[Jan K]

Hi guys!

I have this week written to my Clients advising of my price increase (and I am now nervously waiting for them all to cancel!! :

And just a few moments ago I had a call from a prospective Client looking for a regular cleaner. This is the first call where I quoted my new rate of £9.00 per hour (it was £7.50). She was a little shocked (not unexpected, if you have followed previous posts of mine), but asked if she could 'try it out for a month or so to see if she could afford it". Of course I said yes and so the ball starts to roll. However, I am harbouring feelings that I need to justify why I am so 'expensive' and feel quite guilty about charging so  much (this is the inexperienced business owner coming out). I know my service is excellent value for money, and I offer a premium service, but I find it difficult to put this forward to my Clients without  sounding as tho I am bragging!! I hope you can understand what I mean as it is difficult to explain. It may well be just concerns setting in that I may be pricing myself out of the market.....however I have started advertising again and new business will soon come in, that I know. 

I suppose it is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other........afraid of losing existing and have no work for either my cleaners or me, but looking forward to getting new Clients but not having any cleaners to do the work.............he he

[garyj]

Hi Jan,

Justifying £9.00 an hour is easy. Accountants, advertising, insurance, bank charges, vehicles, stock, HOLIDAY PAY, payroll person, telephone. And thats just off the top of my head.

At £9.00 an hour, you are a bargain.

Make your customers aware that £9.00 is a special introductory offer because you are new. Sound confident when giving your price, don't dither. Think how much the adverts for staff & work cost you. Believe me £9.00 is not a lot.

Gary

[George-Reid]

Jan
You have to start to beleive you can charge that amount because if you cant beleive it you cant sell it.

It is very easy to convince your self that this or that is right or wrong and also easy to kid on to your self about your true costs.

Be happy about every customer who turns you away because you will be a step closer to the customer who says yes.

I sold my domestic cleaning business over 4 years ago and was charging more than that an hour then.

Cheers
George

[The Great One]

Hi jan

Explain to your customers that this is the reality price, as the other company was undercharging them and creating a false enconomic situation.

i would charge more than £9.00 p/h. If you are paying £5.50 say, then you have fuel, materials, Pl insurance, tax, wear 'n tear, employee liability insurance, equipment, admin, accountant, bookkeeper, initial survey and phone call.

It all adds up, can you make a profit out of the £3.50 change?

I always recommend to people to read books on business and motivation, lets face it no one else is going to do it for you!

get

Rich dad Poor dad
Who moved my Cheese
Getting Rich Your Own Way

Regards

Martin

[Jan K]

cheers guys!

i think my biggest problem is purely the fact I now have 2 people working for me who are relying on work from me. When it was just myself I was working flat out and things were good, then I took on 2 peeps and things were still good. But now I have increased my prices and advised most of my exisiting Clients, I think I am just a little concerned that if too many cancel then I won't have enough for my 2 cleaners and one of them has just left her previous job to come to me..........oooo the joys of being a  ::)boss eh?

[The Great One]

Forgot something...

Never feel guilt, as someone may use it as a weapon against you!

Regards

Martin

[Ian Gourlay]

What has puzuled me is why you charge by the hour.

Mrs Bloggs requires a certain amount of work the charge for that will be 30.00

Mrs Bloggs will not be told that you expect your team to complete tasks in two hours.

The cleaning schedule Mrs Bloggs has will contain a lot of adjectives and task discriptions

Convincing her you are Simply The Best.



I would not have put my price up to existing clients until I had recruited sufficient clients at the new price to repace any I might loose.

[Jan K]

Ian m8, peeps down here would be hard pushed to persuade to pay in any other way but by the hour. They like to know exactly qwhen you are arriving and when you are leaving and what you have done in between..........there is no way I could ever charge £30.oo for 2 hours work in the majority of cases.

[Unique]

I agree with the person beforehand.  It is better to charge by the job.  I have learnt that the hard way.  I notice that if you charge by the hour and the job needs more than 1 person the client  does not understand or want to understand that the hour is per person per job.

[Jan K]

in my experience domestic cleaning rarely needs more than one person per job, and if it does it is only cos I would want to ge the job done in half the time. On one-off's like builders cleans or spring/deep cleans then i quote by the job and not the hour. But for the regular dom cleans it is by the hour for me

[BSF]

Hi all

I have read these posts with interest, I can see Ian’s point of view, but with respect Ian most people who take on the services of a domestic cleaner want to know how many hours they are getting for their money.  Any enquiry we receive (average two a day) the hourly rate is always asked, but we always make it clear that if two staff are sent  it would be 2x2 hrs =4 hrs.

