Are cleaning condos worth it?

[Kevin De Medeiros]

Here in my area there are a lot of condos. Most only have one or two tiny areas of carpet. Most are hardly ever cleaned and by the time the customer calls it's usually time to replace due to wear or soil .

I get calls maybe once every three weeks for quotes and when I explain I charge a minimum $175 to do a condo and always get asked why so much.

Then I have to explain the time involved to find parking, get equipment up yada yada.

Meanwhile I've got a portable sitting in my garage that I havent used in months.

My questions are :
1)Do u find condo cleaning worth the hassle?,
2) would encaping be the way to go in dealing with these jobs? and
3)would you rather stay away from these jobs and just do jobs you an do with a truck mount?

 

[TomKing]

Here in my area there are a lot of condos. Most only have one or two tiny areas of carpet. Most are hardly ever cleaned and by the time the customer calls it's usually time to replace due to wear or soil .

I get calls maybe once every three weeks for quotes and when I explain I charge a minimum $175 to do a condo and always get asked why so much.

Then I have to explain the time involved to find parking, get equipment up yada yada.

Meanwhile I've got a portable sitting in my garage that I havent used in months.

My questions are :
1)Do u find condo cleaning worth the hassle?,
2) would encaping be the way to go in dealing with these jobs? and
3)would you rather stay away from these jobs and just do jobs you an do with a truck mount?

Your business cost are your business cost. Don't apologize for having rates that allow you to stay in business.

We charge a premium for 3rd floor condos, using a portable and long hose runs. Its not my fault you built a building that is hard to maintain.

Our staff tells the client it takes extra time and special equipment for there facility. We want to do a fantastic job and those are our costs.

Don't lower your price. It seems every time you try to do someone a favor it turns into a nightmare.

You might try telling them if they have 4 or more units on the same floor you can adjust the rate. Get them to work at it together. Just a thought.

 

[Cleanworks]

I do lots of condos and rental apartments. Sometimes, it's just carpet in bedrooms. Hold onto your prices and look for other opportunities such as vertical blinds. I recently did a 1 bedroom condo. carpet t/a's $150. 118 vertical blinds for $236.00, $90.00 for protector. $476 for 2-1/2 hours work. I have some buildings where I clean empty 1 bedrooms for $120, 2 bedrooms for $150 and then I get all the hallways once or twice a year. They also have upholstery and tiles to clean.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'd skip them and seek lower hanging fruit.

If you say you have tried and condos are your only growth option then you'll need to be prepared to handle those hurdles more efficiently.

I'd invest in a 175 or an OP machine, great chems, a good vacuum and a good sprayer. You just might amaze yourself with the results.

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

I get what you are saying but the problem is in my expeexpere, mosr of these potential custys are not even willing to pay my minimum and don't really care about protector or add ons, the answer I always get is too much, thanks and bye.

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

I'd skip them and seek lower hanging fruit.

If you say you have tried and condos are your only growth option then you'll need to be prepared to handle those hurdles more efficiently.

I'd invest in a 175 or an OP machine, great chems, a good vacuum and a good sprayer. You just might amaze yourself with the results.

Homes , offices and restaurants are 95 ℅ of my clients. Encaping offices if I can't reach with my truck . I average about 2 hrs labour doing small condos. I'm curious to know what percentage of condos most cleaners service ,if at all.

 

[Cleanworks]

You are talking to the wrong people. A high performance portable is the only way to go. Try cleaning vertical blinds with a op machine, or upholstery. I charge 2-3 per vane for vertical blind cleaning. We have tons of condos with blinds here. People who have paid $350,000 or more for a condo, like to keep it clean. With the trend in hard flooring, sometimes, we have more carpet in a condo than in an average house. I charge $1 per sqft. for tile cleaning. I use a portable with a 1000 psi external pump. You could always expand into counter top and shower stall tile cleaning as well. A sofa and chair is $150 for a basic fabric and goes up from there.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Carpet cleaning is only 10% of our business. Of that 10% condos are less than half a percent. We do some highend condos but only a few a month.

We do 50/50 residential, commercial. Today they cleaned 7,000sq/ft. Tuesday night they have 15,000sq/ft to process.

I prefer commercial but our company was originally built on residential.

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

You are talking to the wrong people. A high performance portable is the only way to go. Try cleaning vertical blinds with a op machine, or upholstery. I charge 2-3 per vane for vertical blind cleaning. We have tons of condos with blinds here. People who have paid $350,000 or more for a condo, like to keep it clean. With the trend in hard flooring, sometimes, we have more carpet in a condo than in an average house. I charge $1 per sqft. for tile cleaning. I use a portable with a 1000 psi external pump. You could always expand into counter top and shower stall tile cleaning as well. A sofa and chair is $150 for a basic fabric and goes up from there.

