[MNWC]

Hi,

As some of you already may know i have a lot of commercial work on a weekly basis.

The money is not too bad but not fantastic in this day and age. The work is guaranteed whatever the weather.
Last month i sent a letter to the boss of the contract cleaning company stated that after 5 years of cleaning these stores it wes time for a pay rise....Nothing fantastic just inline with inflation.

Got a phone call yesterday saying that he has got another quote in and it comes in at £70 p/w less than me and can i match it. No i said to which he replied "How much notice do you need" A Month "I Said "


"Oh $hit" I thought

In todays age is it really worth it. They can just drop you like a stone.

Hes probably pulling a fast one and gonna sit it out and wait for me to say ok ill match that figure but im not going to !!!!!!!

Although this is probably about 50% of my work its alot of houses to find overnight !!!   

Lesson learned dont put all your eggs in one basket

Rant over 

Marcus...

 PS. Your opinions on the benifits of just domestics are welcome.(and visa versa)

M...

[mick hay]

Hi Marcus, sorry to hear that!

I am totally domestic, which i intend to stay. Better turnover, better payers and do a good job, and in come the refferals!!

I will only do commercial if it finds me! And only if it can be fitted into my round, otherwise i would sub it out.

Ive only been a w/c 3 yrs this year, and when i started i made a ruling to myself that this would be the way i would go.

If i lose a customer, another comes along, so i dont worry when it happens. i have another 20k leaflets going out pre spring, and i know, going by my averages, it will bring me a good return guaranteed.

Commercial doesnt interest me, but........horses for courses!!!   

[Majestic]

I do both commercial pays better but you can sometimes have problems getting paid. With domestic most of the time you get paid there and then.

[poleman]

My work is 50% commercial, and yes it can be a pain, but its better money than houses

I was going to put my prices up this year, however what with the resent press report of doom and gloom, I think it would be wise not to put them up this year at least

Andy

[Dean Aspects]

My work is about 20% commercial and i am actively looking to change that to 50% but i would never get all of that commercial from one customer as it would be a large chunk of income to lose in one go
It can be a pain having to wait for the money but as has been said it is good money

Dean

[jonah]

Dont know much about commercial marcus , but if you have been reliable and done a good job for 5 years that must count for something ! couldnt you meet him half way ? Hope it works out for you 

[brett walker]

Sorry to hear your news

this is why i also prefere domestic over commercial because you are more in control of your own business if you lose a commercial contract it can take a lot of replacing like has been said domestic is coming along all the time

so many people are going in cheap for commercial now :

ive got a £160 commercial job i do every 4 weeks they keep trying to get me to do extra jobs so last time i charged them an extra 20 they were not happy but i hadnt charged them for the extra bits and bobs id done for them before, i can sense im going to have to replace it soon with dometic

Brett

[LSB]

i do quite a lot of contracts for a cleaning contract company ( i do the windows on any offices etc that they get )
i believe it has worked to both our advantage over the years .
i have however felt over the past few years that my payment needed to go up , but didnt want to risk loosing the work ( as origional post )
i finally brought the subject up approx 12 mths ago , and we very quickly agreed on a 10% increase , i think i could have got more , but i wanted to be fair and not take the p , or risk loosing the work .  

[windowwashers]

I do both, far more domestic than commercial though, I would never put my eggs all in one basket to much risk.

sry to hear that marcus by the way,

I will be targeting more commercial as well as some domestic this year as I have something else up my sleeve.

Ian

[MNWC]

Thanks for replies guys,

It sounds like i thought, there are many advantages to domestics,

Better cashflow

If you lose one replacements are not hard

Less fuel

No early starts !!!!

Tax Credits 

Marcus..

[Kev R]

I am a little more than 60% commercial. Its all my work and not subbed from anyone. It pays better but can be very hard on cash flow at times but its major advantage is it can be done in all weather.

I have done sub-contracted work in the past and while some has been good some hasn't.  The answer for me these days is not to take on work from anyone apart from the customer directly unless its a one off or a set contract with timed inflation / price rises added and signed with an option to re-negotiate on a three yearly basis.

