[suffolkclean]

We first started with regular domestic cleaning, which was a lot of work for very little profit after paying staff, insurance, holiday pay etc. No longer providing that service currently doing carpet, window & one off cleans with no staff.

Thinking of taking the leap again and hiring someone to help with one off cleans. Anyone who does contract cleaning I would love to hear what the whole thing is like.

Are the margins very tight between costs and what your charging?
Is the staffing issue a huge headache getting people to turn up?
Would you recommend it or suggest we stay as we are?

[gordonswindows]

Hi Suffolkclean

in reply to

Are the margins very tight between costs and what your charging?
Is the staffing issue a huge headache getting people to turn up?
Would you recommend it or suggest we stay as we are?

Margins are tight for you to remain competitive
No staff turning up is not an issue
Hmm the old saying of "if you have a doubt then there is no doubt" meaning if you are worried about it i would suggest you stay as you are however i feel you may be quite ambitious and if so then go for it.

One off cleans are much easier to manage and staff. We give a fixed price to our teams for the job, ie job and finish. They get paid a set amount per build and it is the client who decides when it is finished when they sign off the job.

The staff like it cos they know what they have to do and what they will earn

Good luck with whatever you decide

Gordon

[Spiceman]

Barbara,
Its tough in the contract market.
We do not do domestic anymore. A decision we arrived at quite early on, however we did find domestic more profitable with much higher margins.
It was just the staff thing, you have to be a 110% confident that your staff are honest and because of that we felt the growth potential in domestic was restricted.
Yes there were the tight asses out there that thought they were going to get away with £5-£7 per hour but we never touched that end of the business.
If we were to start again and keep the business to family and a couple or three trusted staff then I would definatly be in the domestic market.
John

[Pristine Clean]

Hi Suffolk,

Contract cleaning can be very lucritive but if you want to be competitive to get the job... then yes its tight.

Obviously the PH rate varies on the number of hours being done. We have 1 hour jobs charged at £35 - 50ph, however 2 -3 hours £15.00ph and 5 + £12.

It all depends on what you want we also have some where the number of hours are huge amounts..10+ hour per day so you go in alot cheaper £9.50ph on some its 8.50 an hour so you have to work it out.

one off cleans mm I dont do tose pain in a rear.. contract work on a regular basis for us and to me thats the only way to go.

best of luck

Dave

[suffolkclean]

Spiceman - Thanks for you advice so after doing domestic cleaning you feel you would rather stick to that if you had the choice? Was it regular domestic cleaning you did before? We did do that but realised when I tried to sell our existing customers we weren't charging enough. We were charging £10 per hour and one company charges £12 for this area. But I covered for a cleaner unexpected when she was ill and couldn't believe the state the place was in, the skirting boards hadn't been cleaned since I went on the first visit about 5 months previously, but the customer didn't complain! I just found it was a lot of work for me arranging it all and letting the cleaners know what they had to do and we only had about 20 regulars. I think commercial may be even more involved but you say for less profit?

Pristine Clean
Thanks for your advice how do you manage to charge £35-£50 per hour - I would love to know!!
If I told someone round here £35 per hour I'm sure I wouldn't get the work.

[Ian Rochester]

We have 6 staff who just do contract cleaning for both commercial and domestic customers, our prices vary depending upon what the customer wants, frequency, location etc.

There is money to be made from it, however, the amount of time it can take up is disproportionate to the revenue it brings in.

The biggest problem is getting good quality, reliable staff, ideally ones who can drive and have no dependant kids!!!  You need to be very proactive in making sure they understand the standards you want them to work to and check on them regularly.

I often go out with different teams and spend a couple of hours working with them and talking to the clients, as you clean you can see what has been getting done and what is getting missed. 

We've got very good cleaners working for us now, however we've had some poor ones in the past and you need to identify them early or they can ruin your reputation. 

We always work in teams of two, however we now have a waiting list for our domestic cleaning services and I've just taken on a new cleaner starting on Monday to make up a team of three to do a lot of our top end domestic clients most of who have about 6 hours cleaning a week

[suffolkclean]

Hi Lionheart - Thanks so much for your advice.