[steve k]

I know there are variables to take into account but lets say a moderately soiled 80/20 patterned carpet in a standard sized lounge...no obvious problems to deal with...vacuum, pre-spray, agitate,  HWE and groom...what would you expect to be your working time and price...15f x 12ft ...approx 5m x 4m = 20m2...
I ask because I am pricing what appears to be extremely high...!!!
A lounge carpet about 4m x 4m = 16m2...several spots looking like and confirmed by owner as wine spills on a maroon wool mix carpet...I quoted £120 and was told by a local cleaner it was a 40 minute job and he would have charged £40...

[darren72]

In the glasgow area £35.00 do it in just under an hour that might sound cheap and iam one of the dearer ones.

[Graeme@Access]

Hi,

I would put it at whatever your min job cost is.  We also operate througout Glasgow and would charge more than Darren.  Its up to you what you set your MJC at, but make it worth your while and at least cover the cost of unloading...etc etc.

Most clients realise that you cant turn up and go throught the motions for buttons, even if it is a small area.  Remember that most of your costs on small jobs occur while your not spending the 10 mins cleaning the tiny carpet.

Sell them protector and charge less for the clean, thats one approach to build in value.

Hope this helps

Graeme Thurston
Access Cleaning Solutions

[the red carpet]

Im testing different prices at the momment to try to get the right balance as i dont want to work to cheap but also dont want to price myself out of the job.

At this minute in time i would charge £59

When i 1st started i would have gone in at £38

And a couple of months back i would have been looking £86

That means your square foot price is 66p and i think i remember reading that the national average is 33p

time wise,  under a hour

[Andy Foster]

Hi

On the information given I would charge £60 for this job... about and hour and 20 minutes for me for this size but I am fairly new to the trade so I am a bit slower than the more experienced guys.


HTH

Andy

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

30 pounds for me as  ive just upped my prices , but will be 35 with tthe t.m. 

[Ian Rochester]

£40.00 + vat (£47.00) our new minimum, should take about the hour mark depending on soiling, furniture etc.

If I were to charge £120 up here I would have plenty of time to walk the dog during the day because nobody would be phoning me or ordering my services.

At the prices we charge I have 7 lads working flat out (carpets, windows, offices, end of tenancy, pressure washing) The diary is booked solid for the next 7 - 10 days and have quite a few jobs booked in for later than that.

We make a nice tidy profit, gain new work on a daily basis, mainly from recommendations and keep the customer happy and contented.

You need to get the balance right between being a busy fool and being expensive but idle.  Each geographic area will have differing levels

[steve k]

no wonder she never got back to me...
I was out carding yesterday (leafleting..but I use cards!)...and a man asked me to give him an estimate.
hall - approx 10m2
stairs -
landing - approx 4m2

It was a coloured wool mix with dust based soiling...looked easy to clean...I said £140.00...
I`m now thinking it should have been £80-£90

[mark_roberts]

Steve

How are you arriving at £140.

Sounds to me you are guessing prices instead of setting them in relation to your overheads.

Mark

[Amethyst]

I'm very much a Newbie but I reckon to charge £55 for this type of job. I'm now working to a guide of around £2.75/sq metre but with a minimum charge of £35. The way I see it is that the cleaning is the easy bit - it's all the faffing around getting your kit to the customers door. If there are multiple rooms then I would start to discount that sq mtr rate. I'd much rather spend all day on one job personally!!!

[bennymon]

for a lounge i start from £45    bedrooms from £35  with a minimum charge of £50   

[Geoff Jewkes]

no wonder she never got back to me...
I was out carding yesterday (leafleting..but I use cards!)...and a man asked me to give him an estimate.
hall - approx 10m2
stairs -
landing - approx 4m2

It was a coloured wool mix with dust based soiling...looked easy to clean...I said £140.00...
I`m now thinking it should have been £80-£90

AKA Dick Turpin !!!

[steve k]

I certainly am guessing...
I normally clean windows with WFP and price very accurately on sight to arrive at an hourly rate...but I am adding carpet cleaning to my services and as I take delivery of my Mytee speedster set up tomorrow, I have been out carding and am really ignorant as to how long it takes to clean per M2.
BUT...one lesson I learnt from starting out in window cleaning was to price high and you can always come down...price low and it takes an age to get out of that trap.
Just by pricing those 2 jobs and posting on here with the outcome has helped me with future pricing.
I will lower my pricing in small measures until I start getting some work...when I am getting 5-6 jobs out of 10...my income should be acceptable without having to bust a gut with loads of low priced stuff.
Everyone must have guessed at pricing when starting out...how else can it be done?

