[CVC]

Hi everyone,

we have just landed a huge contract and wanted a bit of advice on costings. What is the average cost per square metre on a huge commercial contract? Should we reduce the cost per square metre as there is so much carpet or should we go in at the normall rate per square metre? What is the average rate these days?

Cheers for any advice.

[Joe H]

You say

we have just landed a huge contract .........

surely if you "landed" it then why ask about costings ?

[CVC]

I didnt ask for a smart comment, I asked for some advice.  We have the contract as we know the owner we just want to give a good price for both parties. It's about 5 days work with truck mount and portable running. To give u an idea the main corridoor is half a mile long and there are 3 floors, so it's pretty huge, even compared to some of the stuff we have done in the past. Any "helpful" advice is appreciated.

[from edge2edge]

Morning CVC I assume that you were given as opposed to landed this contract then which is great .Personally i wouldnt go for price per metre but work out my total expenses to do the job then add £300 per man per day.Regards Alan(swindon)

[Simon@arenaclean]

I didnt ask for a smart comment, I asked for some advice.  We have the contract as we know the owner we just want to give a good price for both parties. It's about 5 days work with truck mount and portable running. To give u an idea the main corridoor is half a mile long and there are 3 floors, so it's pretty huge, even compared to some of the stuff we have done in the past. Any "helpful" advice is appreciated.

Joe's reply was reasonable, you said you had the contract, i've never won a contract and not offered a price

carpet type, access to water, drainage, staff, all things to take into account. If the area is that big with a truckmount and a portable running for 5 days my advice would be use LM cleaning. It will be quicker and more cost effective and price around £1,00 psm

Good luck

Simon

[jasonl]

£1 /m2 will give you a god profit.  On massive cleans quality control can sometimes be an issue , as I have found staff trying to cut corners, after feeling daunted/lazy at seeing large monotonous areas ahead of them.  Man Management skills are critical on these types of jobs I have found.

[Joe H]

CVC

It wasnt meant to be a smart comment, just that you landed a huge contract then ask about pricing.
More info was needed, and you have now given a little more info and you are now starting to get informative responses.
Its funny, but when giving telephone estimates, the more questions I ask of a potential client, the more definitive the pricing becomes.

Have a good day

[JandS]

Nice reply Joe, I wouldn't have bothered.
Runs a TM yet can't price a commercial.

John

[Hilton]

Hi everyone,

we have just landed a huge contract and wanted a bit of advice on costings. What is the average cost per square metre on a huge commercial contract? Should we reduce the cost per square metre as there is so much carpet or should we go in at the normall rate per square metre? What is the average rate these days?

Cheers for any advice.

Hi

How big is huge? what would be the average size job per week/month

What do you currently charge per sq mt?

What type of work is it , ie hotel, restaurants, office ?

Is it a 'true' contract or verbal agreement ?

What are the payment terms?

Have you costed extra staff required, mileage if national, operating costs, margins etc etc ?

You will need to know the answers to these basic questions to ascertain a correct price , average will not do it .

Let me give you an example, years ago I knew the company who cleaned all the carpets at Little Chef nationwide, (this is a long time ago and this company was based in North West London, so if you do them now or know someone who does, this is no reflection on them or you).

I had a chat with the guy at a some business venue we were at and he told me about this exciting new business they had just won and that he had arranged an 'average' price for the contract on a national basis, straight away in my head the red flag went up but it was not for me to say anything.

They took on extra vans and equipment 'Stimvaks' remember them, and happily set out on the contract, it very soon became clear that working in Watford and then in Edinburgh did not quite work out on an 'average' price. So much so that anything further north than Birmingham cost them money and not the other way round and at that time they had bundles of Little Chefs up north
Within 6 months it was all over.

By coincidence we were asked to price for the very same bit of business about 9 months later, we priced it on a regional basis taking in to account the logistics of running this in a metropolitan environment against rural and priced it accordingly.Not surprisingly we were far to expensive for them and they asked us to give them an 'average' , we politely declined.

I have no idea who took it on afterwards but Little Chef were bought out not long after and all contracts were 'off'.

Its great having contract business but sometimes they are not all they are cracked up to be,

[nevil]

I didnt ask for a smart comment, I asked for some advice.  We have the contract as we know the owner we just want to give a good price for both parties. It's about 5 days work with truck mount and portable running. To give u an idea the main corridoor is half a mile long and there are 3 floors, so it's pretty huge, even compared to some of the stuff we have done in the past. Any "helpful" advice is appreciated.