Hope this helps

Kev

[Helen]

Dont know much about commercial marcus , but if you have been reliable and done a good job for 5 years that must count for something ! couldnt you meet him half way ? Hope it works out for you 

But what if meeting halfway is less than what Marcus was originally charging?
Someone else has already said let commercial find you! Never a guarantee, but if someone approaches you rather than you to them, it is more likely you will be able to gain a good rate and keep them. Saying that well done Marcus for keeping them 5 years. We have commercial on the books,but only ones that have approached us and that we wanted to take on. We have on many occassion turned up to do a quote, to find that the job will be more hassle than it is worth, so have produced a "no" quote.

[Rob_Mac]

In this instance I would go in on a slightly different approach.

You have created a valuable working relationship with your client and have given him a set of standards over a period of time. Does this hold no value to him, does he need reminding of this.

Will the person that he has had the quote from offer an equal and or better standard of end product. If he can get an equal standard £70.00 cheaper then that is good business sense.

Is he pulling a fast one and trying to make you sweat - as you have said.

Has he become dissatisfied with your service and has taken ths opportunity to change service provider.

If you feel that you have given him a consistently high end product that he can rely on then I would pop in and tell him how you feel and what he might be losing.

You should never have all your eggs in one basket!!!!!!!!

We have over 500 residential customers and lots of smaller commercial clients, we also look after all the window cleaning to the head office of a hgih street building society and look after the refurb cleaning (external) for one of the top 3 supermarkets.

I am selling our residential & smaller commercial work to one of the lads who has worked with us for two years, I am making a handsome profit that we can put back into other areas.

This will be a time of vulnerability but it will only be so for a few months until we establish other avenues and other working relationships.

It is easy to become complacent with where you are at and it might take something like this to get you out there and finding the next stage of your business.

However you handle the loss of this work make sure that you use it to never be in this position again

Good luck

Rob

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

i picked a commercial today, £430 worth and i reakon it should take 3 of us to complete in  less than 2 hours

[NWH]

I would never take on a commercial job if it meant i had to sacrafice my good domestic work,the hassle they have in dropping you is the phone call.A good mix of both types of work is ideal.

[Kev R]

I would never take on a commercial job if it meant i had to sacrafice my good domestic work,the hassle they have in dropping you is the phone call.A good mix of both types of work is ideal.

100% commercial is my eventual aim, however made up from many jobs not just a few.

[matt]

i have a few commercails, all good payers

BUT

after what budgens did to me, im a little less impressed with the " commercail is king idea "

pubs are heading that way to, they just pick you up and dump you when a price 5 quid cheaper comes along

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

although i do have a few commercials i do prefer domestic as it pays on the day (in most cases) and you are able to strike up a good relationship with the customers

[MNWC]

In this instance I would go in on a slightly different approach.

You have created a valuable working relationship with your client and have given him a set of standards over a period of time. Does this hold no value to him, does he need reminding of this.

Will the person that he has had the quote from offer an equal and or better standard of end product. If he can get an equal standard £70.00 cheaper then that is good business sense.

Is he pulling a fast one and trying to make you sweat - as you have said.

Has he become dissatisfied with your service and has taken ths opportunity to change service provider.

If you feel that you have given him a consistently high end product that he can rely on then I would pop in and tell him how you feel and what he might be losing.

You should never have all your eggs in one basket!!!!!!!!

We have over 500 residential customers and lots of smaller commercial clients, we also look after all the window cleaning to the head office of a hgih street building society and look after the refurb cleaning (external) for one of the top 3 supermarkets.

I am selling our residential & smaller commercial work to one of the lads who has worked with us for two years, I am making a handsome profit that we can put back into other areas.

This will be a time of vulnerability but it will only be so for a few months until we establish other avenues and other working relationships.

It is easy to become complacent with where you are at and it might take something like this to get you out there and finding the next stage of your business.

However you handle the loss of this work make sure that you use it to never be in this position again

Good luck

Rob

Thanks for your wise words rob but i think hes  pulling a fast one.....

ill let everyone know the outcome !!!

Marcus...

[Captain Scarlet]

A good mix of both types of work is ideal.

I agree, nothing beats a huge whopping private mansion where you get paid with no hastle, but commercial is also good, Luke