[caz16]

I have been given the chance to price up a building. Aprox 20 rooms waiting room,  toilets, offices etc Not sure where to start with prices. Any ideas ? I am going in blind? I normally do domestic so all new to me. Will need insurance, contracts prices staff etc so any advice would be great.
thanx
caz

[Phild]

This is a previous answer for this question : I was reading a link which was negative about BICS (British Institute of Cleaning Science) the other day. As well as training though they also have some handy publications including ones about cleaning times and measuring the quality of the work being produced.

They have a publication called "Best Value" - Standards, specifications and productivity rates. It costs about £30 but gives you the above information for a variety of types of buildings including schools / Clinical cleaning / office cleaning etc. It's very useful even if your just using it to double check your eyeball estimate.

Incidentally most contractors go for a wage control figure of 65-70% of the invoice value on jobs in the range 10 - 30 hours /week. Anything less and you won't be competitive. Also stay clear of the computers by specifying that only the screens will be dusted. You can then sell them a 6 monthly computer deep clean service. BICS do a good little training video on this service :-)

Another useful estimating resource is a standard cleaning times booklet from issa.com  I don't think you have to be a member to get hold of it though they may charge you a bit more.

Someone asked earlier in the week about getting into daily commercial cleaning. You should read my response as it's based on many years experience ;-)

For a quick fix though work on the basis on cleaning all the offices at a rate of 2000ft2 / hour then add the toilet cleaning time which I would base on about 4/5 minutes a fixture (depending on who and how many people use them). By the sounds of it your job is probably abot 2.5 / 3 hours per day times 5 days per week = 12.5 / 15 hours x whatever you charge per hour.

Best of luck.

[trees]

you just need a pad and paper have a good look round and work out how long its going to take you and price it as per your hourly rate 

[BDCS]

Thats good someone goes into some detail, how to price, structure of those prices and some publications as a guide and you add to that with having a good mooch round with a pen and some notes on a fAg packet : :

[Pristine Clean]

Thats good someone goes into some detail, how to price, structure of those prices and some publications as a guide and you add to that with having a good mooch round with a pen and some notes on a f*g packet : :

Im PML. I am totally in agreement BDCS.

Superbly written from Phild.

Dave

[trees]

whats wrong with my advice then?
its not rocket science surely the best way to price anything is to have a good look round and price on how long its going to take or am I doing something wrong?
Thats what I have been doing for the last 6 years and now employ 6 full time staff and am doing quite nicely.
I was only trying to offer some advice as it stated on the thread.

[Gilbert Sprous]

Remarkable and well articulated answer Phil.  I think all can benefit from that answer, but if it is a bit much for someone I would go after trees answer also, not rocket sience but will get you though the task.  An answer like trees can often lead to refiguring costs and possibly having to raise the price later, which does not always make the client to happy.  Phils approach will get you a lot closer and allow for a decent margin. 

The actual math, once you have decided the hours, will be pretty simple.  If I was in your position I would, and do, figure my wages on a 57 week basis.  This allows for a portion each month to go towards Holiday cover.  You will have to decide what is an acceptable margin for you by the size of the job.  As phil was saying, ususally, the bigger the job the less margin you can expect if you want to be competitive.  Dont forget that part of the margin will go for materials (chemicals, equipment, etc).  If you allow 3% - 5% you can usually get it about right.  If you want 25% for you and allow 3% for materials and you estimate it to be a 15 hour weekly job that you will pay 6.00 per hour the math would look close to this.  (((15 x 57)/12) x 6.00)/.72 = 593.75 per calendar month. 


Your requirement for margin may be higher or you can get by with less materials or the pay rate being higher will change it a bit.  but the math is pretty solid.

Regards

Gilbert