Did I charge too much?

[brite n clean]

I just did the third floor of our local police station, and this only being my fourth commercial job. I'm hoping I didn't charge too much.
The Chief told me just to clean the floor and leave a bill for whatever we charge.
I did 3 fairly large offices, 2 smaller offices, alot of hallway, 2 smaller offices, a dining room, a large reception office, and a small lobby. It was a great job and with setup etc, it took about 4 and a half hours with a minimal amount of moving things. I usually charge by the room, or run constant specials such as whole house $139.00. This job I charged approximately 20 cents per sq ft. and it came out to $308.00. I want to get this job again and am trying to figure out am I overcharging them or undercharging everyone else. Thanks

 

[Al]

Sounds like a fair price but on the low side 8)

 

[handdi]

undersharging everyone else

 

[Scott S.]

little low, but if it wasn't to hard to get clean i would say good price. i try to shoot for $100 an hour. you will probably get it again if you keep your price relatively the same next time maybe a add on for rising fuel.

 

[-JB-]

Well, that was very ICS of you T!

 

[Mikey P]

I cleaned some chairs in a Police station once.

It had to be done a locked room for security reasons. So I had to use a hand wash method and at the time dry cleaning with 111 Trichloroethane was my only option.

The station had the AC running to whole time.




I got a call later that day that the entire office staff had to go home due to complaints of throbbing headaches.






I didn't charge them very much but for some reason they never called back.

 

[Trevor Truitt]

I'd say that is a good for starting out on the commercial side of things. You'll probably get your time down on it in the future.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Everyone overhead is different and the economy is different in areas, so what I would charge here may not fit to what your charging there.

I agree with the $100 an hour. Find out your operation cost and go off that.

Hey at least its not $.06 a sq ft.

Can you do it in 3 hours or less, how soiled is it?

Also, how do I become a supporting member, do I do the Pay Pal subscribe? Its worth the 5 bucks.

 

[Dolly Llama]

.20 cent-o-ft is a good price for com 'round our parts.

we'd do com jobs like you described for 20 cent-o-ft all day long.

you did good, Kid


don't sweat your production times right now.
You're a one man show running a porty.
Focus on making your custys happy.

..L.T.A.

 

[Greg Loe]

My local county sheriffs building started at 15 cents. They liked my cleaning so much they extended our contract for 3 years and raised it to 20 cents a sqft. Locals have bid the job as low as 10 cents.

 

[diamond brian]

$.20 is in line with what we charge.

 

[steve frasier]

we were removing red stains and cleaning some rental units last week that had a sprinkler system

it was humid outside, had 2 steamers going, a couple of airpaths running and steam from the wand

fire alarm went off, not sure if it was all the steam and humidity or dust particles in the sensors but the fire department showed up a few minutes later, didn't have access to the system to turn it off

handed out a few cards to the firemen :shock:

a little low but on the price but who am I to say

 

[captaincarpet]

At 20 cents you must have cleaned aprox. 1540 square ft.
The 4 1/2 hours seems a bit much, but you should be able to trim it down to 3 hours or so as you gain both familiarity with the job, and commercial work in general. That would put the $308.00 right in line with the basic $100.00 per hour most here agree with and be fair to both you and the customer. IMHO

 

[Greg Loe]

1st time cleaning should take a little longer. It will get a lot faster if they have you clean it once a year

 

[B&BGaryC]

POS services does 6-8 cents/foot commercial. Five day dry times at no additional charge.

I try to get between 20-24 on commercial

A few competitors that I would trust to clean my place charge between 12-18 cents/foot.

I'll drop to 18 to make somebody happy, otherwise, they competition can have it.

 

[hogjowl]

You didn't over charge them, if that is you concern. You WERE a bit undercharging, at least when compared with what we get in my area.

Don't sweat it.

Just make sure you are keeping up with your total s.f. cleaned every day, month and year. Know what your costs of doing business are, and from there determine what your s.f. price really should be.

It's not all that hard.

Even danny is doing it. (According to him.)

 

[KevinL]

Wow, I gotta get me one of those portables. I did our local farm bureau Saturday. One helper pre-spraying and pulling hose while I cleaned over 5000 ft in 5.5 hours. Did I charge to much? $925.

 

[CleanEvo]

That's a good price if you and your customer are happy with it.

Call them back ask if they are satisfied with the job, don't ask them about the price.

You will get your cleaning time down with experience. You can't charge your customer for your learning curve.

Only you know your overhead and your market.

 

[Mike Draper]

Remember, don't undercut yourself. AS soon as you start low ballin your prices you seem to get low ball customers. "Price is only an issue in the absence of value"