First of all - WELCOME to the world of Encapping with a Cimex machine!
I agree with Jeremy about the sliding scale. That's how I have always priced commercial work.
WIth the Cimex we have honestly made excellent money even at the LOW end. For example I first discovered the Cimex/Encap combination when we were doing a lot of sub-contract work for National Subcontract companies. My background had always been heavily in retail stores. And during the past 20 years that sector has pretty much entirely moved to National Subcontract companies. And the one I was doing a lot of work for paid .05 per sq ft. Picture that! Trying to make money at a nickel a foot.
The Cimex/Encap system made it possible to achieve a nice profit even when we were forced to work for peanuts for the MMM's Maintenance Management Mafia companies. The Cimex enabled us to clean retail stores at a consistent rate of 2,000 - 3,000 sq ft per hour. So even when we were working at the ridiculously low rate of .05 per sq ft - we could still generate $100-$150 per hour.
OK so how does the sliding scale approach work? To start with - the MMM's generally charge .07 for the huge national accounts (so there's no reason to ever go lower- even for the largest accounts). A really big and really promising accounts that get very frequent service may dip as low as .08 per sq ft. On the other end of the scale... A really small, problematic, infrequent account would be in the high 20's per sq ft.
When I go in to look at a new account I will first EVALUATE the carpet and the building (carpet, wear, cleaning cycle, spot removal, vacuum cleaners, mats, exterior, etc). As I perform the Carpet Inspection it opens up a dialogue with the prospect. This gives the person an opportunity to get to know me. And it gives me a good feel for what they need. Now I'm ready to measure the carpet and give them a proposal. THe information I have gained from my inspection puts me in a position to determine what price per sq ft to charge them.
Hope this gives you some ideas. Feel free to contact me to learn more. I've been doing this for a few years
P.S.
http://www.EncapBoard.com has a lot of information specifically related to commercial carpet cleaning, marketing, encap cleaning, Cimex usage, etc. so you might want to check that out too. Use the SEARCH feature.
:!:
