[nat1]

Hi all, went last night to price a regular weekly clean in a very affluant area in South Manchester, I went with the impression I would be quoting for the full house, so was going to tell the lady I would send her a written quote, as this would give me time to work how many hours etc, as I knew it was going to be a big house.  Anyway, she only wants the kitchen, fair size, granite worktops, hob, fronts of kitch units as and when required, floor to be vacuumed and mopped and the utility area to be done, hallway floor to be vacuumed and mopped, which is quite big, downstairs toilet, stairs to be vacuumed and wiped with a damp cloth,( wooden) and then 3 large wetrooms, 1 with a bath, all have double showers, very large sinks and loos, floor to ceiling tiles.  I was guessing around 3hrs and told her it would be £45 per visit inc materials, she thought that was too much and said, if you was to do the whole house it would cost a fortune!!, she did ask me, if she provided materials would it bring the price down more, I did tell her it would be 2 cleaners and explained the insurance etc, so was just wondering if you guys think that ir's to much or could it just be that she thinks cleaners should be available at a pittance???

Thanks in advance

Nat

[Adam P]

think she believes cleaners should be paid £7 or there abouts. your time allowance could be slightly too high but she wouldn't have been so shocked if that was the case as say you shaved off 30 minutes that's still £37.50, where as she was probably expecting £21~ area.

it amazes me when customers expect to be able to pay a self employed cleaner £7 per hour and to be able to then just happily hand over the keys to their house. a lot of trust is given to someone they're insulting by saying they aren't worth more then £7 per hour!

i have customers in 2 bedroom, 1 study, 1 bathroom paying 3 hours for a cleaner and they're really happy with the service/price. this lady has a massive house and wants to pay less then someone on a far less income

[The Great One]

Hi

Tell her you do a professioanl job for a professional price.

Regards

Martin

[Small but perfectley formed]

Same,old .cleaners,earning,more,than,£5,an,hour

[nat1]

Hi guys thanks for your replys, i would'nt mind but i clean for a friend of hers who said i was excellent, so you would think she would be prepared to pay someone who she knows is trustworthy and good.  I was'nt sure re time and yes i agree 3 hrs maybe a bit steep but it's such a "showy house" everything would have to be spot on as the slightest thing missed would be noticable and shower screens can be a pain at the best of times, so would rather have too much time than not enough, i did'nt tell her the time as i price per job.

Thanks again


Nat

[the cleaning lady]

Hi
I went to quote today thinking 1.5-2hrs for 1 bed flat. she said she wanted 1 hour .......at £7.50 as someone had said thats the going rate.
While people are prepared to do it at that rate, we will always get these problems.

 Chris

[Michael Smallwood]

You can get people to work at the low rates, however you have to employ them, train them, find the work for them, insure them, provide them with uniforms and PPE, and quite often take them to and from site. Then they want holiday, sick leave and other basic human rights.

Customers get wind of this and think you will arrange it all with no profit or overhead recovery. 

Keep smiling and aviod the stupid customers.

[Nick W]

When you think that the national min wage is £5.80 an hr then you have to add on paid holiday, tax , insurance, oveheads such as premises or at a min utilties, then any company charging that little for a cleaner is either operating illegally or is willing to make almost no profit at all. I suspect in the majority of cases it is the operating illegally that is the case.

If clients want to choose a firm that cannot prove it is operating within the legal, tax and regulatory frameworks then that is up to them - but in my experience any client worth having wants to know they are dealing with a proper company that does everything legally and operates within the law.

[Adam P]

did you tell her how much it'll be for the full house? perhaps she was thinking that bathrooms aren't as priority as bedrooms so though bedrooms would take even longer when they take far far less time.

[Simply Clean UK]

You just have to look on Gumtree to see what the local one man bands are charging. i had a call from a woman in chelmsford for a quote.  i told her out std hourly rate and she gasped.  she was currently paying someone £5 per hour to travel from london (an hour drive min) for 3hrs work.  i was charging her almost tripple as we all do there about's.

[TVCS]

I priced a job on Friday evening.  Told the custy on the phone what our rate would be and when I arrived one of the first thing she said was we were charging too much.  As we were more expensive than her last cleaner she wanted us to empty the dishwasher and change the beds too.    When I asked why the last cleaner left she told me that she had to pack up and get a job!!!! :

No wonder she was cheaper.