[Chris D]

  hi,

This is my first message on the forum.  I have just completed my first days training and I have a contract waiting for me to clean the childrens nursery carpets and windows that my twins attend plus 2 other definates plus the other 21 nurseries in their group around the country.  I am literally just starting up in the carpet cleaning and have been window cleaning for the past 4 months.  Can anyone help me with how to quote.  I have been told if I can quote cheaper than the company they are using the contract is mine.  What should I look for?  Do I measure the rooms?

[Ian Gourlay]

Where did you do the training.
Did they not give you any clue about how much to charge,
So you want to Guess a Price.

Can you not find out what other company charges

[Chris D]

It was a general carpet/upholstery cleaning course organised locally to get you started.  I was hoping someone had maybe done this before as I have not a clue and at the moment not sure where to start.  I thinbk maybe I will call a couple of cleaning firms tomorrow to see what they charge.

[Martin_Riley]

Chris
I really think you need to think about this a bit more. What you are saying is that this chain of Nurseries will use you as long as you are cheaper than the other company. What if the other guy is already so cheap that he isn't making any money? He may have got the contract because he was cheaper than the last guy. That would mean that when another cheap wanabee carpet cleaner comes along you will also lose the contract. If you want to start a carpet cleaning business this is just about the worst way to gain work. Nothing wrong with it ethically because all you are doing is competing, but you are only competing on price and as someone (much wiser) than I once said "when the price changes you'll lose the customer". You need to assess how much it is costing you to be in business, ie Machinery, Overheads, marketing & advertising, training and so on. Then you need to decide on how much profit you want out of it. Don't forget taxes and insurance. If you took the time to work all of this out you would realise that the way you plan to conduct yourself with this first client is a fast road to nowhere. If the owner/manager of these premises had said this to me I wuold have answered " I might not be cheaper but I can show you I'm better, faster, more thorough etc"
Good luck for the future, I know I've had a bit of a go but my intentions are positve. This industry is littered with new people starting up, trying to gain business by price alone (mistakenly thinking that this alone wins business) and then becoming dissillusioned or worse broke and jacking it all in and then hey presto another cheap machine with all the gubbins on Ebay.
Hope this helps
Martin

[Dave_Lee]

Chris,
Sorry, but it doesnt sound much of a course that you went on, otherwise you wouldnt need to ask such a basic question. If you are serious about getting involved in this business, the first thing you need to do is get yourself on a recognised course asap. Us established pro's can still get things wrong at sometime or other, without the basis of a foundation its going to be very risky.
Be careful out there!
Dave.

[John_Flynn]

Go for 35p per square foot.

[Len Gribble]

Chris D

Follow advice given by Martin and Dave, also check the yellow pages and the new shopper and not to forget leaflets though your door, that what you will be up against.

Potential customers love dangling a carrot! You need to find out a lot more details from the customer, if not forth coming don’t waist your time! Hope you have not brought a machine on promises by what every party it may not be the right machine for the job!

Would not bother phoning around to see what prices other cc charge, any pro cc worth his/her salt would want to see the premises first, commercial that is!

The above this is not meant to dissolution you just a wake up call.

I wish you well in you new career.

Len

[Chris D]

 :)Hi Everyone that helped with advice.  I think I should tell you that it was me who asked the initial question (me being Karen Chris's wife)  I am attempting to find out all i can to help Chris build his business.  The Nursery we are seing today is not so much price based but is build on our relationship with the management.  I hope I have not given you all the impression that Chris is a cowboy, he is very very determined to succeed in window cleaning/carpet cleaning and gave up a management accountant job in London to follow this dream.

Again thankyou for your responses and I hope I can ask for advice in future.

Karen for Chris

[Chris Bailey]

Hi Karen/Chris

Firstly, Phew.. I was reading through the postings thinking that you have spent a lot of money potentially for nothing.  If you have a good relationship with the management then price shouldn't be such an issue but you still need to be competitive.

You should also be aware of all the expenses concerned with travelling to and from the other 21 sites located around the country, will this still make the job profitable!

There are different ways of charging and there are a number of strings on this forum dedicated to this (use the search facility), some people offer a price per room, per sq ft or per sq metre.  The important thing is that you make profit.

Regarding training - I started carpet cleaning about 8 months ago, got a two day training course by a manufacturer who supplied ample course notes that also covered pricing.  I am also attending the NCCA training in Feb, the point is is that there is more to carpet cleaning than meets the eye so make sure you have adequate training and insurance that covers treatment risk - and practice on friends first if possible.

Best of luck

Chris

[mark_roberts]

You gave up a job like that to clean carpets.  Are you mad???

[Len Gribble]

Karen

You are only a stones throw away from me and would like to try your hand at cleaning your own you can borrow mine! That if you haven’t already brought one? But it dose sound like you have! so 

Regarding the nursery no difference to any other type of commercial work, they are all price conscience, regardless of building up a relationship, I bet a few on here could tell you some stories!

Chris made a good point 21 across the county.

I’m only a pm away

Len

[Martin S]

Chris Bailey,

I'm also on the NCCA course in February.  See you there.

Regards.

Martin S.

[martin19842]

hi there,

well ive watched this topic with some interest,

firstly everybody has to start somewhere.,

and most people would have given up doing something previously to start a new venture.

pricing, this is one of those most crucial points,  price cheaply, win the business, result people talk to people, then you will not be able to lever the pricing.

price to high, put some customers off.

starting out in business, you need to mkae sure that you are covering your overheads. i know what each operative has to do each day to make a gross and nett profit.

as your business expands your overheads reduce per job, therefore pricing becomes slightly less critical.

BUT i will return to my most passionate argument.  This business the cleaning industry as a whole is huge, the different market places vast.  You should always be charging as much as possible to increase your profit.  Too many people are trying to reduce price, because "thats what the client wants" i say sell up, stick to your price, and make profit.

We are busy, we are not the cheapest, and we are an expanding business, profit is required to expand and survive.  your business is only a means to an ends.

its only an opinion

regards

martin

[Kinver_Clean]

About 18 months ago I virtually doubled my prices and wondered if I would lose a lot of work--- wel I did---- all the rubbish jobs off the bottom. Did I lose profit NO I have had the best years so far and I am away most weekends in the country. If you aim high you can always drop a bit and not come to too much harm-- if you are at the bottom its hard to climb up!

Good luck

Trevor

[Phil Marlor]

I agree,

Didnt take me long till I quickly raised my prices up, when I look back I cant believe what I charged for the 1st 3 months.

Dont go in cheap, dont try to compete with the low end of the market.


Phil

[Chris D]

  Thanks guys for the advice, Len I see you are in Sidcup, you are close by, I would be grateful to borrow your machine, as yet Chris has not bought a machine yet.  He is trying to do the ground work first.  The comment from someone else about giving up the job in London, if you could have seen Chris 5 months ago you would not ask the question, he was so stressed and hated what he was doing so much he was almost physically sick on Sundays and monday mornings.    He is so much less stressed now and happier.

Karen

[Len Gribble]

Karen

Tell me about the rat race work in the city for 18years

Will pm my number

len

[Chris D]

 :)thanks Len, speak to you soon.


Karen