[roundbuilder]

Long story short, I have a large customer base of window cleaning customes, i am looking at getting a carpet machine (i like the ashbys ninja)carpet cleaning machine and a pressure washer, a good friend of mine is lending me a steempro 2000 powermax and a smaller numatic he said thats good for sofas etc, anyway from what i see is that carpet cleaning prices are all over the place some guys charge from £15 a room and others from £50/60, i was thinking of giving all my customers a leaflet explaining that as they are my window cleaning customers that id do all there carpets in there house from £150 saving them x amount, many of my customers being victorian terrace and 3 bed semi's! And non customers whole house from £199 but From checking out some of the prices guys charge my idea doesnt sound like an attractive bargain for the customer!
Thoughts and advice please on what to charge as an average price  im not into ripping people off but i would like to make it a nice little earner and hopefully end up with a sideline van soley doing carpets in the near future.
Your advice would be like gold dust to me.

Cheers.

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Tin hat time mate it's ok lending gear but do have training and knowledge Carpets are not so hard to clean but pretest always some may bleed some may shrink so always prestest. As for upholstery which is much more difficult to clean testing and knowing what your cleaning is a must so if your mate is a pro go with him for some experience and training also not everyone wants there whole house doing or maybe only have 1 or 2 carpets so go for a price your happy with £35 a room will get you your £150 that includes Stairs so if you base your price on that. Also get insured maybe your current insurance covers you but just cause your insured don't jump in head first an even better way is to get your mate the work with a percentage to you thats a win win.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Me personally Mick, I quote by the square metre rather than by the room (never by the house !)
Visiting the property and measuring the areas is all part of the theatre of preparing the quote, it also gives me the chance to establish a relationship with the client, plus they can point out any areas of concern that may have a bearing on the price.
You will need some training and even a day out with a c/cleaner - but unlike Windows there are a lot more pitfalls awaiting the untrained and inexperienced operator.
Feel free to ring me if you need any advice - 07768 648863 I'm around tomorrow.

[roundbuilder]

Oh yes i forgot to say, he will be coming with me as im helping him gaining wc work and how to wfp etc and he will be training me on doing carpets, he said im best only charging per room instead of house as would put people off but i thought would be a good idea,, now more have said it i think ill wipe that idea out the equation..

[roundbuilder]

Me personally Mick, I quote by the square metre rather than by the room (never by the house !)
Visiting the property and measuring the areas is all part of the theatre of preparing the quote, it also gives me the chance to establish a relationship with the client, plus they can point out any areas of concern that may have a bearing on the price.
You will need some training and even a day out with a c/cleaner - but unlike Windows there are a lot more pitfalls awaiting the untrained and inexperienced operator.
Feel free to ring me if you need any advice - 07768 648863 I'm around tomorrow.

Cheers mate, i will call you 2moz.  Nice 1.

[peter maybury]

how experienced is your mate? what training and experience has he got. I would recommend you do some training  yourself first so that you can make a judgement on that. It will also give you a better insight into what equipment you need and will probably save you a lot of money in the long run anyway. Even ask on here to go out with some of the experienced people, even if you have to travel a short distance. Equipment levels and competence in the industry vary drastically.
Good luck

Peter

[Steve9]

Time spent with an experienced carpet cleaner beats any training IMO!

That said training is never a bad thing but what you learn on the job and see it in practice makes it all a lot clearer.

Training courses can make things seem a lot more complicated than they are so a combination of the 2 is the best way to go.

[Steve9]

As for charging, London is a different ball game to anywhere else in the UK.

Prices are often lower, but depending on how far in you go, the area cleaned tends to be a lot smaller.

[Peter Sweeney]

You havent worked in London have you?

[Hilton]

You havent worked in London have you?

 

[garry22]

I remember many years ago, being offered work in London at three times my local (midlands) rate. I thought I was quids in until I did the work!

Travelling and more to the point, parking was an absolute nightmare. I remember dropping my helper and the kit off at an address and then looking for parking. By the time I got back he had nearly finished and I had to spend about another half an hour fetching the vehicle. Give me leafy suburbia or villages anytime.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

You havent worked in London have you?

 

[Steve9]

I forgot Kent is in London 

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

ring my hubby 07976 323168 , he will give you the inside view from cleaning at the cheapest place in England to the dearest you will get no bull shat fourm talk from him

[ian harper]

Mick

First your at an advantage over someone like me that only does carpets as you have your other work. and will be able to carry this until you find your feet.

As far as how much to charge thats down to what you want to pay for your customers. and if you set up a marketing system that produces them on a regular basis. next do you want to serve the market or sell? the market has a size and can be limiting at times. if you sell then its more open to how much you can generate. for me the internet (market) cant give me what i need so i have to do both.

Just a side note I take it that you know that when someone has a need for carpet cleaning that's the market, and when you thought say leafleting convince someone to use you by an offer thats selling.

next its about the "cost of a client" you have to put a value on this as then you can buy as many as you need or the market can give. this is you marketing system. it taken me years to get mine, but now i am able to buy clients. the cost of a client should always be before overheads then from that number you can work out what you can spend on providing the service and what profit you can make. cost of marketing and selling should always come before the cost of providing the service as the the horse that pulls the cart. get it wrong and it will not work,

its about balance and how good you are at marketing and selling. some are good at selling so get a higher price because then are not competing with others, or you might be competing in the market where you have to be able to provide a more competitively priced service to more customers to reach your goal.

so your marketing and selling system will determine what price you can get.

perfect your marketing and selling system and then you can start to see what price you should be charging. not deciding on a price then fitting your marketing and selling system to that. that's limiting and prevents growth.

finding that system is key and your ability for finding people in the market or that you can sell to will determine many things. not what others do or charge.

Respects

Ian Harper

PS you can selling to the market and get a higher price but you have to go face to face with the client and sell your service.

[roundbuilder]

Thank you ian. Great advice.