[Kev Loomes]

Original question:

Would you work for £20 an hour? Er NO. Not for running a business. After business expenses and running costs there is no real point. Its not really a business and wont last for long IMO.

[carpet guy]

Dave

If you consider three, or it might be four vans, working full time throughout the year, there is a lot of cash generation taking place.

I was part of a similar operation some 12 - 15  years ago with 6 operators throughout a 200 mile radius plus the two principles creaming off the higher value work.

This generated approx' £8k per week, from the 6 self employed operators with advertising costs of only around £240 per week. The operators got 40% leaving a healthy 60% of the gross going to the principles, who already earned around £900 per week each.

This operation ran for 10 years and allowed the two gentlemen concerned to aquire a number of properties and close down the operation having achieved their objectives.

The work was all low priced, but usually averaged around £40

This is just another way of generating cash, cash the lifeblood of any business !

There is no perfect cash cow, but there are ways of making money from relatively low charges, bearing in mind, when charges are low, it's very common to have clients request additional work and you are already there.

Not advocating £20 an hour and would NEVER price c/c on a time basis.

[Ian Gourlay]

Rob

Although I understand where you are coming from

I say hats off to the Guys who generated that much work? and then reinvested the money

My property Guru reconds £15000 in cash will convert to 100k in 5 years time I think he is in a dream world but he is a Millionare and I am not.  He was illustrating why its best to build up cash to invest

But £40 12years ago

Was £20 an hour 12 years ago

Did the self employed people pay for own equipment and transport

[mitch2810]

It depends on whether you are talking gross or net. I think the majority of us would be happy with making £20 per hour once all our expenses were paid. If this was the case we would be clearing £800 for a 40 hour week, which is pretty good. If you are talking gross then £20 per hour is not enough to maintain a decent income and re-invest enough money back into our business for it to survive and progress.
Phil

[mark_roberts]

You couldnt work 40 hours cleaning carpets.  Your actual working day would then be 12 hours with all the travelling, on the phone etc.

I used to work for a low price company.  Averaged out at £30-£40 per hour 8 yeas ago.  No real standards of workmanship, no training, no insurance, worked from the car, low par portable machinery, no secondary machinery ie. agitation machine or vacuum cleaner.  Big drive to sell extras which where not needed. Customer care or satisfaction wasent thought about.  So very quickly there was no motivation among the cleaners to work in those circumstances.  Many left to start on their own as I did.  Many failed because they though they could undercut by a few pound and get the work but they failed to understand the quanity principle.

Needless to say the company is no longer trading.  Yes the owners did make money but made many enemies along the way.  This model of business is not recommended.

Mark

[carpet guy]

While I agree with your sentiments and morality, there is a level  above the one you you quote, where there is money to be earned.

There is no point being idealistic about, " not working for a penny less than £ ? " and not working, just as kidding yourself that every job MUST be fully vacuumed / presprays are timed to the second / wanding is done, as it was taught, even in areas of virtually no soiling and so on.

In every business there are rules and guidelines, pedantic fools follow the book to the letter and get paranoid when presented with a challenge which their book does'nt cover.

Practical, confident individuals just " get on with it "and collect the money, which allows the realist to manage their time more effectively and even while working on a lower rate, will, because they are more efficient, earn more money.

They would be foolish to work for £20 an hour, when working efficiently, they will earn £50 to £70 per hour, by being good at managing.

[Karl Wildey]

Is this a discussion about working for £20.00 a hour, or employing guys having 5 or 6 vans and those guys working for £20.00 an hour and you getting the profit,
big difference.
And the person with the property is quitting cleaning cos it don't pay, and is not worth the hassles.

One man band working for £20 is not enough money

[Paul Kettless]

Always the same these threads - as the majority of our business is general cleaning we work for much less than £20 an hour.  Carpet cleaning is generally more than £20 an hour, but not always.

And I always take offence to people assuming that I run a mickey mouse company just because we are not charging the big bucks.

Obviously a nice car, house, 2 holidays a year, savings and a pension scheme is under selling myself.  Note to self, must try harder...!!

[ollie]

I just worked 6 hours for £120 and im happy  ( i had planned on it being 2 hours though)

[PaulKing]

I just worked 6 hours for £120 and im happy  ( i had planned on it being 2 hours though)

That what i was thinking beter to aim high and if there a problem you stll cover costs, had a problem on a job where there was unexplained browning, took 3 hours to put right but costs still worked out covered. "which was nice"

[Ian Gourlay]

Always the same these threads - as the majority of our business is general cleaning we work for much less than £20 an hour.  Carpet cleaning is generally more than £20 an hour, but not always.

And I always take offence to people assuming that I run a mickey mouse company just because we are not charging the big bucks.

Obviously a nice car, house, 2 holidays a year, savings and a pension scheme is under selling myself.  Note to self, must try harder...!!

Paul the idea is that it GEES us all up

[Atlantic Cleaning]

Always the same these threads - as the majority of our business is general cleaning we work for much less than £20 an hour. Carpet cleaning is generally more than £20 an hour, but not always.

And I always take offence to people assuming that I run a mickey mouse company just because we are not charging the big bucks.

Obviously a nice car, house, 2 holidays a year, savings and a pension scheme is under selling myself. Note to self, must try harder...!!

My words exactly Paul well said !!

[carpet guy]

Gentlemen you are the genuine people who the public will happily give their hard earned cash to, feeling it's been EARNED and pass your name to friends and relatives.