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When was the last time you raised your prices? I seem to do them once a year. I start last year off at 22 cents per square foot raised it to 24 in Jan 08 and raised another cent to cover for the expensive gas. I am considering raising it again to 27 to 28 cents and leaving it at 25 for vacant. I might allow price adjustment for the clean people and the not so clean people. This is a general cleaning. Does not include red dye or pet odor removal. I am about the middle of the market. I do offer 2 written guarantees and I give the customers copies of them. So I guess I am saying I feel justified to raise our prices. How often do you raise them and by how much?
I raise at least once and sometimes twice a year. We’re getting to charging premium on super soiled carpet. Always extra for red dye and pet enzyme.
I raise them once a year. However, I did raise them twice in 2008.
I am about to revert back to the last change, as the economy is tanking, and the price of gas has come down.
I would not suggest lowering your price, just offer discounts instead. This way people will see the $ they saved documented on the invoice. With % discounts, you can adjust your rates on a monthly bases to fit YOUR needs.
Good advice – offer discounts for now, because none of us also know where things may be in 6 months. Then if needed, you can simply lower the discount or remove them. I raised my prices during this latest energy crisis as well – but have no intention of backing off. Remember…. the guys with the low, low prices are also OUT of business already. Never go backwards – ha! 🙂
That is a very good point. I was going to do that this weekend.
I have been telling customers that I am offering a discounted rate as a holiday special. Come January, I could call it an “Economic Special”.Ever since I started offering the “Special”, my closing rate has increased significantly. In other words, the cheap college students are biting.
As I said earlier, I raised my prices twice in 2008. So even if I give them one room for free, I am still bringing in more money than January 2008.
We went to .27 last Jan and plan to go to .30 this Jan. I always charge more for nasty carpet. If I use pet enzyme and/or fresh scent I usually charge an extra .05-.10
I charge .10 for protector as well.
Sometimes someone in the office will verbally tell the client it’s .27 pr sq’ and when I get there I charge them more, and the client questions me about it. I explain to them why I charge them extra and let them know I could charge them .27 but the horrid pet urine smell will come right back. So far, they’ve always said “that’s fine” and are content with the extra charge and nice smell.My question is, do you guys/gals measure a bedroom wall to wall if there’s a big bed in the middle and you’re just cleaning around it or do you measure say 4×20 (around the bed)?
Thanks!! 😀
In bedrooms, we don’t move beds or dressers and we only charge for what we clean. . . the traffic areas. I would not want to have to explain why I charged for the whole room when I only cleaned the traffic areas. 😳
My thought process is the same as Mr. Ferris. I charge only for the square footage I actually clean.
Because I have never charged by the square foot, just how much does one charge for an average bedroom? 3×8 + 4×10 + 3×8 and then total and multiply by .27-.35 or whatever..is that how it is done?
How do you quote over the phone? By giving the customer a number for how much per square foot?
Having trouble for 5+ years wrapping my mind around this.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave, that’s how I do it. Can either measure open areas and add together, then multiply by sq ft price, or you can total whole room and subtract out furniture and then multiply. Situation dictates method. Get pretty quick at doing it. In my area, an avg bedroom price varies greatly. That’s why I charge per the square foot. In one part of town, it could be $25-30/rm. In another, it could be $50-55. You have to know your area and ask lots of questions for phone quotes. I usually tell people we are about $40 for an avg sized room if they have no idea on their house’s sq footage. If I am familiar with the houses in their area, I can usually give a pretty accurate quote.
Overall, I’m guessing it’s no different than the per room pricing issues. I would have a tough time charging $40 to clean a small kids room, and then charge that same $40 for a large master bedroom. Plus, if I quote that master bedroom at my 1 room price, what do I do about the closet and bathroom attached to the master that have carpet that the customer may not have mentioned? (and yes, this is common in my area for builders to carpet bathrooms) Are they each a separate room, are they together considered 1 room, or are they part of the 1 room master price? Definitely not trying to be combative or defensive here so I hope it’s not coming off that way. I think every pricing structure has it’s pros and cons and everyone needs to pick which suits them best.
that and a bedroom I just cleaned – well I didn’t clean the area where the bed was but the area where they sit and the bathroom area and the seperate room where the toilet is – was bigger than my living room. LOL
Dave – I suppose the only way to know if you were ahead or short changing yourself, is to continue charging by the room and measure all your sq footage as well. Then after a set amount of time compare the 2 and see if you’re better off or leaving lots of money on the table. 🙂
@Kansas wrote:
…Then after a set amount of time compare the 2 and see if you’re better off or leaving lots of money on the table. 🙂
I did exactly that about 2 years ago and found out that I was charging about .40cts per sqft. Now it’s it’s probably .45cts per sqft.
Dave,
I’m priced by the room. I do baths and halls for free. The average hall here is about 4×4. It is like you said, you find it hard to charge $40 for a kids room, but when you add in the free hall, free baths, & closets; the customer is getting their money’s worth.Doing this also allows me to give them a more firm price for the service requested. (Short of excessive filth or something.)
As far as going to one part of town or the next, I figure it all works out by the end of the year, that I am coming out ahead of the game.
I just go around the furniture, so currently my 4 room price is $165.
($41.25 per room) I do more small rooms per year, 125 s/f or less, then I do large.However, I occasionally come across a mater closet the size of a bedroom, and I charge it as a room. Or if the upstairs landing has a large square area (such as kids homework area), I will charge it as a room.
I charge .32 per square foot to clean carpets. I move dining chairs, coffee tables and minimally slide chairs and sofas back and forth at no charge to get at soiled areas. For bedrooms (with beds) I offer a 40 s.f. allowance with no furniture moving. I do vacuum and edge very thoroughly which seems to satisfy everyone.
I encourage my customers to move as much furniture as they want to in advance of my arrival. This reduces the time I spend, manages the customer expectations and reduces my liability. If a customer wants all the furniture to be moved I have a $90.00 per hour labor charge 1 hour minimum. I never move china cabinets, entertainment centers, large plants or musical instruments.
Stairs are $3.50 per step.
Upholstery is $110 per hour.
Leather is $150 per hour (mostly because of the product cost).
Protector is .14 per square foot and each step counts as 6 square feet. I offer 15% discount if protector is applied to the entire job.
Happy New Year!
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