[andy roberts]

  but it depends on whether you're cleaning a Carpet valued at £4.00 sqm or £40.00 sqm or whatever, that determines whether the customer thinks you're expensive, 

Very true Martin, however in my experience the custy often only goes by the size of the room/carpet to be cleaned and not the quality of the cloth. Many ARE consious whether its a wilton, axminister or a cheap nylon felt back to be cleaned but most just want the carpet on the floor cleaned thouroughly & professionally.

Your point is right and valid but my point above is the other side of the coin.

Regards,  Andy

[Martin S]

Agree Andy, but it's down to us to 'educate' them.  It's not difficult to do when you go into the why's and wherefore's of splash 'n' dash etc.

[Liahona]

Martin S, I agree with what you are saying as to the 4 or the 40 a square yard. Carpetmate, I work on

carpets that cost upwards of 4 or 5 hundred a yard and believe me the customer wants to pay because

of the value of the carpet not just the size of the room it is in. Accordingly any cleaning price wouldnt

come near replacing the carpet. I have a customer that doesnt believe in cleaning his carpets and

therefore replaces it every year to the tune of just over £40, 000. Funny old world isnt it? Best, Dave.

[andy roberts]

Dave

Arent you the lucky one to have 4 high profile/value customers that you are able to charge what you do, however for the rest of us we have to charge the prices that are acceptable & sustainable to us and the area in which we work. A newbie reading your posts on pricing can be led into a false sence of get rich quick symdrome which is far from the truth.

I'd love to find just one customer that I could charge £300 to clean their lounge carpet!

Regards,  Andy

[tomh]

so you work for Lex Luthor then ! knew i'd work it out ! he only wear's his sock's once too 

[Liahona]

I dont know how to or even want to, quote other peoples posts, however,  if you go back and read

Andy A's posts he pretty much covers everything to do with why we should price as we should do...

Carpetmate, I dont feel I am lucky, I put a damn lot of work in to be able to clean what I do. The 4

customers that I have now took me all told about 8 months to get in the first place. You made the

comment about the area that you work in......so change the area..... dont knock me because I go to

where the higher paid jobs might be..... I am not trying to mis-lead anyone by anything that I am

saying, as to the get rich quick my point has always been, you wont get rich even slowly if you are only

charging 40 for a room...... As to the 300 per lounge, do you look for that customer? I think the biggest

 difference between what I do and most cleaners is that I go to find the lounges to clean for 300 as

opposed and I pressume which I know I shouldnt, that most cleaners dont......  on a comment of yours,

 you mentioned about prices being acceptable and sustainable to us......it is you that accepts and

 sustains your prices not the customer...... just the same as I am, its just I wont be dictated to by either

a customer or a market in general as to what they think is acceptable, I charge what I want to do it.....

 My suggestion to you and anyone else new or old is to charge what you want to do it not what anyone

 else says you should..... Even a starter cleaner can make a thousand a week so it might not be get rich

quick but even at such low pricing it isnt a bad wage is it?.....Last thing, you commented on some

cleaners pricing a similar price of replacing a carpet or at least a price that would have the customer

maybe considering buying a new one. Might I suggest if this is the case you are cleaning the wrong

type of carpet and maybe going after the wrong type of customer. As always, best, Dave.

[Ian Gourlay]

Dave,

I would say is a Special kind of Guy.

He is a Smart thinker.


He is not afraid to knock on the right doors.

I am looking forward to him being a Guest Speaker and some event.

If Woodman is not organizing it perhaps it could be one of Kens NCCA days.

Ideally I would also like Gary from Cleaning Co as he has alternitive way.

[stains-away]

Dave,

I would say is a Special kind of Guy.

He is a Smart thinker.


He is not afraid to knock on the right doors.

I am looking forward to him being a Guest Speaker and some event.

If Woodman is not organizing it perhaps it could be one of Kens NCCA days.

Ideally I would also like Gary from Cleaning Co as he has alternitive way.

That could be interesting Ian, 2 very different approaches to running a business,
both appearing to work very well, there could certainly be a lot worth listening to, Andy

[John Kelly]

Gary from Cleaning Co is packing in, moving abroad. His gears for sale on here.

[andy roberts]

Dave, while I dont want to get into a continued debate with you on the subject of pricing , I feel that the following points need to be raised.

You made the comment about the area that you work in......so change the area..... dont knock me because I go to where the higher paid jobs might be

I live on an Island which is the 7th richest independent Island in the world. We have many thousands of wealthy residents all with fine fabrics & carpeting, however when my telephone rings, I dont pick & choose my customers. Every customer, rich or poor,  is important to me whether its a small bathroom or a full house everyone gets treated the same. I dont seek out high paying customers as you appear to as I would not want to 'put all my eggs in one basket', or in your case 4 baskets.

I am not knocking you for what you charge, what I am saying is that from your posts in this forum on pricing, it might give a newbie the impression that they can earn that sort of money in their own areas per job when its just not the case. This business is hard work & competitive.

Like Ian says, it would be very interesting listening to your marketing & pricing strategy as a Guest Speaker somewhere because we all must have alot to learn from you!

Regards,  Andy

[Ian Gourlay]

John

We could all pop over to Garys pad in Spain.

