[spickandspan]

I live in the north of England and i am sure we do not charge as much as our guys do down south should be interesting.

[carpetclean]

£25 A SEAT

[Kev Loomes]

£169.00 (fixed cushions)
£188.00 (reversible cushions)

[CONTRACT CLEANING SERVICES (1994) LTD.]

£180 for standard sized 3 pc suite £230 for large

[Shaun_Ashmore]

if you go out to quote you will get the higher prices Dave 'Liona' I bet gets may be tripple the top price but he does go to stately homes as we 'underlings' go to mainly the masses. But you can get well well well over £100 to clean a suite, I just think you need a good sales manner and a good screening for poor quality customers that only buy on price alone and would therefore take up your time and may be your confidence.

Shaun

[CONTRACT CLEANING SERVICES (1994) LTD.]

What's the point in cleaning a suite for £50 - doesn't even cover your expences. Van costs, machine wear & tear, chemicals, insurance, labour etc all costs money.

The trouble is poss. 80% of cleaners in this forum have not got a clue about running a business. They're just living on a pray.

Try writting a business plan first and work out your costs proparly. These people charging silly prices are making it difficult for everyone else to maintain our prices without Mrs Smith wanting it done for a tenner.

Sorry, but I say it how it is!

[Liahona]

Shaun, for reasons you have touched on I am not going to comment on what I would charge. I do have

 a question though. Regards the pole and excuse my confusion as the term a three piece suite isnt

used often if at all back in California where I have most of my experience of cleaning. Am I to pressume

a three piece suite is exactly that, 3 separate pieces of furniture? I ask as carpetclean says he charges

25 quid a seat. What the blazes is a seat? If the seat is how many people could sit on the furniture

then a sofa for 3 people he would charge £75.  Accordingly then with a 2 seater and a chair the cost

would be £150. If this is the case I would ask why the cost is so low. It has nothing to do with who I

clean for and or what I clean just in general why is it so low. The amount of time it would take to clean

it surely you could have made 300 cleaning a carpet. Thats why I wondered why so low. As for the pole

 in general, please tell me that most of the poles choices all fall less than what we would charge as a

service call?........You are right though, always try to price a job while seeing it with the customer. Alot

of customers will use you because they like you. If you dont give them the oportunity to meet you in

the first place............... Then over the phone you are a nobody and too easy to say no too. Best, Dave.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Dave an average 3pc suite is a 3 seater sofa and 2 arm chairs which equated to £125.

I appreciate that your methods of charging by your time is the best way but try looking at most but not all customers in the eye and say "your 3pc suite is very dirty although it may have cost your £2000 and although I can't remove that stain on the arm but the rest will come up like new and the fact the your income is about above average but not loads above and you drive a very nice car your cleaning quote to do the job will be £500"

Do you think the majority will still book ?

I would imagine that most if not all will not see this as value for money, abviously i have taken this as a case study, not everyone has a £2K suite but I bet a family that earn double the national average would have got a £2K+ suite but still not take you up on it.

[Buster Ingram]

I my experence people expect to pay more to have their carpets clean than their furniture. Its only when you explain to them that furniture cleaning takes a lot longer than carpets do they realise what is involved. And even then they still turn their noses up when you deliver the price! I've started saying " let me see madam if your furniture can be cleaned" and watch their face's then when I say " I can see no problems with this" the relief on their faces is priceless.

[Liahona]

Shaun, thanks for the info......I understand entirely, your point. Thats mostly why I kept away from

saying what I would charge. ........ If I knew that the furniture cost around 2000 then 200 would be

acceptable to charge to clean. Even I wouldnt charge 500 for a 2000 sofa. Thats why I try to find

4 or 5000 sofas, blah, blah, blah. But again point well taken. Best, Dave.

[spickandspan]

Wow very interesting looks like i need to put up my price???
I still think guys down south can charge more then guys up north, what do you think???

