[wayne zabel]

On my recent NCCA course we were told that when we get a query about pricing a job to go to the clients house and do the survey prior to giving a price.

In reality how many of you guys actually do this and how many of you will just give a price over the phone?Also if you get a job just by pricing over the phone would you visit the house prior to doing the job or just turn up on the day?

Do you think it a possitive or a negative to offer to visit and survey prior to giving a price - they may think they are in for 30 minutes of hard sell and not a 10 minute no obligation survey.

We were also told that if a survey report is not available then this might deem any insurance claims invalid should there be a need for one.Is this so?

Any advice and opinions greatly accepted.

[Paul Heath]

I can't see how you can price a job over the phone, they will tell you its only 4m x 4m, you then turn up to do the job its twice the size and stains all over the place. How can you then explain to custy that it will be double the price.
Visiting the job first is the only way, while there you say to them while i am all set up i will do that room for nothing, having already built it into the price. There happy, your happy, win,win situation.

[derek west]

when your starting out in this business, going out to quote is a must. as you start to understand pricing, housing area's, time wasters and lots of other factors, you will naturally start to price a few jobs over the phone. (not every one though)
anything within a 3 mile radius i still insist on quoting in house, if the distance and size of job doesn't add up, i now quote over the phone.
this is one of them things that you cannot learn on a course, its a feeling that you accumulate over time. hard to explain in a post, but if you read this back in a year or 2, you'll understand what i was trying to get across.
derek

[Mike Halliday]

I think it all depends on distance, I would never travel over 10miles to give a quote. If you can keep all your work in a small area then you can do in-home quotes as you are always 'nearby' or 'just driving past'

if you can do quotes during normal working hours then its no hardship but if you are going out after tea to do quotes then it not good.

[markpowell]

I do not have the time to go out and survey all jobs, i take details over the phone and give an estimate, if i get there and there is any problems, stains etc, then the price changes. Most of the time no problems tho, think alot of it is down to experience, no dis-respect to any newbies. When you first set up i would advise that all jobs are surveyed before quoted on.
Mark

[richy27]

i tend to go and pre clean survey and quote on as many jobs as i can. especially if you get the impression over the phone that this is required. obviously if it just a small job eg single room unless i am right nearby previous to an available appointment i give aprice over the phone.

a good example where this payed off was had a call from a prospective custy asking for a hall and landing carpet to be cleaned. was very vague over the phone about fibre type. so went round to discover it was a sissal carpet with huge water marks obviously didnt want to get involved in that as the water marks were all over. from a leak in the ceiling. but while i was there i quoted for 4 other large rooms and she accepted my quote so prob would not of got that job if i had just given price over the phone and then wasted my time going over to do job and then walked away when i arrived

[daysdeepclean]

I adopt the same idea Richard.... But I was happy I went to quote one the other week when a customer said her room was 10'x10'... I nearly said minimum price (£140  ) but then I decided that as she lived near Maccy Dees, I'd go and quote... Good job I did cos it was a flooded carpet from a month ago so I adjusted the price accordingly and it was a pig of a job!

[richy27]

I adopt the same idea Richard.... But I was happy I went to quote one the other week when a customer said her room was 10'x10'... I nearly said minimum price (£140  ) but then I decided that as she lived near Maccy Dees, I'd go and quote... Good job I did cos it was a flooded carpet from a month ago so I adjusted the price accordingly and it was a pig of a job!

i always make it clear a price is an estimate over the phone a a survey and quote is a solid fixed price written quotation most people prefer the later plus you get more conertion this way and it takes the element of surprise and being un-prepared.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I quote 95% over the phone, it's an aquired skill but not that difficult once you have become reasonably established.

I usually qualify the potential customers answers, as I go along if I have doubts that they have got the wrong room sizes.

In reality there are hardly any times that I have problems but I stress it is an estrimate and although I almost always stick to it, if I believe I have been deliberately mislead, I reserve the right to increase the price or walk.

My business is spread over a wide area from say Southend to Chemlsford to Brentwood and sometimes beyond and it would be impratical to visit all my estimates, last Monday I had 25 enquiries

Cheers

Doug

[chrisjohn]

Wayne i was on the same course as you, and ive been trading now for a month.In my opinion as we are still very new to this industry,i go and look at every job before i give a price.First few jobs i did,i under quoted the price.But now i have a little more experience i can look at a job and know how long it will take me.As the more experienced guys have already said,quoting becomes easier the more work you do.

[Joe H]

When you are a newbie you will have the time to go and quote and I would advise you do as it is part of the learning curve.
I, like others have already said, mainly give an ESTIMATE over the phone.
You need to ask the right questions, like, where is the property, determine if a house or flat (if flat what floor, lifts or stairs only), size of room, do they know the fibre (some do, most dont), why are they having the carpet cleaned (generally dirty or stains), and other questions as appropriate.
I do emphasise prices over the telephone are an ESTIMATE, and may change on arrival and inspection.
Very, very rare do I have to adjust the estimate cause of the info received being good.

If the client wants a lot of carpets cleaned then I would prefer to go and quote, and their is more chance of closing the deal if you are there.

[JandS]

Yes it's not worth going out to quote for 1 room cleaning or a 3 piece.
As long as you make sure it's only an estimate based on there measurements.
Never had a problem yet and very rarely had to increase the price.
As you can imagine I have never had to lower the price!!!!!!!!
Multiple rooms may well need a visit depending on distance.
Quite built up round here so don't usually have large distances to travel.
Friday was my longest journey yet      30 mile round trip.

John

[james roffey]

I go out and quote almost everytime as i am a newbie but i agree with Doug someone with his experience can probably calculate pretty much how much it will be and over several jobs it evens out but i would not do that yet for one i have the time to do it and it also helps build up the customer relationship etc and it gives me confidence in selling myself, the only one i went out to without pricing was in Thurrock an hour round trip because he said another cleaner had let him down and he wanted it done immediatlety, i told him how much he agreed when i got there it was a lot bigger job than he told me over the phone when i gave him the revised price he said thats too much so i walked i was not prepared to do it for peanuts and he expected me to back down, but i have learnt from that

[Paul Simpson]

When I started out I tried to visit & survey every job but it is just not practical any more. Covering a larger area and not very cost effective if for instance you get a single room.

Trouble is I get more and more that are ringing around and insist on a price (even if its approx.) there and then before they make a decision so like many others have said, get as much information as possible then provide an estimate which would be confirmed on arrival.

Having said that I do try to visit when possible and more often than not secure the job that way, especially when your told your not the cheapest but the other companies couldn't be bothered to visit.