However as he is moving to Spain he would not be shooting himself in the foot by telling us his Years of experience/


Good luck Gary

[Liahona]

Andy,  its alright mate I dont think of it as a debate. I know the Island where you live as I have been a

 couple of times, sadly work related but oh well. Of all people you have such an opportunity to do well in

 this business for indeed the wealth is all around you. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said

 you dont pick and  chose your customers. The difference that I see if you are going to make the

comparison is that I do pick and chose my customers. With regards all the eggs as you put it, why not

have all nice baskets? ....... and also my point is that if you treat all customers the same then you are

not going to get into a higher paying customer bracket so to speak, sorry but you just arent. They want

and expect to be treated differently and they will pay accordingly. As for this business being

competitive, again I understand........ so offer a better service or at least a different kind of service so

that you have no competition. If you and by that I meen all cleaners, price the same as most other

cleaners do and provide the same or similar type of service, then you will be just the same as everyone


else and so struggle to get your 50p or 75p a foot. I dont struggle as I have said before but then I

dont do things the way everyone else does. I am not a salesman in anyway shape or form. I am not

any better at what I do than most people I would imagine, purely and simply I clean for the people

most cleaners would want to clean for but dont go and find them, for whatever reason and I dont care

what they are. If I can get the customers that I want then so can most anyone. Of the 4 people I clean

for, not one cleaner of any description had ever approached them to offer their services, this is not my

fault. Not that you are but in general dont knock me for asking these people to be of service to them....

and as long as on the whole we as cleaners dont ask for the work we wont then surprise surprise,  get

it. Best, Dave.

[andy roberts]

Dave,

I give in - I'll buy you a pint when your next over    

Regards,  Andy

[NigelD]

Dave

I read your posts with a mixture of envy envy and disbelief. The former for obvious reasons and the latter for..... obvious reasons  . But seriously on the latter would you share who you approach and how? I know for certain that if some of what you say could work for me then I would be a much happier man!

Nigel

[andy roberts]

Nigel

I wouldn't even bother going there with Dave. He is a one off yank in a British cleaning market. Stick to what everyone else is saying & doing on here & price accordingly to your area.

Regards,  Andy

[Liahona]

Nigel, too much information for me to reply on here and I post enough as it is.... So drop me an e-mail

and I would be happy to go through what it is I do to get what I do...... Carpetmate, might I suggest

you listen to what some people say on here as opposed to attempting to slag them off. I have only

ever tried with my postings on here to get people to maybe change their ways to what I feel might be

 a better way of doing them. It is not for everyone to change as each to their own but if someone asks

a question of anyone, particularly for some sort of advice, why on earth would you discourage that

question....... Your last post suggested for Nigel to stick to what everyone else is doing on here and

price accordingly to your area. If that is the case then Nigel will end up the same as you and a lot of

other cleaners who struggle to get 50 or 75p a square foot. At least he has the dangly bits to ask of

someone else with an answer of it maybe, just maybe being of some help for him. Might I also suggest

it is your lack of dangly bits that keeps you where you are and posting what I feel is nonsense. If we

dont aspire to want to be better then we wont. As long as you or anyone else is happy where you/they

 are and doing what you/they do then that is fine. From what I gather from most people on here as

well as cleaners in general, that is not the case. Hence the question from Nigel. It would be a bummer if

Nigel ended up going to the Island you are on to clean a house you should be cleaning.......but as long

as you dont want to go and get that job, then it will be me or people like Nigel that get the customer.

As always, best, Dave.

[andy roberts]

Dave

I don't slag people off, even when they deserve it, Im too professional for that. For your information my business is not struggling at all. Last year my company turned over £326,000 and Ive added cleaning as an additional service. I sold my previous business for £270,000 three years ago, so I must be doing something right.

When I place a post on here you dont seem to read it thouroughly enough and forge ahead with a reply which is completely irrelevant. Continue with your 4 customers and high prices but dont keep talking down to cleaners who want to charge a fair and reasonable price to their customers. The other day you quoted me £500 - £700 to clean a lounge carpet 4m x 4m, how ridiculous.

Are you trying to live the American DREAM in Britain! Well dream on!

Regards,  Andy

 

[Liahona]

Andy, your last comment was a bit mis-leading...... You asked for an idea of what a job would be and

wanted a middle to upper quote to clean a "bad" carpet. As it was a "bad" carpet I suggested £250 to

clean it...... I then suggested for you to charge 7 or 8 hundred to fully restore it.... Carpet up and taken

 away to be cleaned......underlay taken up and thrown away..... sub-flooring treated as needed.......

maybe even new gripper rods............new underlay supplied and fitted.........carpet re-fitted and maybe

even cleaned again at this stage ... As I said 7 or 8 hundred not sure where you got your 5 to 700 that

you had said I said. As regards reading a post thoroughly I refer to the above........ If I have ever talked

 down to anyone on here then I openly apologise as it has never been an intent to do so. Gary and I

have gotten into a few discussions on pricing but it has never been a down talking by him or me to the

other. On the subject we may differ as is good to do so but we have never talked down to each other...

 As regards your last comment, I came back to this country for various reasons, none at all related to

cleaning issues or to have anything to do with this industry. My dream as you call it is related to being

in the U.K. not the U.S. again for various reasons. Best, Dave.

[andy roberts]

Dave,

We'll put this subject to 'bed' and let it drop down the grid to the bottom of the pile. It's obvious we are both strong charactors with different views (of which as I have said, always respected yours).

Regards,  Andy