[Len Gribble]

we lost a lucrative contract last week going with there general cleaning company how do you compete with the big boys 

[brianbarber]

Sometimes there is nothing you can do, some companies are blind and only see the lowest priced guy as the best option...


Mr B

[Steve Chapman]

It doesn't necessarily follow they are cheap or crap, some firms just like one company that does it all, we have contracts that we got by agreeing to do all the cleaning as well as the carpets, we didn't particularly want it but that's the way the game goes.

Sometimes you have to mold yourself to what the customer wants if the contract is worth having,

or they may just want someone cheap 


Steve

[clinton]

They may want you back len if the work the new guys do does not come up to a good standard..

[Andrew Briscoe]

As Steve says not all contract cleaners run cheap machines or do a crap job.
I have cleaning contracts all over Cumbria and North Lancs, we clean all there carpets
and we run a Maxx 470, 70% of our carpet work is contract.
If you cant beat em, join em !

Andrew

[Billy Russell]

As Steve says not all contract cleaners run cheap machines or do a crap job.
I have cleaning contracts all over Cumbria and North Lancs, we clean all there carpets
and we run a Maxx 470, 70% of our carpet work is contract.
If you cant beat em, join em !

Andrew

Yeah, what he said 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Bloody cowboys

Shaun

[clarkson]

hi
as above contract cleaners can do a good job , but work cheaper than a one man owner operator. say you want to earn 250 a day plus kit and expenses. your bill would be 300 a day for a carpet.

 a firm with an operator in a van will pay 80 in wages, 50 in kit same as you with a decent mark up they can still do the job for 200.

 nb guide prices for illustration only. dont want the 100 a day mob, and the thousand a day mob moaning.

 could be worse i have lost 60k pa this year to national contractors offering ludicrous rates. totaly out of my control, local managers didnt want to do it but order came from head office.

 cheers

 john

[William Sharpe]

Sadly in todays climate a lot of companies are cutting back on background services, they still require a quality delivery but in most cases less frequent and insisting their employees clean up after themselves. So if you can work with them to find a cheaper option that still delivers an acceptable standard, it is not likely that you would loose the contract. Compromise" is the key.

[Allan Simmons]

We work for some contract cleaners doing their carpet cleaning, that works.  Contactr them and tell them you can take the hassle of carpet cleaning away from them as some of them don't like doing it but do it becuase their clients ask.  You can't win 'em all but some will.

We also make sure that when we tender for jobs direct we stress we're not contract cleaners who clean carpets, all we specialise in is carpet cleaning.  Then point out all work done to the PAS standard etc with links to that in the tender document.  Then suggest they check any other contractor is aware of and works to those standards.  That has won us some contracts, just becuase the other cleaners haven't even heard of the standard.

We've also had examples where they let the contract cleaner take on the carpet cleaning, but they came back after the first year saying the standard wasn't as good, may have been cheaper but standard was not good.

Just make sure you leave the door open for them to come back, leave them some spotter product "just in case" and make sure they stay on your email newsletter.

Al.

[Steve Gunn]

I recently passed the name of a Tacca member to my contract cleaning contact in Huddersfield for a 5x4 carpet by a coffee machine I didn't see it but I quoted between £75 to £100 before she told me it was in Huddersfield he quoted £350 needless to say he didn't get it they got it done by someone for £75.

You need to keep in with these contract cleaning companies they pass me quite a bit of work

[JandS]

£350 for 20sq m....that's not bad work if
you can get it.

John

[benny d]

He didnt! 

[Len Gribble]

Thanks for the feed back lads


John

I also have been there (totaly out of my control, local managers didnt want to do it but order came from head office.)


Good news starting tomorrow night we are back in with one Sloane st sw1 we may look into the cleaning contract


Alan

PAS standard? BICS I know

[Blacky]

Carpet cleaning is classed as periodic cleaning and no budget is allocated for this type of work. Your payment as a specialist carpet cleaner comes out of petty cash, always.

Contract cleaning has allocated budgets. The work is usually put up as tenders.
If the company decides the carpets need cleaning, the contract cleaners are the first port of call. They will always get first refusal for specialist cleaning, be it windows or carpets.

Many contract cleaning companys have allocated hours at set times for staff. The carpet cleaning can on occasions  create a staffing issue for the contract cleaning company so they pass the work on.

The minimal additional profit from sporadic (non regular) carpet cleaning does not warrant the hassle of investment. If you have a mid way cleaning contract of 10-15k per annum the appeal of an additional £250-500 per site, per year is not worth the staffing issue or investment.
Hope this makes sense.

Regards
Peter