How competetive does your market get?

[boazcan]

[quote="Ken Snow":3vhr2f30]Not a chance anyone knows another businesses cost structure Mardie but I won't ask anymore questions as you seem very determined to blame others for you not getting a job. I hope that thinking serves you well. I

You should keep your assumptions to yourself and not waste your energy without the proper info.Your constant attempt to discredit me is annoying and non productive.

Sorry if you have ever felt I had a need to discredit you, couldn't be further from that- truly. I do the same thing with many others in my life amd that is to ask questions when someone makes comments that seem incomplete or filled with "stuff". You can call it whatever you want but I have no desire or need to discredit anyone.

I actually think that this is a Mikey's Board record, Mardie.
Your diversity is astounding. First, you've managed to get into a spat annoying Willy P. (well Willy has a very low tolerance for silliness.)
And now Ken, who's practically the unofficial "mother Theresa" of this board.

How do you do it?

P.S. Read Ken's posts again. There was nothing there discrediting you.
Putting your foot in your mouth seems to be an everyday habit with you.
With that level of flexibility, by now, you must be a yoga master eat yor heart out Werner[/quote:3vhr2f30]



His vast 4 YEARS of experience has him telling me how I need scrub all my grout by hand to make it pop, telling Harper how to run a business, and letting Ken know that he really doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.

There is no one filling this board with more BS than Mardie right now. Hey Mardie, check your big tough attitude at the door and you might actually learn something here.

 

[your_good_sons]

Lately a lot of outsiders have come to my county. We always had a few, but more now. The county above me is the summer home of easily 75,000 Orthodox and Hassidic Jews. Big market. Hard to tap into. In my county there is a village of about 30,000 Hassidic Jews. In the county below me, there are several small Orthodox and Hassidic Jew communities totaling at least 50,000. I'm not talking "most of them" in these communities it is "all of them". If they have their own CC's, I have no way of even knowing it. They are mysterious to outsiders, but they make up 20% of my region's population and I am determined to get in. I even grew a beard. My market is fairly competitive for the remaining people. Then again, what is a competitor? I did a job this AM where they needed the place cleaned up for a funeral. They called someone else last night, when they showed up at 8:30 this morning with a Rug Dr, they were sent away. That's not really a competitor. I showed up at 9:30 with a portable. Yes, they recognized it as a portable. They also recognized that it had 2 vac switches and they knew that was a good thing. They recognized it needed two power cords and they knew that was a good thing too. I was done by 11am, half the carpet was dry and later I will get my other 2 blowers off their porch when they are at the wake. They instantly understood my work would be dry in 2-3 hours tops, whereas the Dr wouldn't. There's so many cleaners out here that I'm not even aware of. Many can't even be taken seriously.

 

[Ken Snow]

I'm just a little like Larry- in a non-gun firing, gayer way. People say stuff all the time to me and one of my jobs as an owner, buyer, manager, coach, etc., is to hold them accountable to back up what they say or call them on things I think are incorrect and explain why.

I do think Mardie has gotten off to a funky start here, both due to the way he tends to speak in absolutes and also they way he has been ganged up on when he speaks his mind. I like people who challenge me so I think it is cool to have different opinions here- just wish it was done less shamingly- and that includes by me, which after re-reading what I posted earlier I wish I had worded differently.

Hope you will keep posting your thoughts Mardie.

Ken

 

[amygeorge]

I didn't think I really had any competition, but I was wrong. I had a call from a commercial account wanting an estimate for 6,000 sqft of CGD. My competition is Carpet Tech (CT) out of Lubbock (2 1\2 hrs.) away from the job. More than likely, it will go to CT because the tech's parents live in the town where the job is. They only charge .08 for encap, where I charge between .17 - .25 depending on the amount we're cleaning. I'm happy if the young men get to come home, see the folks and make a little cash. I might lose out on this job, but those boys will move on, and I'll get the job back. More than likely they are college students at Texas Tech and this would be a good job for them. Even though I'm an Aggie, I'll cheer for those Red Raiders.

amygeorge

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'm happy if the young men get to come home, see the folks and make a little cash.

That's very cheap for that low a sq/ft. We'd probably be around .14-.16. If we had more to clean we could get down around .12,

.08 is tough to make any real money at that price, not including that 5-man hour round trip eating up more of the margin.