We charge a minimum of £10 plus vat, we recently increased our price because of the vat and didn’t lose one customer, all received a letter the week before their next visit.

Another point is we quote the hourly rate so my staff know when they will be leaving for the next job.  If I quoted on a fixed price I wouldn’t know how long the job was going to take.

Regards Paul

[Ian Gourlay]

I can understand why you charge by the hour.

As I understand it Contract Cleaners Charge for the Office to be cleaned on a daily basis.

Carpet Cl;eaners Charge for the Job

Window Cleaners Charge for the Job

So why should Domestic Cleaning be any diffrent

Window Cleaners expect £25 pounds per hour.

Why should domestics work for £8 it does not make sense

Domestic Cleaners need more equipment Probably more skills

That will get me hung

[Jan K]

Hi Paul!

I agree, that is exactly my point, and I signed up a new Client yesterday at my new rate, purely because her previous cleaner quoted by the job and not the hour and then the cleaner was nipping off way earlier than the Client expected and wasn't doing the job properly. Also you are right, my cleaners know exactly how long they are to be at a job and will utilise the whole time allocated and do a better job, in my experience. Both they and I generally have more than one job per day and Clients also like to know when we are expected so they can make themselves scarce for the 2 or 3 hours they know for sure we will be cleaning if they aren't already at work that is. Some of my Clients have said we can be at theirs any time between one time and another, but most like to have exact times of start and finish.

2 of my exisitng Clients out of the 7 I have written to explaining the price increase have come back and ok'd it......and I am getting enquiries of at least 2 - 4 a week, out of which I am generally signing up 2, so I am pretty sure that I will be ok, as will my girls. BTW my overheads are low....really low. I do all my own advertising (except Yellow Pages), all my own printing, marketing, book-keeping. I would say my biggest overhead is petrol (apart from Y Pages) and I would have to pay that if I was an employee anyway. And in fact I use less now as a worker/business owner than I did when I was a mere housewife cos I used to tootle about here there and everywhere, shopping, visiting friends, doing the usual bored housewife stuff!! No bored any more.....oh no!!

[BSF]

Hi Ian

When I quote for a contract I find out what hours the previous company is providing, I then decide if I think the job requires more hours, this is discussed in the opening meeting.  The price I give has to be based on these hours, employee wages, cover for holiday pay etc, along with the materials I agree to supply. The company (depending on size) asking for the quote wants to know how many hours they are going to be getting for the price.

All work has to be based on time taken…  for example: I would quote £150 for an end of tenancy clean on a two bed house because I know by viewing the property in my opinion it was going to take two staff 4hrs at the very most to complete. Paid at £7.50 each an hr £60 for wages with all my overheads I still make a good profit.  Three hours and I’m quid’s in.  Point taken (from you Ian) I don’t tell the letting agent it will take 4hrs to complete but I have to estimate this to give a price.
Domestics are a very different ball game, the customer wants to know at all costs how long the cleaner will be at the property, (so do I) If this was priced per job Mrs Smith would want a full spring clean on her first visit, we explain the more hours they pay for the more detailed the clean. Some people think they can pay for two hours a fortnight and their 5 bed 3 bath barn conversion will be spotless, no way!!!!

I do take your point Ian, but you must agree all work is based on time taken, but a lot of work carpet cleaning, windows, new builds etc, this allowed time isn’t discussed with the client.

A window cleaner might earn £25 an hour but not for 8hrs a day 52weeks a year, I’ve seen it done it..  cold days, rain, dark nights, collecting money till all hours, no thanks!!
Ladder Insurance!! (limited company) enough said!!

Domestic cleaners are under paid, but unfortunately it is a cut throat business as I’ve stated in a previous post on the forum I charge a minimum of £11.75 inc vat, increased annually.  I struggle to get domestic staff so any enquiries I get when I’m short on resources I will quote £15 plus vat per cleaner per hour,  if I get the job I will fit it in somehow.

Sorry to waffle on!

Jan

Stick at it, keep putting the prices up!  More customers!

Get more good reliable staff (hard I Know)

Regards Paul     

[Jan K]

Paul, it seems as though you have found a happy balance in all lines of cleaning work........I have to admit, this message board is a god send, it is so difficult to get information (especially legal stuff) and I have taken on board advice given and information read about on these pages. If I knew who it was who set it all up, I'd give 'em a pat on the back and buy 'em a drinkie......without all you guys who are experienced and kind enough to share those experiences, I don't think half as many of us newbies would be quite so far forward with our plans and business (I'm sure you will agree with me newbies) 

[Ian Gourlay]

Paul

Thanks for info and I can see the point on domestics,

Different cleaners work at diffrent speeds, so do you not have a situation wherein a two hour period one cleaner might not complete all the tasks expexted by you and the customer.

