[cleanability]

Been carpet cleaning 11yrs and I know its each to his own with pricing and I know its good luck if you can charge high and get work....BUT  £400 plus VAT to clean a 3 piece suite and 12 X 15 lounge was quoted over the phone to a lady I booked in today. I'm sure you can guess which company it was. My conscience just wouldnt let me take £400 from someone for that. Its bleeping carpet cleaning here not splitting the atom or brain surgery. Yeah yeah i know some of you will agree with that quote but then again there are alot of strange people on this site lol

Chris

[Mike Halliday]

local Chemdry quoted £240 for a 3pc suite over the phone, not a really high price but if you charge these prices never quote over the phone!!

I think when they give these prices over the phone they don't really want the job so are just saying a high price to get rid of them.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Another way of looking at it is that some people will pay almost any price and at 400 for a mornings work, you can have the afternoon off !

More CC's fail because they are too cheap than fail because they are too expensive.

Cheers

Doug

[cleanability]

Yep i agree with you both. On the bright side its great she phoned CD first then me lol

Chris

[COLIN BRIGHT]

if it was to clean and protect then i think that is a fair price

[JandS]

£400 to clean and protect is a fair price?
£360 after materials for less than 4 hours work.
Make no wonder the phone don't ring as much
with those kind of quotes flying around.

John

[COLIN BRIGHT]

if you pick and choose your clients then the phone does'nt have to ring as often
it depends who you target
if you want to work for people who are not willing to pay for your expert service after numerous training course and thousands of pounds worth of investment to make your company the best and stand out from the others, then thats up to you
i however choose to target people who think to clean and protect their £4000 suite and £1500 carpet
at ONLY £400 a really bargain

it also means you can get home early to post things on this forum

[JandS]

All I can say in reply to that is you must live in a very affluent part of the UK.
Have asked many a customer what price they would be prepared to pay for there
3 piece cleaning over a cuppa whilst doing there carpets and most replies have been
the same really over a broad spectrum of households, from semis to 6 bedroom
detached in a small affluent village and all said that if it was quoted £100 +
they would think twice.
Even stretching it out to 4 hours is £90 per hour.
But if you can get it good luck, I would be sat on my backside every day round here quoting them prices.

John

[dave123]

At  those sort of prices you won't see them again. It will be just a one off .Better to go middle market price and get repeat customers in my opinion  

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I must admit that when I was cheap may be 10 years ago I got referal after referal after referal, I charge more now and have just the same amount of work but get more for it, people do use me again but tend to leave it longer between cleans this may be because of money or the fact that products have got better and also machinery, around 80% of my work is past customers but the other 20% is new customers or referal, years ago it was all referal.

Shaun

[cleanability]

We are talking carpet cleaning here not a skilled trade. As much as many on this site like to believe, carpet/upholstery cleaning is not a skilled trade. To charge £400 for a job someone could do after a few hours training is extortionate.
Dont get me wrong I'm making a living out of it.  £400 to employ eg a plasterer or bricklayer is more realistic.
Lets face it after one hours training anyone could clean a carpet. Could you re wire a house or plaster a ceiling after one hours training?

Chris

[daysdeepclean]

Maybe it's not a skilled trade and it is easy to pick up.... But there are still many out there getting it wrong and ruining peoples carpets..... Strangely enough, their prices are usually ridiculously cheap :

[Simon Gerrard]

Some of the most successful people in this business are not the one's charging the highest prices, but the wise guy's who charge reasonable, but not cheap rates and get the through-flow of business. Ok, if you are prepared to sit around for weeks on end waiting for that elusive person that will say yes to £175 / £200/ £250 + vat to clean a suite then fine, but while you're sitting around doing that (and believe me that is what these guy's do) the rest of us can be out there day-upon-day making some money.
Simon

[daysdeepclean]

My prices are in the somewhere in the middle and I'll do trade for trade jobs when they come up and favours for mates.... I like to be working but I know when to stick my fingers up to a job!

[master-clean]

Some of the most successful people in this business are not the one's charging the highest prices, but the wise guy's who charge reasonable, but not cheap rates and get the through-flow of business. Ok, if you are prepared to sit around for weeks on end waiting for that elusive person that will say yes to £175 / £200/ £250 + vat to clean a suite then fine, but while you're sitting around doing that (and believe me that is what these guy's do) the rest of us can be out there day-upon-day making some money.
Simon

Thats complete rubbish! ALL the successful carpet cleaners (to the domestic market) without exception charge high prices, and as you go up the scale the more successful the higher their prices.

I suggest you research the market more before giving inaccrute information to other carpet cleaners.
 

[Simon Gerrard]

The fact is there aren't that many of the high price people around, why? Because unless they operate in affluent pockets around the country they simply cannot find enough people to say yes to their extortionate prices. This business is and always has been about finding more people who say 'yes'  than say 'no.' Every area has a price that most people are willing to pay, it's as though people know what is and is not a fair price for a job. We're not brain surgeons and shouldn't be charging brain surgeons prices, but on middle of the road prices you can earn £200 - £400 per day, how many other people earn that much in a day?

Simon

[simbo]

sorry never met anyone who would pay £400 for suite clean and would never ever ask it however dressed up it was
paul

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Matt Lindus does arials and gets far more money than CC is that classed as a 'skilled' job?

Actually the job isn't a skill the getting the work is, we aren't carpet cleaners we are business men and Sir Alan Sugar has no qualifications and is a multimillionaire but I wouldn't trust him with a hair drier round my head let alone a surgeons knife.

Is owning Mc Donalds a qualified job? no but it is a license to print money all because the owner is selling 99p cheeseburgers does that mean that he's not worthy?

Shaun

[cleanability]

Well I'm pleasantly surprised some agree with me. Thanks chaps. I live in the Welsh valleys and if I tried charging even £200 for a suite I'd be at home all day every day.

Chris

[elliott cleaning]

Fascinated how people on here can generalise about charging ca. £ 400 to clean a suite.  Have come across suites, probably purchased from DFS which I imagine cost little more than that to purchase. As a customer it would not make economic sense to pay that sort of money to have it cleaned. And yes, in most cases an unskilled upholstery cleaner with an hours training would possibly not ruin it.
On the other hand, have also dealt with suites that probably retail at 15 times that price, with far more interesting & delicate materials. There £400 is not unrealistic and the bozo with one hours training under his belt just has to hope that his treatment risk insurers look upon him kindly