[markbetts]

Yes that old chestnut.

How are people pricing ? I see ads for X amount per room etc but all rooms are different .
How much per sq ft are people charging theses days.

Also Upholstery ?
 
What's the going rate now?

Open ended questions I know but getting a rough idea that's all.

Thanks

[Ian Harper]

markbetts

Big subject my friend.

you can just add up cost of a customer, cost of providing the service, then profit. this can be wide as everyone runs things differently. so a guy with a TM might have higher overheads that a portable, etc. depends on how you want to work, working to pay overheads or do less work.  given the flow of work when starting out having a point where you hit profit earler means your more competitive when up against others, and you can offer more to your customers, giving them more value for money.

 then there is selling and marketing. marketing normally means you are quoting against others. where selling you normally have found that prospect and sparked interest with an offer in your services. which will mean your the only person quoting.

quote over the phone you get lower prices than visiting. people find it hard to say no to your face against putting the phone down.

Best option by far is packages this way the prospect picks their price point. offing a low, medium, high price not only teaches the prospect that no all carpet cleaning services are the same, but they can get the person they want at the price they want. this works for you as well you can pitch your spec to what you learn id the market price. depends if you want to clean carpets or spend all day moving stuff. plus you have in my view cleaning and restoration. spot removal is cleaning and stain removal is restoration and should be at different price points because of the skill level.

hope that helps

[Stoots]

Interesting Ian.

So you quote a price including furniture removal and one without ?

Not thought of that

[Mike Halliday]

No need for fancy pricing structures or gimmicks just Aim for £80-£100 an hour from walking in the customers door to driving away. (Not from leaving the house to getting home)

What can you clean in 1 hr? And is it enough to warrant a £100 price tag?

[Mike Cottam]

Mike - what about setting up times? Do you factor those into the pricing calculations?

The period from 'hello' to 'goodbye' must also include setting up and putting away equipment??

[Mike Halliday]

From pulling onto the drive to driving away....... £80-£100 per hour .... I can't explain it any simpler!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Are you planning to in home quote Mark?

How's your salesmanship? Where do you fancy pitching yourself?

I'd recommend having your local cleaner to give you an in home quote probably a Chemdry as well, you can see what your market area will pay.

[Hilton]

From pulling onto the drive to driving away....... £80-£100 per hour .... I can't explain it any simpler!

So you charge around £240 for a suite , pretty impressive.

[*Hector*]

not everyone is as old and long winded as you Hilti   

I used to charge £250 for a suite...... but that was because I hated doing them, and if I did have to do one, it was well worth my while......

 

[Stoots]

I always quote per hour but include travel.

so if someone rings and they live 20 mins away and its likely to be a hour job thats

1hr 40 mins

mind you my hourly rate is nowhere near £100 yet

[Hilton]

not everyone is as old and long winded as you Hilti   

I used to charge £250 for a suite...... but that was because I hated doing them, and if I did have to do one, it was well worth my while......

 

If you have cleaned a suite in under 2 and half hours  then it hasn't been done properly , can take up to 4 hours....

But your right hated doing them which is why I got others to do it    we charged £35.00 a seat and upwards of £80.00 depending on construction.

[Mike Halliday]

We cleaned a suite yesturday in an hour but we are a 2 man team so slightly quicker than average but  it's rare we clean a suite that requires a full 'restoration clean' usually a bit of head grease or light soiling , often they don't need cleaning but the customer has it done as we are there cleaning a carpet so have the suite cleaned ...."as you are here"  . In 18yrs  I have never taken 4 hours to clean a suite

To put my hourly rate in to context in an hour we can clean a through lounge & HSL   Or a 2 bed bungalow in 90 mins. Both these Earn us over £100hr

[markbetts]

Thanks for all your replies .

A lot of reading here to sift through.

Briefly , yes I will quote face to face , previously I found quoting over the phone got you into a price war .

Time to clean a suite ? About 3 hours ,, so what's are people charging to clean a suite these days ? 3 seater plus 2 chairs ? 
That's price based on you want the job and not quoting to put people off because you do not really want the job 😀😀

Packages ? Good idea. Will have a think on that ?


