[jasonl]

I agree Helen, don't think I really need a lesson in how to price up a job after 19 years cleaning, and nor do any of the other people who have shared their "Asian" experiences.

I often think that after 19 years that there are improvements to be made to my way of working ,, to think otherwise would be extremely arrogant.

You may have had a poor way of doing things in year 1 and if that is the case , you will still be doing it in year 20.

Continuous improvement , or Kaizen , is the way to move your business along and keep it going ,  we all give and take to this forum , because we have failings,imperfections , and NEED to learn better ways.

[Steve Rothwell]

I agree Jason, I now mostly LM clean whereas a few years ago it was hot as you like detergent in the tank cleaning, however you know that I was only mentioning pricing up a job, and there is not a lot more I need to learn about how much money I would like for doing a job.

[Helen]

Think GCS was just giving an example, but IMO it was an example of any job, that has been estimated and requires firming up., which is not what this thread is about.
If this job he had, had been of the haggling type customer he would not have found it so easy to agree a higher price, even though he may stress that the first price was an estimate.

With the haggling type you can even get them to sign a quote as agreed and they still ask for extra or for money to be knocked off.

We live and learn everyday or we should do. We are always thinking of ways to improve our services. If we were doing things now the way we did them 10 years ago, well... we wouldn't be here

Off to take a course on bartering now as I am obviously bad at it cos I go high and stay there

[Adam P]

but if he'd priced up the job then he'd not have the issue of which rooms to do surely?

[Helen]

but if he'd priced up the job then he'd not have the issue of which rooms to do surely?

We could go on all day about this, but the point is whatever you do or haven't done, will make no difference to this sort of customer, you can visit and quote exact price, or estimate over the phone (which the majority of this sort of customers wants) explaining this may not be the final price be taken on, confirm job again before you start and still this won't be enough to make the job straightforward.

Another example of last year.
Hagglers moving into their newly purchased house. They want every carpet cleaned.
We go round and price up and give written quote,lady says will speak to my husband and get back....she did. Booked the date and off we go.
We get there on time as agreed they are not ready for us ...Issue 1
He goes off to work, we get cleaning. She followed us wherever we went, hampering our every move. Issue 2
She walks on cleaned carpets checking them and leaves debris from her shoes. Issue 3
We finish up, ask her to check around to make sure all is well. It is.
We pack up and go to ask for payment, she is on the phone in heated tones in another language, but by the tones we could guess all was not well.
She comes off the phone, my husband is not happy, he wants the "marks" removed!
We ask her to show us these marks.........furniture dents from previous owners, which had been detailed on the written quote, as what they were, and how they were not stains and that we could do nothing about them. We explained it again and she seemed to understand, went on the phone to her hubby again....came back and had been told to knock £50 off as we could not get rid of these dents!No way, we eventuall got every penny, were extremely late to the next job and pretty hacked off with their attitude.

So as I said whatever you do or don't do it doesn't change the hagglers attitude to having work done, whether it be carpet cleaning, decorating or gardening and that is the point of this thread.
It may be in some cultures to operate in this way, but generally in the UK we don't.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

[carpetworx]

I don't do asians anymore.Did a few when first started,nearly threw up in them,filthy buggers.

Must be hard there,as you have so many of them.Like Derek said just tripple your prices.

[AJB]

I must confess i always try to avoid them wherever possible.
I spent 10 years subbing to 2 different companies, and had
several situations that put me off them. The one company
advertised a 3 bed house at a set price. Arrived at 1st job of the day
sheet said 4 bed house minus 1 bedroom, usual price. Walked the job
with the owner. The first room was the games room, Snooker table,
pool table, darts, bar ensuite bathroom, approx' 30' x 20'. Lounge, diner,
sitting room all similar size, normal stairs/landing, hallway 25' x 30'.
2 18 x 12 bedrooms, and the master bedroom 
30' wide by 120' long, to this day i've never seen anything to match it.
Throughout the property 100 oz pure wool cream carpet, totally trashed
with what looked like Ribena stains literally everywhere.
End result cleaned for the original price, but i was paid on amount it should have been.