[andrew stone]

hi guys

was talking to another carpet cleaner whilst picking up some prochem supplies this week.
his opinion was that with home ownership becoming out of reach for many people and renting increasing greatly
carpet cleaning prices can only fall.

tenants wont pay high prices nor will landlords.we will be working for more and more tenants and they will pay only low prices.

i said their will always be people with money in their pocket looking for a quality clean and we have to target them as much as possible.what do you think? 
he replied that as we move closer to a continental rental property market more of our work will be eot carpet cleans.

i know that i charge less for tenancy carpet cleans than my normal rates so see his point.

what do you reckon?

andrew

[from edge2edge]

Where are you based................Alan(swindon)

[andrew stone]

hi alan

i am based in essex

do you think there could be regional differences or high house prices affecting all areas?

andrew

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

This argument assumes that people who rent take less pride in the appearance of their homes than homeowners.

Believe it or not tenants do have their carpets cleaned at other times - not just at the end of their tenancy.

2 of my best clients rent their homes and they spend in excess of a £1000 per year with me.

There is far more likelyhood of my prices going up, than there ever is of them going down.

[tony bish]

The housing market may be volatile at the moment ,but people are staying put not moving so imo there will be more people wanting their carpets maintained as they are keeping what they have got .It is the first time buyers that are finding it a struggle to get on the ladder ,people who have already got mortgages are looking at the lowest interest rates for years and they are the people that will have their carpets cleaned ,repaired ,changed etc ,not the first time buyers market. I dont know how you are doing Steve and the other fitters/ supplyers of carpets are doing ,but I have found no difference at all in sales .

[andrew stone]

i think the guy meant over the long term the uk. will become a nation of renters rather than property owners.

also as people live longer and need old age care more properties will have to be sold to fund nursing home fees rather than the house being passes down to their children.

andrew.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Won't the price depend on the amount of competition? If there are 1000's of proprties to clean and only 1 carpet cleaner he/she can charge what ever they want.

Shaun

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

i think the guy meant over the long term the uk. will become a nation of renters rather than property owners.

also as people live longer and need old age care more properties will have to be sold to fund nursing home fees rather than the house being passes down to their children.

andrew.

Just one mans opinion - not one I happen to agree with

[wynne jones]

This has to be the most creative idea I've heard to do yourself out of a good living.

There's also the: Where I live arguement, the weather, national holidays, splash and dash.....etc etc

Yet there's usually someone up the road from you coining it in, but then they haven't probably heard why they shouldn't be doing so well. 

What you believe, tends to dictate what results you get.

[Craigp]

Well said Wynne,

Could not agree more, sounds to me like this was just a very negitive person, he will always find reasons he's not making much but never look at himself as the possible reason.

Or maybe he was trying to put OP off the business! Give him less competion 

[Colin Day]

I have at least 6 enquiries a month from people on the married quarters. When I tell them my price for just the carpets and oven, which I actually offer at a very reduced price. They often (9/10 times) say they can get the lot done including windows, bathroom and kitchen deep cleaned for £195....

How am I supposed to compete with that...

I'm not negative about it, just realistic...

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

If you won't work for that price then why worry about it Col ?

[JandS]

Exactly Steve.

John

[tony bish]

Know where your coming from Andrew ,but these people who sell their houses are selling to house purchasers so we still have home owners ,so the merry go round goes on .The govt has commisioned thousands more houses to be built to boost the housing market ,to aid the building trade etc etc as this has a knock on effect ,and these houses are being snapped up by people .The main difference in the housing market now as oppose to a few years ago is the fact you have to put a hefty deposit down usually 20 - 25% which when you look at it logically is a good idea as hopefully it safe guards people from negative equity which was one of the main culprits which got us into this mess in the first place ,people were borrowing more than they could afford.Sorry to diverse ... the customers I come across have still got money in their pocket because of low interest rates on mortgages ,but shop around a lot more now, so it is our job to make sure it is hopefully us they choose .

