[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Hi all

After over 4 years of trade I am seriously thinking of charging by the square meter and not by the room. Can anyone give me any basic/advanced tips for doing this? Whats a good, easy to use laser measurer? Whats the type of price per square meter I should be looking to charge? Any good tips would be gratefully recieved!

Cheers, John

[carpet guy]

I have an old Stanley measurer which reads out in feet or metres, there's really nothing complicated in using it. You just multiply length by breadth.

I would suggest that square feet is better in use for households.

After many years, I price each job " as I find it ", ie, size, any furniture needing to be moved, degree of soiling, all of which amounts to the likely time taken to complete.

In domestics I believe my eyes, in estimating the area to be cleaned, but would never do that with commercial work, where a price, per square foot is still the expected format.

[Mike Halliday]

how much would you charge for your living room? now measure it and work out how much a square metre  it works out at........... that's you square metre price,

Although an laser measure looks professional I pace out average rooms,  a long pace is 1m, when someone says its 4 yards just take it as 4m it works out in your favour.

don't forget your minimum price, a small l/r might work out at £38 but if this isn't your minimum charge knock it up until it is.

Mike

[Straker Cleaning]

I use a Strait Line lazer measure which works out dimensions automatically.
Charge £4 per sq metre but will drop it 10, 15 or 20 % depending on volume, condition, soiling, furniture etc ............. if someone guesses that the 100 metres will cost as much as £400 and when you arrive and confirm a price of £340 ......... they love it as they feel they have saved money before i start. Hate it when i hear of the bait & switch who bump it up when they start.

Do sometimes need to revert to my measuring wheel when faced with rooms 40+ metres long and corridors 100+ metres in length 

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

John

I've always measured the room if for no other reason than when the custy is watching you it appears that you have calculated the price rather than making a figure up or "grabbing a price out of thin air".

I use a laser measure because it is quicker than a tape measure and for some reason seems to impress clients.

I "average" distances. I may measure across a room from the chimney breast to the other side as opposed to measuring from the alcove which is generally recessed and would give a bigger distance. This allows for the fact that you may not be asked to clean from wall to wall as there is furniture not to be moved. It also seems to indicate to the custy that you are not trying to make the room as big as possible for the actual price calculation.

Before then calculating the price I am also asking questions as I am sure you already do like which furniture is not to be moved. I am also thinking as other answers indicate about such matters as how much furniture there is in general to move; have I had to travel a long way; state of the carpet etc.

I find by using a consistent method of pricing I know I would never be caught out by a potential client saying "you didn't charge Mrs X that much, and she has the same size room!"

Hope this makes sense and is of help.

Roger

[Kinver_Clean]

A commercial customer complained that we had not deducted the areas of the numerous columns in a large office until I pointed out that it took longer to go round them than the area they covered. I then offered to deduct the area and charge by the hour for going round the edges.....

Trevor

[richie]

John,

I have for the majority of my 13-14 years in this trade charged by the eye.  In other words,  I have gone to the customers, had a look around and then given the price.  This has been done on both Domestic & Commercial.  Myself & Tim Halford put my EYE to the test,  as he charges by the metre.  On all the jobs we both went to for pricing we found that on even big jobs of between 300 & 1500 square metres the price was pretty much the same.

Richie.

[Buster Ingram]

An old chest nut this one, this is my personal oppion price by the eye is an off the top of my head price by the sq yd or mtr sounds expensive by the sq ft sound  value for money
i.e 20 sq yds =£50  ( well over double the size of the room)   180 sq ft = £50 now that sounds better to me.

[carpet guy]

Bullsh*t baffles brains !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ian Gourlay]

I got a Lazer measure from Netto think it was £13 seams to give a reasonable measuement.

Takes a bit of practice also need to be carefulas it does Cubic aswell so you need to think has it given right answer.

II would not like to stake my life on it but its good enough for what we need. As size is only one of the factors to take into consideration.

[Ken Wainwright]

Most "affordable" laser measurers are in fact sonic, but with laser markers, and are said by some not to be as accurate as a true laser measure. I wouldn't know myself as I have never used one.

I prefer to cost by size. It doesn't really matter whether it's sqM, sqFt or sqYds.  You don't tell the customer the size, just the price.  It can be useful to work out your different rates to suit all three measurements as above. If you are quoting an office building, ask if they have plans with the floor area given. Can save time measuring and easy to work out. Commercial premises are typically Sq.Ft or SqM.  1000sqft is 111 sq yds.  You can then add a percentage or premium for trashed, or maybe a discount for whole building unfurnished.  Ditto with residential.

There isn't a right or wrong way of costing as long as you are consistent and reliable with your costings.  It can be embarrasing to charge some one more for a cleaner, smaller carpet than you charged the woman who recommended them

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

35 TO 40 PENCE A SQ FOOT EASY.

CHEERS TONY