Does it make sense to be an apartment hack?

[Jeremy N]

Alright folks, I gotta know. For a guy that has not been a carpet cleaner yet has all the toys, does it makes sense?

I do mostly water damage and don't have time right now to chase routine carpet cleaning jobs. Does it make sense to let a guy make his wages and keep a guy on payroll for a few bucks?

Is there a way to be a good apartment hack? Will it require less hands-on from and owner not on the truck?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Seems reasonable to me. Why lose a guy when he can be making you money (small margin) while also paying his salary too.

Yes if you can get your foot in the door I'd seriously consider it. The only draw back is WDR work for them, while on one hand the additional water losses are good, the lack of control (the never want structural drying) and them wanting reduced rates could be an issue. ???

I'd draw up a rate sheet if you don't already have one and then tell them since your cleaning you will also discount X amount for them. Might as well get it out in the open before they call you and want to haggle over price.

 

[Mardie]

Alright folks, I gotta know. For a guy that has not been a carpet cleaner yet has all the toys, does it makes sense?

I do mostly water damage and don't have time right now to chase routine carpet cleaning jobs. Does it make sense to let a guy make his wages and keep a guy on payroll for a few bucks?

Is there a way to be a good apartment hack? Will it require less hands-on from and owner not on the truck?

I had a job doing that the start of my second year for a outfit with 800 low rental units mostly 3 story walk ups with no air conditioning.I thought i hit pay dirt and boy was i wrong.They were pretty much all trashed out carpet and did i work my ass off, BUT it gave me great experience in how to clean the worst of the worst.
I averaged 30-40 units a month along with the corridors and did that for about 8 months untill he cut my pay on a severe odour job then i dropped him on the spot. Sure felt good getting rid of him. You spend to much time getting acsess and hauling your gear into apartments to make it pay.I think these jobs are better left to the hacks.They can charge less than half of a good cleaner and still make more money than a good cleaner.And it looks good on them cheap ass property managers.


I personally would not want to put my name on a good hack job but if i did i would do it like this.
Get them to vacuum and mke sure you stress the importance of a good vacuum job. (good luck)
Then just go in and Cimex it.

 

[handdi]

they are a pain in the butt
be prepared to write some losses off for non payment
clean the impossible but some are willing to pay for nastys
we had 6 complexs and down to 2 now which are good ones
sect 8 complexs forget them cheapest guy always wins
3 story forget them too even if you are paying a tech-- go do one sometime keeping in mind that ya treat your techs good
200 ft huse runs about every time.
like richard says water losses cheap cheap

 

[Dolly Llama]

BUT it gave me great experience in how to clean the worst of the worst.

BINGO!!!!

you'll gain more practical experience in a year than 10 years of res .

but I'm not sure I understand the question ....if you have the time and capacity ..and it's "profitable" why the hell wouldn't you do them??


..L.T.A.

 

[juniorc82]

If you already have the gadgets why not? I would encourage them to have the carpets pre vac'd. Sometime we get lazy maintenance men who leave splinters and drywall chuncks ev where. On the other hand it is really good consistant work. You should be able to turn a tech loose on them by them self if they have basic cleaning knowledge. Most rentals we just nuke with a high ph pre spray and wand it with the truck mount and average around $100 per hour . The only thing that reall chaps my ass about rentals are when they call you the day someones moving in and expect you to drop everything to go clean on short notice. I have become a bit of a dick when it comes to this and use every chance I get to inform management that I need at least 1-2 days notice and sometimes even charge a small fee for short notice cleaning

 

[Desk Jockey]

Short notice wouldn't bother me as long as the paid on time. I'd be more irrtated if they expect high level service but not responsive to paying me!

 

[juniorc82]

Short notice wouldn't bother me as long as the paid on time. I'd be more irrtated if they expect high level service but not responsive to paying me!

being paid on time is nice chavez however when your an owner op with 1 part time guy scheduling must be done carefully with plenty of notice

 

[hogjowl]

I don't do any apartments, but I do a ton of rental houses for several realtors in my area. Like said above, they can be a real pita when the busy move in season hits. Last minute calls on the day they are moving in. Sometimes I get the frantic call and arrive on that house to find the moving van there with the folks moving in! Early on, my pricing was lower than it is now and I would get ticked off at the hassle for a lower price than my normal residential customers paid, but over the years I have slowly increased their prices until they pay what everybody else pays.