[Colin Day]

If you won't work for that price then why worry about it Col ?

Who said I was worried

I was simply stating a fact.... :

Anyway, the way I see it is that he keeps out of my way and I keep out of his way.... We do wave at each other in passing though....

[wynne jones]

I have at least 6 enquiries a month from people on the married quarters. When I tell them my price for just the carpets and oven, which I actually offer at a very reduced price. They often (9/10 times) say they can get the lot done including windows, bathroom and kitchen deep cleaned for £195....

How am I supposed to compete with that...

I'm not negative about it, just realistic...

I get calls just the same Colin, the point is.... so what?

The goal should be to get them off the phone as quickly as possible. You could say there is a cheap guy who does it for £195 but I don't know if he is any good or not, I charge £xyz just for carpets and oven. Who knows you might get 8/10.

Being apologetic or trying to explain to these people your pricing sounds like a waste of breath. You are probably competing with a Matlo after some extras. 

[Colin Day]

I do tend to end the phone call quickly....

I do clean a lot of carpets on the married quarters but it's usually a few weeks after they have moved in But still, when it comes to the march out, I advise them to go with the "Other Guy"....

[Russ Chadd]

This argument assumes that people who rent take less pride in the appearance of their homes than homeowners.

Believe it or not tenants do have their carpets cleaned at other times - not just at the end of their tenancy.

2 of my best clients rent their homes and they spend in excess of a £1000 per year with me.

There is far more likelyhood of my prices going up, than there ever is of them going down.

Most of the enquiries i have received from council property tenants have all resulted in no bookings probably because im not cheap enough, I visited one woman who lived in a tiny little flat with her boyfriend, kids and cuddly Staffordshire bull terrier... loads of clutter and urine stains all over the living room carpet not to mention the failed attempts of fairy liquid spot cleaning... all in all a s**t hole.
Flat was 1st floor so most of the gear would  had to of been humped up the stairs... to do a proper job i guess 3 hours, a previous over the phone quote worked out at £36.00 from another local firm!

She was not going to spend a penny over the £36...

The bottom line is the price to most tenants...

[Colin Day]

This argument assumes that people who rent take less pride in the appearance of their homes than homeowners.

Believe it or not tenants do have their carpets cleaned at other times - not just at the end of their tenancy.

2 of my best clients rent their homes and they spend in excess of a £1000 per year with me.

There is far more likelyhood of my prices going up, than there ever is of them going down.

Most of the enquiries i have received from council property tenants have all resulted in no bookings probably because im not cheap enough, I visited one woman who lived in a tiny little flat with her boyfriend, kids and cuddly Staffordshire bull terrier... loads of clutter and urine stains all over the living room carpet not to mention the failed attempts of fairy liquid spot cleaning... all in all a s**t hole.
Flat was 1st floor so most of the gear would  had to of been humped up the stairs... to do a proper job i guess 3 hours, a previous over the phone quote worked out at £36.00 from another local firm!

She was not going to spend a penny over the £36...

The bottom line is the price to most tenants...

Like Steve, I have a lot of customer's who rent properties and have their carpets cleaned regularly... But a majority of EOT cleans I quote on I lose. Rightly or wrongly (and I couldn't care less about anyone's opinion on this) I do ask them to ring back if they get a cheaper quote... If it's only by a few quid, I will sometime match it...

 

[james roffey]

Had a call from a lady moving out of a rented house she gave me a basic idea of what needed doing and i told her that it would not be less than £170 but i would be happy to go and have a look and give an exact quote, she said that she had been quoted over the phone from a company that she found on facebook !
They quoted £70 and they are based in Norwich which is a four hour return trip. The job i estimate would take in excess of three hours.
I am meeting her in the morning to quote she could not figure out how they could do the job either, but seems prepared to pay a reasonable price to have her carpets in a rented property cleaned.