What is a typical sqft rate for commercial

gimmeagig

gimmeagig

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Roxy
Hi,
I just got asked to bid on a big( for me) commercial job. Multiple offices and meeting rooms around 13000 sqft. I do mostly residential and some smaller commercial. I usually eyeball my jobs and I'm coming out to make a little upwards of 100.-per hour. On ajob like this one I'm a little bit out of my element.
Can you guys give me a ballpark number of where a job like that might be? I would probably split it up over two three days. the carpets are not super dirty just regular for offices.
Thanks
 
Cleanworks

Cleanworks

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Charge the same as residential and then adjust by the time it will take you. There is no reason to discount commercial except for volume. Think of it this way, commercial is sometimes more heavily soiled than residential, you may have to work after hours or on weekends and you will have to wait to get paid.
 
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PrimaDonna

PrimaDonna

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Hard question to answer as there are so many factors. And average for us here, may not be average for you or your area.

HWE or VLM? Do you need to bring on additional help to do it? Is it something can be done during normal business hours or after hours....keeping you out late and cutting your day short the next day cause you are tired from working all night? Do you need to split it up over two or more days and have additional drive/set up break down time? 13,000 is a lot to do at once...even if you can average 1,000-1,200 an hour. You're looking at 10-13 hours with no breaks, refilling solutions, pre vac, moving things out of the way etc. Is it heavily soiled? Any spots that will need additional attention?

A good start is to figure out what you want your hourly rate to be. Figure out how long it will take you. Add on a couple of hours to stop and reflill, move the van to get access to areas and unexpected things etc. Would be at least a $3300-$4000 job for us to HWE, 3 guys, two trucks depending on some of the factors I asked about above.
 
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PrimaDonna

PrimaDonna

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gimmeagig said:
What is that all about? I totally don't get why you would call me an idiot. Did you forget to take your medication? LOL What did I ever do to you?
Click to expand...

You're obviously new here....

Meet Marty...he doesn't mean anything by it. He's this way with everyone. It's his back woods Alabama humor. Pay him no attention. He does have some good input at times. Take some time to poke around the board and other posts and you'll get a good sense of who's who and their MOs.

Marty is just initiating you....and that's actuallya compliment/good thing if he gives you a hard time. You need some tough skin at times around here.

Welcome!!!
 
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gimmeagig

gimmeagig

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PrimaDonna said:
Hard question to answer as there are so many factors. And average for us here, may not be average for you or your area.

HWE or VLM? Do you need to bring on additional help to do it? Is it something can be done during normal business hours or after hours....keeping you out late and cutting your day short the next day cause you are tired from working all night? Do you need to split it up over two or more days and have additional drive/set up break down time? 13,000 is a lot to do at once...even if you can average 1,000-1,200 an hour. You're looking at 10-13 hours with no breaks, refilling solutions, pre vac, moving things out of the way etc. Is it heavily soiled? Any spots that will need additional attention?

A good start is to figure out what you want your hourly rate to be. Figure out how long it will take you. Add on a couple of hours to stop and reflill, move the van to get access to areas and unexpected things etc. Would be at least a $3300-$4000 job for us to HWE, 3 guys, two trucks depending on some of the factors I asked about above.
Click to expand...

Hey , thank you so much for your response.Here is some more info
Yes it's a monster job. And complicated. HWE no help, just me.
I live in Northern Idaho, not a high wage area. So my prices reflect that. The job is the local police department, I will have to start at 6 AM and while the people are working there. That makes it more complicated. Carpets are in pretty good shape no severe staining that I have noticed.
I was going to do it in three stages and those stages will be closed off for the most part while I do the work.
It is really hard for me to know how long it will take me, because there are many individual offices (and officers) and I don't know if everybody is going to put their stuff away so I can work unobstructed.
The prevac I could pass on to the Hardfloor guy who is subcontracting me. ( He's got the security clearance for the department, and he needs to be there while I work anyway). That way I could keep my price down.
I want to make 100.- per hour so I was thinking if I don't do the prevac and l could get my hardfloor guy to make sure everything is clear for me to work. For the first time I would charge 1500.-
The job is supposed to be done every 6 months, so I really want it.After the first time I can see what kind of adjustment i might need to make.
I have done quite a few jobs with the Hardfloor guy, he's super fair and almost a friend, so I want to make sure it work out well financially for him and me.
 
gimmeagig

gimmeagig

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PrimaDonna said:
Ok, I just checked out your profile....not new, but perhaps not active on here in a while.
Click to expand...
Yes, have been around for a while. My business is pretty successful and that is to a large part because of all the help and advice I have gotten here. Really I don't think I would be where I am without you guys. I'll forgive Marty, besides... I like pigs and that Avatar is mighty cute.:)
 
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Steve Lawrence

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I'd charge extra for having to work at 6 am plus around working people. This better pay really well, plus you have the danger of someone tripping on your hoses.
 
