[mlscontractcleaner]

I was asked by a regular window cleaning customer to give her a price to clean the carpets in her 2nd floor flat; 2 bedrooms, 2 small hall ways and a lounge containing a 12ft x 10ft Chinese rug. I gave her my price and was amazed when she told me that the well known local compant she uses charges her £35 for the lot

I know she's being honest with me as she's been a customer for ages and even helped me win the contract to clean the local Iceland store where she works; and to be honest she didn't expect me to be cheaper, which I wasn't.

Apparently he's thre for around 3 hours and does a great job; she always gives him £40 cause he sweats alot ( her words, not mine )

I just can't understand his reasoning for charging such a small price when all the quotes she got from other companies were over the £100 mark; I said I'd do it for £90 as she was a long standing customer but told her she was better off staying with the other chap; I wont name his firm incase he's on here

Oh well, he probably does a lot of work but could be making a lot more money than he is; it's just my opinion that there's cheap and then there's flippin ridiculous

[garry22]

For every customer like that, there are probably five who would never dream of paying so little (in case they got their stuff wrecked!).

I would not worry too much.

[mlscontractcleaner]

I wasn't worried about it; she's a regular window cleaning customer; I just thought it was funny to be honest that the guy's happy to work for a tenner an hour

[garry22]

It seems to be that people are happy (or more to the point, comfortable) at certain price levels.

There's a really interesting thread running at the moment (the most thorough carpet cleaning etc) that highlights this.

[derek west]

a properly run business could not sustain those low prices, he'll either be out of business in 6 months or in prison for cheating the system.

[garry22]

I agree Derek,

I wish my overheads could be covered on that level of income.

[mlscontractcleaner]

He's been about for a long time to be honest; I'd love to name the company but not sure I should

[jasonl]

I just rented out my house up north , I pay
Maintenance for daughter   400

Van insurance                     110

Liability ins                            40

spending                             400

chems/equipment/van fund 200

Advertising                           200

Diesel                                  100

Life insurance                       50

Total needed a month       £1500

Some months I can treble this amount, and never do less than £2500 and only on big commercial jobs do I ever charge  £100 plus per hour , as has been said different people have different needs. My wife earns a huge wage, once I no longer need to pay maintenance I will be working simply to top up my pension.