Need quick help with a price

[tmiklethun]

I am bidding a church tomorrow. I have already cleaned the carpet and now they want me to come in a bid the pews. The long bench style seating. Upholstered seat and back rest.

I do couches between $15 and $20 a linear foot, but this should be much easier then that. I am even thinking I could probably extract with my stair wand to increase production rates.

I have never this type of upholstery job. If you have done this before what production rate did you get. My revenue goal is around 100 - 125 an hour for upholstery.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Travis you can use the stair tool provided its a standard care fabric that can withstand that type of cleaning. I think you'll still need to edge out the cord if there is one. You may find that your upholstery tool is more comfortable to use over extended periods, so price it as using the smaller tool but try the big one.

Production is fast, much like cleaning a divan seat cushion but one side only. Once setup you could easily process 200 linear feet in an hour, maybe more. It will be dependent on the soiling conditions, spots (wax will slow you down), fatigue, cleaning up over spray on the wood.

If you're still uncomfortable with pricing, ask to test clean one and price it from there.

 

[dealtimeman]

Pews clean real fast, and I mean fast. Just make sure you qualify the job and point out any problem areas before you start the job.

Have you counted how many pews and how long they are?

Give me a bit more information and I can help you quote it.

I would not use a stair tool on them, use a good upholstery tool and you can fly right thru the job. We always towel the wood after prespray ( even if you are careful a wet towel pass over the wood is cheap insurance) and with a fresh towel upon completion of extraction.

Take a new towel place on the pew and place an omni mini air mover on that towel blowing across the pew and they should dry quick revealing how well you did your job.

 

[smithbrothers]

Remember these benches have never seen food, dirty feet and shoes, etc. Pretty straightforward and quick.

Matt, Lake Stevens
www.smithbrotherscarpetcleaning.com

 

[dealtimeman]

The back few rows of the church will usually be the dirtiest as those are usually designated for families wth small children.

 

[Doug Cox]

The PITA in churches is the wax. It must have a higher melting point than normal candles and I have a heck of a time melting it out.

 

[Desk Jockey]

It is time consuming getting it out of carpet.

 

[dealtimeman]

Not with a trex rotary but it just demolished and remove a large area that had abnormal amount of wax quick.

I am sure my heat help but as I passed over some of the larger deposits the trex just killed it mechanically, and you could hear and feel it breaking it up.

 

[Nate The Great]

Charge your normal rates... Then give back what you think is fair as a donation to the church... Win-win for both...

 

[tmiklethun]

Pews clean real fast, and I mean fast. Just make sure you qualify the job and point out any problem areas before you start the job.

Have you counted how many pews and how long they are?

Give me a bit more information and I can help you quote it.

I would not use a stair tool on them, use a good upholstery tool and you can fly right thru the job. We always towel the wood after prespray ( even if you are careful a wet towel pass over the wood is cheap insurance) and with a fresh towel upon completion of extraction.

Take a new towel place on the pew and place an omni mini air mover on that towel blowing across the pew and they should dry quick revealing how well you did your job.

Since you offered. I inspected the pews yesterday. They are a little different then at my church. It is a detached - double sided seat cushion. There is no back cushion on these pews. Each cushion is 10 linear feet, or 20 linear feet when you include both sides. There are 45 cushions total or a total of 900 cleanable linear feet. Not heavily soiled.

In addition I will be doing 35 dining chairs with a basic seat and back cushion only and about 900 sq ft of commercial carpet cleaning in a dining room area.

Last time I charged $.20 a sq foot for the commercial carpet cleaning in the sanctuary (HWE). I am thinking $2.50 a chair. The pews are a little different they have a couple exposed buttons on each side and piping around the edges. They are quite thin, maybe an inch thick so the edges will be weird to clean. What would charge for those cushions?

 

[dealtimeman]

Your details are good but did you happen to take a pic of any of the pews?

 

[tmiklethun]

Your details are good but did you happen to take a pic of any of the pews?

No unfortunately I did not.

 

[dealtimeman]

I am figuring, because you state they are not soiled, you can do these pews in about 2.5-3.5 hours faster if you have done pews before. Just remember to take the time to wipe down the pews from any and all overspray from prespray and extraction.

We, Lcs, do not profit most of the time from doing churches, we profit when cleaning members houses, businesses and such. Same as we do for non profits, we don't bill in order to make regular profits off of non-profit or charities we clean for.

So for you this will be different, I could charge 300 for the pews and be fine. For you you will adjust for your cost and desired margin.

I think for your hwe price is a deal and at that price you will clean for them for a long time as long as you do a good job, with good results.

For chairs we do 2.5 a surface, so if there is an upper and a lower there are s2 surfaces or 2 pieces. But then again we towel dry the fabric and wipe the rest of the chair removing dust and other light soil at the time of cleaning.

Give me a call if you have any other questions 817-829-4708 Michael