I must be losing it.

[ruff]

Did an empty apartment today. Normally- $524.00; the place was empty 10% off for a total of $471.00
Did more than my regular hourly, lets just say that I was very well compensated.

The client got other estimates before. Coit came below me, ChemDry quoted him $800.00!!! It used to be that ChemDry was always way lower than me.

What's the world coming to?

Time to raise prices or just swallow my pride?

 

[KevinL]

How big of an apt.? They go for around $75 here. One guy does 'em for $40.

 

[ruff]

This is San Francisco, Kevin.
A quarter in the meter will buy you a whopping 8 minutes of parking in the burbs. And downtown parking in a lot is $40.00

 

[Becker]

When I 1st started in this area in 2001, I sent sales letters to all the property management offices around here.

I landed 3 complexes min size was 50 units, other 2 were well into the 100s.

Was a good way to get a foot hold, but now when a manager calls it does not result into a sale.

Some places around here will only charge $45 a unit.

 

[Becker]

a quarter in a meter here will get you 3-3/4 mins. 4 hr max.

 

[Russ T.]

Did an empty apartment today. Normally- $524.00; the place was empty 10% off for a total of $471.00
Did more than my regular hourly, lets just say that I was very well compensated.

The client got other estimates before. Coit came below me, ChemDry quoted him $800.00!!! It used to be that ChemDry was always way lower than me.

What's the world coming to?

Time to raise prices or just swallow my pride?

Wow Ofer, that's great! Pricing is SO much higher than central IA. Property managers would laugh at us if I tried to get even close to that. Get it my friend!


The Clean Machine

 

[BradFenstermaker]

$65 unit here

 

[GCCLee]

Did this for 85 yesterday

Sent from da middle of a Trailure park

 

[Mark Saiger]

I do feel lucky with my pricing and also the calls I am getting.

I have an empty rental today that is 765 sq feet and 13 steps that I will be getting my regular price.

Total will be $350.

It is LR, Hall, and 3 bedrooms.

Guys will knock it out quickly with both vans while I run and do couple other estimates, make a spotter delivery and also monitor the water damage I have going on.

Keep up the great work guys!

Mark

 

[steve_64]

when i first started quoting apartments here i was in the $400 range for a 2 bedroom. i pretty much got laughed at and was told by one they were getting them done for $40. another one was at about $60. now im between $65 to $75 as a base charge with heavy soiling and stains being extra and considered damages.

i also had to lower my residential pricing the first year. i was getting work but was getting a lot of comments on how much i was charging and losing jobs over it.

its not an easy way to make a living but it sure beats working in a machine shop or factory.

 

[ruff]

My sense of wonder was not about how much we can get for cleaning a flat, but about ChemDry quoting $800.00

ChemDry! $800.00 ?????!!!!!

I must be losing it.

 

[TimM]

Most of the bigger apartment complexes around here are only paying $45-$55 a unit. I was asked to bid on one, 5 floors and would have had to run over 250 feet of hose on 1/2 the jobs the other 1/2 would be almost 300 feet for that price. I did not get the bid.

 

[hogjowl]

I have one apartment complex that I clean, and believe it or not, it is a government subsidized complex. I get between $85 and $120 an apartment, depending on the size. This is amazing for my area. The manager likes me and probably was tired of the hassle of using other cleaners. I've been doing it for so long that I am sure even she has forgotten what it used to be like with the cheaper cleaners. I am sure that whenever she retires I will lose the account.

I have never wanted to do apartments. Every other month, some new company opens up with the intention of getting rich off of apartments and hotels.

God bless em.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I have one apartment complex that I clean, and believe it or not, it is a government subsidized complex. I get between $85 and $120 an apartment, depending on the size. This is amazing for my area. The manager likes me and probably was tired of the hassle of using other cleaners. I've been doing it for so long that I am sure even she has forgotten what it used to be like with the cheaper cleaners. I am sure that whenever she retires I will lose the account.