 

[Ron Werner]

All the advertised cleaners around here run a 5 room - $155-165 price. They promise you the world, but are in and out in a jiffy.
We've got about 5 or 6 that advertise in the local mailing, and they're within a few bucks of each other.

We do 5/170 and our customers get

-prevac
-prespray
-very little if any furniture moving (explained over the phone)
-extract
-normal type spotting
-speed drying and grooming.

My super awesome tech and I can bang these out all day within an hour as the avg. Job is lr dr fr hall steps, add sg ( which we do a lot more of now) and its 245.

I can save you some time!
Just skip the prevac. If you're doing all that within an hour you probably ain't pulling anything you wouldn't get with your tm, unless you're just getting up stuff on the surface that you don't want to worry about.


In my area, there's one other cleaner whose daughter has taken over for him. She learned everything she knows from him, he learned everything he knows from just using a Kent walk-behind for 20+ years without a course, which really says he don't know a hec of a lot!

My "competition" is at least 30min away and they don't like making the drive ALL THE WAY OUT HERE, which doesn't hurt my feelings at all. And once they drop below a certain price point, they aren't my competition anyway. Lost a job to one guy, my quote would have been around 250 at 30cents/sf-just like they do it (prespray-rinse), he got some cleaner from town willing to clean it for 150. He had said the place was DIR-TY!! Previous renters had trashed it. The way I look at it, he got what he paid for and the other cleaners are welcome to clean at that price all day long, and they do. (same TM for the past 15-20yrs, an old HM, all paid for, they wouldn't have a clue about high flow let along prevacuuming)

I have been noticing new companies in the YP book. Don't know them or what they do or how well they do, but they are new.

 

[Chris A]

I will slow down the prevac if Im pulling a lot out, which is pretty rare. I must be cleaning cleaner houses than you.

 

[Ron Werner]

you must
I only slow down when I'm getting soil too. just vacuumed a bedroom and took me over 20 min, she had one of those robovac in the room so it would go under the bed. I was just vacuuming traffic areas and filled the canister with dust and pet hair.
Are you usng a clear canister style?

 

[Chris A]

Of course. Well maintained dyson. When I can see stuff swirling thats when i slow way down. I usually go over hight traffic areas 2-3 times just to be safe. Were almost always just cleaning open areas too, which makes a big difference in time.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We bid on one yesterday, 6000sq/ft sorority house.

We simply asked how much the last guy was charging and she said .30 sq/ft. She said she didn't want to pay that much anymore. Tossed out .22 a sq/ft and they are out cleaning this afternoon. hey now

My point is not to brag but to point out its alright to ask what their budget is or how much they are currently paying. And then offer cleaning that fits their budget.

 

[Art Kelley]

6000sq/ft sorority house. .......

they are out cleaning this afternoon. hey now

.

post some pics

 

[Ken Snow]

6000sq/ft sorority house. .......

post some pics

And after that, some of the tile.

 

[Ron Werner]

We bid on one yesterday, 6000sq/ft sorority house.

We simply asked how much the last guy was charging and she said .30 sq/ft. She said she didn't want to pay that much anymore. Tossed out .22 a sq/ft and they are out cleaning this afternoon. hey now

My point is not to brag but to point out its alright to ask what their budget is or how much they are currently paying. And then offer cleaning that fits their budget.

Or offer a cleaning service level that meets their budget. I don't mind dropping price but they can't be expecting to get the same quality work at 22 cents that you just charged 30cents for you other custy.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Not knowing what the previous cleaner was delivering, its hard to compare service levels. However we are giving full service, the sq/ft makes up for the discounted rate.

 

[Ron Werner]

so less profit/sf with more sf gives enough profit?

I guess as long as you aren't losing money. Someone made a comment on trying to make up lost profit on volume; if you're losing money on 1sf, you'll just lose more on 10000sf. But if you make a little profit on 1sf, it'll add up with 10000sf.

 

[Ken Snow]

Come on Ron, surely you are being snide and don't believe what you wrote???

Doing nasty tile in a 40 sq foot bathroom could easilt take 1/2-3/4 of an hour after working around the toilet etc., and this doesn't count driving time. To do 150 of these bathrooms could take 3-4 weeks.

Contrast that with doing 6000 ft of tile in a commercial setting that is not too soiled and can be done at 500-1000 or more sq ft and hour. Wouldn't it make sense that the commercial job could be done at a fraction of the porice and be a terrific job?

