[Liahona]

Matt, most of what you posted I agree with, although I dont think it should take 5 years to become good at what it is you are doing. I would say 3 was a better target. By the time 5 years comes around you may well find most people are stuck in their ways and wont or cant change their ways. Thats why there are people on here still using and doing the same thing they were 10 years ago. I dont earn anywhere near what some cleaners are earning because I only work 2 days a week by choice. I havent worked more than 3 days a week in over 5 years now and that has been my target. Not to earn a boat load of money but to have 8 months off and only have to work for 4. ( in total number of days worked). I have suggested to people on here and elsewhere how to get the higher end client. Therefore they can bypass all the researching that I and others have had to do. If a rookie can pick the brains of more experienced people on here then why should they have to go through the same ropes as we all had to? Nothing counts for experience and I am not suggesting that it does. If you are good at what you do and have the best machines available then within a year why shouldnt you be looking at 500 or so a day. Why be scared of it. Fair play to Red for what he has done with his business. Now that he has a proper machine to clean with if he has any sense and I know that he does he will charge more because he has gone a step up from where he was. This alone should command a higher price for him. Again, fair play to you Red! Best, Dave.

[Mike Halliday]

by the way £400-700 a day  is £120,000-210,000 a year allowing for holidays)

more than heart surgeons, lawyers, prime ministers etc,

i bet their kicking themselves now!! all that time at university and they could have just gone out and bought themselves a carpet cleaning machine

Mike

[Lavinia]

SO HOW DO YOU GET THE HIGHER END CLIENT. iVE ALWAYS USED THE ROYAL MAIL TO DELIVER MY FLIERS AND DO EVERY JOB THE BEST I CAN TO BRING IN REFFURALS, BUT IM ALWAYS UP FOR NEW SUJESTIONS.

[Damian]

by the way £400-700 a day  is £120,000-210,000 a year allowing for holidays)

more than heart surgeons, lawyers, prime ministers etc,

i bet their kicking themselves now!! all that time at university and they could have just gone out and bought themselves a carpet cleaning machine

Mike

Good point Mike! and i wonder how many cleaners end of year accounts state this and how many pay tax on that amount?

[the red carpet]

A heart surgeon or lawyer working for thereselves would surely earn those sort of figures, they may not get in from there employers but then again how many of us would hire someone and pay them much more than £100 a day?

[craigp]

im with Mike, yes 400-500 a day is poss, but you got have huge volume of work coming in, say im booked up for a week, i could condense a load of jobs into one day, one very hard day and earn these big sums, but then it would soon be followed by empty days cus i'll done it all.

or if you done a full 4 bed then straight on to another, then 3 peice and lounge, yes id have 5 - 600 but those big good jobs just dont come in that fast, ie. to do 3 a day.

[carpetguy]

I really think reality is taking a back seat here, just a couple of weeks ago, one of you was short of money, but full of ambition and suddenly earning £1200 to £1500 per week.

Another works 9  -  5,  door to door!

I know it's perfectly possible, to earn £1000 to £1500 per week, but only working the lower to middle end of the market and certainly not working alone.

Higher priced work is not available in volume and it's often been suggested that the C/D' s etc, who are taking £200 plus, per job, are probably only getting one job per day.

To those of you who are really earning more than £300 a day, well done and good for you.

robbie

[Neil Grainger]

The point is red we should not be selling to US.

If you are aiming at us, it is the wrong market and you wont make that sort of money per day.

Cheers

Neil

[craigp]

thats the thing, i been moving my prices up for some time (£50 a lounge at mo), but there is a limit,

i do only work for mere mortals not like Daves custys

[Liahona]

Mike, I dont know about heart surgeons but,,,,,,, my better half is an orthopaedic trauma nurse and nurses for a Dr xxxxxxx. This Dr charges £6,550 per hip re-placement and does 3 in a day. Granted he pays the anesthesist (i know i cant spell it) a £1,000 per op but otherwise doesnt have to many other debts. From what I gather he clears over 4,000 per op. Hey at a £1,000 3 times a day isnt too bad at all for the anaesthesist either. As you know I am a yank and as I hadnt lived in this country long enough I had to pay for an operation as the NHS wouldnt cover it, nor should they have had too.  This (3 in all) op cost me just under £15,000. So where you think we earn what they do or vice-versa I am not sure.  A good lawyer will charge £150 a letter and £40 per phone call. He or she also sits in court for close to £400 an hour. As for the Prime minister, dont make me laugh, 50 quid is too much. In closing please dont let me have to use your heart surgeon or lawyer. For indeed if they are earning less than a good carpet cleaner it is maybe they, who needs a job change. Best, Dave.

