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darren72

  • Posts: 155
Re: fed up!
« Reply #20 on: June 21, 2007, 12:35:36 am »
I could have minimum charge £50-£60 but i would be sitting on my arse a lot.The job i was talking about was less than 2 miles away so whats that cost in diesel as to the other costs wear and tear of van brakes ect what a load of crap thats what your vans there for.I also do window cleaning got the odd £20 house here and there so what would you sugest not bother doing them to save a few miles on the van.Some of the prices you charge down south are a complete joke £250 for 2 hrs work is that the norm or do yous always get that i get a few jobs like that my self but not very often.As for my over heads advertising yellow pages and local paper gets about 10 jobs a week thats plenty for me considering 60% of my work is still domestic&commercial window cleaning.

darren72

  • Posts: 155
Re: fed up!
« Reply #21 on: June 21, 2007, 12:59:06 am »
Red carpet i think i read in one of your earlier posts you got a new van and truckmont good for you the only thing i would say is after 6 months and if you need new brakes and a clutch i think you have to look at your driving mate.

murky

  • Posts: 627
Re: fed up!
« Reply #22 on: June 21, 2007, 08:07:05 am »
Well done Red, now you see what you are really worth.
People cant make a profit doing rugs or anything for £30.00. Wear and tear, diesel etc etc very well put.

Custy rang yesterday 'Can I have a quote to clean my house?' 'Well How big are the rooms'  'Dont know'  'Well  we dont give quotes over the phone really, can we come and look to see it'    'No. Everyone else has quoted'           I said 'Well you had better let them do it then' and I put the phone down.

They dont want the job done properly, just cheaply.

Murky

carpetguy

Re: fed up!
« Reply #23 on: June 21, 2007, 08:46:22 am »
Murky

And what do you do, when you want a service or task carried out or consider buying something ?

What you do, is the same as 90% of the population, you phone around, or trot around for prices, then you make an informed decision. THAT IS WHAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE DO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to work part time, like so many others and kid yourself on, that you are " above " the busy guy, who averages £60 to £90 per job, but gets through 2  -  3 of these per day and is happy in his work then that's your choice.

Another point that's frequently raised, is the presumption that QUALITY COMES WITH A HIGHER COST and this is certainly NOT the case with many, in this industry.

Big machine ..................Big price..................does not necessarily mean Better result !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have to go, as I have a regular client to do, light coloured carpets throughout the house, so they get cleaned three times per year, now in my 10th year with her.

Four bedrooms, hall stair landing, about two and a half hours and I only charge £120, but, I do it three times per year and have gained at least a dozen other clients through this client.


stevegunn

Re: fed up!
« Reply #24 on: June 21, 2007, 09:30:29 am »
Three jobs yesterday 2 no access for t/m,1 builders had not finished(why they could not ring ::)).

First job this morning kitchen fitters not finished unfortunately this lady got it with both barrels why wait till I turn up to do the job such things as telephones to change day  >:( >:( >:(

murky

  • Posts: 627
Re: fed up!
« Reply #25 on: June 21, 2007, 09:33:37 am »
Quite right too.

I would charge about the same, you have regular money coming in, its generally a maintenance programme. Thats regular work, the best kind.

I have a few regular custys now, doing things for them 3 or 4 times a year sometimes, keeping in touch all the time.

You go back to a good garage all the time because they dont rip you off and give a good service.

Or I can go to 'Kerbside Motors' and not know if he knows what he is doing or actually done anything at all.

Murky




Ian Rochester

  • Posts: 2588
Re: fed up!
« Reply #26 on: June 21, 2007, 10:49:47 am »
I have just had a cancellation for this morning, 3 piece and lounge carpet, first one I've had in ages, luckily it was quite local so no real hassle.

Steve, interesting your comment about not being able to get access for your TM.  John Kelly gave me an excellent and impressive test drive of his Prowler TM yesterday, a mighty fine machine and the airflow on it is phenomenal and instantaneous. 

My only lingering reservation with any TM is on the access side of things.  How many jobs do you get where you need to get the porty out?

I did a hotel last week and had to go through 6 sets of fire doors and up two flights of stairs to get to a bedroom an hallway carpet.

Anyway, enough of this sitting around, I've got another 2 jobs to do today!!! :P ;D

stevegunn

Re: fed up!
« Reply #27 on: June 21, 2007, 12:42:18 pm »
Lionheart

One was in Fenham where all the hospital staff park so even with the portable it was a canny hike back to the house going back on Saturday.
The other was a flat in Kingston park where there was no road leading to the door just an alley between garages could have done it if I really wanted to 200ft of hose would have got there but its a bit rough up on the darkside ;D ;)

Never get the porty out as the t/m makes you lazy :-[

colin thomas

  • Posts: 813
Re: fed up!
« Reply #28 on: June 21, 2007, 07:28:38 pm »
just my opinion but i think there are too many people living in cloud cuckoo land, we all get outrageous  prices now and again but some like to tell it that it is the norm for them and quite frankly, i don't believe them.  i have  done work for some very well off people and they still turn their noses up if  the price is to high, everyone wants a good price no matter what money they have and the customers who will pay the earth are few and far between.

colin
colin thomas

ianharper

Re: fed up!
« Reply #29 on: June 21, 2007, 07:35:39 pm »
CBT


your right

i have always tried to give value though offers, and some really good ones from free rooms to free stain pro. but as you say it pound notes that people respond to. offers in money terms work better.

respect

Ian Harper

Shaun_Ashmore

  • Posts: 11382
Re: fed up!
« Reply #30 on: June 21, 2007, 08:00:53 pm »
Colin in Blackpool does regularly get the best prices mind you he does an excellent job no short cuts what so ever but I bet his average job ticket will be £200 and he goes out to quote all of his jobs however big or small.