Thanks

[wayne zabel]

I can clean an average 14x12  lounge from start to finish in about an hour but if I charged £100 I don't think I would get many jobs.

As usual - good luck if you can get those prices.

[Tony Stewart]

To be fair if you have a truckmount system you can be much quicker on the job as you can do more in an hour than a man (whoops or lady) with a portable. Clean a suite with a sapphire and I suspect you go through a tank and a bit of water in a portable so will need to refill and heat up again. As against that if you have a portable you do not have the extra costs associated with a truckmount - price, fuel, servicing etc. So take the sensible view of £50 to £100 per hour and don't get hung up on who's doing what at what rate. The old way of doing it was add up all the fixed costs, factor in the variable things and then divide that by the days you work ( part time or full time). Then take what you need and that's what you aim for a day.
If you live in an affluent area you will get more, if you live in a poor area then you need to charge less. I know it sounds confusing but you need to juggle a bit and as you gain experience you get better at the pricing.
£35 per seat is £175 which is 1 1/2 hours with a truckmount or 2 1/2 hours with a portable. Answer £100 or £70 an hour. If you quote face to face then you may be able to add in protectors etc but the costs to you goes up. If you quote blind (which I invariably do ) the experts say you are asking for trouble.........its your choice.

[Robin Ray]

Quote per sqm and face to face every time. The conversion rate is much higher and you  see all the problems. Anyone who will not accept a visit to quote is a waste of time.

Have a number of sqm prices depending on the service given, soil levels, amount of furniture and if it is moved or not etc etc...

[Stoots]

Doesnt there become a point where its more cost effective to quote over the phone though?

i mean if its local ive no problem quoting in person but say its a 20min or more drive, thats an hour round trip plus fuel & time wasted if you dont get the job.

I dont do a great deal of carpets yet but i always quote over the phone or online with everything

[Marius Alexandru]

Adam, I quoted over the phone a few times and what people tell you over the phone is not in reality.

I will tell you from my experience.

1- Can you clean 1 stairscase. When I got there it was 2 staircases +2 landing's, she thought that I will clean all of that for £40 )- Good luck.

2)I have a small room, a hallway and a living room, £30 for the room, £20 for the hallway and £50 for the living room, when I got there the living room was massive in a L shape, it was a minimum £80-£100 Job.

From my small experience of phone calls I noticed that if I quote over the phone they never call back because I'm more expensive, when I go there and show off my equipment then they start to understand.

Last time I asked someone how many sqm a room had she didn't know )

[Mike Halliday]

Pricing is part of a whole strategy of how you organise and create your bussiness, it works in conjunction with how you market your bussiness.

 Years ago I use to tell everyone on CIU  how I only worked within 4 miles of my front door ( it's about 8miles now).....guess where I used to post my leaflets? .....Guess how far I had to travel to give an in home quote?.... Yep only 4miles!

If you are getting your work from Google then exspect to have to travel 15+ miles to give quotes, then if you live in a busy town it will not be viable........ but if you get your new work from a leaflet you will get your work where those leaflets are delivered. if you are sensible this will be close to your home unless you live on a benefit ridden council estate (in which case it might be better to travel a bit further) .

Then imagine if you are constantly working in the same small area or town, you can do quotes between jobs as you are always close by.......your van starts getting seen all the time ( helps if you have a very unusual van wrap  ) you become very Well known ...... People stop you in supermarket car parks........you eat in restaurants and the owner comments that he has been meaning to call you and...... "can you pop in next time you are passing"

Sounds like waffle but Everything within your business is interconnected

[Matt Steele]

Ultimately you customers will decide your pricing, get well trained, use quality products & equipment and always do a good job, when you get so busy that you're having to turn down work, put your prices up, this will also get rid of price shopping time wasters, less work for more dollar I aim for £60 - £80 per hour or £35 per seat on suites or £35 per area with carpets some large rooms = 2 areas