[R.C Property]

hi just put a quote in and i am now thinking it was to high.

its 4 small offices about 5m x 5m each
hall way
kitchen, 5m x 3m
male toilets about 3m x 5m
ladies toilets about 3m x 2m

normal cleaning, hoovering, dusting, emptying bins, cleaning toilets etc
windows cleaned inside and out

then there is a warehouse to sweep out and clear rubbish from its about 13,000 sqft

its only a 4 miles drive from where we live.
we supply all cleaning products and equipment

and its done every week.

could you guys give a rough price what you would charge??

thanks!

[Billy Russell]

What price did you put in?

[R.C Property]

What price did you put in?

£150 at the moment due to the warehouse being empty, then did mention that it may go down depending on how full the warehouse is,

[Robert Parry]

Hi Richard,

Is this a once a week visit?

Regards,

Robert

[R.C Property]

Hi Richard,

Is this a once a week visit?

Regards,

Robert

Yes it's for one day a week

[Robert Parry]

Hi Richard,

The following is just my best guess on the little information that you have provided, and as far as your measuring goes, you need to bear in mind the following:

Measuring has to be accurate, not approx, and cleanable space only.

Stick to one unit of measure! Offices measured in sq. mtrs, warehouse in sq. ft? lol

Assuming your measurements are pretty spot on, total time per week for this job would be 2.7 hours, this again assumes that the use and density of the entire building is medium.

Regarding your pricing, only you know how much you need to charge to cover your costs and allow a fair profit.

Best of luck!

Regards,

Robert

[R.C Property]

Hi Richard,

The following is just my best guess on the little information that you have provided, and as far as your measuring goes, you need to bear in mind the following:

Measuring has to be accurate, not approx, and cleanable space only.

Stick to one unit of measure! Offices measured in sq. mtrs, warehouse in sq. ft? lol

Assuming your measurements are pretty spot on, total time per week for this job would be 2.7 hours, this again assumes that the use and density of the entire building is medium.

Regarding your pricing, only you know how much you need to charge to cover your costs and allow a fair profit.

Best of luck!

Regards,

Robert

Thanks for the answer. The different measures are because they only gave me the warehouse size and i had to pace out the rooms myself, being in the building trade for 15years this is easy to do!

With ur guess on time is that for one person? I personally think the offices, kitchen, hallway  and toilets will take the 2 hours. Then at the moment  there's the 13,000 sqft of  warehouse to clean.

See your companies head office is a stonesthrow from where I live! I'm just off the billing road! Lol

[Robert Parry]

Richard,

The amount of personnel on a job really does not matter, if you prefer a team rather than lone worker cleaning it makes no difference, the time quoted is the time it should take to clean, assuming that the building is a medium density/use site.

With you guessing it would take 2 hrs to clean just the offices etc, perhaps there is a large number of staff in the offices, or the offices are packed out with furniture? Again I assumed about 8 office staff, if this is not the case, apologies, and yes that would make a difference to the timings.

The job might well seem difficult to complete within that time frame at first, but after a few weeks, you will find that you get faster after getting to "know" the building, the suggested times, take this into account.

The other thing that affects the time taken to clean an area is the specification, there are three specs for cleaning - Basic/Medium & High, which area recieves which level of cleaning is determined by the client or use of that particular area. Again I assumed a medium level of cleaning would be required, you could have already decided on which service level to offer depending on the current condition of cleanliness that you observed when you surveyed the premises, this would obviously affect the timings.

Regarding the warehouse aspect of the job, big broom and hard work here, sweeping such a large area by hand is hard graft, not so much if the company/client is paying you for it, but when you are trying to make a profit as a contractor, the reverse is true, again I assumed that it is not going to be a pig sty and have loads of debris on the floor mainly because of the H & S aspect, the warehouse people must do some maintenance in between your weekly visits right? There are ways of speeding this operation up as well, but that depends on the debris encountered on site.

The thing to remember regarding costings is that you do not earn anything until you clean the building, you cant charge a prospect until they become a client, and your pricing has to be competitive and the service has to be spot on too. Experience will allow you to make the right judgement 95% of the time, the other 5% will cost you money, just like all the rest of us! None of us get it right 100% of the time lol.

Hope you find the above useful!

Regards,
Robert

[R.C Property]

Yes it is all useful but don't answer the question! You like a politician lol answers all sorts but the main question, rough price lol

[Robert Parry]

Richard,

Assuming that all is good with the figures, measurements, density, use etc we would charge £152.10 + VAT per month.

The one thing I will say though is that depending on the size, standards etc of your own business you may be able to take the required profit from this contract and better our own price!

The reason that i refrained from quoting an actual price, is that our costs are bound to be radically different from yours, being in the building trade, you should have a very good idea of your costs alraedy, yet seem hesitant to utilise that experience.

The price quoted above, would allow us to make a decent profit on this contract, the price that you have already submitted, if successful, would allow a very good profit, however, that price may well put you into competion with established companies, with staff, proper training and a reputation for delivering a relaiable high quality service, thereby putting at risk the chances of you landing this particular contract. As previously stated, you dont earn from any quote until you bill for the work completed.

Base your prices on 2 things only, time + Profit, as a smaller company, your overhead is near zilch, so make the most of that advantage and grow the business!

As for being a politician, (cheeky bugger  ) take the time to read between the lines, and think about it, your question was answered in full, one of the most important aspects to success in this industry is attention to detail.

Regards,

Robert

[R.C Property]

Thanks for that, it's much appreciated. I know it might be harder as we are in the same town etc, but know we are different too.

It's nice to know that my price was on par with someone that's been doing it for years, this is the first commercial quote that I have quoted, only have done few domestic house cleans.

It's an area that we was going to look into in the new year, but since this phone call its made us think that we could do it. We would be looking at the training side of it too, as this is 100% important, that's why I think that I'm the only window cleaner in northampton that holds an nvq level 1 and 2 in window cleaning, fully ladder trained, fully water fed pole trained, CRB checked.

Yer I'm lucky at the minute that over heads are next to nothing, so this would help boost and let us put it back into the business.

[Robert Parry]

No problem Richard,

Always glad to help, best of British, and do let us know how you get on!

Can I make a suggestion that you do a search for surveying/estimating/bidding on the site, loads of useful info on here (some of it even from me  )
Regards,

Robert

[R.C Property]

No problem Richard,

Always glad to help, best of British, and do let us know how you get on!

Can I make a suggestion that you do a search for surveying/estimating/bidding on the site, loads of useful info on here (some of it even from me  )
Regards,

Robert

yer will let you know, cheers.
yer will have a look and read into that then.
cheers
Richard

[Mark Blazey]

Hi Robert,
Interesting thread. Do you charge £13 + vat an hour?

We do more one off cleans. Until recently we had a contract at some office/warehouse for car manufacturer, we cleaned offices, toilets and small kitchen areas. I priced at £18 an hour, no vat. Was I lucky to have the contract for 3 years at those rates?
We didn't lose contract to another company, the cars are now being produced in USA.

Kind regards Vicki (mark's better half)

[Robert Parry]

Hi Vicki,

No I dont think that you were lucky at all!

Our standard rate is indeed £13:00 per hour + VAT, this applies to most of our contracts, however this does not include periodics or special operations.

Nor does this rate take into account specific industries, locations, or consumables, the rate quoted is purely for standard office cleaning.

Regards,

Robert

[dmckellar]

how do you make any money on £13 an hour after paying staff, taxi, NI, vans, fuel, premises, equipment and chemicals?

im not trying to dig you or anything im just wondering - thats a low price per hour per head