That's my prob. I have a 500psi ninja. I think the market is a bit different over here. I market tile like crazy and have only been asked once to do tile in a condo in 10 years. I see a lot of laminant and 2 rooms of carpet at most. Keep in mind the average size condo in my market is 550 ft quare to 750

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

Carpet cleaning is only 10% of our business. Of that 10% condos are less than half a percent. We do some highend condos but only a few a month.

What area are u in?

 

[Cleanworks]

I don't thing you have seen enough condos. The real estate market in the gta is similar to what it is here. You will find a lot of small condo's and and many large ones, over a 1000 sqft. I did a 3-bedroom condo yesterday that was 1200sqft of wool carpet. Actually, I'm wrong on that. The condo was 1200 sqft, taking out the kitchen and the 2 bathrooms, it was more like 7-800 sqft of carpet. It was a move out (private) and I charged $300. Took me an hour and a half. With a portable, using their electricity. Can you do better in a house.

 

[Cleanworks]

Vancouver, lower mainland.

 

[Desk Jockey]

What area are u in?

Middle of the country. Out in the tall wheat, Kansas.

 

[Cleanworks]

Middle of the country. Out in the tall wheat, Kansas.

Where the wheat is taller than the condos

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

Carpet cleaning is only 10% of our business. Of that 10% condos are less than half a percent. We do some highend condos but only a few a month.

We do 50/50 residential, commercial. Today they cleaned 7,000sq/ft. Tuesday night they have 15,000sq/ft to process.

I prefer commercial but our company was originally built on residential.

Same here started with a portable and a 175 doing mostly homes then started to get commercial which helps especially in the winter months. Got my first truck mount in 2009 and wondered why I didn't do it sooner. Expanded into tile and commercial carpet maintenance . Condo work has been few and far between and debating on getting rid of my porty . Hence my post. I know work but it needs to be worth my while or I'd rather just not do them. Knowing how saturated my market is with hacks, it's a battle I'm debating not fighting. I wanting to know how many members stay away from them for the same reasons.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Where the wheat is taller than the condos

Ron what I would do if I were you, is get you portable to the very top floor of the building. I find working from the top works best. Then fill that bad boy of full of cleaning solution, mixed at normal rate.

Take a large ratchet strap and loop it over king kong....and around your body. Then jump!

Life is too short to spend it cleaning with a damn portable!
Hopefully with the extra weight of the water I will no longer have to.

 

[Cleanworks]

There's portables and then there are pos portables. Get yourself a real mans portable and learn how to really clean. Oh, yeah, that's the "desk Jockey" I forgot, you don't actually do the work.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Same here started with a portable and a 175 doing mostly homes then started to get commercial which helps especially in the winter months. Got my first truck mount in 2009 and wondered why I didn't do it sooner. Expanded into tile and commercial carpet maintenance . Condo work has been few and far between and debating on getting rid of my porty . Hence my post. I know work but it needs to be worth my while or I'd rather just not do them. Knowing how saturated my market is with hacks, it's a battle I'm debating not fighting. I wanting to know how many members stay away from them for the same reasons.

We will do anything if we can make a decent buck at it. However we make the most money by doing what nobody else wants to. Undesirable work always pays well.

Unless you need the cash, I'd keep the portable. It can be a backup should your TM ever go down. Besides it sounds like it is doing what a portable should do. Sit in a corner and collect dust!

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

We will do anything if we can make a decent buck at it. However we make the most money by doing what nobody else wants to. Undesirable work always pays well.

Unless you need the cash, I'd keep the portable. It can be a backup should your TM ever go down. Besides it sounds like it is doing what a portable should do. Sit in a corner and collect dust!

Yep , that's exactly what it is doing. I think I havent used it since January and maybe have 20 hrs on it since I bought it two years ago. And its so weird using it after using a truck mount all the time. I'm used to hearing the screaming of the blower it's nostalgic really of my early days in the business.

 

[Cleanworks]

You don't want to take away from what your profitable work is. You don't want to leave money on the table either. If you're not doing anything anyway and someone calls you for a portable job, keep your prices high and go do the job. I often do a mix of tm and portable work in a day. My price is my price, no matter what of machine I use

 

[Desk Jockey]

My price is higher if we have to use a portable. Seriously! If its so far away or so hard to reach that we needed to use a portable, we charge a setup fee.

We have to recoup the additional. Time is potential income, we basically sell time. The longer it takes to process the more the invoice reflects that.

 

[Cleanworks]

You would do the same with a tm. A 350 ft setup is going to be more time consuming than a 100 ft set up. I can clean an average 1-bedroom suite in about 45 min with a portable, how long would it take you with a tm? Probably the same

 

[Goomer]

Then I have to explain the time involved to find parking, get equipment up yada yada.

Whether it is worth it to you or not is relative to how efficient you get in finding parking, unloading, set-up/breakdown, and loading.

It will never work if every time is a disorganized scramble.

