[Daria Taylor]

Dash,

I charge a mimimum of £45 for a flight of stairs  and small landing ,  as for 3 flights with landings i would be looking for £120  .

Geoff

Thats a fair price i must say, like i said we still working on the prices for small domestic jobs and just domestic in general, as i said our main intention to do carpet cleaning t the start was so we could affer full packages to customers like private landlords and estate agents as we get most of contracts and workfrom them and now its gone quiet we thugh we take it further and target local homes

[jacko]

Had a potential custy ring me last week  "How muuch to clean my hall carpet it's only small" - quoted him my min charge of £45 subject to survey "What? it'll only take you 5 minutes! Extortionate! would you do it for £10"?  Yes i said but i'm booked up for 9 months because i'm so cheap - do you mind waiting? Geezer said he'd find someone else! 

[nevil]

Having started way to cheap I have been edging my minimum up in recent years. It's at £50 at the moment but I struggle to motivate myself to do a minimum charge job. It's a risk going to high as it may alienate the custy who in turn may not come back to you when he/she has a worthwhile job to do. I did one today. It was the tiniest lounge in tiny cottage. I always try to make the price more palatable to the customer by throwing in something. Today was a small hallway. She was delighted with the freeby and it only took an extra ten minutes so was a win/win.  

[Mark Lawrence]

My min is £60, otherwise it just aint worth it  : Had a call last week getting funny when he wanted a price over the phone - which i dont do. He said something rude too and slammed the phone down.

He forgot to withold his number...oh yeh. So i rang him back

Mark

[garyfindlay]

If you call British Gas, BT etc, that is classed as a necessity, and people are forced to pay their minimum.  Carpet cleaning is a luxury in most peoples eyes. I had 1 phone me today, then said she might get back to me cos she had the phone book out and was calling around. Was a leather suite cleaned + baby sick down the lining of 1 chair. I did not argue or advise about splash & dash.

[Ricky M]

on the subject of charge , 16th July I got a call to do a job that a fellow CC turned cause it was too far and not a big big enough job to travel to and I was much closer , it was just a 2 seater .
turned out to be 2 paw prints from a dog ( the suite had been used in a photo shoot )

 turned out to be son of 1 of Britain wealthiest men who is with a top fashion designer
since this ive had 4 visits to this 12 bed farm/Court yard with indoor pool health suite bar etc etc they never ask price and it looks like I will be going to London and Gloucestershire in the new year to work some of there other houses.

some times it can pay to go the extra mile
only some times

  

[robert meldrum]

Well said Mr T

[Shaun_Ashmore]

The trick is to have a smallish min charge to cover small emergencies but not to cover a full carpet ie £50 min but a carpet cost of £70 or something like that.

Shaun

[Ian Gourlay]

I am as guility as the rest of us, but over past two weeks I have come to the conclusion its not good to mention minimum charge.

The other thing is if we were all good we should pursade person to let us inspect all their carpets and see if we can find additional work that needs doing to avoid just qouting for one small room

The other point is if you all charged more it would make the rest of us seem cheap

 

And you would be above your current minimum charge

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

The whole minmum charge thing is a problem, custies don't like them as it immediately gives the impression that the job is not worth it but they will have to pay in anyway.

From our point of view it's a small job with a small profit, I tend to stay clear of these jobs unless it is an old custy/rec.

However if you have plenty of space in your diary, then it is an oppurtunity to earn a bit of beer money and maybe get add ons and recs.

Cheers

Doug

[Mike Osbourne]

I think Doug makes a good point in that talking minimum charge isn't a bright move sales wise as they think they may be charged more than a small job should cost.

However I see as minimum charge as a fast qualifier in that if they begrudge £x for ANY job then I'm not the carpet cleaner they need.

The flip side to this is the 'no job too small'. I think is is a very successful strategy to get lots of small jobs.

[Mike Halliday]

If I get anybody to come to my home to do some work I would at least expect to pay £60 no matter if they were here 10mins, if he opens his tool box I expect to pay. Anybody who is too thick to understand this concept is not some one who I want to do business with.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Had a potential custy ring me last week  "How muuch to clean my hall carpet it's only small" - quoted him my min charge of £45 subject to survey "What? it'll only take you 5 minutes! Extortionate! would you do it for £10"?  Yes i said but i'm booked up for 9 months because i'm so cheap - do you mind waiting? Geezer said he'd find someone else! 

