Prices per Square Metre?

« **on:** October 21, 2009, 02:30:19 pm »

I know this topic has come up again recently,but most of the time people are a little shy in giving their prices.To start the ball rolling i charge £3.50 per square metre.There you go, honest and in the open!

Im doing this so the guys who dont charge enough,can hopefully be brought into line with the average prices.

I just want carpet cleaning prices,not protection, or time consuming stain removal jobs,just a standard clean.

« **Reply #1 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:20:45 pm »

What do you mean the guys who dont charge enough? They must think they charge enough.
They may charge a bit less but clean twice as fast so they still earn more at the end of each week, the established guys have prob paid for their van and all equipment and hardly have to advertise because of the reg custys. Remember its not what you charge, it is what you have left in your pocket at the end of each month that counts.
Mark

« **Reply #2 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:34:19 pm »

and at the end of the month I dont have much left in my pocket - the wifes grabbed most of it.

« **Reply #3 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:38:45 pm »

i don't charge by the meter but i'd guess it works out at around £1.50.

i think your insulting my intelect saying i don't charge enough. who says your prices are right? you?

and seeing as i think your comments are out of order, i'll comment that your prices are a rip off, cos i know i can do just as good if not a better job for less.

have a good day.

derek

« **Reply #4 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:43:14 pm »

Quote from: Joe Hatton on October 21, 2009, 05:34:19 pm

and at the end of the month I dont have much left in my pocket - the wifes grabbed most of it.

yes joe and if have any left it goes nto the wedding fund.

« **Reply #5 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:47:35 pm »

Quote from: Derek West on October 21, 2009, 05:38:45 pm

i don't charge by the meter but i'd guess it works out at around £1.50.

i think your insulting my intelect saying i don't charge enough. who says your prices are right? you?

and seeing as i think your comments are out of order, i'll comment that your prices are a rip off, cos i know i can do just as good if not a better job for less.

have a good day.

derek

Derek

I thought you would be cheaper.

« **Reply #6 on:** October 21, 2009, 05:49:39 pm »

probably am. i quote per job not per metre. is that a dig mike. or a joke or something completely out of left field? never to sure where your coming from these days.
derek

« **Reply #7 on:** October 21, 2009, 06:08:26 pm »

Sorry Derek forgot the smiley.

I think there are too many variables to get any sensible answers from these sort of questions.

You could be quoting for 1000sqm price on commercial or a small Axmister in a top floor flat with lots of furniture and dog wee.

« **Reply #8 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:27:49 pm »

Is this for a single room or a full house? Many charge all these prices. Over £4 on an average single room, this may drop to £2.50 for a whole house and maybe half this for a large commercial. The area rate may differ but the hourly or daily rate should stay similar.

« **Reply #9 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:31:02 pm »

Derek,

At this precise moment, if you charge roughly £1.50 a square metre that puts you,according to the poll, in the bottom 25% of earners,so 75% of us CCs must be rip off merchants,so as i see it your insulting us.As you often say derek,if people dont like it they can go elsewhere.

Apart from that i like your banter!

« **Reply #10 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:38:05 pm »

my comment was to return your insult. according to poles, 8 out of 10 cats prefer whiskers. do you believe that?

if i'm a low earner then so's my accountant, i earned more than he did in september.

you carry on educating us low earners, but i certainly won't conform to your price rules.

if you can run a business on one fixed price then hats off to ya buddy. its not for me thanks.

derek

« **Reply #11 on:** October 21, 2009, 07:47:50 pm »

I charge £3.50 m but i have no doubt that i am very slow, so it evens out the quicker i get the more i make but at the moment although i charge by the metre it must i think depend on where you are, because i finalise most at that price, and people seem happy before and after

« **Reply #12 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:00:18 pm »

I charge £xx per hour for one regular commercial client and last year earned just over £2000 on one job..... This year, on the same job with a more powerful machine and being a lot more efficient, I only earned £1350..... Talk about being a victim of your own succuess

But I managed to fit in domestic jobs as well this time round, so it was all good!!!!

« **Reply #13 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:07:26 pm »

I think this topic is quite a tricky one,and i agree with some of the comments other people have made.For instance if you are doing the full house,do you lower the squared metre price?Yes of course you do,to make it more attractive to the customer.Also if carpet is seriously stained do you charge the same as a slightly dirty carpet?No of course not,because the time factor creeps in.

As im fairly new to carpet cleaning, and work at a geriatrics pace,maybe when i speed up,prices could change.

« **Reply #14 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:23:31 pm »

So really the question was pointless because you said in one breath you charge £3.50 sq m, then you say on your last
post you alter it for, say, all the house doing or if there quite clean.
So you don't really charge £3.50 sq m.
I charge by the job like Derek, weigh up how long it will take and how much I want for that amount of time.
Charge by the sq m for commercial.
Last one I did 2 weeks ago I managed to get a princely £1.40 sq m.

John

« **Reply #15 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:25:04 pm »

Derek running his Tm can prob clean twice as much in the same time as a new portie user, so if you charge £3 per sq mtr and Derek £1.50 then you should both earn the same in 8 hours, bet Derek get a better % of quotes than you too, so less advertising, so that makes him better off for charging less :

Mark

« **Reply #16 on:** October 21, 2009, 10:39:42 pm »

Mark,
But you havent factored in the T.M will want replacing in 5 years time

« **Reply #17 on:** October 21, 2009, 11:08:17 pm »

No truckmounts are only in a league of their own on commercial jobs. Totally inefficient on domestics, whilst your shifting furniture and bric a brac the screaming unit outside is dumping your cleaning solution and burning off fuel.

Once you turn the key on a truckmount your fingers need to be on the wand trigger full time, take them off and its costing you big time in solution and fuel.
Just an observation whilst looking at one last week.

Matt

« **Reply #18 on:** October 21, 2009, 11:20:00 pm »

I'm no truck mount owner, but I still like my machine to be running efficiently and only when it's necessary. This means I do my work methodically and all chattels, furniture etc are moved/removed, pre vac, pre spray, agitated and left to dwell while I switch "The Beast" on

I doubt very much a TM user keeps his/her machine running unnecessarily, to be fair

« **Reply #19 on:** October 21, 2009, 11:55:59 pm »

Matt, not all truckmounts dump water, and none dump "solution" because the chems are fed in post-pump

Like Colin, I like to prep all the areas, get stuff off the floors and make it so I can whizz round all in one go, or in two halves at least. My machinery rarely runs without working and I don't march back and forth switching it on/off all the time!

Agreed, the bigger the job the more sense and time saving a TM makes but hey isn't it just a nice thought, to be able to breeze through a job rather than trot to and fro with buckets whilst tripping over your power leads?

Anyways, back to the debate.....

I've charged as much as £10/m² and as little as £1.10/m². Small domestic vs big commercial. Pointless poll because of all the variables, and duplicated for about the 100th time :

What makes you think you can poke everyone into line? The NCCA can't do it and it's been trying for 30 years!

Poll

What do you charge?