I have never wanted to do apartments. Every other month, some new company opens up with the intention of getting rich off of apartments and hotels.

God bless em.

There is a guaranteed way to make a small fortune cleaning apartments....


...start with a LARGE fortune

 

[The Great Oz]

It could be that what Ofer does routinely was seen a major pain for the CD guys and this was a way to say they didn't want the job.

We're probably talking apples and oranges as far as what constitutes an apartment though. A downtown condo/apartment in a major city might be large, with high value furnishings, and have high income clientel that will expect to move into a unit that looks and smells like new. The average rent may also be three or four times the price of rent in outlying areas (why the majority of our employees commute to Seattle).

Rather than being able to 'bust it out' in 30 minutes the job may take three hours or more from set up to take down. You'll have all kinds of hassles from government agencies (hoses that cross sidewalks need signage and a ramp that meets city regs for slope, surface friction and handrail height) and the general population (more complainers and armchair lawyers). Lots of cleaners avoid metro centers because 'regular' pricing doesn't work.

 

[GCCLee]

There is a guaranteed way to make a small fortune cleaning apartments....


...start with a LARGE fortune

Income is better than no income, Apts still turn in the cold months : )


Doesn't mean I don;t get ticked about the price we make off of them. Hackers running $40 blow n Goes kinda kill it for the rest of us who actually save budgets and prevent replacements.

Great training tool for new techs and is steady income, where else ya gonna learn to clean a crack house floor?.

Big picture wise
Chris

 

[ruff]

It could be that what Ofer does routinely was seen a major pain for the CD guys and this was a way to say they didn't want the job.

We're probably talking apples and oranges as far as what constitutes an apartment though. A downtown condo/apartment in a major city might be large, with high value furnishings, and have high income clientel that will expect to move into a unit that looks and smells like new. The average rent may also be three or four times the price of rent in outlying areas (why the majority of our employees commute to Seattle).

Rather than being able to 'bust it out' in 30 minutes the job may take three hours or more from set up to take down. You'll have all kinds of hassles from government agencies (hoses that cross sidewalks need signage and a ramp that meets city regs for slope, surface friction and handrail height) and the general population (more complainers and armchair lawyers). Lots of cleaners avoid metro centers because 'regular' pricing doesn't work.

Bryan is correct.
Carpeted area was 1050 square feet. Carpet was not cleaned for 7 years. Rent would probably be in the neighborhood of $4000.0o to $5000.00 per month. And the meter maids see my van and $$$ signs flash in their eyes.

Still impressed with CD bidding for $800.00 I actually love it when other companies charge more than me, makes my life easier.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I

Great training tool for new techs
Chris

indeed
an apt hack will see more situations/learn more in a year than the res or com outfit sees/learns in 4 years

most of my apts accounts have been lost or i lost them on purpose.
The ones remaining know good value isn't "cheap"
I can make as much or more money doing empties @ 20 cent sf as i can in res @ 32 cent sf


our local Chem-Lie has a sign up "$99/3 rooms"


..L.T.A.

 

[Able 1]

Thank god, managers around here know the difference in quality between the $40-65 per unit and $110-125 per unit. Serving the shit out of them(and having the ability to) doesn't hurt either! I love apartments, though I make more with residential customers the flexibility and consistency through the winter makes me want to get more. I just look at apartments as fill in work during the busy season, but I live off of them in the winter..

 

[GCCLee]

Thank god, managers around here know the difference in quality between the $40-65 per unit and $110-125 per unit. Serving the shit out of them(and having the ability to) doesn't hurt either! I love apartments, though I make more with residential customers the flexibility and consistency through the winter makes me want to get more. I just look at apartments as fill in work during the busy season, but I live off of them in the winter..