Ho! Ho!

It's always seemed to me that there are two types or minimum charge job. A straight-forward carpet clean which often gets clients backs up although as has been said you can often soften it by doing something extra to bring the price of the job upto (or just over) your minimum charge.

The second is when you are into the realms of specialist spot and stain removal and the like. I would suggest that many "splash and dash"/untrained cleaners would avoid these jobs for two reaasons. Firstly they don't know what to do and secondly they don't know how to properly charge for the time and skill invlolved (which they haven't got in any case).

In this case charging a minimum usually isn't an issue if the initial conversation(s) are handled correctly. Afterall perception of value for money is in the mind of the client, the problems justifying it is the problem between our two ears.

An example: removal of 1 ten-pence piece size of black boot polish off 80/20 carpet in bedroom. 30 seconds applying citrus gel and 1 minute flushing it out. Bill £45. Paid £50 with the philosophical comment from him "I was told not to clean my shoes in the bedroom with the 1 week old carpet. Listen Dr Carpet this is money well spent as it has got me out of the dog-house with the wife big time!"

For all those times you hold out for your minimum then when you are knocked back you will often find you can undertake an even more lucrative job during the time you would have been doing the minimum charge job.

Incidentally my minimum is now £50 as well.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

If I get anybody to come to my home to do some work I would at least expect to pay £60 no matter if they were here 10mins, if he opens his tool box I expect to pay. Anybody who is too thick to understand this concept is not some one who I want to do business with.

Mike I'm assuming you mean for one-off jobs and not regular work like you may pay to a cleaner or gardener?

[jasonl]

£45 minimum here, but repeats £25 only , I believe in giving good SERVICE people appreciate , and return for the better jobs later on.

[Martin S]

If I get anybody to come to my home to do some work I would at least expect to pay £60 no matter if they were here 10mins, if he opens his tool box I expect to pay. Anybody who is too thick to understand this concept is not some one who I want to do business with.

Agree 100% Mike, I think most people would expect to pay a minimum of around £50 or £60 just to turn up anyway.  I do think though that Doug also makes a very good point that if your diary isn't full then any job is still a bit of beer money as long as it doesn't cost you more in expenses or leave you passing up better paid work because of it, especially if it potentially leads to other work at a later date then it may be worth it. 

Jason says he likes to give a 'service', and he may have a point.   Granted most will have an expectation to pay a minumum fee but if you do something that sets yourself apart from the average Joe tradesman then you may just end up with a customer for life.  The difficulty sometimes, (and especially over the phone) is differentiating between the custy who may well become a customer for life giving you further well paid work as a result of that small job, and one that just wants the cheapest price, takes the p, and will never phone you again anyway!!!

[jasonl]

Well,  how about this , just to confuse things more, just had a call, man wanted 2 small bedrooms cleaning,he said they are not dirty, he just does not like the thought of walking where someone else has, fine I thought.  I would normally charge £45, however with this thread in mind I said£50,  ok says the man , next wed, fine,,blah blah,, usual little chat......what is your address? I asked, 1 ,,,,,,,,,,etc he says, do you know it?

 I am new to the area , but I knew the exact address as it was a pig to find 4 weeks ago when I last cleaned the exact 2 bedroom caqrpets for the outgoing tenant at the end of September!!!  I did not let on , I know though that Iwill be cleaning a carpet with one months worth of empty property dirt on it , whatever that amounts to.


What  would you do?

[Matt Lindus]

I just give them the price and if they say I'm very expensive, I agree and say yes we are.
Just put the phone down, let out a combined sigh along with the words d**k head, forget it and get on with your job.

I don’t deal with d**ks weather it be Aerials, CCTVs or Carpets, they all get the cold shoulder when I find there looking for cheap only. We don’t do cheap, but affordable quality.

Matt

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Jason

Got your text, I will sort out the other area today.

As for the carpets I would clean them as your custy has asked.

Cheers

Doug

[Ricky M]

I agree with Doug on this , if they ask and are paying then oblige