 

[Desk Jockey]

being paid on time is nice chavez however when your an owner op with 1 part time guy scheduling must be done carefully with plenty of notice

No I get that too. We weren't always this big at one time I ran "the" truck mount but we always bent over backwards for good paying clients, the slow payers got worked in when it fit our schedule.


We have a few clients I'll send the On Call crew to clean if needed, they do so much work with us we will be there in an hour no questions asked.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Apts are not my thing.. my record is 12 in one day at one complex. It was in 100 degree heat and the only time I ever worked with my shirt off.

There are better outlets to keep a tech busy IMHO.. try hitting up commercial or something like that.

 

[spotman123]

I don't do any apartments, but I do a ton of rental houses for several realtors in my area. Like said above, they can be a real pita when the busy move in season hits. Last minute calls on the day they are moving in. Sometimes I get the frantic call and arrive on that house to find the moving van there with the folks moving in! Early on, my pricing was lower than it is now and I would get ticked off at the hassle for a lower price than my normal residential customers paid, but over the years I have slowly increased their prices until they pay what everybody else pays.

Apartments. Rental houses. What's the difference? They both pay rent.

 

[hogjowl]

With rental houses:

I have a local realtor who is responsible for the bill.
I don't have to worry about if I can park close to the building.
I don't have to run my hoses across public spaces.
I don't have to set up 5 different times to make $200
I don't have to climb as many stairs.
Annnnnd ... my van is not sitting open, in a parking lot, with 100 people walking around it every hour.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Apartments. Rental houses. What's the difference? They both pay rent.

Huge difference as Marty pointed out.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

If you want to compete over $5 everytime some new cleaner ask the manager for work, GO FOR IT!

If you wanna call every 45 days and ask where your money is, GO FOR IT!

If you wanna kill your tech and equipment all day for $350, GO FOR IT!

Only thing I got outta cleaning apartments was education. They will make you a good cleaner, and efficient.

Some can make lots of money at them, I am not one of them. Be prepared to handle after hours calls for WDR also.

Try it if your curious, the worst thing that can happen is you fire them.

 

[cu]

Alright folks, I gotta know. For a guy that has not been a carpet cleaner yet has all the toys, does it makes sense?

I do mostly water damage and don't have time right now to chase routine carpet cleaning jobs. Does it make sense to let a guy make his wages and keep a guy on payroll for a few bucks?

Is there a way to be a good apartment hack? Will it require less hands-on from and owner not on the truck?[/QUOTE

]yes you can be a good apt hack ..make some money at it ...get paid..and do water jobs for them and get full money,some of the time
plus learn how to do all sorts or carpet repairs etc.
It's not that hard .it just a different market you have to learn...like me moving into the res market I'm still learning it

 

[Dolly Llama]

apts/rentals are production work, not "prima donna" work, that's for sure
You can certainly make money though if you're efficient ..and you can also find prop mngrs that appreciate quality work and will pay a fair price for reliable/dependable service .
You don't want to try to compete with the "$35/$50 for 1-2 bd rm" apt cleaners...no more than you want to compete with the $19.99 a rm res cleaners.


