[LRAZEC]

 

Hi all

I’ve been watching your forum for a while trying to get ideas on how to start and to run a domestic and office cleaning business. I’ve learned a lot from this forum but now I have a problem. I managed to start up my own website (www.razec.co.uk),  I managed to place and ad in the local newspaper and now I want to promote my services trough leaflets. Could anyone suggest any good cheap services for that?
Also could anyone suggest any other ways to promote the cleaning business?

[courts cleaning]

hi,i am just setting up a domestic cleaning service i noticed from your website that you charge 8.50 per hr for house cleaning is this the accepted rate,we are based in north wales,i am also looking for business forms such as service aggreements-estimating forms etc...any advice would be appreciated..ps do u know what the likes of molly maid/merry maid charges per hr..

[anne]

hi   merrymaids were £14.50 per hour 18 months ago     and molly maid told a customer of mine that they do not go out to clean any house for less than £37  !!!   i dont know how true that is but its what i was told............merrymaids tend not to do hourly rates so much they price up per unit   for example  1 kitchen, 2 bathrooms , 3 bedrooms ect  but i do not know their  unit price   hope this helps

[anne]

dont forget   you have to cover insurance, petrol, car tax ect..... cleaning materials and public liability insurance  so take it all into account when working out your prices

[dustdees]

Courts where about in North wales are you? I may be able to help out with rates etc.


Love
Denise

[LRAZEC]

Thank you all very much for your advice.
Every little helps 

Cheers

[blacksheep]

i hope not £8.50 your having a laugh! wont get out of my cot for that

[Pristine_Cleaning]

Hi Lrazec,

Trade Print Warehouse is a good place to get leaflets printed their web site is www.trade-print-warehouse.co.uk.  I know they had slowed up recently with their service, so I dont know if they have it sorted now.

Other ways to get business include contacting letting agents for cleaning houses or flats between lets, or the old fashioned way pounding the streets and knocking on doors (businesses).  Or you could just get on the phone and start ringing businesses.

Just some ideas

REgards

John

PS. your web site is very good, presents your company very well and creates a very good impression.

[neil 47]

lrazec


YOUR TO CHEAP



Neil

[LRAZEC]

I've seen most of you reckon that 8.50 is too low. 
I've done my research in the local market and here 8.50 is an average.
Rates start from £7.50 up to £14/hour.
As a new business I can't afford to put it to high (at least not for now).
I'm not paying VAT yet and I can pay a cleaner as little as £4.90 - £5/hour.
On the other hand I'm having second thoughts about spring clean and builders clean. Any suggestions for the rates on that?

Thank you very much again for your help - I really appreciate it

Luc

P.S. I've checked that trade-print-warehouse but unfortunately they don't do postcards ( i've used vitaprint.co.uk ). Thank you anyway. 

[selectservices]

Re leaflets ;

I noticed yesterday on www.printing.com website that they have a bulk offer for 10,000 Post cards A6 size printed in full colour on 2 sides with 280gsm gloss art paper for £165.00.

Beware because they will try to charge for design as well if you do not have artwork in the required format. They have shops across UK (for people like me who like to deal local and are not that confident of web based companie) and you can order and collect direct from the shop, giving you a bit more involvement.

Hope this helps....

Cherie


ps. I'm nothing to do with them - but have used them and got quality job, very quick turn around - don't pay the extra for express delivery - they usually turn up within a few days anyway.

[Art]

lrazec,

Builders cleans i would be careful with if i were you. They can be a mine field.Slow payments, some of the smaller firms can end up going bust, not trying to put you off but they can put alot of stress on your cash flow. I've done some small ones but my terms are payment on completion, Which the big players in the market wouldn't entertain. So if your going to go into the market do your research carefully, don't jump in. Don't price any work to cheaply build on quality work and quality costs money

[courts cleaning]

Courts where about in North wales are you? I may be able to help out with rates etc.


Love
Denise

  hi we are based in wrexham

[*Chris Browne]

with ref to cleaners wage ,i think the minimum wage increases this week,
or am i wrong?

 

[ACS GROUP]

Minimum wage will increase to £5.05 on 01/10/2005

[Tim Downer]

Hi LARZEC
With regards to your comment about being the average price of £8.50 and you can't afford to price yourself at the higher end of the market at £14.00 per hour! Why not?
If you market your business to the right type of client.....surely you can command such a charge and earn nearly double what you can with £8.50 per hour?
Don't underprice your service. Start as you mean to carry on. If you do a search on past comments you will see the problems many of our fellow colleagues have had in trying to put their prices up after realising that they were not making much money for their hard work.

All the best anyway in your new venture....

Kind Regards

Tim

[JJdomestics]

Hi

I was in your situation a about a year ago and wasn't sure what to charge when I first started so i kept it really low (it's laughable when I think back). Since then I have done lots of research into this and I have increased my hourly rate by £5. Work is still piling in and although I am struggling with staff issues things are going well. The clients that were at my origonal rate DIDN'T like the price increase and although I did loose one client through it the rest of them just accepted it as they thought we offere a great service and was worth paying the extra.

If you want my advice raise your hourly rate. It is not nice having to explain your price increase to every client and loosing some in the process. web site looks great though!!!

[LRAZEC]

Thank you very much for your suggestions. It really helps

I'm looking into changing the rates now and with the builders clean I'll definitely ask for payment at the end of the job  or I'll stay away

Cheers

[Tim Downer]

Yes, just looked at the site too. Very nice and clean looking!

Tim

[Art]

Forgot to mention builders cleans are generally charged by square meters