 

[BIG WOOD]

I would adjust the minimum price and minimum number of condos when you talk to them. You're making it sound like your price per condo is $175, which is why they're asking your reason for pricing just two small areas.

If I were to get a call from them:
"Yes, I'd be glad to look at what you need cleaned. But keep in mind, my minimum charge on 2nd and 3rd floor condos is $500 with a minimum of 10 units" ($50/per condo)
That's when they realize the value and cost savings that they're getting. You need to price it with a prediction that you'll be there all day with the setup and break down time, and $500 is a decent number to start.

If they can't give you 10 units to clean, then they're just price sharks

 

[BIG WOOD]

And if they're still acting stupid and asking why you have that minimum, just say

"Ma'am, with the way your building is setup...it's going to, literally, take me all day to setup and break down my setup to clean. And I have to reserve All Day just to clean your carpet. In order for my business to stay in business, I have to meet my quota for how much I need to make $$$ every day I go out in the field. So in order for me to do that, I need to set that minimum cost and provide you with that much service in order for you to get the value of the $500 you spend. So when would you like to schedule this?"

I doubt it'll get to that, but a lot of people have no clue how much it costs for our tiny little, unappreciated, services to operate.

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

I would adjust the minimum price and minimum number of condos when you talk to them. You're making it sound like your price per condo is $175, which is why they're asking your reason for pricing just two small areas.

If I were to get a call from them:
"Yes, I'd be glad to look at what you need cleaned. But keep in mind, my minimum charge on 2nd and 3rd floor condos is $500 with a minimum of 10 units" ($50/per condo)
That's when they realize the value and cost savings that they're getting. You need to price it with a prediction that you'll be there all day with the setup and break down time, and $500 is a decent number to start.

If they can't give you 10 units to clean, then they're just price sharks

How I deal with condo owners is the same as a homeowner. I give them my price per square foot but say I have a minimum charge of..... I also ask if they would like to do a mattress or some upholstery to make up the difference but the minimum charge will be $175for condos.
The typical call I get from condo owners is "how much do you charge? I have a small condo and I only have one room of carpet and its mostly covered with furniture so how much is that? And no I don't have anything else that needs cleaning." Once I hear that I say "if you can't get anyone else give us a call back and will be happy to be of service."
Im pretty good with dealing with different clients on the phone . I explain to condo owners that it's very time consuming to :
Park , go up to security to get a pass, come back get my equipment , buzz into the building, come up, set up the porty, vacuum , pretreat, extract, breakdown , then bring everything back down. Hopefully I don't forget anything or nee something else from my truck. It's usually a min Two hours on a typical condo job .

 

[BIG WOOD]

How I deal with condo owners is the same as a homeowner. I give them my price per square foot but say I have a minimum charge of..... I also ask if they would like to do a mattress or some upholstery to make up the difference but the minimum charge will be $175for condos.
The typical call I get from condo owners is "how much do you charge? I have a small condo and I only have one room of carpet and its mostly covered with furniture so how much is that? And no I don't have anything else that needs cleaning." Once I hear that I say "if you can't get anyone else give us a call back and will be happy to be of service."
Im pretty good with dealing with different clients on the phone . I explain to condo owners that it's very time consuming to :
Park , go up to security to get a pass, come back get my equipment , buzz into the building, come up, set up the porty, vacuum , pretreat, extract, breakdown , then bring everything back down. Hopefully I don't forget anything or nee something else from my truck. It's usually a min Two hours on a typical condo job .

I didn't know you were dealing with each individual owner. Is there a property manager that handles the whole complex? If there is, I would suggest bypassing the owner and talking to the manager, telling them that each of the owners are calling you, and suggest getting the manager to communicate with each owner so you can get them to arrange doing a bunch at one time

 

[Kevin De Medeiros]

I didn't know you were dealing with each individual owner. Is there a property manager that handles the whole complex? If there is, I would suggest bypassing the owner and talking to the manager, telling them that each of the owners are calling you, and suggest getting the manager to communicate with each owner so you can get them to arrange doing a bunch at one time

No these are condo owners not property managers.

 

[BIG WOOD]

No these are condo owners not property managers.

If you have access to deal with only the owners, then you're probably not gonna get anywhere on making profit. The owners aren't going to comprehend why you have a minimum price.

Do you think there might be a property manager over the complex?

 

[TConway]

If your minimum charge makes it worth the effort then yes why not, I know a window tint guy here in town that told me hell I would take my 75.00 min all day long, if I had enough of them, I book my last day of the week with min charge jobs, takes me @ 30 minutes to do a min job so if I fill my last day with them it works out pretty well. (Window Tint Guy)
We try and do the same for our carpet jobs, If I can take a day and fill it with these types of jobs, yes there is more stops and goes but when the van pulls back into the drive and the numbers have added up to be a decent day thats all that matters.