Hey matt
What i mean is, work out what you personally want to charge for doing ALL of the work that they need doing now, based on how much you want to earn per day. You have to evaluate how much you THINK they are willing to pay, for example, are they in a hurry to get the job done (if so, and you can do it quickly, then they may be prepared to pay more than you think), plus your expenses (which may or may not be that great), and then quote this price, saying that it is a one-off price and you will then give a price for coming back again (it will be easier to give a more acurate price once you've cleaned it up and had chance to get a feel of the place).
If, say, you aim for 3 days and it takes 6 then thats life (we've all been there lol), then again you might be done in 1 and a half days (been there too
). You've just gotta go in with the price you want and then see.
How did these people hear about you? Was it word of mouth/reccomendation? If so you stand a better chance of getting the work than if you've been picked out the fone book, so don't sell yourself short. Pricing is never easy, especially when you have to make it up as you go along (dressed up as a 'tailor made quotation for your individual requirements, ma'm' !) but you've gotta eat (as they say)...
I wouldnt have a clue about emergancy call out charges. When you say 'emergency next day' i guess they wont be calling you up at 3am to ask you to do some cleaning? If so you have to consider what work you will be cancelling in order to go round to clean for them, how much that work means to you (in a financial sense and a loyalty sense), and what the implications of dropping everything are.
Look at it like this: what time do you start work normally, and what time do you finish? Would it be possible to fit this occasional 'emergancy' work in at a time before or after your normal working hours (thereby saving you cancelling your existing appointments, but meaning you will have a very long working day...) ? Also, and most importantly at all, if YOU dont do the emergancy work, who will? Are there other companies who do this service or not.
If the answer is 'no' then that is to your advantage and you may be able to negotiate more notice (maybe 2 or 3 days) from them.
I know that i'm only in my fourth year of cleaning BUT i have already been a 'busy fool' (in other words i worked my butt off and didnt have much to show for it) and as it stands i just run a steady diary these days. I am only human. I'm getting the impression you work alone too - if this is the case then it should be quite easy to weigh-up what you would gain and what you would loose by doing the 'emergancy' cleaning. As for what you'd charge for it, well, you need to find out if anyone else does this kind of thing in the area and how much they would charge. You can then decide what your price will be.
Bertie