[coyote7]

Hi,
I went to look at a nice 23 bedroom hotel today to arrange a quote for carpet and spot cleaning. I have only been doing domestic so need help pricing this up, any suggestions would be greatly received
The manager is new and wants this done over a period of time. I told him it's usually charged by the square metre but he was asking if i would consider working for an hourly rate and i would clean as and when to suit the hotels budget.
Please let me know your thoughts he is getting other quotes naturally so want to get in there and be in a strong position
Thanks
Rich

[rich hand]

I would rather give a price for the whole clean estimated by how long I think it will take and how much I want for the day or half day. The measurement could be a back up guide but measurements are too rigid and can throw big jobs off course into a high price bracket which isnt good especially if you want to be competitive.

The hourly rate may be unfair to you if you have powerful equipment and work fast.

[Jim_77]

I have a care home customer for whom it's impractical to charge by the m², so I use a time-based pricing system instead.  It starts off at my minimum charge for an hour's work, and then for each additional hour worked there is a slight discount, so it works on a sliding scale.  This is to encourage them to book me for a decent amount of work rather than one room at a time.  Time is from pulling up to driving away, NOT time spent cleaning.

It works pretty well, I'm normally there three or four hours at a time.

I gave up trying to encourage him to book me to do one AREA at a time so I could work more economically.  It's an old vicarage, with extensions and an outlying building and yep you've guessed it... every time I go I'm asked to clean one bedroom in each section.  The guy is literally spending 50% of his money paying me to set up, pack away and wander round the building with kit in my hand!

However, this is what suits him so as long as he's made an informed decision I'm happy.

Is your hotel job just going to be bedrooms or communal areas too?  Are you truckmounted or using portable(s)?

I've made some tidy money on hotels with a bonnet machine  Just like the bigger pubs, it's a difficult market to get in to, especially as an independent, because many hotels are national chains and tied up with national suppliers.  These suppliers aren't even specialist carpet cleaners but firms who offer it as part of their overall services.  Obviously it's highly cost-driven too, under a pound a metre typically.

[Joe H]

Hourly rate!
If you told him the true hourly rate you need he would go as bald as the chap in your avatar.  

[coyote7]

I will be using a portable Jim and they also want the conference rooms doing as well as communal areas. I am not sure about the hourly rate as this could be a negative wouldn't want them thinking i was trying to drag the work out so perhaps per room or m2 is the way forward.
Thanks for your replies guys i appreciate it. Keep them coming

[suffolkclean]

If the rooms are of similar size maybe price per room thats what we do with school classrooms we do.
As you said if you give him an hourly rate you'd never get the work 

[Jim_77]

Rich, if you can produce a certain level of productivity then you'll both know roughly what to expect from X hours of your time on site.  The longer you're there, the more efficient you are as you only have to set up and pack away once.  Getting started is the hardest bit about winning these customers!

The hourly rate is not a negative at all!  You can use it as a sales tool - sliding scale, and hammer it home that you can clean much more if you do work all in one part of the building.

The way I got my foot in the door with the nursing home I mentioned was from a one-off small job at an agreed price.  When asked to quote for further work, I offered two pricing structures;  a rate per metre and the hourly rate.

To be honest, I don't think he considered it that much, he never actually agreed to either price plan - he just rings me and I send a bill, which is always paid within about 10 days.  He was happy that I'd showed him a very good level of service initially so he trusted that I'd continue to do the same... I continue to make a 100% effort to be as productive,  flexible and helpful as I can, and we have a very good relationship now.  If my productivity or quality dropped in relation to the time on site and invoice level he'd soon cotton on!

A manager purchasing contracted-in work needs to know he can hand things over to you and it's done, sorted, in capable hands, safe, no hassle, results every time.  Talk to your contact at the hotel and find out what they really want, what's important to them, what they fear.

[rich hand]

Jim explained that way the hourly rate may work well especially if you dictated the rate, I was just imagining the hotel manager offering a price of £25/hour or similar 

[will01]

It may be that the manager would be equating the hourly rate the hotels' general cleaners get to the hourly rate he would expect to pay you. Is this about £6-£8 an hour at best?

I think he would work on the assumption that you are also a "Cleaner" but with expensive equipment so he would expect to pay you, say a tenner an hour.

You may find he'll joke with you about how impressed he is with your fancy equipment and make a comment like "With a mcahine like that you could clean 3 bedrooms an hour"!!

He either knows what good ccs charge per hour and is hoping your desperate for the work and will offer to do it for peanuts or he genuinely dosen't know the hourly rate in which case you will need to have a pillow on his desk when you tell him and his head hits the table!!.

OR he could be very willing to pay the hourly rate which i very much doubt.

will

[robert meldrum]

Been cleaning hotels for years and would NEVER contemplate getting into discussions about hourly rates.

From a carpet cleaners point of view ................

I have only ever quoted areas to be cleaned ( with consideration to degree of soiling )

From a general cleaners point of view..........

You are used to quoting hourly rates, BUT, if you don't have the knowledge or equipment to clean carpets, get someone to do it for you. You could save yourself a lot of hassle. If you want to get into c/c get on a course as quickly as possible.

I suggest you look at c/c as a separate part of your business or you will fail to get the benefit of the higher return for c/c.