For those who charge by rooms only..

[MikeD00019]

How in the hell do you break down your cost of anything. You get back to the office and go "we cleaned 49 rooms today" and count your money? Isn't it easier to base it off square footage so you know EXACTLY what you cost are for everything?

 

[XTREME1]

I am a room pricer and count my money at the end of the day and not how many this or that

 

[hogjowl]

You've already got it all figured out.

Imagine how smart you're going to be after you've cleaned for a couple of years.

 

[Able 1]

It' saves me the time/gas not to either go out and estimate or measure when finished. What's really the difference price of pre-spray/rinse you put down. I have my price on based on an average room. If the room is over 200sq but less then 300sq charge for half a room over 300sq two rooms.

Works good for me!

Keith

 

[XTREME1]

me or him. I know I am a work in progress

 

[KevinL]

I charge by the room because everyone else around here does too and thats what custys are used to. It would drive me nuts to walk around measuring before coming up with a price for the custy. I can't even imagine the headaches of trying to give an estimate over the phone. And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.

 

[Brian R]

Not everyone

 

[MikeD00019]

It' saves me the time/gas not to either go out and estimate or measure when finished. What's really the difference price of pre-spray/rinse you put down. I have my price on based on an average room. If the room is over 200sq but less then 300sq charge for half a room over 300sq two rooms.

Works good for me!

Keith

So you measure, but don't? I know how many square foot I have to clean to make ends meet. That , I think, is easier.

 

[bob vawter]

per room....and i hardly moves squat......!

 

[MikeD00019]

And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.

Customer service ain't that high on the list?

 

[renegade_cowboy]

And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.

Customer service ain't that high on the list?

What kind of statement is that. Of course you can offer great customer service without driving around giving free estimates. Really....

 

[MikeD00019]

And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.

Customer service ain't that high on the list?

What kind of statement is that. Of course you can offer great customer service without driving around giving free estimates. Really....

was more of a joke but do you ever do estimates? or just schedule the cleaning? How do you know the time frame needed for cleaning.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Customer service ain't that high on the list?[/quote]

What kind of statement is that. Of course you can offer great customer service without driving around giving free estimates. Really....[/quote]


was more of a joke but do you ever do estimates? or just schedule the cleaning? How do you know the time frame needed for cleaning.[/quote]

I do commercial estimates. I've been doing this for a long time, been in close to 10,000 houses. You get a good idea of things. I think room pricing is what the consumer wants in most cases, but not all.

:mrgreen:

 

[MikeD00019]

Customer service ain't that high on the list?

What kind of statement is that. Of course you can offer great customer service without driving around giving free estimates. Really....[/quote]


was more of a joke but do you ever do estimates? or just schedule the cleaning? How do you know the time frame needed for cleaning.[/quote]

I do commercial estimates. I've been doing this for a long time, been in close to 10,000 houses. You get a good idea of things. I think room pricing is what the consumer wants in most cases, but not all.

:mrgreen:[/quote]

you mean 42,000 rooms.

 

[packfancjh]

Hey Mike did you figure out your TM problem?

 

[Dolly Llama]

How in the hell do you break down your cost of anything. You get back to the office and go "we cleaned 49 rooms today" and count your money? Isn't it easier to base it off square footage so you know EXACTLY what you cost are for everything?

add up all the donuts, then deduct expenses.
Even at SF pricing, some jobs will cost more than others due to additional man hours, chems/procedures , etc.
One 700sf job may take an hour, another might take close to two

I'll admit I'm probably one of the worst business men here, but i base it off time.

donuts divided be time - expenses = dough to go

My system for checking if we reached goal?
I add all the donuts for the week, then look at the hour meter on the TM :mrgreen:



..L.T.A.

 

[alazo1]

So you measure, but don't? I know how many square foot I have to clean to make ends meet. That , I think, is easier.

Room pricers know how many rooms they gotta clean too. As far as scheduling, sometimes you do get in trouble. That 3 room job may actually be in a much larger home with access challenges and rooms bigger then you thought. I check zillow.com if I suspect it's a much bigger home then the standard.

Albert

 

[MikeD00019]

So you measure, but don't? I know how many square foot I have to clean to make ends meet. That , I think, is easier.

I check zillow.com if I suspect it's a much bigger home then the standard.

Albert

Thanks for the link. I never heard of that .That will help alot.

 

[steve frasier]

KevinL wrote:
And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.


Customer service ain't that high on the list?

I ain't doing it either, if you have the right phone script you won't be driving around. I can give a ball park over the phone but very rarely have to

how hard is it to say I charge .40 per square foot or I charge $35 small bed room. I hear $35 per and I am turned off by that

 

[floorguy]

thats why commercial work is all the more easy...

i only do res work for refferals or people i know...ok i lied...i did one the other day that called off the truck lettering...3 bedrooms hall and a liv....told me were it was...ok thats easy thats my min for that county $125.. knew where it was so knew the size of house.. took a little over an hr i think...

