[Bartlomiej]

Hi everyone, Just wondering, how do you guys secure your machines and rest of your tools in a van ? Also, Theres plenty competition in my area with the price range between £70-£278 per 4 Bed house. Some of them charge £10 per room some having first room at £20 and additional area for £10, some just charging different price for each room. I always wanted to have a simple pricing structure so I thought £40 as a minimum charge and then £20 per additional room or area. I also would like to offer carpet protection for £20 per average size room...does this sound reasonable ? I do have a full-time job so I would focus on the weekends to start with. Thank you in advance !!!

[Robin Ray]

Pricing is a very personal thing to each individual business.
First work out what your expenses will be a year are then work out how much profit you would like to make. These figures will determine how much you need to earn to just stay in business. Then work out how that fits in to an average job you do.
For example: If you feel you can do two jobs a day minimum, and you were to charge your minimum rate at £40, that would be £80 a day, at 5 days a week and 46 weeks a year that would bring in £18400 a year. In an absolute worst case scenario if you can run a business on that and survive, that is your minimum charge should be. The reality is if you take all your expenses off that though it's not really a great amount of profit, if any, therefore your minimum charge should reflect what you really need to make to stay in business and live.
As what to charge per room.. how long is a piece of string. Is it a single or double bedroom? is furniture being moved or not? Is it heavily soiled or lightly soiled? Is it wool or poly prop? Is the access good or is it bad? Are the customers easy to deal with or difficult? Are there stains? What are the nature of the stains? As there are so many variables it is impossible to have a set price per room. A price per square ft or meter for each situation will solve that issue, of course that means visiting the each job to give a quotation beforehand, and that needs to be priced in too. Totally hypothetically say an average lounge takes on average 1 hour to clean and the average lounge is 10ft by 16ft that would make it 160ft  and lets say for the average lounge you would like to make £70, that would mean for an average lounge you need to charge 43p per sqft. ( i have just made these figures up ans an example they are not real)

It is best to start off as you mean to go on. Let your yearly out goings and the amount of profit you wish to make dictate your prices.  Rather than try and compete on price be determined to compete on quality and service and you will be able to command a higher price, do less work a day, make more money and keep the customers.

All the best in the new venture.

[Mike Halliday]

Get some ratchet straps to secure you machine, most vans have anchor points.

Having a full time job bares no relevance to how much you charge but to be honest I would ask your full time job if there is any overtime going and earn some extra money that way because you would be better off doing that than with your suggested pricing structure. Personal  expenses and how much money you need to earn has nothing to do with what you charge   if your home expenses went down would you lower your prices?

You want your prices so high that people collapse and need  oxygen when you tell them it,  My Son is getting married this year and some of the photographers prices have had me clutching my chest gasping for air....... but guess what,  after I recovered I accepted that was the price we had to pay.

You could charge £500  to clean a living room and say the price with no hesitation but there  is one provision......

If you charge £500 you give  more than £500 worth of value to the customer. Charging  £100 but giving  a £10 clean is wrong

[RPCCS]

For the minimum price you qoted that some are charging. 10 and 20 quid, that is someone doing it for beer money. You as a professional carpet cleaner need to charge alot more than that. You have (hopefully) attended training courses, invested in best quality equipment and have adequate insurance cover. Someone charging the likes of 20 quid, will not have that. I am still trying to get work myself and pick up tips from people like Mike and Robin, who have years of knowledge and experience. The person who trained me said about prices, there will always be someone charging next to nowt, so dont aim to compete with them. Decide what uou want to charge , and stick to it. If the customer says they've had a much cheaper quote, let them go to the cowboy and get their fingers burnt

[Bartlomiej]

Hi,  its been a while but been busy testing my equipment. Thank you all for advice. Looking at the time involved in yesterdays job (done my own 3 bedrooms) it looks like I am going to charge roughly £40 p/h. To get 2 double rooms and master with dressing area it took me 2.5 hrs from start to finish but I was knackered. Hoses were all over the place and the gravity didnt help as it was pulling all hoses down the stairs :/ I need to get those hooks to hold them in one place.

[Robin Ray]

Hi,  its been a while but been busy testing my equipment. Thank you all for advice. Looking at the time involved in yesterdays job (done my own 3 bedrooms) it looks like I am going to charge roughly £40 p/h. To get 2 double rooms and master with dressing area it took me 2.5 hrs from start to finish but I was knackered. Hoses were all over the place and the gravity didnt help as it was pulling all hoses down the stairs :/ I need to get those hooks to hold them in one place.

Yes gravity, is a pain in the neck when it comes to hoses, I use bungies to tie my hoses up in the van and then use the same bungies to tie them up the stairs. Another thing to consider apart from the time on the job is the time taken to get to and back from the job.