[Paul Moss]

John im actually booked til may 

[Jamie Pearson]

Royal appointment on your website thats marketing

If they allow it. I cant use it on mine.

[Billy Russell]

Your right Jamie, your not supposed to advertise it!!!

but they will give references!!! 

[Jamie Pearson]

No they dont. We got in trouble over a testimonial on an old website built before we were appointed.

A prospect actually called the palace wanting to check the validity of it and we were told to remove it immediately.

Having the warrant is endorsement enough apparently.

When one is awarded one can no longer state what is done where for whom.

Lord Chamberlains Rules is quite a read.

[Billy Russell]

Don't mean on websites!! i mean if your going in for a tender, they will supply a reference! 

[Allan Simmons]

Allan,you said the customer told you if they were there 11 minutes
That was generous.
Excluding travel time.set up machinery time,empty room ya can clean
A carpet ( cough Lewis oaky I will) room say 4 x 4,power brush ( vaccum,
HWE in less than 10minutes ! :
Am I teaching grandma to suck eggs here or what



Lewis  Doubtfire

The client said from knocking on the door to leaving was 11 minutes if she was been kind to them, long enough for her to make a cup of tea, that included setting up his portable machine, cleaning, and packing it up.  Am I missing something

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I spend more than 11 mins talking to the customer.

Shaun

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Sorry Allan,I mis read that,my mistake.
They could`nt surley have had time to
Leave the carpet sopping wet,there was`nt
Even time for that.  
Lewis  Doubtfire

[james roffey]

I'm guessing the cleaner is Ian Harper, he's a great bloke but IMO he gets confused in what he's trying to offer, for the service he is offering he is far far far too cheap the main problem is he finds it hard to fill his time and keep the phone ringing regularly perhaps advertising cheap (in our opinion) keeps him busy.

It's a balancing act really as costs go up in theory your cost should but bookings could go down because of that.

Shaun

What would you rather do Shaun, two jobs and earn £200 or five jobs and earn £200.  yes me too

One of the things i like about my job is earning a days work and having the afternoon off, is there something wrong with that.

[Steve Rothwell]

If £200 was my daily target, then I would do anything to get that....
Yes 2 jobs would be preferable, but if it took 10 jobs ................... then so be it.

We all have different markets to aim at, if there is someone who aims to make carpet cleaning affordable to all walks of life, then good for them..... If you just want to aim at the higher end market then the "affordable" bloke should not really affect your market....

If we all aimed at the same market ............. then problems could occur.....

I am of the same belief as Ian, why should the poor people have to have dirty carpets or be scammed (when they can least afford it) by the bait and switchers..... ??
Or have to save up for months to afford the "good cleaners" when we all know that the price charged is not indicitive of the standard of work.

[Paul H]

there was a post on here a few weeks ago about cheap diy ebay sign writing graphics etc.. for vehicles.. wonder how that would go down on the sign writers forum... pot kettle black ... people expecting to be paid the earth for carpets cleaned yet scrimping on cheap diy graphics... no different to those looking for a good job at an affordable price...or those who choose to hire and diy...

[prodry]

One of the cleaners offering £15 a room  cleaning is incredibly-clean.co.uk which is my old website. Seems to be a common theme in Essex at the moment with half a dozen established cleaners doing it. They all have a minimum call-out charge around£50 and the £15 or so is for a single bedroom. If you price up a 3 bedroom semi then it works out about £150. For many this is not a bad for a mornings work.

There are men working in warehouses, building sites, ground workers, factories who earn not much more then £300 a week which is two mornings work for a cheapie carpet cleaner. Doing a lot harder work. I know you have your costs and machinery, insurance etc. And no one pays you holiday, sickness pay..

Also you have to look at personal circumstances. Does the cleaner need to earn. Do they have a pension, big redundancy package are they also a fireman? Have they sold their family home to downsize and have £200,000 in the bank?

Whilst we live in a free market economy there will always be different ends of the scale and different people to service them. If you are looking for high end work and good customers for life then Google is probably not best for this as many are price shopers and EOTs.

Equally you are not going to create a middle to high end customer base over night or working half days.

Don't hate the player hate the game.

[wynne jones]

there was a post on here a few weeks ago about cheap diy ebay sign writing graphics etc.. for vehicles.. wonder how that would go down on the sign writers forum... pot kettle black ... people expecting to be paid the earth for carpets cleaned yet scrimping on cheap diy graphics... no different to those looking for a good job at an affordable price...or those who choose to hire and diy...

Name and shame these hypocrites Paul! It shouldn't be allowed!  

[james roffey]

If i went down the £15 a room path i would simply go out of business.
Are you seriously suggesting that these guys are charging £15 per room so they can provide carpet cleaning to the desperate and needy of society.
There was me thinking it was to get more work.
I rarely book in more than one or two jobs a day and take my time to be thorough and not be seen as rushing my work to get to the next job i also like to build up a customer relationship i.e have a chat over a cup of tea, i go out and quote on site for almost all my work and make no charge for this service but it all counts as overheads.
Running my business has been hard work and taken up a considerable amount of my time but i have learnt that unlike my previous job, i can have the odd afternoon off and spend time with my nine year old son kicking a ball around the park, this does not make me lazy or not commited to running my business, i learnt from my older daughters that those times you dont get back, i was never at home in my previous job, always coming in when they were in bed.
I dont mean to go off topic but i am proud of what i have achieved, i started with very little confidence having never been self employed before but took the plunge, to make a go of it and that is what i have done, i provide good value for what i do and think i am worth what i charge.

