[shine services]

Evening all,
Been asked to qoute a top to bottom clean of a rather large youth hostel type building.
Iv estimated it would take 3 people 2 days to clean.

They have also said after the 1 off thorough clean they would like a regular 8 hour a week clean to maintain. just general mopping hoovering etc.

Should i give a discount on the 1 off clean?
How would you price this?

I was thinking of £10 per hour per head for the 1 off and the same for the regular clean.
 
Its just Im not used to pricing large building like this usually houses and flats.

[Nick Vassilev]

£10.00 p/h is too low for a builders clean. Have you calculated your expenses properly - materials, equipment etc.?

How big is the building? Any window cleaning involved? Sounds to me that you have seriously underpriced the job.

A bit more info would enable me to help you with pricing. 

[Pristine Clean]

I would normally agree with Nick here that £10.00 is low on a one off builders clean.

However, you have to consider the climate we are in, we are still in a ressesion. Alot of cleaning companies are struggling especially the large companies.

If she wants the work go in at £10.50 per head. But as I dont know the details of the clean and what the specification are and how long it will take use your judgement.

You want to consider this as well, once if succesful and you do the builders clean you are then on there books and may get more work.

Dave

[martin19842]

hi there

is this a builders clean or is the building already in use ??

calculate the monthly cost for the regulat cleaning then apply a percentage to that price for the initial clean.

if its a builders clean of a new build, then number of rooms, number of bathrooms, kitchens, toilets, stairways, tc all needed to try and calculate,

what is the area size of the property ?

regards

martin

[Griffus]

I would normally agree with Nick here that £10.00 is low on a one off builders clean.

However, you have to consider the climate we are in, we are still in a ressesion. Alot of cleaning companies are struggling especially the large companies.

If she wants the work go in at £10.50 per head. But as I dont know the details of the clean and what the specification are and how long it will take use your judgement.

You want to consider this as well, once if succesful and you do the builders clean you are then on there books and may get more work.

Dave

Dave, I think a large part of the problem at the moment is caused by people going in, or agreeing to work for too low a rate. I know of contracts being awarded for target rates of less than £8 per hour. I say target rates because as you know, builders cleans are quoted for by the job, and often take longer than planned. Our employment costs per person come to almost that.

Cleaning contractors (as all contractors) are constantly being played against each other. How many times have we all been given the chance to re-submit our tender with the promise that this will secure a contract? It happens all the time. Many are foolish enough to work for a loss, either through unrealistic budgeting or maybe in the hope that this will pay off long-term. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but it's a risky and somewhat foolish game to play.

"Being on their books" can be achieved without selling yourself or your company short. Going in at silly rates can only lead to unrealistic expectations for future tenders, expectations that if not met will lead to the next 'mug' taking over.

One point about the original post; I'm not sure whether it refers to builders cleans or a building clean. Either way if you can agree an hourly rate, rather than a job cost then great. If you are happy to earn £10 per hour then again great. When this gets risky is when you base your job cost on an hourly rate of £10 as this leaves zero marging for error.

[Pristine Clean]

Ian,

I totally agree 100%. However you also have the chance not to work for such a low rate and not have the work. There have been many contracts that we would not have if we were not prepared to re-submit or go in at such a low cost.

We are in constant battle on just Price and Price alone. Every company wether a large or one man band can deliver a good quality service. So all that is left to swing the decision is Price and freebies that you throw in just to get the contract without sounding desperate.

As I am sure you are aware, once you have your foot in the door and provide that Great service, you have the chance to add bolt on services, washroom, window cleaning, carpets, sani bins the list is endless.

You cant always just increase the price margin by much the follwoing year either as you can be restricted by 4% increase only.

We have had to monitor everything from the cost of chemicals, paper towels, delivery prices, staff costs, fuel.. basically purchase from the cheapest supplier even if that means £10.00 quid and much more just to sometimes get a small profit or just break even on some contracts. But we have now through constant monitoring and research and haggling managed to get a reasonable profit to allow us to tick over nicely.

Its simple, you either want the work or you dont. I would love to have contracts priced higher. But as my competitors are going in at rediculous prices I have no alternative to either match or beat the price.

This is also another reason why we have had to expand on adding more services and not just office cleaning. We have had to invest in WFP, CARPET CLEANING, PEST CONTROL, SANI BINS and much more.

It fine for people saying I dont work for pea nuts. Or I dont want that type of client, or then they are not for my business. If you do not compete you dont have the work especially on the contracts that are worth having on your portfolio.

Dave

[Adam P]

well said dave. although i have far less experience this is what i anticipate to be the case with larger cleans. i've submitted a couple of quotes in the last few months which was higher then my lowest price with the thought that if they agree then i'll be happy, if they want lower then i can show i'm prepared to work with them for x amount less because of xyz. trouble is i don't end up getting a reply hoping that they'll either accept or negotiate. is there something in particular that people do to suggest you may be able to go lower? i don't want them thinking my prices are final but then i don't want everyone coming back to me asking for a lower price.

[Nick Vassilev]

well said dave. although i have far less experience this is what i anticipate to be the case with larger cleans. i've submitted a couple of quotes in the last few months which was higher then my lowest price with the thought that if they agree then i'll be happy, if they want lower then i can show i'm prepared to work with them for x amount less because of xyz. trouble is i don't end up getting a reply hoping that they'll either accept or negotiate. is there something in particular that people do to suggest you may be able to go lower? i don't want them thinking my prices are final but then i don't want everyone coming back to me asking for a lower price.

You will notice the price chasers immediately - they will start pressuring you for a lower price from the day they receive your bid. As Ian said, it is very common now to play cleaning contractors against each other in order to get ridiculously low prices.

Another thing many clients do is to put cleaning contracts for tender each year even if they are happy with their existing service. Facilities managers have strict orders to cut costs as much as possible.

Last year I had a client who demanded a reduced rate as requested by her MD. I managed to agree a £0.50 per week discount  . At the end of the day that was just a tick in her task sheet and she was happy with the result.

[gordonswindows]

Hi guys

I ag ere about the rate being low but I also like pristines argument too

I don't think there should be an hourly rate at all, we give a price for the job and it  is up to us to control the costs and manage the work to be finished on schedule

The better the job you do he better the profit

I do think in this case that it is worthwhile to see the job as a chance to gain experience and begin a reputation for builders cleans as that is where the money is

3 people 2 days should be three people 3 days plus materials and fuel I souls suggest going in at £750 plus the vat and try to get done in two and half days

Gordon