PrimaDonna

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gimmeagig said:
Hey , thank you so much for your response.Here is some more info
Yes it's a monster job. And complicated. HWE no help, just me.
I live in Northern Idaho, not a high wage area. So my prices reflect that. The job is the local police department, I will have to start at 6 AM and while the people are working there. That makes it more complicated. Carpets are in pretty good shape no severe staining that I have noticed.
I was going to do it in three stages and those stages will be closed off for the most part while I do the work.
It is really hard for me to know how long it will take me, because there are many individual offices (and officers) and I don't know if everybody is going to put their stuff away so I can work unobstructed.
The prevac I could pass on to the Hardfloor guy who is subcontracting me. ( He's got the security clearance for the department, and he needs to be there while I work anyway). That way I could keep my price down.
I want to make 100.- per hour so I was thinking if I don't do the prevac and l could get my hardfloor guy to make sure everything is clear for me to work. For the first time I would charge 1500.-
The job is supposed to be done every 6 months, so I really want it.After the first time I can see what kind of adjustment i might need to make.
I have done quite a few jobs with the Hardfloor guy, he's super fair and almost a friend, so I want to make sure it work out well financially for him and me.
Click to expand...

How much of that $1500 are you going to have to give the guy for vacuuming?
If you are going to be maintaining every 6 months...look in to VLM with cimex/encapping. Intial HWE should be good for the first cleaning and maybe needed once a year or even less depending on how the encap holds up.
If you want to make $100 an hour, you're paying the guy to help, you have to make multiple trips, work around people, waiting for people to "put their stuff away"...it's a recipe for lots of delays. I'd bid it at least $150 per hour to make sure all that stuff is covered. Go in at $2000 (15 hours at $150 or $125 per hour but adding in another 4-5 hours for multiple trips, set up etc. It ends up being about the same). And charge them the same when you encap, it will still look good and should cut your production, truck hours, etc down. Keep track of all your time, travel, set up, machine hours, waiting for people so you can track if you are hitting your numbers.

I'd also want to know who was maintaining this account before you and WHY they have it out for bid now. That can tell you a lot. And no harm in asking if they'd be willing to share their budget or what the last guy was getting with them to "make sure you're in line before taking the time to give a full estimate. If they were unhappy with the last person and his price was cheap, it gives you some leverage and you may not get push back if you are more.

Do you know what you actually "net" when shooting for $100 per hour after all your expenses (insurance, gas, advertising, machine wear, solutions). You really should know what that is. If you're shooting for $100 per hour, but only making $25 after expenses, then you may need to re think your hourly rate.
 
Chris A

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4 guys with zippers only doing 1000 sq feet an hour each?
 
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ruff

ruff

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hogjowl said:
Hehehe ...
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PrimaDonna said:
Shut up, Idiot!
Click to expand...
More of the village idiot type.
In Elmer type locales.
Way south of the Mason Dixon line.
Where his 14-year-old daughter smokes at the dinner table in front of her kids.
And someone in his family died right after saying, ‘Hey, guys, watch this.’
 
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gimmeagig

gimmeagig

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Hayden,Idaho
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Roxy
PrimaDonna said:
How much of that $1500 are you going to have to give the guy for vacuuming?
If you are going to be maintaining every 6 months...look in to VLM with cimex/encapping. Intial HWE should be good for the first cleaning and maybe needed once a year or even less depending on how the encap holds up.
If you want to make $100 an hour, you're paying the guy to help, you have to make multiple trips, work around people, waiting for people to "put their stuff away"...it's a recipe for lots of delays. I'd bid it at least $150 per hour to make sure all that stuff is covered. Go in at $2000 (15 hours at $150 or $125 per hour but adding in another 4-5 hours for multiple trips, set up etc. It ends up being about the same). And charge them the same when you encap, it will still look good and should cut your production, truck hours, etc down. Keep track of all your time, travel, set up, machine hours, waiting for people so you can track if you are hitting your numbers.

I'd also want to know who was maintaining this account before you and WHY they have it out for bid now. That can tell you a lot. And no harm in asking if they'd be willing to share their budget or what the last guy was getting with them to "make sure you're in line before taking the time to give a full estimate. If they were unhappy with the last person and his price was cheap, it gives you some leverage and you may not get push back if you are more.

Do you know what you actually "net" when shooting for $100 per hour after all your expenses (insurance, gas, advertising, machine wear, solutions). You really should know what that is. If you're shooting for $100 per hour, but only making $25 after expenses, then you may need to re think your hourly rate.
Click to expand...

Those are all really good questions and suggestions.Thank you for that! A lot to think about. I'm glad I didn't jump the gun and came up with a quote right after I measured the square footage. It's good to have somebody experienced and helpful lay it out for me like that.
The price would be based on three visits (the place is only 10 min from my house) without vacuuming or moving chairs and putting stuff away. The building is single level and breaking it up into three also makes sense from the layout of the building.
I will agree to do it for 1500.- the first time, then I will be able to gauge how far I was off. There are so many unknowable issues with this job that could pop up. I'll check into who did it before.They had a cleaner who did HWE and he left the carpets to wet and they had a guy who did encap and they did not like the results. That's all I know right now.
As far as what I charge per hour. My truck is paid for, my advertising costs are practically zero, I have plenty of work and customers who are totally loyal to me.I have no employees. Gas is cheap and I don't have to drive very far usually. Price wise I'm kind of in the middle in my area. I have rentals and I allow my tenants to choose their own carpet cleaners (including me). So I see what my fellow carpet cleaners in town charge. 100.- is where I'm comfortable, usually I make more per hour.But for big jobs and really good customers or really nice people I'll drop my prices a little.
 
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