[seamus campbell]

Hi folks

Have started looking at pricing some commercial cleans after shoppfitters, ive just completed one and it went well but i was given a bit of help by being able to price after the event, and managed to do very well out of it. I was wondering does anyone have a rule of thumb on pricing, im struggling with how many people for how long. most of these will be HMV, Watterstone  jd sport type shops, so lots of  vinyl tiles and racking to clean. is there a rough sq mtr price l could use.

Thanks Seamus

[GeoffDerby]

Hi Seamus, great question I hope you get plenty of good responses and advice on how to accurately price one off commercial work , the forum is full of people with experience in this area.

I have priced lots of builders cleans and shop fitters work with a variety of success and failure, the traditional pricing formula for cleaning (Labour, Materials, Equipment and Profit) falls by the wayside in one off work as you have an additional cost...... let's call it the "Bugger about factor" , it's fairly typical for site managers to ask the cleaners to come in early, whilst tradesmen are still at work, creating untidiness where your cleaners have previously worked and requiring re-cleans, or simply interrupting the flow.

I assume you are up to speed with other costs for travel, subsistence and CIS tax scheme

The simplest advice I can give, knowing that both you and the shop fitter were OK with the price for the last job is use that as a bench mark and price future works on the same formula, IE if the store was 10,000 sq ft and the next job is 15,000 sq ft uplift the price by 50%.

Alternatively price each job on a day rate basis

If you want a more accurate formula based on trained operative productivity and using specialist machinery please don't hesitate to give me a shout.

Good luck

Cheers
Geoff

[seamus campbell]

Thanks very much Geoff for your detailed answer. I know exactly what you mean by the "Bugger about factor" That's the reason why i was allowed to price afterwards as the contracts manager predicted a huge problem on the handover date due to material delays,and knew that it would be chaos at the end.{and it was}

This clean was not a standard clean as such,as it had to be cleaned without looking as if it had been cleaned if that makes sense. lots of old props and salvaged flooring.

I think its operative productivity that I'm having an issue. How long to mop,buff or scrubberdrier so much vinyl tile etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Seamus

   

[GeoffDerby]

Hi Seamus, the question about operator productivity is a tough question to answer, given the environment you are cleaning has so many variables, including amount of spoilage, shelves, floor type, access ect.

I can say that in a normal office cleaning environment a well trained cleaning operative can usually clean circa 2,000 to 3,000 sq foot per working hour, on a normal cleaning schedule and dependent upon density, occupation and floor type. Also a typical scrubber dryer will clean 2,200 sq ft per hour. (excluding set up and preparation time)

Now here comes the hard part, how many cleans will it take to get the area to the right standards, some site managers instruct tradesmen to clear up after themselves so their work can be validated, some site agents leave it all to the cleaners to do, clearing waste, refuse and sometimes rubble from a site before the cleaning starts can be a time and cost consuming effort.

And then you have the repeat cleans, snagging and interruptions, my advice would be to charge a daily rate per person per day, if you get buggered about and are waiting for areas to become free it's at the clients cost not yours, if you have to provide a productivity cost and price off plans I would assume a really low productivity rate in the region of 500 sq ft per person per hour, assuming that bugger about factor will kick in.

Good Luck and best wishes Seamus

Cheers
GeoffDerby