[tomh]

i think dave is what you will find is the masses do not know where to find a 4-5k sofa or £400 - £500 per meter carpet ! so if you target only these custy's i can see why you have to travel the lenght & breth of this country to only find a few day's work a week ! my thought's are if you target a local area well you should benifit from less time & money ( fuel ) spent on travel you'd have a larger client base & instead of being a 1 man band could expand more easily & maybe not ever jump in another van again also be more profitable ! don't know what anyone else thinks !

[Buster Ingram]

Very true Tom I would rather spend 1 hour cleaning someones carpet than 1 hour sitting in traffic, there more proffit in cleaning than driving!

[terrymaloy]

What's the point in cleaning a suite for £50 - doesn't even cover your expences. Van costs, machine wear & tear, chemicals, insurance, labour etc all costs money.

The trouble is poss. 80% of cleaners in this forum have not got a clue about running a business. They're just living on a pray.

Try writting a business plan first and work out your costs proparly. These people charging silly prices are making it difficult for everyone else to maintain our prices without Mrs Smith wanting it done for a tenner.

Sorry, but I say it how it is!

I see in your earlier post you charge £230 for a large 3 piece suite...WHO THE HELL PAYS THAT SORT OF MONEY !!! I certainly would'nt and I dare say most hard working customers won't either.
I agree with you about the silly low prices...but £230...Thats not a bad days wage for 2-3 hours work !!! If you can get it, good on you, but it smells of RIP OFF to me.
Oh by the way, I've been on a business course and done a detailed plan...Have you ? you're grammar is terrible and you can't even spell !!!
Sorry, but I say it how it is !

[Phil Marlor]

I agree, £230.00 is too much, you wont get many suites at that price.
A customer might as well go and put that amount towards a new one.

I charge £120.00 unless its a 3/2/1 then I go to £150.00, If they have a footstool I say that's foc.

I take 3-4 hours on a large 3 piece suite.

Phil

[Liahona]

Tom and Buster. I understand what it is that the two of you are saying. However if I marketed well the

area near where I live I would hope to get £300 a day which it would appear is what I could get per

house. Providing they wanted all their house done. At that rate it would take me all week to get the

same or less than I can get for one house for one days work. If I travelled 200 miles there and 200

back my mileage isnt that great if you spread it out through the week. Not only that but I am sure most

people spend more time driving than I do. 400 miles would take me 6 hours or 7 at most. I am sure

that most people spend more than 7 hours a week driving to and from there jobs. I am at most of my

jobs for 7 so dont sit in too much traffic. For the record I dont want a larger client base and I am quite

happy being a one man band. Having two vans doesnt give you twice as much profit as just having the

one. Not only that there isnt any one out there that can do what I do. Well of course there is but they

are doing it for themselves....... I try to only work one or two days a week because that way I can have

the time off I want to do other things. I am not suggesting that this is the way to run a business but it

works very well for me. I dont have to sort out thousands of flyers, sort out newspaper adds, yellow

pages etc etc. Best of all my phone never rings with a person asking how much to clean my whatever.

 While I thankyou for your concerns to help me make more profit I like where I am. I am mostly retired

from all this nonsense of having to clean for a living and look forward to not having to do it at all. But if I

 am to clean I have never hidden behind that I want a boat load of money to do it.............Terrymaloy,

what is wrong with £230 for 2 or 3 hours work. Isnt that what we all want. I know it is harder to get in

the cleaning of upholstery but as far as carpet cleaning goes I know most people are getting that for

while the machine is running. £100 an hour is not a rip off. Dont forget by the time you add driving to

the job etc etc it soon becomes much less. If you are starting at 50 an hour before you take the

expenses on, you wont have much left. Best, Dave.

[spickandspan]

Phew if i charged £200+ for a suite i would be sat on my arse at home for many weeks.

[tomh]

i agree dave the saying goes " small is beautiful " in business ! having said that £300 aday is good honest money at your prices some would differ  ! i am however pleased it has worked for you.

[BRSL]

CONTRACT CLEANING SERVICES

I must ask what area you live in to get monney like that, most city folk wont even pay that,

James

PS what's your name

[spickandspan]

Last chance to use the poll so hurry.