[Paul Simpson]

I know these sort of questions come up every so often and you might be fed up with answering but please bear with me.

Bit of a biggie (for me anyway) and potentially a bit tricky.

Amusement arcade chain want a price for 3 seperate sites all within a mile of each other, total 1240 sq metres.

Site 1 - 620 sqm - receives alot of traffic and probably close to 100 gum/tar marks that will need treating. Minus approx 80-90 machines that will stay in position.

Site 2 - 520 sqm - Not as bad, traffic wise and no real gum/tar marks to speak of. Minus 70-80 machines that will stay in position.

Site 3 - 100 sqm - As per site 2 but machines all along the walls so all open area.

Whats the best method to clean?
How long do you estimate to HWE (portable)?
How much would you charge?
Cloest thing I've done to this is a shop floor recently approx 150 sqm where I had to move furniture, rails, shelves, etc and that tool 3.5 hours.
Have already told them even a single site will probably have to be done over several visits. 
Don't think it is something I should even try tackling on my own with a portable, what you think?

Been looking at it for about half an an hour now on paper and still can't quite get my head around it.

Oh, and it needs to be done 9/10pm onwards weekdays.

Any help would be great.

Cheers Paul

[Martin S]

Hi Paul,

I'm sure those with greater experience than me will answer but here's my two penneth.

I guess you will have to try and estimate how long the job will take you and how much per hour you want to earn from it.  Also how desperate are you for the work, or not, as the case may be.

Why not try and break it down into smaller chunks.  Quote for one on the basis that if the customer is happy he will give you the other work but in doing so you are not committing yourself to the other two jobs if you really don't fancy it.

Why not say to him that it needs a full restoration (HWE) clean and will therefore take longer and be reflected in the price (higher) but tell him that once the clean is done you can offer a regular maintenance clean (Bonnet) which will (hopefully) cost less and give you regular work.

If you are prepared to work through the night for a few nights you should crack it remembering that custy should be aware this is at a premium.

End of day if you really don't fancy it then quote high and if he goes for it great, if not, what have you lost other than a job you didn't really fancy anyway.

Martin

[derek west]

how much did you charge for the shop floor?
derek

[Paul Simpson]

Think I see what your saying with your question Derek but still need to take into account
the gum & tar marks, be a real time-consumer.
Different sites, i.e. setting up & down times.
Working through the night. (Did the shop floor on a Sunday day-time)
Plus if I did get it wondering if I should even attempt it on my own?
Or get someone else local in on it.

[derek west]

just giving you a basis to work from, would be a good idea to at least get someone to help with the gum, i have a helper and he ojays the gum as i'm cleaning, works well.
derek

[Paul Simpson]

Cheers Derek. Think I'd definately need a hired hand at the very least.

[JandS]

I did an almost identical surface area last year in a major book store.
It took me just about exactly 40 hours over 4 nights on my own with
a porty.
Biggest time consumers were:

Filling tank up.
Emptying waste tank.
Spotting chewing gum.

While I was filling up for the first time in the cleaners room I noticed a
12 pack of chewing gum remover. Thought I'd try one and it worked brilliantly
so when I left I borrowed 2 more.

It's called Enhance by Johnson Diversey but don't know where you could buy
it from, never looked 'cos I've still 1 full one left.

John

[Paul Simpson]

Cheers John, gives me an idea on timescale at least.
Always used Citrus gel for gum/tar seems to work well but never had to treat as many as this job would be.

Might not even get it anyway. 

Made my mind up on cost but do you mind me asking how much you charged for the similar size area John?
Can email me if you don't want to broadcast on the forum.

Cheers Paul

[JandS]

Paul

You have e mail.

John

[Paul Simpson]

Didn't receive if you sent John.

contact@cleanlivingservices.co.uk

[JandS]

0791704559

John

[Simon Gerrard]

The first thing you've got to do is educate your client. Chewing gum is not something you get off only when you get the carpet cleaned, it's something the cleaners should do on a daily basis. We stopped doing chewing gum many years ago for that reason and it worked, we kept the business, the cleaners were ordered to remove it every day and the premises were free of chewing gum, permanently, one brewery chain even thanked me for having solved the chewing gum problem for them.

From a cleaning perspective you have to be aware that because of the high traffic in these kind of places the carpet could well be choked pile deep with dust and grit and the moment you clean it it could turn black, especially in the doorways and traffic lanes.  If so, you've got a nightmare on your hands and it is really difficult to sort out once that happens. If they have the carpets cleaned regularly you could be ok, but if it's been years then I would be tempted to leave it well alone. The trick with this kind of work is knowing which ones to walk away from and which to take on.

Simon

[JandS]

You looked in your trash bin

John

[JandS]

Sent again different e mail address.

John

[Paul Simpson]

John received now.

Thanks Simon, Derek & Martin for the replies and especially John, been really helpful.

Submitted yesterday so just sit and wait now.

[Jim_77]

Submitted yesterday so just sit and wait now.

??

follow it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

call him and ask him what he thinks about the quote, the biggest obstacle is you being scared to talk money face to face because it's a sum you find daunting

Whatever figure you've put before him is only a tiny fraction of his business's turnover, it's a running cost that he probably would barely flinch at.

Confidence is key

[nevil]

Fully agree with you there Jim.

I quoted £1500 for a restaurant dining room in a large hotel recently. Sounds a lot for a couple of days cleaning. However the manager had already tried several firms and they couldn't deal with the amount of soiling and made no impact. He even tried to hire a few machines and get the staff to tackle it. Again no joy. From his perspective, he was faced with a £30 000 bill to replace the carpet. Naturally he was delighted and £ 1.5k starts looking cheap when you look at what he is not having to pay.

I would say the key to this job is to allow more than enough time to get it done so you don't put yourself under pressure. Think of it as a learning exercise. Read lots before you go. Take all the equipment and chems you can get your hands on and get out there and do it. If your going Hwe and have a porty don't go without something for aggitation. If you have something like an Extracta Scrubba take it. Good luck 

[rich hand]

Ultra pac, scrub, HWE and you may need to do it 3 times on the traffic lanes. Thats what I found out on a restaurant recently that hadn't been cleaned for nearly a year!

Result was very good, should have given it more time and charged more but I was dealing with a restaurant that serves Vindaloo  :

[Ricky M]

Just done a job today in a pub , the carpets are around 15 years old which had really bad black top in the usual places but it had never been cleaned in all that time !!
what would expect with a Christan owned pub  :

oops now I sound like a small minded racist too 

[absolutecleaning]