[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

We have many threads which go along the lines of, 'I earn £70 an hour' or 'I'm quite happy earning £30 an hour' etc.

I suspect this is however what we take rather than what we have left.

I was certainly guilty of being too cheap which means keeping equipment, vehicles etc longer than one should.

It is very important , particularly for newbies to do the maths correctly because if you do, it doesn't lie and will tell you whether you have a viable business.

We should applaud Chem Dry, Fast Track etc who strive to keep prices up thereby allowing us the CC the time and the money to do a first class job. 

I have steadily increased my prices over the past few years and can now aspire to a lifestyle of relative comfort.

Cheers

Doug

[chrisg]

You not answered it your self Doug

im not not answering because i earn more than the average, and i dont want to give the impression its the norm.

The majourity don't do very well imo. correct me if im wrong.

[martin19842]

hi there

isnt there another way to look at this.

ask yourself the question, "why did i start my own business ? "

THERE ARE A FEW ANSWERS

was redundant
was out of work
wanted to earn more money

wanted a better life,

the last one being a complex one, what is a better life, more money, more time for family, a better standard, or is it a combination of all factors.??

as long as you are happy with your earnings level then that is the main factor. 

personally i operate as a limited company, and after all the ex's and the wages and salaries , then i look at the profit and not infact the income or the wages.  and the profit being an important life blood for the future of the business.

so if i added it all together, ie benefits, vehicles, cars, insurance, health care etc, salary and profit levels, then i would need to be working for someone with a package on offer of at least £80k, coupled to the fact that i am my own boss, then im rather happy really.

so, therefore you need to look at the whole picture, rather than just the cash in the pocket.

regards

martin

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Chris,

I wasn't suggesting people reveal their actual incomes just questioning how realistic some of the earnings per hour figures are .

Cheers

Doug

[Matt Lindus]

In today's world the average Mr/Mrs Jones with two children, 4 bedroomed home in well kept order, new modest cars - Vectra and Corsa or similar, foreign holiday once a year, pension in place for comfortable retirement, £20.000 bank reserve for childrens future education's, weddings etc ect...

This average Mr/Mrs Jones needs to be taking home a joint or single salary of about £70.000 per annum per house hold. This is GROSS income.
According to a study carried out by the Tax office - The average well established carpet cleaner has a turnover of £35.000 with a gross net of about £18.000 - £25.000.

Matt

 

[chrisg]

thats interesting Matt, were did you find the figures?

[Buster Ingram]

To me Matts figures sound about right, there is no way however how hard I have tried I can not get my expenditure below fifteen grand a year. Whether it be portable or tuck-mounted machinery I'm using.
So if you take that as a base figure then put your wage on top followed by proffit you can't go far wrong.

[Mike Halliday]

a lot of people say its not how much you earn that's important, but how much of it you keep, that's not true

who would you rather be:

carpet cleaner No1 earns £45 an hour and spends £5 of it on expenses, so really earns £40 an hour.

carpet cleaner No 2 earns £70 an hour but has £40 of expenses so really only earns £30 an hour.

I'm sure everyone knows the right answer and if you don't search my past posts I've given this example 3 times before

Mike

 

[Buster Ingram]

Very true Mike
but how about this,

The guy who pays £5 an hour over heads runs a clapped out van.

the guy with £40 an hour runs top of the range T/M in bran spanking new sprinter

Now WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE?

[Buster Ingram]

Sorry Mike I forgot to mention we  all do not have 6 fingers like you to add up on

[calmore]

In today's world the average Mr/Mrs Jones with two children, 4 bedroomed home in well kept order, new modest cars - Vectra and Corsa or similar, foreign holiday once a year, pension in place for comfortable retirement, £20.000 bank reserve for childrens future education's, weddings etc ect...

This average Mr/Mrs Jones needs to be taking home a joint or single salary of about £70.000 per annum per house hold. This is GROSS income.
According to a study carried out by the Tax office - The average well established carpet cleaner has a turnover of £35.000 with a gross net of about £18.000 - £25.000.

Matt

 

People like Branson distort the "average earnings" figure.

take the stupidly rich out of the equation and your average member of the public will be on around £16,000.

