[lisa123]

Ok,
We had domestic cleaning prices, so now how about general office cleaning? day to day stuff,

also do you always have 2 cleaners minimum?
is it best to have 2 cleaners do 1 hour (2 woman hours)
or to have 1 cleaner to do the 2 woman hours on her own?

Do you supply your own equipment/chemicals/supplies etc, or does the client?

I would imagine if you supplied everything, this would bump up your price by a quid or 2 an hour?

[AJCleaningServices]

For general and regular cleaning jobs (domestic and/or commercial) we charge £9.00 per hour.  When our charge was £8-50 we had steady new work coming in.  Since we raised our charges to £9.00 we have had difficulties to get new customers…

Kind regards,
Arthur

[lisa123]

Hi arthur

do you supply cleaning materials for your office contracts?
and is your £9, per cleaner per hour?
thanks for replying

[AJCleaningServices]

Hello Lisa,

For general and regular cleaning jobs (domestic and/or commercial) we do not provide equipment and/or materials. 

£9.00 is per hour, per person.
 
Kind regards,
Arthur

[lisa123]

same as me then 
i think i'd charge more like £12 per hour per cleaner for supplying everything inc loo rolls and paper towels, soaps dispensers etc.
I would pobably expect to be knocked down in price aswell around here. 

I charge £10 for domestic after the trial period as we supply chemicals and materials, but the client provides hoovers and mops.

[CMS]

same as me then 
i think i'd charge more like £12 per hour per cleaner for supplying everything inc loo rolls and paper towels, soaps dispensers etc.
I would pobably expect to be knocked down in price aswell around here. 

I charge £10 for domestic after the trial period as we supply chemicals and materials, but the client provides hoovers and mops.

Lisa

How can you estimate the usage for toilet rolls? There is a way but do you know it?

It is VERY unusual to use the Clients equipment in commercial cleaning and it will not mean a huge reduction if you do as you should only cost in the 'depreciation' of the equipment.

As I have said before, I keep the wage content at 57% of the charge. If I was paying £5.70 an hour I would be charging £10.00. Anyone charging £8.50 - £9.00 per hour for commercial cleaning is on a very slippery slope.

[Clean 'n' Tidy]

Hi Lisa,

I am currently putting together a quote for some office cleaning. This to me is a very new area. I have come up with a price of £13 per hour. Down in my area it is very hard to get much more than £10 per hour. I have just tpyed out the quote and will wait and see.

RGds
Kim

[BSF]

same as me then 
i think i'd charge more like £12 per hour per cleaner for supplying everything inc loo rolls and paper towels, soaps dispensers etc.
I would pobably expect to be knocked down in price aswell around here. 

I charge £10 for domestic after the trial period as we supply chemicals and materials, but the client provides hoovers and mops.

Never price with these included!

same as me then  
i think i'd charge more like £12 per hour per cleaner for supplying everything inc loo rolls and paper towels, soaps dispensers etc.
I would pobably expect to be knocked down in price aswell around here.  

I charge £10 for domestic after the trial period as we supply chemicals and materials, but the client provides hoovers and mops.

Lisa

How can you estimate the usage for toilet rolls? There is a way but do you know it?

It is VERY unusual to use the Clients equipment in commercial cleaning and it will not mean a huge reduction if you do as you should only cost in the 'depreciation' of the equipment.

As I have said before, I keep the wage content at 57% of the charge. If I was paying £5.70 an hour I would be charging £10.00. Anyone charging £8.50 - £9.00 per hour for commercial cleaning is on a very slippery slope.

It doesnt matter if theirs any formula for working out the usage of toilet rolls, hand towels & soap, it would never work, these are add on's to make more money.

If you were paying your staff £5.70 per hour on a contract of 100 hours per week, you wouldnt charge £10.00 per hour, because the customer wouldnt pay that much to a cleaning company, if it was a small contract then fair enough £10 - £20 per hour, but large contracts will not pay it.

Do you really think that if you quoted £1000 per week for 100hrs cleaning over 12 months, you would win the contract?

The bigger they are the cheaper they get it!
 
(anyone charging) £8.50  - £9.00 per hour for commercial cleaning, come on if you could win a contract of 200hrs per week and charge £8.50 per hour, I think you'd take it.

Believe me CMS you wouldnt be on a slippery slope.

Regards

Paul

[CMS]

Of course, I should have qualified it a bit more.

Wages at 57% is fine on a contract with a value of up to say £1500 a month. Over and above thatthe wage 'percentage' will get higher as you start to compete with the Nationals. When I had Ford Motor Company at Dagenham under my control in 1991 the wage bill was 82% but it didn't matter on a contract worth £4m a year.

I was talking about the type of work that Lisa was competing for.

And yes, if you were quoting £8-9 per hour on a contract worth under £1500 a month you would be struggling.

To depreciate the equipment on a contract priced like that you'd have to have it for 10 years!!

[CMS]

PS............................

A ten year study of 'people at work' has shown that the average person uses 1.9 metres of toilet paper per day in the work place!! 

I would prefer to leave them out and treat it as an additional sales opportunity but in some cases the Client insists - particularly if it forms part of the tender documents.

[AJCleaningServices]

So far, three people suggested that job priced not by the hour.  Could somebody explain how do you price the job then?
Kind regards,
Arthur 

[BSF]

As I said CMS: Never quote a job that includes Toilet rolls, hand towels, hand soap, you can throw average figures around all day, that means nothing... 1.9metres per day, thats shocking, I go before I go to work ...