[wynne jones]

Jim, what your friend who got upset needs to come to terms with is in business someone can charge whatever they want and he can do nothing about it except waste a lot of emotional energy.

What is more noteworthy is when you are busy these 'problems' don't seem to bother you in quite the same way. And if you are not busy that's something you have complete control over.

Blaming is a victim mentality and ultimately just a cop out in my opinion.

[james roffey]

Jim, what your friend who got upset needs to come to terms with is in business someone can charge whatever they want and he can do nothing about it except waste a lot of emotional energy.

What is more noteworthy is when you are busy these 'problems' don't seem to bother you in quite the same way. And if you are not busy that's something you have complete control over.

Blaming is a victim mentality and ultimately just a cop out in my opinion.

That is exactly what i told him, i think his phonecall and seeing those google maps testimonials this week,they just got to me, i dont care what anyone says, you dont go for three years without a single one, then five appear in the space of a week. i have built them up and it makes my listing stand out, they say immitation is the sincerest form of flattery but in this case i saw it as cheating, but i suppose its not a game is it.

[Paul H]

wynne ... no need to name and shame as i dont see any shame in it ...

the same way i dont believe in any shame in someone who wants to charge what they want (low or high)....

we all have different circumstances as the chap above mentioned about other work comparisons...and im with james on the lifestyle thing too ( im coming up a year in now) and so glad i took the decision to do this...not saying i havent had those "have i done the right thing.. its not working etc.." moments... and i know i'll have them in the future too.. but defo know its been the right thing overall..

Just the last few months ive had jobs and days where ive really coined it in sometimes hitting my weekly target and passing it within a day and halfs work and sometime nearly reaching it within a day (not sure where my target sits with others mind)  .... and it made me think if i stick at this work hard etc etc.. then maybe in 5 years time these jobs may just be a daily thing of every week..(heres hoping)..

But like hector i'll do what i have to do to reach my daily / weekly monthly target..

i see merits in the £15 carpet cleaning ...maybe on a sliding scale or multi room or whole house etc..however you choose to do it ... so whilst james did a bedroom free on a clean he mentioned earlier... he could maybe have had an extra £15...or was it really not free as all the other carpets cleaned had been priced up to cover the free clean...??...all i'm saying there is no right or wrong way its all the individuals choice...






 

[Mike Halliday]

There is no logical reason to justify very low prices, which other trades do this? I would love to find a plumber who is cheap because he has paid off his mortgage or has low overheads.

we should all be aiming to cut our overheads and living expenses but we don't cut our prices because of this, we keep them high and enjoy the lifestyle that this brings.

I know lots of carpet cleaners and I can say that all the the ones that are ridiculously cheap are usually thick (of low intelligence) and the  other side of the coin  is the same, all the x bank managers or other professionals who have come into carpet cleaning all charge high prices

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

I find this topic fascinating. I was at a custies house the other day and a carpet cleaning leaflet came thrrough the door. £10 per room. I say good look to these guys. To be onest I ve done alot of groupon stuff ... and I mean allot and as a business it has gained us bookings upon bookings upon bookings that have cost us nothing apart from showing what we do and may I say... do well. People are fed up of paying sh** loads of money for inadequet jobs so shop around and when they find what they are looking for stick to em. This game is all about getting the customer, educating them then keeping them ... not moaning about what the guy down the road is doing. All he is doing is trying to earn a living. He may not be earning from that cheap/er job directly but hey... what a great marketing took. Beats spending 3-500 pound on advertising that don't work. They are simply using the cheaop job to get in the door then ... do their stuff. " I know... trust me, I do the same" Look at the major supermarket chains, its exactly the same. The secret to success it little profit and often not go for the big profit all the time. "Thats just greedy and people have got wise" The more doors you can get in, do a good job at a price they can afford, leave cards and the work just keeps coming and coming.

I relocated last year and have spent less than £300 on marketing and am booked solid. Earning a living, not a fortune but a living. Got another van and truckmount out of it, soon to be out on road. Got hundreds of referrals and bookings for this and next year.

The secret is marketing... not to go for massive profit but to get another carpet cleaning job and gain another customer that advertisers for you. I really do not know what all the fuss is about.

[Paul H]

Mike.. ive been (as many others have on here) undercut by a £20-30k T/M set up (i'm porty by the way)... so i'm confused at who,s cheap and THICK now.. .

Did it bother me?... not a bit... was i bothered what they charged?..no... did i make an opinion that this person was thick?...thats not to be confused with desperate/hungry to make a living meet their targets and be out earning rather than sitting cleaning their equipment , polishing their egos on only doing those high price jobs etc...or  because they maybe has a spare 2 hours in the day and rather than price themselves out of it... priced themselves into it after being told my price?.. who knows... if you're in a position to cherry pick work then well done for getting to that point...others and thats including those with lavish 20k + T/Ms too clearly arent there quite yet... so as always the great price debate will rumble on and on and on... for ever and ever and ever..personally i dont give a poop what others charge or think of my charges... and think when other have the same view we can put the subject of costs to bed.... but i doubt it..