[Andy Hogarth]

I had a call earlier today for a basement flat clean, 2xbedroom, lounge, dining room, hallway, portch very large 3 seater sofa and large 2 seater in white.

I priced up at £240 over phone, but as the area she lived in is renowned for having big rooms (I used to live there myself) I advised that I go out and see it as it's difficult to price up without seeing, she seemed more than happy with this and I was going to see her tomorrow. I thought this price was reasonable what do you guys think???

She's just phoned and told me she's been quoted £130 and could I go lower than this, I declined with grace lol. In a way though I have this niggle at the back of my mind that £130 is still a damn good day rate compared to some jobs I've had but is too far away from my original quote,

How do you guys deal with these customers, I just stayed friendly and joked with her but should I have offered to budge down a tad or still go survey or offer something extra???

I'm Still new to this, all my work up to now has come from referalls or contract cleaners, this is the first time I've run a domestic advert

Cheers

Andy

[*paul_moss]

Andy
Dont beat yourself up with it. It depends on your work load, just dont worry about others on pricing. Just get what you need, if its slow and you need the work then go around an drop yo price, if you dont need the work then stand firm, some times they say  yes other times they go for the lower quote and other times they are just trying it on for a cheaper price 

[colin thomas]

as paul says i think your price is ok, best not to cheapen yourself unless your stony, you could end up chasing circles and only getting cheap referrals.

colin

[martin19842]

hi there,

thats alright phone call last night, from a local restaurant, 40 seater, needed carpet cleaned, but his usual chap was on holiday.

if i could do a good price , he did the usual promise of other retaurants.

so,,

his current supplier does it for £40.

i suggested he waited for him to come back off holiday, and then get him in.

regards

martin

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Let me guess they wanted it done at 1am also, kick em into touch.

Shaun

[Steve Chapman]

Andy,

It would of been wise to go and do a survey anyhow, at least then you could see if you had priced wrong, but also gives you a chance to sell yourself & educate them on what they will be getting for that price.

I used to price all my jobs over the phone, but now i will go and survey as much as possible, as normally you get a more accurate picture of the job, can sell more cleaning and i find customers are more likely to agree to your prices once they've seen you face to face.

also if you had got there and it was a massive job and really dirty, you would'nt worry about sticking to your price and can go away knowing you did the right thing.


regards
steve

[Shaun_Ashmore]

best thing about going to see the job is that you can advise them to shift as much as they can before you arrive, as the US cleaners say "I'm here to clean the carpet not to act as a removal man"

Shaun

[colin thomas]

shaun, that's a given with me, it amazes me when i turn up sometimes and they haven't moved a thing, sometimes not even their dirty clothes off the floor, my missus vacs and polishes if she knows  the gas meter is going to be read!!!

colin

[Andy Hogarth]

Cheers all, I did think when I'd hung up maybe I should of pushed for the survey anyhow but it was too late then lol, Always the same old story that you think of a million things you could have said when it's too late

Most jobs I do survey and touch wood up till now every job I've surveyed I've got but I've also had a few telephone quote jobs convert, however a couple maybe would have cost more (not greatly) but as I was there I stuck to the original tel quote hoping for the repeat work, we'll see lol, maybe it's time for no more mister nice guy hahaha

Ah well, next time eh

Thanks

Andy

[Helen]

white sofas!!!!!!! brings the alarm bells ringing in our ears She is lucky to be getting them cleaned for £130 let alone the rest of the carpets. Would think you probably escaped a not so nice job

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Andy

I think the main point here is the massive difference between the quotes, if I quoted 240 , I might come down to 220 but never 130.

Also 130 is not your day rate , take off fuel, chemicals, fixed costs (ins, tax, NI etc) and you will be lucky to see 60.

The 130 quoter will knock this out in 3 hours max.

Cheers

Doug