[Mike Halliday]

Dave, partly true

but the way I see it is its about POTENTIAL   the most the £45 guy can ever earn is £45, but the £70 carpet cleaners can in time decrease his overheads, then he has the potential to earn £70 an hour

its important to remember, your maximum income is dependant on your gross earning not on your net income.

you get all these carpet cleaners who think they are clever by not spending money, and say "i earn £30/hr but i don't have any overheads", which is ok if you are happy to coast along, but I say earn £55/hr and get some overheads, you don't get big without spending money

Mike

[The Great One]

Hi

Why does cleaner only have £5 costs, just over 10% and cleaner 2 has £40 costs which is over 50%?

That is making figures up to suit your own justifications.

Why cannot cleaner 2 have £10 costs and earn £60 an hour. It makes no sense

Regards

Martin

[Mike Halliday]

if cleaner 1 had £40 cost he'd be bankrupt

Martin, I'll explain my reasoning a bit more, using my self as an example. say i earn between £70-£80 an hour, I would have to charge a lot more than the £45/hr guy.

To find the people willing to pay my high prices I would have to spend more money on advertising, I would have to spend more money on projecting an image of a type of company who the 'rich' would want to do business with ( like Dave said, I couldn't turn up in a knackered old van)  so by being an 'expensive' company ( who earns £70/hr)  i must  have larger overheads.

plus how can a cheap company charge cheap prices unless the do everything on the cheap, you can't buy the best unless you have the money to spend, then when you start spending that money, its means your overheads go up

this is my reasoning behind what i said, it might be flawed, but sounds right to me.

Mike

[Buster Ingram]

Mike either way you look at over heads to date I have found to include all expenditure there is no way they can be less than 15 grand a year. Unless like you say you run round sourcing the cheapest products in your old battered van.
And the time that will take will cost even more money 

[mark_roberts]

My expenses last year where around £31000.  This year Im hoping to reduce this to around £24000.  I know this cause I worked it out this morning.  Over the past few years Ive spent thousands on training, equipment, marketing etc etc.  Now Im reaping the rewards as Ive built up a base with steady work and dont need to spent so much on advertising also Ive built up my equipment to a level where I can stop buying the new toys although a RV360 would be nice  and a spinner tool and a ti wand..................................

Bottom line it whats you goal and work to that otherwise reading things like this and comparing your own figures either good or worst will put your head away.

Mark

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Mark you will never stop buying equipment/toys if like most you can always see an opening to get better or more or better paying work.

I stopped advertising altogether a few years ago apart from my database but I found that there wasn't enough new faces to fill in the gaps for my liking, Ken W and Derek B etc are in a more unique position because they all use the money to live on where I have Mrs.Meadowhall and 2 kids, 4 morgages. I like to make money to live on and invest for my future.

Shaun

[brights cleaning]

you reap what you sow

GIVE ME THAT NEEDLE!

[carpetguy]

Some welcome, realism ! When I post about the average c/c earning around £35 - £50 an hour, I get booed off the stage !!!!!!!!!!!

The main problem with discussing hourly rates, is that, in this industry, most people don't cost their work, by the hour, but base it mainly on , price per job and even there, the same job, in two identical houses could be charged at very different levels.

When I started, my aim was to earn double what I was earning as a driving instructor, that was about £19 per hour. Twenty years later, my aim is to earn three times the rate of a driving instructor which equates to about £60 per hour...............

But ! Much of the time, I will earn £45 - £50 per hour, occasionally, I will achieve around £90 - £100.

Over the past 12 months, my expenses have been approx' £8000, but I am doing half what I was doing 4 years ago and have no advertising costs, run a small 2 year old van and use a variety of products.

In addition to repeat business, I get regular work from Letting agents and a Maid service business, plus trades people who use me for emergencies.

Colin's correct...........

I have been pretty casual and laid back about marketing and coul have earned considerably more, had I MADE THE EFFORT, but the phone just kept ringing.

[The Great One]

Hi

I agree here.

At the end of the day you get what you can for the job depending on how much you want or need that job.

If you are stacked out you will either not do the job or put in a high price, if things are quiet as it is with some guys on here and for all of us at some point maybe, you do the job at the cheaper price (maybe hoping to upsell while there) better to work at the cheaper price than no work at all.

Just an opinion...

Regards

Martin