Charging by the job all tasks would be complete, and if a cleaner was over or under running target time you would invetigate, and this would be picked up from time sheets and after clean inspections hence keeping you and customer happy.

Ian

[BSF]

Hi Ian

You are totally correct in what you say, some staff are quicker than others, no offence to all my staff or any other companies staff,,, but if all were as fast and methodical as myself and partner,, I wouldn’t be as stressed as I am and I would be a very rich man!!!!

As you mentioned on your post, I do get these situations where some staff complete jobs faster than others, when I recruit staff I inform them of what standard of work I expect and give each one a task list, I explain that I wouldn’t expect them to do something that I haven’t or wouldn’t be able to complete myself. 

Up to now it seems to work, (not always) but if they aren’t happy they are quite welcome to go and work for someone else.

I am a fair boss and treat all staff and subbies with the respect they deserve.

In replie to your post Jan, yes this forum is a very good way of learning off other people, you can buy all the books ever written on building a successful business, but its much better to get info off real people that have tried, failed and/or eventually made it.

Regards Paul

[Jan K]

Hi Ian!

I agree with you in some respects about cleaners working at different speeds, but with dom cleaning I don't think it is difficult for anyone regardless of how fast or slow they work initially, to be able to pick up the pace and do what is expected of them in the time allocated.  I used to work at a nightshift cleaner for the largest Health Club in Plymouth, and although I had no experience of cleaning at all, it didn't take me long to learn the quickest and most efficient way of getting a proper clean done. The cleans were checked every morning by the Manager who was on and if they weren't up to standard you certainly knew about it. If the standards are made clear right from the outset I don't think you can go far wrong. I was with the Health Club for 8 months and even with my inexperience at the beginning I was never picked up on my work. I worked my little a** off even through my break times until I was able ti pick up the pace, clean thoroughly and not kill myself doing it. Domestic cleaning is a hundred times easier, and everyone has the ability to do it. My cleaners know from the outset that if they don't meet both my and my Clients standards they will be out.....hard but necessary!! But they do have 2 - 3 cleans to get the hang of it and get into a routine

[easi-kleen]

Jan


I have a cleaner to clean my house once week for three hours..
So I amjust going to give you my view as an domestic customer.

We had a 1 lady business at first. But she only did things her way.
IE. Whole house top to bottom every week with no change to routine. then she took on employees. 2 people for 1.5 hrs.
but standards started to slip. My wife always knew with cleaner had done wich rooms etc. Then they started to go a bit early.

Then when I was out carpet cleaning 1 day met a lady doing an end of tenancy clean. I liked the way she worked so sacked the first lot and now really happy with the new lady,

The difference....   no set procedure, she comes for three hours once a week and cleans what ever we ask, kitchen, oven fridge,
If we are not there she gets on and does what ever she feels is neccassary.

Result... She's happy and we're happy.

By the way she charges £8 per hour.. But I always pay her cash

This is just my view on domestic cleaning
Hope it is of interest.

Phil

[Jan K]

Hi Phil!

Thanks for your input, it sounds like she works the same way as me and my girls do........with one exception, all my Clients have something particular they want us to do every week.....ie my latest lady always wants the brass furnisihings on her front door/doorstep polished. And another always wants us to pay special attention to cleaning tiles in kitchen and bathrooms. Most others always want bathrooms cleaned from top to bottom and always floors vac'd, and mopeed where necessary. Everything else is secondary. I must admit recently I have been taken on in replacement of previous cleaners who have not done their jobs properly, and therefore my Clients have particular requirements to be met, purely because the previous cleaner wasn't doing his/her job properly. I cannot understand wht cleaners feel they can 'get away' with cleaning houses properly, as Clients aren't stupid and are more likelt to spot what hasn't been done, than what has. I always tell my girls that if they clean properly, then they won't fall into the 'traps' that Clients leave......paper behind doors, coins on floor, paperclips etc etc. I know for sure that my latest Client leaves 'traps' for her cleaner as she told me herself, and I am more than happy with that. We all have to prove ourselves even when we have been with our Clients for a long time......I still find 'traps' with customers I have been with more than a year. They have no reason to leave them, but I do find that if they have had a period of things that have gone wrong for them, everything then comes into question and it is just a reassurement to themselves that they aren't making mistakes or being let down by everyone in their lives......traps are good too as it keeps the Cleaners on their toes, and means they are less likely to become complacent!