[Mrs Nicholls]

hi all
Is anyone putting their prices up this october? Domestic market might say 'ouch', my commercials will have to wait til next year at end of contract, but they will probably stay the same anyway.#

It's a bit of a hike from £5.05 to £5.35, although we do pay ourselves more then minimum anyway. We don't have any staff at the moment. Decided we can manage on our own til after xmas.

any thoughts welcome

[Neil Mc Anulty]

Lisa1234
Is this how much you charge per hour? If so, have you got no overheads?

[Mrs Nicholls]

  :
I'm not that daft.
I'm just pointing out the increase in minimum wage not my charges. lol

[Neil Mc Anulty]

Sorry Lisa
But your post starts with price increase and then the figures £5 05 - £5 35 appear.
Cleared up now

[Robert Parry]

Already sent out letters to all of our clients explaining the price increase required by the increase in the min. wage, although we do pay well above anyway, but we also recognize the need to keep that distance between what we pay and the national min. wage, most have been fine.

We have also taken this opportunity to inform our clients of the increases in our costs, due to the fact that the government is pushing ahead with its promise to change the holiday calculations, ie. 20 days paid holiday + 8 days bank holidays

Once again, most customers have accepted this, but in the domestic market, that might not go down too well!

[pdl]

We have just increased our domestic prices without any problems at all.  It's all down to the way you word your letter.

[Mrs Nicholls]

We just increased our prices to one customer we don't like too much, as she is a constant late payer, and thinks she owns us.
She thinks £10p/h increased to £12 p/hour is way too much to pay. She said we knew about the increase since march and should have told her then. Although we didn't have her as a customer then!?

Mind you we did increase hers more than the others because we half wanted to got rid, so there you go.
In my area we have to charge £10 p/h and scrimp and save. to make any money.

[Karl Collins]

Wouldnt mind a copy of your letter

about hiking up prices well done for looking ahead

Karl and Rachel

info@housemaidsgroup.com

[Bizzie Lizzie]

I would also appreciate a copy please.  Thanks in advance very much appreciated.
regards
BL
bizzielizzie064@aol.com

[bens2220]

hi i would apreciate a copy of this letter from pdl if thats no trouble

thanks ben.

[Mike Jones]

take, take, take........ Come on how hard write a letter  politley explaining that charges are increaseing. Its a wonder some of you are still in business.

[Art]

take, take, take........ Come on how hard write a letter  politley explaining that charges are increaseing. Its a wonder some of you are still in business.

That's a bit harsh Mike.

Some of the inexperienced people on here need that bit of help and confidence, then some day they'll be able to help a newbie.
We all have to start at the beginning.

Surely when you started out you weren't so confident. It's easy to forget.

Arthur

[Mike Jones]

Ok, I did put it strongly but this is a very basic letter, and far better to write it personaly.

For me Im better at paperwork than tact.

[Art]

Mike,

 Why not type up a letter to give some of the guys on here the benefit of your experience then?

Arthur

[Mike Jones]

Ok hear it is, not been spell checked!

Dear X

From the 1st of October the price of cleaning will be increasing to X per visit.

This price increse takes into account inflation,  the substantial increase in fuel prices and the increaseing of the minimum wage.

XX cleaning LTD  would like to take this opurtinity to thank you for your continued custom and look forward to continuing are services in the future.

Your sincerly

Mike jones

Director XX cleaning LTD

[leuthedog]

I'm going to be a little out spoken here.

I do agree with Mike Jones. I have been a member here for a short time and found the attitude to be a taking one.  Though I am new in starting up my business I have found the internet full of information. I only commented to someone the other day, if it wasn't for the internet I'd be paying out an absolute fortune for some of the information that I have managed to aquire. I've obviously learnt a vast amount...and still learning.

I have noticed that here, when I've posted up a posting requesting help and advice it is rarely forthcoming - only two or three members really have put themselves out for me - to which I am grateful.