If they're telling you how much they'll pay for a 1-2-3 bd rm apt, you're at the wrong place.
if you quote them a price you can't make money at, that's your fault ...
been there done that 20 years ago in both cases and it took a few years to figure it out I was ..
(I'm a slOw learner)
Over the years I've fired many and been fired ...but the accounts we have now are all profitable.
and I'll take ALL you got at 18-25 cent-o-ft (depending on size and/or PITA set up) ...minimum charge applies


so again, I'm not sure i understand .... "IF" it's profitable, and you're not as busy as you want to be, why the hell wouldn't you do them???
and if you bid too low or didn't add enough for the PITA factor of some of them...that's no ones fault but your own



..L.T.A.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think the main point may be getting missed, he is looking to keep his tech's busy rather than lay him off or pay him to do busy work. When we are slow like that my cleaning rate takes inconsideration I can make a small margin on some work I wouldn't normally go after or my technicians can keep sucking at the company teat.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I think the main point may be getting missed, he is looking to keep his tech's busy rather than lay him off or pay him to do busy work. When we are slow like that my cleaning rate takes inconsideration I can make a small margin on some work I wouldn't normally go after or my technicians can keep sucking at the company teat.

still a no brainer to 'me'
I'd rather be making a "small" profit than NO profit

in winter's past, I've bid work at razor thin margins to keep the wheels turning



..L.T.A.

 

[hogjowl]

I think the main point may be getting missed, he is looking to keep his tech's busy rather than lay him off or pay him to do busy work. When we are slow like that my cleaning rate takes inconsideration I can make a small margin on some work I wouldn't normally go after or my technicians can keep sucking at the company teat.

That is a genetic thing. You just can't help yourself.

 

[hogjowl]

still a no brainer to 'me'
I'd rather be making a "small" profit than NO profit

in winter's past, I've bid work at razor thin margins to keep the wheels turning ... LTA

With all the 50 and 60 cent a s.f. posters on this board, this place is becoming the new ICS BB. A natural result of that is for the average poster to adopt a public persona as exclusive. Many of the guys who say they avoid low rent jobs are just talking. I was shocked, but appreciative, to see you admit to being happy in the 18 to 25 cent range. Which is where we all are, in reality.

 

[Desk Jockey]

You're just sitting there by yourself, laughing aren't you? ig:

 

[hogjowl]

My dog is with me.

 

[Mikey P]

Other than myself, who have you caught lying about getting.50 a foot here?

Feel free to call the full circle girls to price shop me, they were alerted to jack to rates up if any out of state goober/gomer sounding calls come in.

 

[hogjowl]

Do you have a hair lip, by any chance?

 

[Mikey P]

Actually I do.
I also beat my wife if she chops my meat into anything more or less than perfectly bite sized morsels

 

[spotman123]

With rental houses:

I have a local realtor who is responsible for the bill.
I don't have to worry about if I can park close to the building.
I don't have to run my hoses across public spaces.
I don't have to set up 5 different times to make $200
I don't have to climb as many stairs.
Annnnnd ... my van is not sitting open, in a parking lot, with 100 people walking around it every hour.

Thankyou for showing me the light.

 

[Able 1]

Actually I do.
I also beat my wife if she chops my meat into anything more or less than perfectly bite sized morsels

"Meat"

 

[randy]

I would do it for a bit just to get the experience. Great place to start.

 

[idreadnought]

With any work there are good customers and bad customers. I clean a lot of apartments and we make good hourly rate for cleaning them. The key is to find apartments that care about a good quality of work at a fair price. Depending on your market and drive times lets look at the ability to clean 8 apartments a day. If you charge average of $80 dollars to clean with an average upcharge of $15 for red stains and odor treatments you would be grossing $760 a day for cleaning. Those are the averages we see and we are very happy to do them.

Note: All markets are different and drive times could lower the number you could do in a day and also there are people you don't want to work for. If you focus on finding the right customers it can be a lucrative way to make money.

The key is to understand the management and what their problems are. Most property managers and apartment managers are busy. They want as little hassle as possible. They are also spending someone else's money, either the tenants or the owners but never their own. Find managers that would rather have a good company with a one call and done solution to the problem and you will have success with that industry.

Let me tell you a story: I was working for this property management company years ago. They loved me because I took care of their problems. I also showed up did a good job and charged good prices. This other company came in that had rented from them. He offered to clean and promised to give them a good price. The property management said they were happy with me. He then said but I will charge you much less. Finally the property manager looked at him and said "We are so happy with our guy that even if you cleaned them for free we would still use him". Service is always more important than price especially when they are spending someone else's money.