 

[Able 1]

It' saves me the time/gas not to either go out and estimate or measure when finished. What's really the difference price of pre-spray/rinse you put down. I have my price on based on an average room. If the room is over 200sq but less then 300sq charge for half a room over 300sq two rooms.

Works good for me!

Keith

So you measure, but don't? I know how many square foot I have to clean to make ends meet. That , I think, is easier.

Mike, you mean to tell me with all the measuring you do you can't tell aprox. sq. ft. in a room WOW! I tell them on the phone about the sq. ft thing and they can measure if they want and they will have an accurate estimate on what I tell them.

so for a 225sq. ft room it would be 46.75, What would you charge?

Now saying that usually only one or two rooms fall into that over charge... Break out the trusty lazer and get the footage.


Keith

 

[Chris A]

And NO I am not driving to give free estimates.

Customer service ain't that high on the list?

Are you serious? Do you really think people WANT you in their house twice? Plus, working by yourself, whats your target # per day? It's hard to get any work done with estimates clogging up your day.

 

[XTREME1]

1 room $59.95 free scotchgard
2 rooms $69.95
3 Rooms $89.95
4 Rooms $109.95

200 sq ft per room

 

[Jim Martin]

If you do your home work on area pricing ....you can do room pricing over the phone very easy....
now and then you may eat a few sqft ..but while the area guys are walking around measuring. and taking off for the beds and things I am charging the whole room and making up for the larger ones I ate a little bit on....so in the end it is a wash and 99.9% of the time it still breaks even....

Not to mention the time you are spending doing all the measuring......this adds up and if you really think about it in the long run cost you....(efficiency, time and quality is where we really make our money)
and admit it or not there are the jobs where you are not going to get a answer and will end up doing a second trip to do the job.....the gas and time just took off some on your bottom line...
and what about the ones that you think are going to book and it gets measured out and then all the sudden you have time to kill between jobs because someone can't move up...worse yet..while you are killing time you have a hourly guy sitting in the passenger seat making money and your not....
not to mention the rate you are paying him while you and or him are measuring out estimates ..

there is no right or wrong on this..everyone structures there company different...
I myself like to know that every single house I step into I am there 100% clean and I am going to make money...
Tickets are already filled out and both me and the client already know what to expect...
Everything gets drilled over the phone and there is a place that if I run into something that will cause a extra charge..... there is a place on the work order for this....

 

[Brian R]

I give my customers great service by NOT going out to just give an estimate.

When I get to the home to do the job I walk around with the customer for the pre-inspection so...I just hit two walls with the sonic measurer and get an "approximate" square footage...which is what I tell the custy.
I let them know this (and the fact that I don't do pre-estimates)and tell them it is to save a little time so I can keep my prices competitive.

When on the phone, I find out the totat square footage of the house I know right away, pretty much what I am dealing with and set the alotted time.

works for me but I would be willing to hear any other ideas.


I used to do room prices and didn't like it. Although I do have room prices on some mailers with of course ...square footage requirments....so it is a square footage thang anyway...which it should be.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I used to do room prices and didn't like it. Although I do have room prices on some mailers with of course ...square footage requirments....so it is a square footage thang anyway...which it should be.

sf vs room pricing...pick your poison it don't matter if you do it right anyway

cause it's a "time" thing when all is said and done.

wide open areas with nothing to clean around like empies and some com are best priced at SF rates imHo
(if you know your production rates)

Res is another matter, whether sf or room pricing, time on the job can vary.
We rarely give "exact" phone quotes.
When they ask "how much" I give them a ball park "estimate" based on the questions i know to ask.
I tell them I'll give an exact quote up on inspection before we start the job


..L.T.A.

 

[tim]

I get the approximate sq. footage of the house first. Then I ask which rooms they are interested in having cleaned. I then can surmise what the approximate sq. footage of the rooms are. We know the living room of a 4000 sq ft. house will usually be larger than a living room of a 1500 sq ft. house. We dont tell the customer how we break it down, we just give them a price and tell them that could go up or down a bit when we see the actual home. Our city is very large in area and in-home estimates can really kill a day. That being said, we cheerfully offer to come out if it makes the customer more comfortable and I always give an on-site estimate for tile as I charge more for small tiles, bathrooms, tight quarters etc. than 18 - 24 inch tiles in open areas. We run well over 100 per hour. It really isnt that hard! Most people dont know the sq footage of individual rooms and I find resistance to letting someone come out without a ballpark. I think they are afraid of an arm twisting. Saves me time and gas. Saves them time and a little apprehension. Win -Win. That being said, do what makes you and your customers more comfortable. There is always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[bob vawter]

$44.95 two rms and a hall
$12.95/ rm after that

Now imagine yor kitchen....???

now put in a sectional, a wide screen, sterio...an' some ferns in a vase......get the picture?

 

[raj]

We price it by rooms, average room and large rooms. it works fine. if you go sq ft some people will make you to measure the room and it will be time consuming and head ache.

 

[Brian R]

We price it by rooms, average room and large rooms. it works fine. if you go sq ft some people will make you to measure the room and it will be time consuming and head ache.

:roll:
Half a minute to measure a room
Hell I can eyeball most rooms