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

I certainly am guessing...
I normally clean windows with WFP and price very accurately on sight to arrive at an hourly rate...but I am adding carpet cleaning to my services and as I take delivery of my Mytee speedster set up tomorrow, I have been out carding and am really ignorant as to how long it takes to clean per M2.
BUT...one lesson I learnt from starting out in window cleaning was to price high and you can always come down...price low and it takes an age to get out of that trap.
Just by pricing those 2 jobs and posting on here with the outcome has helped me with future pricing.
I will lower my pricing in small measures until I start getting some work...when I am getting 5-6 jobs out of 10...my income should be acceptable without having to bust a gut with loads of low priced stuff.
Everyone must have guessed at pricing when starting out...how else can it be done?

buy ringing a  round and finding out what everybody else is chargeing 

[steve k]

the first job I quoted was a suite which I quoted at £20 per seating area (£140.00) which I believe to be fair pricing...she then asked if I could give a price for the carpet on which the suite was sat..."er...well...let me see...probably £120.00"...didn`t have a clue...she never flinched though...probably a touch of shock...
Apparently, this would have taken 40 minutes to an hour...!!!

The next quote was as I was dropping cards and the owner of the house came running out to ask me for a price on his hall, stairs and landing...on the spot again..."£140.00" but I did say I would confirm in writing which I did today and managed to drop it with a 15% OAP discount to £112.00...we`ll see

This is what setting out on a small business is all about...trial and error...highs and lows...excitement and a good boatload of nervousness!

[RAM Cleaning]

Hi Guys,

We start at a minimum of £45, for the living room from the first post it would be £45, but we always tell our custy that we discount on multiple rooms.  like someone said in an earlier thread a lot of the time is taken up with the actually setting up, which i explain to my custy, that it would be cheaper to get more down now rather than later, i.e, a living room and another room approx the same size would only cost you £65 on the same day but if i go back a week later each room on its own would cost you £90, Just a rough example.

Richard

[cleanability]

I'm in the £40 £45 region. £120???   bleeping heck. I been looking for a carpet for my hall today and for £120 you can get a new one and not bad quality for £120  lolllllllllll Maybe thats why I'm not a multi millionaire but I couldnt take £120 off someone for 1 hours work. Daylight robbery. We are doing a job which a an imbecile could be trained to do in a few hours anyway.

Chrs

[spindle]

i used to charge less than i do now but not a much as i will charge in the future

[steve k]

it seems that the price bracket is around £2.00/£3.00 per square metre.
So a standard sized lounge of 5m x 4m = 20m2 would be priced between £40 and £60.

Bennymon...how do you have a minimum of £50 but charge £45 for a lounge...do you not do single rooms?

Cleanability...carpet cleaning done by an imbecile with an hours training would warrant low prices and not much referral work to build up a good customer base... :

I quoted a through lounge of 24m2 and a hall of 8m2...total of 32m2.
At £3 a square metre, this would be £96.00

The woman is a childminder and said they could only be done at a weekend...I quoted £120.00 and have it booked in for next Saturday.

I know with experience, things become easier as you find shortcuts and tricks to make your life easier and quicker but it seems like a whole load of hassle setting up all the bits and peices of a portable set up...and the cleaning is pretty tough too

I cannot see how you can be in and out of a furnitured lounge , job done to yours and customers satisfaction in anything less than an hour and a half.

Set up equipment, move furniture, pre-vac, pre spray, agitate, extract, furniture back, tab furniture and then do the same again on traffic areas...a big noisy machine with electric cords, a vacuum cleaner, agitating machine and a drier...all wrestling for space and electricity in a customers house...
How do you do it in less than an hour...

[Jason Hedges]

I think charging on room size depends on SO many factors.

Is it empty or is there furniture to move (can double work time).
Is it on the ground floor or 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.
Accessability, parking etc.
Level of soiling, type of carpet & method used.

Different factors demand different prices.

One 15'x12' carpet could be an hour job another could be 2 or more.

I'd charge £35 for an empty ground floor easy access but say £60/£70 for a furniture moving, 2nd/3rd floor awkward access.