Sadly the MB does appear to be a place of "take, take, take" without really giving back the experience learnt. Many, it appears, believe that the information they have learnt is for them alone and not willing to share, even to those that are new. The excuses I have heard such as "if you were to fill out your profile.....", what utter nonsense - I have had mine filled out for a good while but yet many seem not to want to help unless it benefits them as well. The conclusion I reached stems from the amount of members viewing the messages but extremely very few giving advice. If you're in the same business why not share the information in order to help others to succeed....or is this what people really are afraid of?

My comments/examples are in no way indicated towards anyone in particular...other than the few people that have really and truly helped.

I only hope this board can improve with being more open and communicative and less...well.... greedy

[Robert Parry]

I agree with leuthedog to a certain extent, but please remember a lot of requests are for H & S/Employement information etc, this will be a suprise to no-one of course, but this information costs real money, why do you think people have special departments for these area's?

General information, I have no problem in sharing with others, but if I were to share as an example our H & S policy, which is over 900 A4 pages, with others, that would mean we have spent thousands of pounds, that our colleauges on this forum and others have not had to spend, who is being unfair then?

I share info on this forum and others, for one reason, which is hopefully to guide others in behaving responsibily and professionally, for many years the client's of cleaning companies have believed that they can control the cost's of cleaning by playing us off against one another, however, I believe that the more professional we as an industry become the less likely this is to happen.

Regards,

Rob

[leuthedog]

Rob

I absolutely agree with you. I also have the belief that those starting up should do all the work - it is a way of learning rather than it being given on a plate. I have, as stated before, been working on my business 'til the early hours - its hard work and that's before I even have a contract to my name!!

I wouldn't also expect businesses to share sensitive information or information that can be literally found elsewhere with a little bit of research, such as H & S, Employment Law - I think people should refer to appropriate websites. This would surely be more useful than simply typing here.

I do, however, refer to general information such as a pricing guide, examples, ideas and even suggestions.......none seem to be really forthcoming unless people know each other well than with those that are new here or to those they don't know.

[leuthedog]

Further more - I refer to my previous thread 'Telephone & Computer Cleaning' - I received 21 replies out of 131 viewings.

The first reply was a given estimate of cleaning time - the estimate was clearly questionable, when someone requests ideas..help.., the usual, you do expect the replies to be of some true beneficial use....and a more realistic figure. I may not be 'up' on this form of service but unless you're dunking telephones in a bucket of water and simply returning them straight to the desk................

.........the further twenty were either bickering or unrelated to the actual question.

I hope people understand where I am coming from with this and the points I'm trying to make. We all have something in common here and expectations...but I do wonder how much so when those in need of guidance simply don't receive the same advice once given to others here - whether that be on here directly or privately.

[Robert Parry]

I understand entirely, however as far as pricing guides are concerned, without taking measurements/seeing the density of the building/building type and use etc, any guide would be useless. Then of course you would have to take into account the prospective client's needs and wants into consideration, this really can only be done by visiting the client one's -self!

As far as telephone/computer cleaning, again this is a really difficult question to answer, let's take the telephones first.

Telephone Cleaning
Do you clean the handset only, the digit pad, the cord, the base and do you sanitise the handset?

The point is, how clean will count as clean in the eye's of your client?
As you can see, doing the handset only will be a lot quicker than doing all of the associated actions, therefore productivity would be high and the cost to your client low. Without actually knowing your prospective client's wishes, how can anyone give you a price guide to use?

Computer Cleaning
This one is more complex, do you remove dust and debris from the internal fans (CPU/PSU/CHIPSET/GRAPHICS CARD) if so this will mean removing screws from the case, expansion cards etc. This is very time consuming, not to mention very risky, unless you are properly trained and insured, imagine your client sueing you for loss of data if you damage a component, even if you did nothing wrong, computers do just give up, honest!
Do you mean just getting rid of dirt and grime from the casing?
Very quick and easy to do, what about the monitor/keyboard and mouse, how clean do these items need to be?

As a very rough guide, we have two people who clean only telephones and computers, a full computer clean normally costs £12:00 not including the keyboard, new keyboards can be purchased for about £10, this operation takes about 20 mnis per computer.

As for telephones for a full clean and sanitise we charge £3 per unit, each unit takes about 3min.

However, you must be guided by your client, regarding their own specific want's and needs, hope this helps, regards,

Rob