[Simon Payne]

Hello all, we run a contract cleaning firm and we undertake lots of large contract type work but we are trying to get more into the residential carpet side of things,

but

It does appear that lot of carpet cleaning company's are working for exceptionally cheap prices. Our equipment is top notch as are the chemicals we use,

Is the margin low on it or are some company's simply charging less as a volume based theory to making profit.

Not a dig at anyone charging competitive price but interested to see how low some prices appear to be

[Neil Williams]

Welcome to the madhouse, where you have asked a mad question on a mad Tuesday. 
Hourly rates, yeh right, stand by for anything between those who won't get out of bed for anything less than £80/hour and those who are happy to cover their petrol expenses. 
If you could get 100 people to answer this honestly you'd probably end up with an average of £40/hour.
The choice is yours. Hard sell and do less work over the day for £80/hour or possibly get more work but at £20/hour.

[clinton]

As neil said some will work for an amount that suits them..

Look in any local papers and some prices are very low with the carpet cleaning and upholstery with doing both for under 50 pounds :

[Mike Halliday]

It does appear that lot of carpet cleaning company's are working for exceptionally cheap prices. 

what do you consider to be 'cheap prices' perhaps the prices you have to charge to cover your cost make your prices high.

One man bands may be working with low costs so can price very competitively

[derek west]

according to your website you say this

Intocleaning can offer customised cleaning contracts and will beat any present price you have by 5-10%*

and you saying you keep getting undercut. i'm confused.

[Neil Williams]

and you saying you keep getting undercut. i'm confused.

Dear Mr Confused West,
Did you not see the asterix?
That'll be the get out clause which everyone who uses the words "we'll be cheapest" uses to get out of it.

[derek west]

aaaahhhhhhh roight, got ya now ted, cheers neil. i am no longer confused. i'm unconfused, i'm confusedless.

[markpowell]

Your site says you employ 100 staff, is this the case?

Mark

[Simon Payne]

Hi Mark,

That is correct, we are an office cleaning services provider but we also undertake other services.

The one we would like to get heavily into is carpet cleaning, we undertake lots of window cleaning some of which we sub out. We would also like to undertake more carpet cleaning on domestic and commercial contract basis

[ianharper]

Simon

You should try adding value to your service as it sounds like your being judges on price alone. you could try adding free carpet cleaning or floor scrub once a year.

Many contractors just give a basic daily clean and don't price in periodicals. Its about value for money then and not who is the cheapest.

Learnt this a long time ago from Amway. they teach you how to show that it takes say 5 cheap washing up liquids to match their one and when you add the cheap ones up they are more expensive. This can be used both ways in your marketing get in cheap and increase the services or times you clean, or adding value into your services.

Respect

Ian Harper

[ryan mca]

 Simon

 If you are vat regestered you are 20% dearer than some of your compeditors
on domestics to start with the hourly rate will depened on what you need
if you have a t/m and work your self then £100-£80 per hour as you will know
getting staff that are as productive as you can be hard for domestic work do
your research decide how much you need per hour then target that market
We have a company about 25 miles away doing 3 carpets for £38 and another
charging £10 for a rug.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Simon....having looked at your website, i find it strange that you want to get involved in domestic carpet cleaning.I just think it's an odd match to what you are offering now.Why are you thinking of adding domestic carpet cleaning and what is your thinking behind it?

[Simon Gerrard]

My advice is very simple - ignore the competition - forget about them. If you  try to compete with people soley on price terms then in my view you are being very silly. Compete on a service and quality basis and charge what YOU want for that service, just make sure what you give the customer fits the bill. In any area you will find customers looking for the cheapest price and if you're in the cut throat market that is the type of customer you will attract, but in the same area there are many more people who are looking for qualityand are prepared to pay for, this should be where you should be looking for custom, otherwise your competitors are in effect dictating how much you charge.

Simon

[Ian Gourlay]

Dear Simon,

With 100 staff at your disposal and cash flow you are obviously a big time player, with resources to knock out all competition.

You can do this by working out your pricing structure and going in low price  for mass market.

Or you can go in at £5 a metre fore a niche market.

What ever way you go you are going to have to spend on advertising and marketing.

I would imagine you would like a £100k turnover out of carpet cleaning  so to achieve this you will need to commit £25k on advertising and promotion if you want 200k  it would be 50k

Obviously the market is bigger than Carpet Cleaning.

Although I am not recommending it you need to talk to Alltec Success Coach

It may cost you 3k but with 100 staff and your cash flow that should not be a problem

[stuart_clark]

Mike
Ive just been on your website! its very good isnt it ? knocks the spots off most ive seen! Love the video!

regards Stu Clark

[jasonl]

My advice is very simple - ignore the competition - forget about them. If you  try to compete with people soley on price terms then in my view you are being very silly. Compete on a service and quality basis and charge what YOU want for that service, just make sure what you give the customer fits the bill. In any area you will find customers looking for the cheapest price and if you're in the cut throat market that is the type of customer you will attract, but in the same area there are many more people who are looking for qualityand are prepared to pay for, this should be where you should be looking for custom, otherwise your competitors are in effect dictating how much you charge.

Simon

This is the key to success in carpet cleaning , and indeed in any business, Robert Harris said almost the same thing 15 years ago , just before he sold his company Harris research that he founded in California  for $100 million, Harris research own The chemdry brand name, he started out in a car .

[Helen]

but in the same area there are many more people who are looking for qualityand are prepared to pay for, this should be where you should be looking for custom, otherwise your competitors are in effect dictating how much you charge.

In a good market maybe but just at the moment even these so called 'Rich' people are looking for a bargin. Trust me, getting a bit sick of people out in the country with £2m mansions bartering over prices.

[Ian Gourlay]

I had a compliment just now

Got told i was expensive

Still got the job

Back to the phones

[Rick Ward]

A bit naive of you Helen to believe that people in £2 million mansions wouldn't bargain, they might be feeling the crunch too. I have more respect for people that discuss costs it shows that they live in the real world - that's just business surely.

[Kinver_Clean]

a)  people in million pound mansions got there because they don't pay top prices for anything else. ( A 1.8 mil flat in Birmingham has just been sold for 1 mil and the developers were so pleased they put it out on local news)

b) It does not matter how cheap you quote, someone will be prat enough to undercut you. Go for the top end and give a service to match. ie Nothing is too much trouble- as long as they pay.