[Shaun_Ashmore]

with people like you giving advice no wonder that carpet cleaners have a bad name with the average joe public, charge as much as you can for as little work as you can do.

Tell me what you mean? I've been full time carpet and upholstery cleaning since 1988.

Compared to some carpet cleaners I charge too low ie Dave Liohona or CDry or Andrew Walker etc

Say what you want but please back it up.

Shaun

[Len Gribble]

Chris

How long did you spend with me " gift of the gab" I prefer smooth talker! What was the question! How long to do a job? Next time I will take my time and earn less.

Shaun

Giddy up 

Len

[craigp]

regarding the impression we are giving new starts, with this in mind i should quilify my post- my times are TM

I agree with Paul Moss, you should expect to earn nowt the first couple of years.. even then when you do start earning that will need to be ploughed back for another year or two.

in fact! starting up now would be EXTREMLY difficult as the number of c/cers has been growing esp in the last 10 years, and is now full with a argueably smaller (due to hard floors) market to service.

all in all a very competitive market.

sorry if it sounds negitive, lol

[colin thomas]

i don't care if you have been carpet cleaning since 1888, what makes you think that makes you an expert? i know idiots who have been in the trade for years and i know really clever guys who have been in the business for a couple of years, trade and price on your knowledge, don't think that just because you can afford to run a truck-mount that makes you the best cleaner around, that is arrogant and stupid.

colin

[carpetguy]

Colin

While I see where your coming from and to a fair extent agree with you sentiments, but Shaun is quoting a standard business sentiment, which is often suggested at " business schools "or seminars.

However

If you're in a competetive environment, or, like Shaun, you've invested a lot in equipment, and training, you would clearly be justified, in charging more than " the cheap guy " who advertises in your local paper.

I personally, would never contemplate charging some of the prices, I've seen quoted, but I have never been in the position, where I felt the need to charge high prices, as I've never had huge overheads to cover.

This has nothing to do with worth......................my worth, as someone who relieves pain and restores spinal flexibility, is an awful  lot higher than my worth, as a carpet cleaner.

Why ?

Very few people can do what I can, in pelvic / spinal alignment, but almost anyone can clean carpets, so I have an exclusivety which anables me, with justification, to charge a much higher hourly rate when fixing bodies, as opposed to cleaning carpets

If you can justify high pricing fine, but the only way you can justify high pricing, is exceptional results, that stand out from the others.................How to show that..............That's up to your marketing

 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I've never been so arrogant to say that if I run a TM that I am the best cleaner ever, but an investment of a TM means that you can operate at high work levels ie more  jobs because it's quicker but you have to charge more to keep it on the road.

Don't you have a TM? you know how much it costs to run and buy and keep running your prices will reflect this as apposed to the half price sleaners who may have a puzzi or the likes.

Shaun

[*paul_moss]

Colin I hear some of what you are saying and healthy debate is good,thats what the forum is for.
I dont know why your are attacking Shaun as I have read back through the thread and cant see where he has upset you so much.
We all are entitled to our opionions and we dont have to agree with others, but some of your comments are getting a little close to the knuckle.
I personally know Shaun and he is a very good and experinced c/c with a decent set up.

[carpetguy]

Problem with this kind of " discussion" is we get a little carried away, sometimes and we don't really have a clue about the real person behind the post.

I have also met Shaun and he's a pro', but we won't necessarily agree, in fact we rarely do, but I respect his striving for contineuous improvement.

rob

[Mike Halliday]

just to pick up on one thing carpetguy said, and is often repeated by people who charge lower prices;

I don't have to charge high prices because I have low overheads

what a load of nonsense its not about covering overheads its about making money, people talk like overheads are a bad thing.

 I'll tell you what, stay in the house and spend nothing, then your overhead will be nil but so will be your earning.

Mike

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I think Colin got the mumps on with me when I wrote

cbt- rubbish
If you only get a few calls a week how can you make it pay at £40 a job? if you can get a higher amount say £100 and you get 5 jobs a week then at least you can make money from day 1.

for that Colin I appologise irrelivant of where the arguement goes

[steve k]

This is how most small and young businesses fail, if you are working for someone at say £10 an hour and then come into cc and charge £20 an hour you may think that you have doubled your money when actually you have halved what you were originally on.

Shaun

how can anyones overheads be running at £15 an hour when starting out...??

[*paul_moss]

Steve
You still going into c/c

[spindle]

i generally charge what i think i can get away with.......then throw in a 10% discount .......feel good factor for them.......they are happy...so am i


i aim for £40/50 ph............

[Liahona]

Mike, nice comment and I would agree.  Of course you have to be aware of your overheads but to charge low if you dont have any is just bad business, period.  I am not saying it doesnt work  but in the same words, what a load of nonsense.  Apart from day to day running costs I have no overheads whatsoever.  Do I charge low because of? Absolutely not.  I charge what I do for my own reasons.  One being purely and simply to be more than Mr Walker. (yes he knows) Best, Dave.

[colin thomas]

shaun, i didn't get the 'mumps' with you over that comment, i just find it offensive when people think that just because  they have a truck-mount they think they are somehow better than everyone else, i have a truck-mount, a boxer 427, and i have friends who have 'puzzis' and often the only difference is the time taken to do the job, i woud'nt do this for a living if i had to use a portable but i wouldn't be so arrogant as to think that i am somehow 'better' than a portable guy, i think they really earn their money, the only proviso i would put is that EVERYONE should learn to clean carpets before they think of charging 'top dollar' for their work, we need to think ourselves as professionals, not as 'cowboys', you cannot be really proficient from day one. how long did it take you to be comfortable with cleaning carpets? for at least a year i thought i was a complete t**t! i was always surprised when they actually paid me money!!!
colin

[carpetguy]

Can't help wondering how you make any money Mike, according to your advert' almost everything appears to be FREE

colin

now that's a good post

rob

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I keep looking through my posts and I can't see where I have put anything about a TM cleaning better than a porti or trying to take customers for a ride, as for training that comes 2 fold, 1 is to do the job properly and professionally and the other is to be trained on how to get the correct prices.

Shaun

[paul wright]

why care about what other people charge,  i charge as much as i think i can get out the custy 

[steve k]

Paul Moss,
yes...just finalising what set up to get...selling off some of my stuff to raise some funds etc etc.
If overheads are £15 a hour...£105 per 7 hour day!!! £525 a week (5 days)...surely not...

[the red carpet]

Last time i worked mine out they were around £600 a week

Some peoples will be £100 some a grand