Do You Move the Furniture?

Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
1,496
Name
George Valliant
When somebody asks’ if I move the furniture I usually reply “we will be happy to move one or two items for you at no additional cost. But if you want all furniture moved the price doubles”.

This usually keeps furniture moving to a minimum. But, I can’t help but think I’m a hack for not moving the furniture.

It would be nice to say “Mrs. Jones. When we clean your carpets we start by emptying the room of all furniture. Then clean the carpets, and then we put all the furniture back at no additional cost to you". - Anybody doing that?

How much furniture do you normally move? Do you have different pricing structures for houses with furniture and without?
 

Dolly Llama

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Larry Capitoni
Carpet Cleaning Fool said:
Do you have different pricing structures for houses with furniture and without?

yes.

as far as what we move, I figure it's similar to everyone else that does.
sofa, chairs, coffee/end tables (breakables must be removed by custy)
"normal" things like that

Things we don't move; (or STRONGLY hesitate to move)
entertainment centers, china cabinets, curio cabinets, roll top desks, flimsy azz Sauder desks, grand father clocks etc.
We'll move china/curio cabinets "if" they're emptied and in sound condition.

In bed rooms we'll move some beds and decline to move others.
Same with dressers and chest of drawers


..L.T.A.
 

TimP

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May 19, 2007
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I move, sofa, love seat, end tables, coffee tables, and recliners. In bedrooms a chair here and there, end tables if there is enough room to move them side to side, and light furniture goes on the bed, or side to side if there is room of course and whatever is easier. If it's tight room and going to be a pain it stays.
 

BRSUMMERVILLE

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Dec 29, 2006
Messages
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After every job, I analyze it.When I 've moved furniture, the cleaning rate per hour goes down.This year I started charging to move furniture. Customers will move their furniture to save money.

Bob Rock
 

Ken Snow

RIP
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Ken Snow
Like Meat does~ it is all part of the job in my opinion. I don't care if others charge extra for it or not but believe it should be part of the job if charging for the whole room. We discount if traffic lanes only.

Ken
 

KevinD

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Nov 23, 2006
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Binghamton,New York
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Kevin Dumas
Very simple here.
Mrs. ???. Would you give me a quick tour of each room and tell me what furniture you would like moved and what you do not want moved.
If it can be moved within reason, I'll move it.
And with the advent of sliders I have rearranged the whole LR or FR for them. Talk about gratitude.
 

Greenie

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Oct 7, 2006
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One thing I learned, If you charge what you are worth, the "normal" furniture is no big deal, and I would frequently move some stuff for "my" benefit, sometimes it's just quicker and does a better overall job, of course I worked for normal people that didn't ask to have the china cabinet moved.

If I had sticky tabs, I might have been more prone to move more stuff when teh carpet was dry on the pre-inspection, those stickys rule as impromtu sliders.
 
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
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961
Location
Victoria, BC
Name
Bill Soukoreff
I never use my sliders anymore now that I have sticky tabs.

I charge 20% less if I over no furniture but always clean under bed side tables either way. When I move furniture then I place the sticky tabs during my pre-inspection, vacuuming, red vanish type spotting. This way, your TM runs less time per job and things just seems to go so much smoother.
 

Greenie

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yea...Red Vanish on the dry is the bomb, that and a bottle of cyclone are awesome pre-spotters, I've have to try a 10:1 mix of O2 if I was pre-spotting today.
 

John Watson

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Oct 7, 2006
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Hot damn, so far I am with the majority, Same as Larry, Kenny, and Redanny.. Something aint right here..... I'm sure it will change
 

Wayne Miller

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Nov 7, 2007
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Location
Maryland
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Wayne Miller
Same as Larry...

How can you clean the traffic lane if you don't move the sofa? If you can see the dust bunnies peeking out from under the furniture your customers will see them, too. Cleaning the accessable half of a drink spill under the night stand just doesn't do it for me. Leaving that build up of dust along the baseboard lessens impact of the freshly-cleaned first impression for me.