Not sure our area has ever seen real carpet cleaning.
First property I ever did a demo for, she liked to attacked me after the inspection. Forced our vendor paperwork through and corporate waived a bunch of mandatory insurance requirements for us.
Scared me as I thought I did something wrong : )
Took that account from the IIcRC poster boys in their fancy nascar lookin tech shirts : )





Sent from da bak seat of a Purple Caddy where the roadkill is real : )

 

[rwcarpet]

I can go from $80 for an efficiency apt. to over $200 in the same companys rental units. Some hose runs are longer, maybe 150'-200' (rare). If I figure ACTUALLY time on site setup/cleaning, I'm pulling down $100 plus and hour. I give em the $80 price on efficiencys, because I get so much work from them. They've used everybody in town, but I'm the only cleaner that can and will fit them into same day/next day cleanings. The one negative is water access. I'm trying to purchase a used/new TM with water freshy, which will make time on site even less. The Flex PS with citrus solv is the game changer. Thanks Jimmy Pemberton!

They started out by having their workers try to clean some of the units with a portable and you know how that goes. I'd jump in there and knock em out with the Genny. They've retired their porty. I even helped them set it up, gave em an old wand and some encap chems to try to the laborers, but you ain't going to beat hi flow/hi heat/hi vac.

Let's compare.....a lot of you know Mikey and have been to his house. That same house in my area would go for, MAYBE, $150,00-200,00, and that would include a much bigger lot. I'm sure Ofer's area's real estate prices are 6-7 figures. Average range around my parts? Maybe $120-150,000. In the city of Youngstown, $40-50,000, and that's for a very nice house, compared to the West coasters. Cost of living ain't shit 'round here. My yearly property taxes are about $650.

So every area have it's up's and down's.

 

[ruff]

Indeed. A not so nice sunset (that's a neighborhood in S.F.) home, goes for $850,000.00 to 1,000,000.00
A house in a nicer neighborhood will go for quite a bit more.

It all boils down to what you need/want to make per hour and how hungry one is.

Plenty of jobs here that I do not get due to price. It is a big city with plenty of competition and many price shoppers, as the majority in S.F. are renters.
The companies that charge too little, go out of business pretty quickly, though it does not make much difference for me, as newer hungrier ones always take their place and the cycle continues.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Yer not loosing it at all Ofer, but I tip my hat cause yer thinking. I have a really good ChemDry acquaintance here in my town; we go back several years when I was still at Cessna. Got him some work back then cause a few jet owners wanted "ChemDry", and we've been pretty chummy every since. This guy has 25+ years of experience and let me add he's a very straight guy and instinctive about our business of cleaning. Told me today his average ticket in my town is $450. $450!

Of course I don't know what the CDry guy in your area was offering for the $800 (exam; same services as you) but I'm going to be talking to my guy this coming week over lunch and I've got pretty a good idea already what he's going to share.

I'll circle back on this thread and report.

 

[SamIam]

They don't want to pay here either, but I'm usually $30.00 a room up to 200 sq feet. But I'll do apartments for $25.00 a room. If they're fast payers! No pay for parking here.


....

 

[Dolly Llama]

They don't want to pay here either, but I'm usually $30.00 a room up to 200 sq feet. But I'll do apartments for $25.00 a room.

I'm curious what your minimum charge is, Sam?
Mine's $89 and $120 (contingent on area and/or set-up)

..L.T.A.

 

[bob vawter]

Hanna and I were crusing around SF wondering wth would be dumb enough
to start up a CC bidness in a town full of cliff dwellers....
narrow straight up and down streets...no place to park... wth????

 

[Dolly Llama]

Hanna and I were crusing around SF wondering wth would be dumb enough
to start up a CC bidness in a town full of cliff dwellers....

i don't reckon anyone would at your and Hogopian's biz model of 2 rm $49.95 specials


..L.T.A.

 

[SamIam]

2 rooms $60.00


....

 

[bob vawter]

i don't reckon anyone would at your and Hogopian's biz model of 2 rm $49.95 specials


..L.T.A.

AND a hall!!!

Larr..it's a Michigan thing...
you wouldn't understand!

i honestly don't know of any two LARGER companys in the country than right here.....

 

[SamIam]

So $60 minimum considering raising it though


....