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HOW DO YOU GUYS GET CLOSE TO BASEBOARDS AND CORNERS WITH THE BUFFER AND HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE FOR RUST SPOTS I CLEANED ALOT OF RUST SPOTS FOR A WOMEN BEHIND HER SOFA AND DIDNT CHARGE HER BUT NOW THAT SHE COMPLAINED ABOUT THE CORNERS BEHIND HER DOORS I THINK I WILL BE CHARGING FOR RUST SPOTS I DID A WALK THOUGH WITH HER AFTER I CLEANED SHE CALL ME 10 MINUTERS LATER WHEN I WAS DOWN THE ROAD AND WANTED ME TO COME BACK. ALSO DO YOU GUYS CHARGE FOR MOVING FURNITURE AS WELL I THINK THIS IS GOING TO BE ADD’L CHARGE AS WELL, WE ARE CARPET CLEANERS NOT MOVING MEN ALL THOUGHTS LOVE TO HEAR. THANK YOU ALL! 😯
Gary, we try to get as close as possible to the baseboards/corners without damaging them. The thing about baseboards/corners is that no one walks there, so they really shouldn’t be dirty and vacuuming should get up the dust beforehand. Exceptions to that would be filtration soil or door hinge dust (which should be extra if you are using the filtration cleaner and extracting), or if their pet sleeps against/next to the wall and leaves lots of hair/oil. If that is the case, we lean the buffer up next to the boards as best we can, and then I usually finish by pro spotter & hand toweling it. This also helps get up some of that fur that builds up there as well that doesn’t always come up with the edging vacuum no matter how long you vacuum it. Hand toweling works for small spills near walls too.
Over the phone, I tell people that barring unusual circumstances, we usually only charge extra for pet spots and dye treatments. If their carpet is heavily soiled, or they have large spots, like rust, then it may be extra. If it takes you longer than 15 min on a spot(s), you probably want to charge for it, at least $15-25 minimum.
As for furniture, we don’t charge for moving it, but charge by sq ft, so we charge for that area underneath if we are cleaning there. I hate moving furniture and ask the customer to move all the small stuff beforehand if they want furniture moved just to improve our efficiency and reduce risk of us breaking something. We move the big stuff (couch, recliner, coffee table) if they can’t. Besides, how dirty does it get under there if you don’t rearrange furniture in your room often? Some dust and some goldfish crackers and toys? You hit the nail on the head, we are not furniture movers, we are cleaners. Don’t be afraid to tell that to a customer if you do not want to move something. If they raise a stink, tell them your insurance doesn’t cover stuff like that (probably a white lie, but some customers just “don’t get it at times” when you tell them you won’t move the piano). At times I have considered charging for moving furniture. If a lot of your customers are requesting you to move furniture, and especially if you are a one man crew, look into furniture sliders. Believe Mr. Sutton knows of some good ones.
In many cases, it really depends on the customer. If she was a gripe, gripe person and I don’t care if I ever return (like a bad pet odor) I will charge extra. If I want this customer for life, I probably wouldn’t charge. Where did the rust come from? Another cleaner? Does she have her own machine and only use you when it’s a muck yuck mess? Did she create the rust and will it soon return because of something she does? All have value or lack of it.
Was this a special price or regular price?
If it is very hard to get to and shes a twit, Make her a deal! She removes the base board and you’ll remove the rust! Sounds like a deal to me.As far as furniture, the slide thingies make moving furniture much easier and not so much of a concern. With most of my customers, I will discount if they remove the furniture. If there is only a path of carpet and all the rest has to be moved, I start talking about her calling the moving company and if she still wants the STUFF moved I’ll pass. The things I don’t move are… entertainment centers, piano’s, china hutches (unless empty), or flemzy furniture that could easily fall apart.
Our business is all about giving the V.I.P. treatment. To the few that want to take advantage of you, it’s not worth the negitive vibes. Pass on the twits and find the people that are not twits. That’s all I’m saying.
Most people do a pretty good job of clearing the room if you take the time on the phone to let them know what you expect of them. I don’t mind moving bulky furniture when charging by the sqft. It increases your sales, increases job quality and impresses the customer with your work ethics and organizational skills. I would have a hard time sleeping at night if I charged Greatgrandma extra because of her inability to move her things. I first set furniture sliders under everything that I am moving, slide it all to the far side of the rooms, vacuum, edge, spot. Move furniture to the front, vac, edge, spot, buff, stain protect and rake the rear. Slide furniture back to the rear and buff, stain protect and rake the front. Put all furniture back to the original location and rake yourself out the door. Seems like a lot of work when put into words but with a positive attitude, good work ethics and a goal, you can earn $100 per hour most of the time. I will say something to the customer when they expect me to pick up their dirty under-britches off the carpet so I can clean. As Mr. Devlin mentioned, a great furniture slider can be found at http://www.ezmoves.com The ezmovesII are the ones I use. Become a retailer so you can buy them cheaper and sell them as well.