 

[Hoody]

Not to mention the production capability of a 2nd tech going ahead, pre-spraying and scrubbing grout lines while the other is cleaning. That way the tile tool doesn't stop moving, and you get the benefits of scrubbing the tile, and dwell time for a better end result.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I guess as long as you aren't losing money.

I've seen Jimmy naked
Serious? Hell we made a killing, it was carpet not tile wide open hallways, rooms slow you down with desksets and beds.

The administrator was thrilled with the work and of course the price. She had heard about us doing other frats and sorority's but had continued to use the other guy until she finally had to make a change.

He was just over charging them, heck I'd like to follow him around and under bid him on all his jobs. eat yor heart out Werner

 

[Tony Neville]

Or offer a cleaning service level that meets their budget. I don't mind dropping price but they can't be expecting to get the same quality work at 22 cents that you just charged 30cents for you other custy.


Not Trying to be harsh, but why not? If I get a burger on sale I Expect the same quality food regardless of the price.

 

[juniorc82]

good point , I just bid a medical clinic that another guy had bid on and I was 3 times as high. As the lay showed me the other bid I noticed it was not for the strip and wax nor moving furniture but for a trafic lane scrub and recoat with maybe 2 coats of finish verses the 5 coats I apply. My point is to compare apples to apples

 

[Desk Jockey]

You're right Jon.

We often see that with restoration, they are bidding less of a scope to get the job and then work it up once they get the job. no won ton soup for you!

 

[floorguy]

ohhh janitorial is notorious for that shit no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you!

which is one reason i got out...

screw that..cant bid against the crooks

 

[Ron Werner]

so you agree and disagree with what I said

 

[Mardie]

ohhh janitorial is notorious for that shit no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you! no won ton soup for you!

which is one reason i got out...

screw that..cant bid against the crooks

I quoted a small empty commercial carpet at $560 and was told from a friend of mine that set me up for the quote,that the quote from another company went in at $175. got a call about a week later from the owner to come see him. He was mad as hell at the other guy and told me that he priced it at $175 and ended up charging $540 after the job was done. The job done was terrible. He asked me if their was any thing i can do to get it clean.I told him he should call the other company back to do it rite.I also asked him if he actually paid for that (with a laugh). I asked him if he wanted me to draw his logo on the foyer carpet with my machine (with a laugh). Then i pointed out to him that he is a business man and how could he get sucked into a price raise after the job was quoted (with another laugh). I also told him that i would have to charge a lot more now that it is all furnished.He wanted a price and i told him i would get back to him which i never did. It was my judgement that this guy would have been trouble no matter what. The combination of being cheap and being dumb and cheap is something i did not want to deal with.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE REASON I LET HIM KNOW THAT I WAS MAKING FUN OF HIM IS BECAUSE I WAS FOREWARNED THAT HE IS CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.
Never did this before but it sure felt good givin the circumstances.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

"i told him i would get back to him which i never did."


OK, so there's TWO bad businessmen....

 

[Ken Snow]

Re: Re: How competetive does your market get?

"i told him i would get back to him which i never did."


OK, so there's TWO bad businessmen....

X2

 

[Mardie]

"i told him i would get back to him which i never did."


OK, so there's TWO bad businessmen....

The key words which you have clearly not picked up on or givin consideration to is (GIVIN THE CIRCUMSTANCES) if you met this person, i don't think even you would have taken his money or had anything to do with him or who knows maybe you would. My original quote was givin to a staff member and i did not meet this person till the second visit. So tell me did you never have a potential client that did not qualify for what ever reason?? By highlighting only certain words for display as you have done for representation of my statement is a twisted and feeble way of manipulating and distorting the the statement that i made. Then you have the nerve to pass judgement on me based on that. As a moderator i would have expected that you would not stoop to this childish behavior.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Direct quote, your words. Followed by "twisted feeble" excuse for them.

:-) Lee

 

[Willy P]

All I can say is just hang in there. The attrition rate is very high in this business. The first ten years are tough, you must constantly market your services but if you remain an O/O like me, eventually the work comes in automatically if you do every job as well as possible. Those in the industry for decades have a mountain of past customers. Your customers will call around and and some will have other companies out, but if you always provide great service at a great value to them "they'll be back."

Well put Art. I don't worry about others as it doesn't help my business grow. Instead I focus on the best service possible.