actually rip out the floor to get rid of the bad smell ( but thats another story )

It depends on how desperate you are for the work, £600 is £600 in the bank, but you don't want to undersell yourself,  we probably wouldn't touch it for less £1200, but then were not too hard up for work at the mo.

It makes me wonder why she's already told you the price of the previous quote, most business people won't do that, unless they particulaly want you to get the job!  - She may be stringing you along, sometimes they have a fixed price in mind of what they want to pay.

If it was me, i would go and do my normal survey and sizes and explain the reason for your price and what they get for it!

Believe me it will be hard work.


regard
steve

[Kinver_Clean]

And don't forget that your mc and hoses will stink and need a lot of sanitizing. I keep some old hoses for this purpose.

Sounds as if they are trying it on.

Trevor

[Matt Lindus]

I would price it at £3200 and keep my fingers crossed they say no.

On the other hand if you desprate for work..............

[Ian Gourlay]

A lot of Care homes have equipment like Rug Doctors.

  Some Rooms are cleaned several times a week using all kinds of stuff.

[Amethyst]

Even as a newbie I would tend to go with the "doubleit" school of thought. I can't see anyway it could be done at £650!!

[Neil Williams]

My bottom figure would be £1,300 I'd then add another 20% for the unexpected plus the Vat
But places like this will always go for the bottom figure on the table.

[lands]

Go for the prices the guys mention but tell them your process to sell it a bit more bcos they may well be trying it on and at least this way they know you are no mug and worth your money

Pete

[dhnjj]

I would keep pushing her for the previous quotation and say if she can provide it then maybe you can work somthing out. I very much doubt you will get it (IMO)

I know nothing of the carpet cleaning side of things however i managed care homes for over 10 years and if its one thing i learned - my budget was everything

and yes i played that trick many times to get the cost i was willing to pay. Is it really you that is setting the cost? or her

If i remember correctly (although afew years ago) it cost over 1.5k to have my 20 bed done and this was without odours (there is no reason why a care home should stink) I felt this was a reasonable price compared to the other 2 quotes i obtained.

any way thats my pennies worth 

Dave

[carpetguy]

A little puzzled by your statement about " managing " care homes for over 10 years, as that would mean....................you were a care home manager at 17 years of age.

Being in that sector, as well as c/c and having  been involved in many care homes, both private and local authority over the past 20 years I am more than a little surprised at your claim.

rob

[dhnjj]

A little puzzled by your statement about " managing " care homes for over 10 years, as that would mean....................you were a care home manager at 17 years of age.

My mistake i should have said worked within the sector for over 10 years however I was deputy manager at 18.