Brian is right. I, as I assume many of you do, will do a lot more for the elderly (see moving stand up piano and empty china hutch even if it is just to vacuum under them because I know I can’t put them back on wet carpet), than I will for a young couple that i know the husband could have moved much of the stuff but is just too lazy. There are exceptions to every rule.
Gary,
Congratulations on your move to Florida!Concerning rust and other spots — I have varying charges for any spots that require extraction. Pet spots are $12 – $15. Rust spots are $10 and up. Ink spots are $10 and up. With a large enough rust or ink area, you can go through a bottle of our related treatment getting it up.
You have to use a little good judgement and be flexible of course. If you are running a special and therefore, are already a bit lower on your price, you can’t do all those extras for free. Keep in mind though that your customer doesn’t think it is extra. They just want their carpets clean. You need to be careful of your wording on the phone and in print. Even a phrase such as “Additional charges may apply.” will cover you and allow you to point out things that will cost more.
Also, if I go to a large job where I am charging $200 – $300 or more, I won’t worry about one or two smaller spots requiring extraction. I sort of established a policy that I “give” them one free extraction type spot for every $100 of normal cleaning.
Concerning your typing. I have noticed that some folks treat emails and online forums differently than they would a formal letter. That is probably why you are a bit relaxed with your punctuation. Your lack of punctuation and lack of capitalization at the beginning of your sentences really does make it hard for us to understand your thoughts. You know what you mean, but we may not. Also, your posts will be received better if you turn off the CAPS LOCK key. IT FEELS LIKE YOU ARE YELLING TO THE READER WHEN EVERYTHING IS IN CAPS. I recommend you practice your letter writing skills by treating your posts as a formal letter. You will need those skills when sending any form of communication to your customers.
Concerning your pricing. Your special price is about as low as I’ve seen mentioned on this forum. You might consider raising them.
Concerning furniture moving. I agree with all of the suggestions on how to handle that. I too am a “sofite” for little old ladies and elderly gents. My pricing is much higher than yours overall. I charge by the square foot also with no direct charge for moving the furniture. Of course it costs them some if I clean under because I am cleaning more area. If I go into a decent sized job where the customer has moved the small items and doesn’t want me to move the large items like sofas, that gives me some flexibility on the price.
Good luck in Florida!
Mike
I test the sofa ,chair, loveseat etc for wieght. If the sofa is not a sleeoer and the room permits it I just tilt it on it’s back, same goes for loveseats and big chairs, makes it real easy to vac and rake under them and put tabs down. I have 90% of my customers move the small stuff and what i call “breakables” I try not to move things unless I have to.
Most of the time I make it clear to the customer that I don’t move large furniture, and I ask them if they can put all small items up (such as on the bed, in another area, etc.) and move dining chairs etc. to a tiled area. Usually, this is all done before I arrive. I will always usually move the sofa a little each way to maximize getting the heavy traffic foot areas but that is about it. I prefer not to move anything – it just increases the risk. But of course if requested, I will do the best I can – and I too am a softie on the grandmas…. ha … usually they are also the ones who want lots of little extras and are very impressed when you oblige!!! And they tell others!!!
For the most part I do not move heavier pieces of furniture as well. I do use “sliders” to slide sofas around etc. They work great…
We are in line with most of what everyone is doing We never, ever move antiques and always place tabs under older furniture after cleaning carpet or the upholster to prevent migration of water soluble stain… We the offset furniture from the original dimple and ask the customer to slide into those dimples when the carpet is bone dry.
We rarely charge for spots as they are incorporated for the most part into the $45 average room/area price. Really ugly gets noted beforehand and addressed separately.
I ask the customer when they schedule if they want furniture moving the day I come and then explain that I do have a separate rate for furniture moving. I typically charge by the sq. ft. on all jobs .22 w/out furn. moving, .27/.35 for furniture moving. I ask the customer to remove any breakables and even to move smaller items plants, knick knacks, etc. Some customers will, some wont. Little old ladies have alot of stuff they’ve collected over the years, time is money and some expect you to move EVERYTHING. If I have to move a bedroom (bed, dressers, nightstands, etc.) thats when I charge around .35 sq. ft. (for that room), I try to talk most customers out of moving a bed if I can. Rust stains and the like, I typically have a $20 minimum but explain the charge will depend on the size and number of stains. I also call every customer the night before or day ahead to remind them of their appointment, just in case something has come up and they need to reschedule. Nothing worse than driving an hour and half to a job only to find the doors locked and the customer on vacation in Hawaii. 🙁 Most of my regular/repeat customers have even come to expect that I will call them and ask, “Now you’ll call me and remind me right?”, I think its a great addition to our service.
Just a comment on moving furniture , if you don’t have the tool called the lift buddy get on, at $40 bucks they are a real back saver. This isn’t a commercial just an endorsement.
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