As you are fortunate enough to be given this work without having to win it on merit or price, I would go in expensive and do a good job. If it's a friend of yours just make sure you keep the quality high or you will put him/her in a an awkward position. If he ever has to Justify using a more expensive contractor, it will be a lot easier if he/she can say "look at the quality. The cheaper ones cannot produce those results." I would say on that acreage. If you had to win it you would probably have to go in at around £1-£1.5 a sq m. I would try to get £2-£2.5. Having said that I have gone in at £4 and £5 before when I have not been to keen to do it and I have won the work. If he is a friend ask what he normally pays.

[gwrightson]

 I have to admit cvc  when i read your post my initial thoughts were exactly the same as Joe,s "how have you won this contact with out pricing? " so imo i feel joe had given you a reasonable answer!!

   Your friend must be very trusting toward you letting you go ahead with out even asking for a price, personaly i would furnish hime with a price anyway. What if the price you finaly invoice him with is a far greater amount than he was anticipating? It wouldnt do your friendship a great deal of good or for that matter any future work ?

geoff

[Helen]

I have to admit cvc  when i read your post my initial thoughts were exactly the same as Joe,s "how have you won this contact with out pricing? " so imo i feel joe had given you a reasonable answer!!

   Your friend must be very trusting toward you letting you go ahead with out even asking for a price, personaly i would furnish hime with a price anyway. What if the price you finaly invoice him with is a far greater amount than he was anticipating? It wouldnt do your friendship a great deal of good or for that matter any future work ?

geoff

Was told when we first started out that there are no friends or mates in business and that is right....what is business is business and what is personal is personal...keep it that way or there will be problems Friends expect discounted rates etc etc and when they don't get them.......
Not disbelieving what you said CVC, but even my best mate would want a price before committing to something.
You asked for advise. Theoretically take your mate out of the equation. A business has phoned you for a quote, where you don't know anyone who works there. You will be quoting against others and you want the work. Do the calc's and that is your price. Contracts are ok to have....until one side breaks them, if your friendship suffers then so will your contract

[David Ware]

The friend could be his wife You would have a bottom price in your mind, as to the least you would want to do it. Then add 50%

David

[markpowell]

How longs a piece of string??

[Ken Wainwright]

If it's low profile, I too would go in with an LM system.

I would reckon a team of 3 with one rotary would be looking at approx 2000 sqM per day (of office, not carpet) on maintenance, less on one off clean, depending on furnishing density.

So for maintenance for such large areas, I'd be looking at 60p to £1 for generic LM and probably upto double that for the first or one off clean.

From experience, don't do the first clean at maintenance rate.  Anything greater than 12 months between cleans is not maintenance, but restorative. Most maintenance is in the 3 to 6 month time scale.

Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken

[murky]

Markpowell,

Seems a piece of string in this case is half a mile long!

I said 'what?'

'He said its half a mile long.'

He'll need a long lead for that one!

Will he wave a flag at the water boy to switch the power on, or will they have relay stations all along to keep them going with tea and sarnies.

Answers please, what kind of building is half a mile long, well a ship comes to mind, or a rope works I used to go to in the East End, now they are seriously long.

Murky

[colin thomas]

joe, you must have bitten your tongue long and hard before you replied to that one, you can't help some people can you.

colin

[JandS]

Ropewalks were roughly 1100 feet long as a standard British rope was/is 1000 feet.
There was one about 3 miles from where I live.
And that's not even a quarter of a mile.

John

[cleanability]

What another pointless exercise. Everytime i see a new post starting "How much would you charge" I cringe/laugh etc. You charge what you think you can get and charge what you're comforable with. Different parts or the country, different companies with different overheads. everyone is different. JUST CHARGE WHAT YOU WANT. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Neil Williams]

surely if you "landed" it then why ask about costings ?

I didnt ask for a smart comment, I asked for some advice.

Straight in the net
Now what was it I was saying yesterday about the way a message is written and the way it can be read

I am amazed that anyone could pick up such a huge job without as much as a rough stab at the price, with a corridor at nearly 800 yards by probably 2 yards, that would be £1600. Friends might be friends but when (a) would do it for £1600 and (b) prices it at £4,800 I know who is going to get the job.
This is hardly like a friend saying can you do my HSL and I'm not bothered by the price. This is serious money.