pacheco

Grant,

I understood the example that Jamie gave during his presentation. Gross is one thing…net profit is another….along with risk. (I have a Health and Safety background…with OSHA as well as industry.)

Two of the most important questions, not asked at the regional meeting was this….”Just how much more profit do you make with the added protector for those 340 jobs, and how much added risk have you given to the children, pets and babies in the home/apartment, with the addition of protector when you are supposed to open the windows for ventilation of the vapors?

The comments regarding the fresh citrus odor after cleaning quickly evaporate, no pun intended, when protector is added….it stinks and I have heard this from several customers.

An operator can get to the same place as Jamie described, by raising his pricing alone…yes you will lose some customers, however, the increase in profit/job is intact without any additional expense.

One thing we did differently this year is to remove that pesky 15% discount coupon from the Y Pages…locked into a 15% discount on every job is a bummer…so we only offer a discount or special is by customer and situation, senior always receive 20% off.

To date,this year, we have given far fewer discounts.

I will never make as much as others possibly, but I will not be spraying protector without plenty of ventilation. Something very difficult or impossible in the winter in the north.

If asked for, I will spray only when the home/building will not be occupied for some hours as the vapors are removed or dissipated.

We charge $45/room/area…steps are an area and so is the normal hallway. Larger than 250 sqft is more

Lr/Dr combo is two areas

$90 minimum charge

$89 sofa $69 love seat $39-$49 Chair

$15/room for protector (Never discounted)

Other pricing pretty normal to others… as mentioned in another thread some time back, keep in mind that the cost of living varies greatly from NY, NJ, PA, NC, SC,TX, CA, IN, WY…etc. all have different costs of living and competition to drive pricing up or down…

Sorry for the long-winded nature of this.hope it helps someone.
Dave

Kenmore Elite HE4t, front loader 3+ years old now. Impeller broke on the pump, due to debris picked up in pads…We were certainly glad we purchased the 5 year warranty on this guy. No problems for 2 years…

Usually load with 1/3 cup bleach, 1/4 cup TSPP (trisodium polyphosphate) great at getting pads clean.

Usually load only 6-8 pads ….great machine. Check for staples, paper clips etc if using…

Get to work in office and not waste time in the laundromat and also take the write-off at home as well…Cleans much, much better than a SQ or other laundromat washer. Much more control over cycles and time and temperature.

Just today, son did a couple of rooms occupied in a Lancaster rental at 90/net, me 2 in Mt Joy rental empty at 90/net and we both worked at the local Sleep Inn, 13 rooms at 38/each/net… Yesterday was even better….empty rental + a house, occupied and repeat. March is off to a great start and our February was !,300 better than last year and the best in 5 years of February.

Thanks, Cody

Don’t know about recession that Congress may/may not be giving us, but I do know I just submitted the best February of our 5 thus far into Holly…

January was our third worst….March just started and the phone rang at 7:52 AM looking for carpet cleaning…

I personally believe that a recession is a lot like the wall, in a marathon… mainly in one’s head….a problem that must be worked through, around, over or under…but must be overcome by persistence and what my Latin teacher used to say, “stick-to-ativeness”.

(Speaking of Congress,the real power in Washington…does anyone find it odd that they have time to give away money to further get the country in debt and go after HGH use by a baseball pitcher on TV…but not address the real problems of our time?)

Gordon,

That is exactly why we have no personal land line…we have our business line that forwards all calls to my cell phone. We have no personal phone number. For $3.00/month I believe, we have the company phone listed in the white pages under our names for personal calls. Saves money, saves little extras the land line folks always seem to hit us with over time. And a minimum phone bill to boot.

I see many of our customers do the same thing..no land line in use at all.

In fact, to save money, we are going beginning an initiative to obtain all email addresses for all customers. We will then send out reminders thru the email to them….in the future. Many already use the email to set appointments. At $.42 a letter and or $.24-$.26 postcards….we will start emailing information and have a return receipt from its delivery and opening…a confirmation. Can say more with less.

Hope this helps someone

Dave

I have a Verizon Treo and would not trade…went thru several others and will never go back…hated Verizon Motorola Q….would sell cheap.

Our Upholstery Mate does not have a heater….our Ninja does have a heater.

We totally agree with your plan to get some hands on experience first.

Our suggestion would be to make sure you have the project all worked out before doing the job. How are you going to get the H in HWE for example?

Do some of your carpeting at home maybe…the very worst thing any of us can do with a customer is to not know what we are doing.

The first time I have done any of our jobs, I made sure there was NO AUDIENCE.

Just a thought for your job to go as good and smooth as possible.

We never, ever get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Wish you well.

I was just going to state what Dan said…Procurement or whatever they are called there control the final specs. The housing folks only implement and follow what they have as an SOP… The trick is to get the SOP changed. You might call Procurement and determine the best and easiest way, not to offend anyone, to get the SOP amended.

Like Dan says, the military is very SLOW to change anything, so be patient.

Hope you are persistent and share your findings. They may be following a directive from someplace else as well….the Procurement people should be able to shed light on the SOP and may even give you a copy of it as well.

Ask and they may give it willingly. It may be very enlightening as to who created it and the procedures for its amending.

Hope this is helpful.
Dave