[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Ok, so one of my 'well off' window cleaning customers owns a few properties. She has a 7 bed house in carlisle which she is converting into student bedsits.

We have priced it up for her, and shes accepted the quote.

She says she has a 'similar' house in sunderland, but its 8 bedroomed.

Its a 150mile round trip for us, so its a bit of a bad head to give her an accurate price, do I take the risk & quote an extra £40 for the extra room, and travel time?

Or do I 'waste' the diesel to go & price it?

Anyone had a similar situation?

She is an honest woman, and I dont believe she would be 'trying' it on by saying 'similar house'

Thanks

[dan paton]

stuck between the devil and the deepblue sea . similar property might have completely different filthy carpets taking far longer to clean . or might be easier and quicker. what about asking her for detailed photos . or asking for extra diesel money to price it. or risk losing job and her windows.or get someone on here to do it
choices choices
   i hope  it works out good for u ryan

[Billy Russell]

why don't you give her an estimate and confirm price once your onsite, but state there will be a charge if its not excepted

[David MK Cleaning]

price the same as the other properly but include the extra room and just explain to her it is a rough price, depending on the state of the carpets and sizes of rooms this price might change.

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Thanks for advice. The local house is priced at £370, thats 7 rooms, 2 ataircases, a communal area, a hallway & 2 landings.

On the assumption the other house is exactly the same, id be willing to say £500 including travel costs, but it may rise, or drop depending on the state of the carpet.

Its 150 MILE round trip, approx 3hours.

Does this seem fair to you guys  or too dear  too cheap?

Thanks

[dan paton]

you will probably get loads of different answers on that one mate . as some are very cheap and some are very expensive . according to some people here their earning £50 an hour from most jobs (i dont) . hence different answers . price on first house sounds about right for me but some would charge a lot more .

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

The price on first house was £400 BUT I dropped to 370 to convince her.

I reckon 5 hours for 2 of us, one on the machine, one pre-vac, pre-spot, moving furniture etc..

It still works out about 37per hour per man. So its a decent rate

Im more than happy with that, considering the cost of the machine!

£50 per hour would be very nice!

[cannon]

it sounds like a lot of hassle for you plus extra wear n tear on van etc,

why dont you pass it on to someone in Sunderland (i cant think who ) and take a cut.

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Ill take it you work in s'land 

The house is on brookside terrace

[Jim_77]

.......and take a cut.

I had to read that twice

I would second that - this sort of business isn't really suited to long distance jobs unless you are working in a very out of the ordinary marketplace, such as highly specialised locations (e.g. Capt. Simon Pugwash) or for the very wealthy who pay dreamland money for someone's reputation (eg Dave L)

You'll make far more profit by whacking 25% on top of a local guy's charge with your feet up on your desk

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

How about charging her for the quote, but if you get the job, knocking that off the bill?

At least you'll get a feel for which way the wind is blowing depending upon her response.

Rog

[cannon]

Ill take it you work in s'land 

The house is on brookside terrace

yeah just let me know if you dont fancy it

[dan paton]

problem solved . hand it to cannon and make a skin off it . as jim says you sit with your feet up and make a profit

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Sounds a good idea. However as myself & the customer both live in carlisle, my issue would be, getting access to the house for Cannon....

My plan would of been to take a key of the customer & drive over witg it, do the job, take key back, & get paid...

Suggestions anyone?

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Ryan quote the £500 go do the job set off early miss all the traffic if there bad there bad you do what you do and thats it a days work £500 no to be sniffed at mate probably not even £100 in expenses take it pal.

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

right guys, ive decided, im going to price "blind" and go in at £500.....

As PM @ Extreme Clean says, even if it does take the full day, perhaps a bit of overtime, its still £500 for a days work, minus diesel. It is Certainly not to be sniffed at!

Thanks for all your advice/opinions

Ryan

[Jim_77]

Ryan, not sure if you've seen any of these before but along many streets there's these red things called post boxes.  What you do is put stuff in envelopes addressed to people and stick on a little postage credit (they call them "stamps") and then a guy called Pat takes it where it is supposed to go, normally by the next day

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

That sounds like Magic Jim

What a jolly good idea, do you know this Pat fella? He sounds a nice chap 

[Jamie Pearson]

Ryan, not sure if you've seen any of these before but along many streets there's these red things called post boxes. 

I thought they were gold these days.

[Jim_77]

A few more super saturdays Jamie and they all will be

Ryan sorry I was in a bit of a sarcastic mood last night   Glad you took it as the joke it was intended to be

Yeah I know Pat, he's an extortion artist nowadays so I prefer to use Mr E. Mail where possible