[ABLECLEAN]

I am cleaning one tomorrow for£160.00 and I have asked the customer to wash the covers for me (no problem)!!!

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

first class ask them if they have another one for me

[therapist]

I feel some of you are deluding yourselves, or realy have the most fantastic marketing skills...........

Some years ago, when workig with another company, my wife and I averaged 7 jobs per day and occasionally this would include 3-4 suites, mostly at th low end of the market.

It was absolute hell, but we always left then clean, except for the occasional one which was, "past it".

The only negative, was that the suites were wetter then we'd have liked, but our clients were extremely pleased with the results and we got referrals from the majority.

I would never wish anyone to work as hard, but at the time,it was a means to an end.

Currently, if working with my "young" wife I would expect to take no more than 90 minutes to clean the average suite and it would be almost dry to touch, as we leave, that is, the first items cleaned.

Incidentally, I have attended many courses over the years, including IICRC although I never renewed,as I know it's of n relevence to the general public.

Discussion is great and can be productive, if information is exchanged freely.

What we found contributed most to the quality of our work and the time taken, was our approach.

Vaccuuming is always done by one person, while the other, sets up, then presprays, by the time the vacuuming is finished, the presprayer, is breathing down his neck.

There was a wonderful product which we loved for prespraying called Biozone, which had a huge impact on the cleaning time. We have been unable to obtain this recently and use m/s which are also very good, provided that you use them correctly

Anyone know where I can get Biozone.

some of you might beneit from reading the baseline  in Sherlocks post

best wishes   

Jacko, no one's past help and I wasn't meaning to be insulting

[ABLECLEAN]

If you are cleaning 15 suites a week you cannot be cleaning much carpet which you would make more money on by spending the same amount of time as you would not have to travel far. Incidently, I have never cleaned more than 3 suites in a week and my average time is 4-5 hours for £125-£150. I cannot believe that there are so many guys out there that seem afraid to charge good money. I did one today for £160.00!! I went home at 2.30 to relax.

Sherlock - How do you manage to get 15 suites a week?

[Mike Halliday]

if you charged £160 then went home at 2.30 to relax you missed the point

we are in the business of making money, its Ok to brag about charging £150+ to clean a suite but if your are taking over 3.5 hours then you are making less money than those who charge £90 and do it it a reasonable time.

jacko, STOP CLEANING SUITES!!  stick to carpets, you're only making £25 an hour.

I did my own suite yesturday ( wifes been nagging for ages) I put the seating cushion in the wash machine and did the arms & back cushions in 30mins .

 as I look at it now, it looks great! , although it took 3hrs to dry,

thier are ways to clean more effiently ( faster )

using a CFR handtool has increased my speed, I cleaned my suite at 500psi with just wet strokes and still did'nt over wet the fabric.

Mike

[Ian Gourlay]

I think that perhaps the question we should be asking is how is Sherlock, getting 15 suite a week to clean. How many carpets?

He did not say what his marketing spend ratio was?

What marketing methods, Leaflets priced or not priced.
Door Knocking,
Large Newspaper Add

Tele Marketing


AS I have said on a previous post we have people charging £25 so £80 is mid market.

[Doug Holloway]

Therapist,

Biozone was almost certainly an enzyme based product and many of these have been withdrawn due to the potential asthma sensitisation of the dust.

The beauty of enzymes was their unparralled ability to break protein, fat and other bonds which led to speedy cleaning.

I find prespraying with MS and then working in with a microfibre cloth ,  to be the nearest you are likely to get to enzyme performance.

I think I would find it impossible to take 5 hours cleaning a normal 3ps , think I would have to take a nap inbetween

Cheers,

Doug

[AJB]

In the Years i've been cleaning , I've always subbed to somebody else.
I have my own customers as well, all VERY loyal.
By a rough estimation i've cleaned in excess of 4500 suites,
of these i've probably had maybe 20 call backs. Including one for the
shadow from the wall lights. I don't place any emphasis on leaving the suite dry, some may take up to 24 hours to dry thoroughly, but then we don't charge drying time and the customers are all very pleased with the service.
we get loads of recommendations and repeat work.we've worked in the worst ****holes up to a Royal household. All customers are charged the same regardless of circumstances, VERY low by many standards. But still we are looking for about £45+ an hour. We allow 90 Mins a suite some are very easy in this time some quite back breaking, my personal best if of interest is 35 mins the longest 3 Hours, Everbody has their own speed they are happy with, provided the customer is happy with the service and the price, and we don't feel hard done by then carry on as you do.
PS suites are not sodden but noticably damp, Its a risk to say I've never had an Insurance claim, Hardly any disgruntalled customers, my 5 year old Ninja does masses of work, at the lower end of the market i do about 80k work a year all on my lonesome.

[therapist]

Good posting Ajb

R M

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

QUITE RIGH AJB. SHERLOCK KNOWS IT CAN BE DONE

[AJB]

The time will come when the years catch up and i become a BOF!
until then hard work and loads of sweat, and prices that my customers like will do.

When the time comes to slow down then i will think of charging much higher prices.

High prices, lower volumes = lower prices, higher volumes

We all have our place in the industry.

[darrenlee]

your last post ajb
said it all

nice one darren

[Mike Halliday]

whats wrong with;

 no sweat, no hard work, high volume & high prices.
 

[AJB]

Very nice if it works, but there are some extremely tight punters in my area.

I've been chased down the road before now for a penny change!!!!

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

quitr right ajb, the punter is becoming very tight with money, charge whatever the market in your area will accept, too high and theres no food on the table, at the end of the day we are cleaners not doctors,our competition comes from all around us. sherlock says that those who keep telling us to work less and charge higher, are not getting any volume of work. lets not be greedy.because if we dont sell to them. they will