[lynngc]

okay guys, could you offer your help to me.

i have just passed the iicrc carpet cleaning and want to try this route,
right then, errr??? what sort of basic prices do you guys charge for your domestic/commercial  cleaning of carpets.

any help you folks can give would be greatfully welcomed, you can e-mail me if you do not want to post..

thank you


lynn

[John Kelly]

Hi Lynn

Unless carpet cleaning is going to be your primary business, where therefore you should be aiming to charge the highest price and service possible, the best thing to do is pitch your prices in the middle range of the competition. What to charge really depends on your locality. Have a look at adverts around your area, make a few tentative phone calls and build up a picture of the local market.
Up here in Newcastle we have people advertising a suite & carpet for £25. Yes I know, don't ask me. However the majority of the guys are mid priced with 80-130 for suites 30-50 for carpets with discounts if more than a couple of carpets.. Commercial around £2 metre. At the end of the day only you can decide what you need to charge. It is hard work and if you price low, you will never build up a loyal customer base as your customers will just go to the cheapest everytime. If you charge a good rate you feel like you have been well rewarded for the effort you have put in and thats worth a lot.
Best of luck.

[lynngc]

john thank you for your help.

my aim is for fire, flood and mould with carpet cleaning.
only got the other 3 courses to do.

thank you for your help once again

lynn

[AJCleaningServices]

...Up here in Newcastle we have people advertising a suite & carpet for £25. Yes I know, don't ask me. However the majority of the guys are mid priced with 80-130 for suites 30-50 for carpets with discounts if more than a couple of carpets.. Commercial around £2 metre...

John,

As you know I am in the same position as Lynn.  Could you clarify whether you meant £30-50 per room. 

From this forum and talks to carpet cleaners during my trip to IICRC carpet cleaning course in Nottingham I understand that people are charging between £2.5 - 3.5 per sq meter.  To my surprise Extracta suggests to charge as low as £0.75 per sq yard.

Regards,
Arthur

[Spot On cleaning]

Hi Lynn,

I suppose you have to look at other factors such as time spent on each job, how many you think you can do a day and most importantly the areas where you intend to sell yourself.

If you are doing say four jobs a day at £40 for five days, your theoretical maximum would be £800 per week mnus your petrol and other expenses. As i said this is only theoretical as you may decide to charge more per job and perhaps do less of them to earn that £800 or vice versa to earn an even higher amnount.

The mistake i made was to be too cheap from the outset. You go back after a year or two wither higher prices and they don't like it. En example of this is the women who phoned me up a couple of weeks ago. She wants her suite and lounge carpet done. I gave her a price for the suite then a lower than normal price for the lounge carpet. Begrudgingly she said yes. The next day she cancelled saying her husband thought the suite wasn't worth spending the money on, but she would have the lounge carpet done at that price.

When i told her the carpet on its own would be a higher pricce, she turned me down. Guess who was on the phone yesterday for both to be done. Don't you just hate customers, well i do. In short if they won't pay the price move on and find someone who will. Charge what you think you are worth because after all you have got to maintain all your equipment and advertising costs. Hope this helps and i have not confused the issue.

Dave  (Newport, Gwent)

[john rees]

hiya Lynn
               Just have a look in the local free rag    and use it as a guide to what not to charge!!!!! :                         room -£15.00
hsl    - £20.00
large room -£20.00
suite and carpet -£50.00
rugs  - £10.00
suites-£40.00

In my opinion you will have to charge at least double these prices and in some instances treble and more! customers are not stupid and realise that they get what they pay for.If you intend doing some of the rougher council estates in our area charge lower prices like this chap does??? because these people will have the carpets cleaned once every 15 years whether they need it or not! : on the other hand if you want to do higher end work for the better clients(who sometimes will clean every 6 months or less).charge much more, but give them a much better quality service than any cleaner  who charges £15 a room can!
      Add up all your expected overheads for the year, van,fuel,advertising,chemicals,etc, then divide it by the amount of hours you will be working and that will tell you how much an hour you will have to earn before you break even!you might have a shock?

           hope this is of help
                                         John(swansea)

[lynngc]

hey john,
can i come and fiddle with your truck mount please. LOL

lynn

[*Chris Browne]

Steady lynn...im watching you

chris




www.scsf.co.uk

[john rees]

of course you can lynn! the chemspec or the steamway?

[lynngc]

to be honest john,

gonna sound real blonde here......

but

at the course it was all therory, no demo's LOL.

so still can't turn on a machine yet pmsl, (well at least im honest)

can i come round next week for a chat??

lynn

[john rees]

of course you can lynn!

[lynngc]

ok john,
will phone monday early evening, to arrange a date and time,

thank you for your help

lynn

[mark_roberts]

A good business course will set you straight on pricing etc.

Pricing is up to you.  You could charge £10 a yard if you wanted too.

I would ignore Extractas advice.  Take a look at their brouchers.  Very dated, a bit like their advice.

At least youve taken a course.  It bugs me no end the amount of new comers asking advice without even taking a course.

Mark

[lynngc]

yeh thanks mark,

the course was great and very hard.
but i do wish it allowed extra time to go through different machines, setups, and suppliers.

im now blind, i know about carpets, fibres, backings, chemicals, but don't know which machine to buy or turn the ruddy thing on LOL.

oh!! well at least im honest.

lynn

[Ian Gourlay]

If I was you and the others who have never cleaned a carpet, or switched a machine on , I would book the next practical course available, from one of the Manufacturers.

You have gone straight for the degree. Well done.


A great memory test.


Regards

Ian

[Liahona]

Lynn, good luck with your new venture in what can be a very profitable business. If you e-mail me I would try to help in what I have found works for me. I would post on here but it upsets too many people on here as what I charge on the whole is disputed that it exists. Still, as long as people are happy charging as little as 50p a foot or less then things wont change. I refuse to charge as little as this and my theory is that if we all raised our prices for what we do or do a little more for the money then we should be able to charge a lot more than the normal 50p that I think most people charge. The fact that you are so new to this business is a bonus as you can set wha you like and not what you have been used to. If you start off at say 40p a foot then it wont be easy to then raise your prices. So why not start at 65 or 70p, just my input anyway. That way you only have to do half the work to be at the same state that most cleaners are at for doing twice the work. Again, good luck with your business, best, Dave.

[AJCleaningServices]

Lynn,
What CC machine are you going to have or may already got one?
Regards,
Arthur

[andrew chrysler]

Lynn, like you I was hoping for more practical instruction, but at least now I know how to set fire to a bit of carpet LOL

Prochem are running a course at Manchester on 25th April; I've booked a place and I hope that it will be a bit more practical.

Details should be on the prochem website.

[Liahona]

Hello again Lynn, my e-mail isnt working so if you want to e-mail try this one, ........ kleenrte@tiscali.co.uk.....best, Dave.

[lynngc]

dave,
have e-mailed you
cheers

lynn