[Liahona]

Neil, well put mate. Thats why I dont clean for "us". Craig and others, the idea is you only do the one job a day, but you do it right and charge for it. So if you had your 3 jobs either a day or a week and got 500 for it you would be doing ok. Best, Dave.

[craigp]

i not sure i could get enough 'money no object' customers, but i guess i am filtering out the price shoppers now im charging more

[Shaun_Ashmore]

On 1 of the US bb there was an owner operator that did over $30k in 1 month, doesn't say how and I can't find the thread again but $30,000 x 12months = $360,000 or about £200,000.

Shaun

[carpetguy]

It's great to have a high opinion of yourself and your worth, but I could never in all honestly, presume the job of cleaning someones carpet or suite to be equal, of, or have a similar value to the work carried out by surgeons, or solicitors, no matter what we might think of them.

If I average 3 jobs per day, over 5 days and average £60 per job, I can handle that on my own and will be very pleased with the £900 average, per week, gross,  which I will earn.

This is about the same as I earned 10 years ago, but I was working twice as hard, then rather than finishing between 2 and 3 o'clock, nowadays.

robbie

just noticed the comment about US earnings and that's incredible, but there are loads of web sites with US operators charging much less than in the UK

[Matt Read]

The problem with these types of thread is that people assume most are jealous of the "high earners"...my opinion is that £200 to £400 is the amount most established carpet cleaners should look to earn per day. I have worked in some expensive places and they weren't really enjoyable days work,people aren't normally that  friendly and they expect (as they should ) the absolute best results.

I can't see my business attracting enough big payers to pay for my family ,business costs, and work 2 days a week,no matter how much time i spent canvassing the interior designers in my area. Could you sustain that earning power 5 days a week as a one man operator Dave if you had to ?

Plus i like meeting a variety of people , and going to unusual places and above all i like to get out of the house most days !

Maybe in 10 years time when i'm fed up with cleaning carpets i'll think differently.

[Liahona]

Matt, in all honesty yes I could but chose not too. Your post mentions designers in your areas. I market to designers all over the country and also in mainland Europe too.  When I was in the states, then yes I was working 5 or 6 days a week. Along with being involved in a business that cleaned almost 100 area rugs a day. I think and know I shouldnt do but think that Paul King cleans to similar clientelle but works way harder than I do as I am told he works all week. Accordingly his earnings are compared to the amount of work he puts in. Same as me its just I dont work as much. Best, Dave.

[carpetguy]

Agree with Matt's comments, as in life, there will always be the 80%, who will simply get on with life and be happy to pay their way, have their holidays, etc and the 20% who are more ambitious, have higher aspirations, more drive etc.

Dave mentioned the high flyer surgeon earning big money, fortunately there are still the 80% of surgeons who are happy to earn considerably less, but still make a very good living and are available for the rest of us.

Same applies in any market

robbie

 

[martin19842]

hi there

this is a hot topic.

targets. I hate them,and always have done,and always will, but daily targets are a nightmare, cause if ajob falls out of bed, then you won't achieve your target. so I always work on a loger time frame, a month is good.

so target per month.

but do you actually consider what that target needs to be, costs equal xx, sales equal  y therefore profit ??

and anyway you could have turnover of hundreds of thousands, but if its not profitable, its worth nothing.

work SMART, not hard, but better still work smart and hard.

regards

martin

[rich hand]

There is something quite twisted about the cc industry. Luckily for certain cc's the general public simply doesnt understand it and accepts to pay us more than the highly skilled trades.

However, lets stop comparing ourselves to surgeons, lawers etc. thats just talking s**t.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Martin your business is different, carpet cleaners usually work on their own and have low overheads, where as you have teams of cleaners therefore you have to cost more accurately as not to fall flat on your face.

Setting targets and knowing your average job ticket and how many jobs you did in a month etc etc is a good way of budgeting for next year,being self employed means you don't really get paid until all of the bills have come out so long term saving for a rainy day is a must if you want that holiday next year.

Shaun