[nat1]

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone who does domestic cleaning charges per job rather than per hour?, I at present charge my clients per hour, but find some weeks I can actually finish the job quicker, due to certain things that do not need doing every week, but feel if I charged for 3hrs but actually finish the job in 2.5 hrs. & go the client would feel I was cheating them out of half an hour's pay. So I was thinking of charging new clients per job rather than per hour.  Ta, Nat1.

[martin19842]

hi there

try to quote yur client per visit, irrespective of whether they are domestic or commercial.

i had a commercial client once, rang me and shouted that the cleaner was only on site this week, for one hour each night, cause he had been monitoring the alarm log.

so i asked -- is there a problem with the cleaning, i'll get it sorted?

client response -- no the cleaning is fine.

he couldnt understand how it culd be done that quicly

the answer, the cleaner had been working with another one of his staff, to cover holiday cover therefore less time on site.

so price by visit-- yes the client will try to compre the cost of the service to an implied number of hours , but that doeant matter.

regards

martin

[domestic bliss]

Try and price per job if you can.  You will find as you get more use to a job you will get your own routine for that paticular house so therefore getting quicker also sometimes a house maybe dirtier than the previous week or if the client hasn't been around much then obviously it won't be as dirty.  And as long the house is done to the same high standard then it shouldn't be a problem how long it took to clean it.

[mikep]

hI nat
Ihave come across the same problem,with regular clean enquiries the first and most important question in almost all customers minds is 'how much an hour?'
Like domestic bliss,if you have done the job to a high standard it shouldnt pose to much of a problem.
we sometimes do a lttle extra that has not been scheduled to fill the time the client expects us to be working and they are normally overjoyed.(thats apart from the iffy ones who expect the impossible at every visit!
                   Mike

[angela stone]

we have quoted 3 jobs now and have quoted them all per cleaning spec. 

Most of the time it will just be me but on occasion my hubby will be helping me out so to avoid complications we want to charge per clean.

Ange

[Jan K]

i would love to be able to charge by the job, but money is tight down here and so are the clients 

[Robert Parry]

I mainly agree with Martin on this one, whilst its true, that an awful lot of clients or prospects will try to compare quotes on an hourly basis, you should not fall into this trap.

You need to explain to the client all costs associated with their cleaning, insurance/training/equipment and chemicals etc. Once these costs have been factored in, so to speak, your "hourly charge" will be quite high, you need to have the ability and confidence to convince your client or prospect, that your own costs to provide an excellent service cover more than just the cleaners time on-site, a low hourly charge, will quite frequently mean, a poorly run business, where important details and obligations are not met, this is your opportunity to educate your client or prospect on the realities of life, regards,

Rob

[Les]

We learned the lesson of charging by the hour.

When we started the business I charged by the hour on domestic Cleans.
Then one day I had some chap moaning that I earn more an hour than he does....and he was a Scientist 

Yeah, 'wottever'. I tried to explain that I wasn't taking 'cash in hand' like his last cleaning lady. I wasn't using their Hoover or Cleaning products and we had these little things called 'overheads' and 'profit' to consider.

We didn't stay there very long and never charged by the hour again.

As long as you do a good job people seem ok.

Les