Offering discounts and money off doesn't have to sound so bad if you exagerate the price of the 1st carpet, ie to enhance the 1st carpet to be cleaned and give value for money try offering,

 "have your carpet cleaned and scotchguard protected and get another carpet cleaned for free"

This increases the value of your 1st carpet say as a figure £90 then you have the oppertunity to sell scotchguard on the 2nd carpet say at £30 = £120 for a job and if you wanted you could then offer every carpet cleaned and scotchguarded at half price thereafter.

Upselling is the key to bigger tickets and less jobs and with a TM it is made for it.

Shaun

brights cleaning

  • Posts: 156
Re: fed up!
« Reply #31 on: June 21, 2007, 08:21:50 pm »
thanks Shaun for your'e vote of confidence
CONFIDENCE thats an interesrting word!
i always go and see the job im quoting for, but i do have a minimum charge
if the job is only small ,it is really easy to upsell once your client has met you and feels CONFIDENT in your abillities
some people cant be bothered to go and look at the job, then complain that the client did'nt want to pay
price shoppers nearly always back out when i say i need to look at the job
genuine people who want the job doing properly will nearly always book the job
but only if it has been explained properly and they feel they can trust you to provide and excellent service
or when the feel CONFIDENT.
p.s really busy here in blackpool
my best year ever so far....i love my truckmount

Shaun_Ashmore

  • Posts: 11382
Re: fed up!
« Reply #32 on: June 21, 2007, 08:26:14 pm »
quoted by someone else

"it is far easier to reduce a high price than to ask for more when you start low"

Shaun

brights cleaning

  • Posts: 156
Re: fed up!
« Reply #33 on: June 21, 2007, 08:27:48 pm »
you are  Sooooooooooooooooooooooo right

colin thomas

  • Posts: 813
Re: fed up!
« Reply #34 on: June 21, 2007, 09:03:24 pm »
all i was trying to say is that i don't believe that anyone, however good at sales you are, can get top prices on every job, some like to give the impression that they do, if you haggle for top dollar and can't get it and walk  away, i can accept that, if you are a door-stopper and wont leave until you get a sale, good luck to you, i can't do that.

colin
colin thomas

brights cleaning

  • Posts: 156
Re: fed up!
« Reply #35 on: June 21, 2007, 09:15:04 pm »
my quote take less than 20 minutes, they are informative but straight to the point, nobody says you cant haggle but some guys just DO NOT CHARGE ENOUGH
it is only their business that they are harming
too many people go in with  i want to be "Your best Mate" attitude and activley cut their prices just to get the job
thats fine as long as you make a good profit on the job and dont cut corners to reflet the price, if it aint worth doing, don't do it
this "i cant get those prices where i live" is a load of bull
its all down to confidence,
chemical and machine suppliers don't charge people in less in certain parts of the country, so neither should we.

colin thomas

  • Posts: 813
Re: fed up!
« Reply #36 on: June 21, 2007, 09:18:01 pm »
i agree with every word you say, what i am saying is that you can't get top dollar every job as some like to give the impression they do.

colin
colin thomas

Liahona

Re: fed up!
« Reply #37 on: June 21, 2007, 09:26:11 pm »
Colin, I understand your comment but I think a lot of it is to do with the market we as cleaners work in.  It is no different in someone always getting "top dollar" than someone else continually getting £25 a room or whatever is their norm.

Their market makes the pricing what it is.

 I do get top dollar on every job but that is because of the market I target, nothing to do with the monies I charge.

I am fortunate that I dont have to sell the way  you have suggested but again that's because of my market.

My suggestion to those who don't get the amount of monies for the cleaning they do is to change the market.

Cleaning is cleaning is cleaning.  Who you clean for is the challenge.

Also I have found in teaching, not only in the cleaning field but other things too that most people get what they ask for.  What I have found with cleaning is that most cleaners simply dont ask for what they want.  They ask for what they think the "clean" is worth in their own minds.

Too many people on here are interested in what someone else charges for cleaning a carpet for example.  Who gives a monkeys what anyone else charges?

We should charge what WE want not what anyone else is charging.  If I charged the same as anyone else then I would be moaning too about not charging enough.  I know the above is a sweeping statement but I am sure you get my point, best, Dave.

colin thomas

  • Posts: 813
Re: fed up!
« Reply #38 on: June 21, 2007, 09:48:50 pm »
dave, i understand exactly what you are saying, if you are selling rolls royces you don't expect to sell them at fiesta prices, the people who buy a rolls expect to pay the rolls price but when i see silly prices like 'i would charge £350 for a lounge' in a 'normal' 3-bed semi someone is, as it were, having a laugh. i get airiated (is that a real word?) that some will be reading that sort of thing and thinking that somehow they are doing something wrong, i think we should get our feet on the ground sometimes and realise that you can't get top prices all the time.

colin
colin thomas

francis

  • Posts: 125
Re: fed up!
« Reply #39 on: June 21, 2007, 10:03:19 pm »
Dave/Colin

I get the feeling you guys are talking past each other because you both have a different interpretation of the phrase 'top dollar' and the context in which you are using it