We move what we need to, within reason, as much as anything, to guarantee a good presentation when the job's done.
 
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,652
Like Meat does~ it is all part of the job in my opinion. I don't care if others charge extra for it or not but believe it should be part of the job if charging for the whole room. We discount if traffic lanes only.

Ken

How much do you knock off your 99.00 price for TL only ?
 

Dolly Llama

Number 5
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North East Ohio
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Larry Capitoni
I should note, the overwhelming majority of our custys only want traffic lanes cleaned in bed rooms.

We only have a small percentage of custys that want wall to wall in bd rms

oh yea, we do suck up dust and clean along all exposed base boards when doing TLs only.
"traffic lane" only cleaning means to "us" all exposed carpet.
I only mention that so Wayne don't think we're hacks....














...all of the time




















:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


..L.T.A.
 

Ken Snow

RIP
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Bingham Farms MI
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Ken Snow
Again same as Meat and we discount about 30% for traffic lanes only. I would be surprised if we do 15 jobs a week of traffic lanes only out of the close to 1000 jobs we do in a busy week.

Ken
 

Able 1

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Apr 12, 2008
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Wi
Name
Keith
I tell my custy's if they can get all the smaller stuff out of the room it would be appreciated but moving thing like couches, love seats, ect. I can do while cleaning.

I have probably charged for moving stuff 10 times in three years. Even though I do put there could be a charge assessed on my ads, to cover my ass if the moving is way out of line.
 

breathe72

Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
355
Here is my speel, word for word:

"Absolutely... we have no problem moving any furniture within reason; coffe tables, end tables, sofas, lamps, plants, etc.."

"Items we typically wouldn't want to disturb are some of the heavier pieces that generally stay put; china cabinets, entertainment centers, and the like..."

"The cleanest part of your carpet is going to be beneath those larger pieces anyway... I assume you're needing the cleaning of the carpet that YOU CAN SEE (and even some you can't) am I right?"

"No problem maam/sir... We obviously wouldnt be dismantling your master bed, for instance. But when we arrive, you can give us a walk-through and simply show us what you'd like moved and WHAT YOU'D LIKE US TO GO AROUND... Fair enough???"

"Now... were you thinking later this week or early next week???" :)
 

Brian R

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Little Elm, TX
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Brian Robison
I only charge for the areas I am cleaning. Therefore, if I move a sofa, they are charged for the area under it that I am cleaning.

Another good reason to charge sqft prices.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
100
meAt said:
Carpet Cleaning Fool said:
Do you have different pricing structures for houses with furniture and without?

yes.

as far as what we move, I figure it's similar to everyone else that does.
sofa, chairs, coffee/end tables (breakables must be removed by custy)
"normal" things like that

Things we don't move; (or STRONGLY hesitate to move)
entertainment centers, china cabinets, curio cabinets, roll top desks, flimsy azz Sauder desks, grand father clocks etc.
We'll move china/curio cabinets "if" they're emptied and in sound condition.

In bed rooms we'll move some beds and decline to move others.
Same with dressers and chest of drawers


..L.T.A.

X2. We have found most customers don't want larger pieces moved.
 

John Watson

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
2,885
Soorrry Keven, you is totaly full of the stuff known as shit..

When Ise bends over my belly bounces me back up and yes we move furniture..

But I cheats,,,



















I gotta Helen
 

Rex Tyus

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Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
3,720
Very much like Meat and Ken. I say "we move most anything that is safe to move. No beds or heavy cabinetry, ie china cabinets, computer desk, entertainment centers...'

"anything you would like us to move please have the breakables removed from it and placed securely in another part of the house" (this takes care of a lot of furniture moving btw). :twisted:

Moving, replacing, blocking and tabbing significantly impacts total time spent with a one man crew. Not so much with a two man.
 

Sticky

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Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
619
If I had sticky tabs, I might have been more prone to move more stuff when teh carpet was dry on the pre-inspection, those stickys rule as impromtu sliders.

I use sticky-tabs on all jobs....lol...
 

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