Of course, I should have qualified it a bit more.

Wages at 57% is fine on a contract with a value of up to say £1500 a month. Over and above thatthe wage 'percentage' will get higher as you start to compete with the Nationals. When I had Ford Motor Company at Dagenham under my control in 1991 the wage bill was 82% but it didn't matter on a contract worth £4m a year.

I was talking about the type of work that Lisa was competing for.

And yes, if you were quoting £8-9 per hour on a contract worth under £1500 a month you would be struggling.

To depreciate the equipment on a contract priced like that you'd have to have it for 10 years!!

I cant recall Lisa mentioning the size of the contract

An £18,000pa contract, 38hrs per week, I'd take it on for £9.00 per hour.

I thought the site you mentioned employed their own cleaners, what company did you work for? £4million for cleaning per year, at £5.00 per hour thats 15,384 hrs per week,,,, thats some hours CMS  : did the cleaners build the cars aswell?

[AJCleaningServices]

As I said CMS: Never quote a job that includes Toilet rolls, hand towels, hand soap, you can throw average figures around all day, that means nothing... 1.9metres per day, thats shocking, I go before I go to work ...

Where we work people use lots of toilet rolls as tissues, so you never know how many meters may by misused 

Kind regards,
Arthur

[BSF]

Exactly Arthur....

Thats my point, never include these items in a quote,, even if they ask

[AJCleaningServices]

Now four people have suggested that job priced not by the hour.  Could somebody explain how do you price the job then?
PLEASE
Kind regards,
Arthur 

[Tim Downer]

Arthur

I dont work out my tenders by the hour.....as all are different to each other.

I remember reading somewhere that each "account" is like a fingerprint.....when it comes to cleaning, no two "accounts" are alike.

So i try to do a thorough survey of the customers premises.....then, like every one else i determine the amount of labour that is needed to complete the job.

Once i have done that, i look at my notes and work out what cleaning materials, equipment etc that i would roughly use in a year.

Also included would be holiday pay, Uniforms, Insurance costs, Administration charges, Management fee (my wages - usually around 2 hours per week.....but would depend on the size of the contract and how long i will be there for the weekly visit), training....usually try to account for 15 hours per year per employee....and not forgetting a hanson profit ontop  :

After i have come to a grand total, i then double check my figures by determining the % of labour - i try to get to Karls suggested 57%.....but the two contracts i have done have varied between a 55% one and a 61% one.

The system i like to use above, was the same system i used quite comfortably when i ran my own cleaning business up till 3 years ago.....However, if i had time to do the maths, i may be surprised to find that the average cost per hour may well be similar for each contract......

It would be fun to find out the average price per square footage of a typical commercial enviroment to triple check the figures......but i like it complicated......and have a feeling that this was discussed around a year and a half ago.

Any one have a price on the average square foot for cleaning??

Regards

Tim

[Tim Downer]

There is an article i read some weeks ago on the internet, which included a formula for finding out the average usage per person of toilet rolls.....and even a formula for the liquid hand soap......

I will have to dig it out for tomorrow and let you know.....however, as has been stressed by pfwest, it would be better to not have these in your tender and sell them on an as and when basis.....can be a nice little earner.

If they haven't already got them, you could try and sell them dispensers for the soap, paper hand towels, mini jumbo rolls etc etc plus they will buy the consumables for them from you.

Regards

Tim

[AJCleaningServices]

Tnx Tim

[BSF]

Arthur

I dont work out my tenders by the hour.....as all are different to each other.

I remember reading somewhere that each "account" is like a fingerprint.....when it comes to cleaning, no two "accounts" are alike.

So i try to do a thorough survey of the customers premises.....then, like every one else i determine the amount of labour that is needed to complete the job.

Once i have done that, i look at my notes and work out what cleaning materials, equipment etc that i would roughly use in a year.

Also included would be holiday pay, Uniforms, Insurance costs, Administration charges, Management fee (my wages - usually around 2 hours per week.....but would depend on the size of the contract and how long i will be there for the weekly visit), training....usually try to account for 15 hours per year per employee....and not forgetting a hanson profit ontop  :

After i have come to a grand total, i then double check my figures by determining the % of labour - i try to get to Karls suggested 57%.....but the two contracts i have done have varied between a 55% one and a 61% one.

The system i like to use above, was the same system i used quite comfortably when i ran my own cleaning business up till 3 years ago.....However, if i had time to do the maths, i may be surprised to find that the average cost per hour may well be similar for each contract......

It would be fun to find out the average price per square footage of a typical commercial enviroment to triple check the figures......but i like it complicated......and have a feeling that this was discussed around a year and a half ago.

Any one have a price on the average square foot for cleaning??

Regards

Tim

Tim

You might not, but the customer does, if a customer asks you for a quote, they just divide the cost by the number of hours your quote states.

As I've said the bigger the customer the less they pay, thats life

[Tim Downer]

Why would the customer do that??

If after i have done a complete and thorough survey.....including asking the potential client what their budget is.....why would they work out what the stupid hourly rate is??

At the end of the day, if the price is right and the service offered is dam good they will take you on.

However, I do agree with you that the bigger the contract, then naturally.....if you want to go down the road of an hourly rate....it would be less per hour than one smaller.

Regards

Tim