Pricing Advice

[CapeCleaner]

I've been invited to submit a proposal to provide building services at a condo complex which will include carpet cleaning. I'm going to recommend a yearly deep cleaning and an interim cleaning at the six month mark. The area to be cleaned is about 9100sqft and might require repositioning the van a couple of times.

I've priced the interim cleaning at $.13/sqft and the deep cleaning at $.25sqft. This would be my first big commercial space so any advice/recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[dugginscarpet]

Pricing really depends on business location. A similar job we did here in florida we did a deep clean for .08/sqft. Again it really depends on what the market demands in your area.

 

[CapeCleaner]

Thanks Josh. I had meant to put that in the post...recognizing there would be regional differences in pricing. I'm just trying to get an idea figure and can figure in the differences.

 

[TimP]

at .08 cents for HWE I think I'd be loosing money :|

720 bucks for 9,000 ft

Would take 12 hours in ideal conditions...... as long as the moon and heavens are in position....lets say 60 bucks for chems (on the cheap side) 25 bucks for fuel for TM and transporation.

That's 52 an hour....but not taking into consideration for taxes, insurance, wear and tear on tm and vehicle. I'd say 50 bucks TM wear and tear for 2 days and 50 bucks for insurance just a guess. That's 44 an hour, then pay yourself and you might see 20 an hour in your wallet and I'm probably missing out on something. I guess that's not too bad if you didn't have any other work.

 

[juniorc82]

WHICH SECONDARY METHOD ARE YOU DOING? I USE A CIMEX AND MAKE GOOD MONEY . IF YOU GET THAT BUILDING I WOULD DEFINATLEY GET ONE. MY OPINION IS BID LOWER ON THE HWE DEEP CLEAN. MY REASON FOR SAYING THIS IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR WITHOUT THAT BUILDING ,AND DEPENDING ON WHO ELSE IS BIDDING YOU WANT TO GET THE WINNING BID. DONT SET YOURSELF UP TO LOSE MONEY BUT REMEMBER 1 IN THE BASKET IS BETTER THAN 2 IN THE BUSH.

 

[esquireservicesinc]

at .08 cents for HWE I think I'd be loosing money :|

720 bucks for 9,000 ft

Would take 12 hours in ideal conditions...... as long as the moon and heavens are in position....lets say 60 bucks for chems (on the cheap side) 25 bucks for fuel for TM and transporation.

That's 52 an hour....but not taking into consideration for taxes, insurance, wear and tear on tm and vehicle. I'd say 50 bucks TM wear and tear for 2 days and 50 bucks for insurance just a guess. That's 44 an hour, then pay yourself and you might see 20 an hour in your wallet and I'm probably missing out on something. I guess that's not too bad if you didn't have any other work.

No way I would price a job for $0.08/ SF. A job like that I am in the $0.20-0.25 range.

 

[TimP]

I think I may scampoo at that price for a job that size. But never HWE....but you know if I had some help doing it and dual wands and only if I had no work in site I'd do it to put food on the table. As long as I can bring in 15 bucks an hour after tax nothing is below me.

 

[Warren Wallace]

15 an hour you can work for me at that price

 

[Ron Werner]

If they invited you to submit a bid, don't come across like the other cleaners. POsition yourself differently.
SOmeone said 12 hours to HWE 9000sf, thats 750sf/hr. That's like every other hack cleaner out there.
Tell them what you are going to do "differently", ie tell them "your" method.

I've got one building that I clean periodically at 40cents. They hire me because they KNOW I get it cleaner than the other guys they've had. But then keep in mind, my focus is residential, not commercial. I don't clean a lot of condos, the other hack cleaners in town go after that work and get it, probably about 25 cents/sf, and they do decent enough work. Their clients are happy, only because they dont know any different.

 

[Chris A]

some cleaners are just more efficient Ron.

 

[Guest]

Well; market is probably a little higher up there; Had 2 trucks do a 12,000 sqft job here in Pensacola; they did it in 5 hrs(Boxxer and my Mutt Machine); charged $1,100.00 for the job; And that is a high paying job for Pensacola; yet here for 850,000 person county; we have nearly 250 carpet cleaning companies here!!!

So if you can get that price; go for it dude.

 

[XTREME1]

David I am the highest priced guy around here in commercial and I charge .22 a sq ft for commercial.

 

[CapeCleaner]

I've been getting $.30/sqft for commercial carpet cleaning but that has been mostly professional office space. I priced the HWE at $.25/sqft due to the size of the area being cleaned but also taking into account having to move the van a couple of times. Without repositioning the van, I would probably go down to $.20/sqft.

Thanks very much for all the feedback and advice.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

Commercial rates here are around .10 to .20 sq ft. really varies on this bids Ive seen.

 

[Farenheit251]

Ron Werner was correct when he said don't come across like the other cleaners and position yourself differently.
Can you answer as to why I should choose your cleaning over the others? I liked Scott Rendalls post in another thread "be known for something,or you won't be known for anything".

 

[Scott S.]

most of my commercial accounts are .19 cents per sq ft. i charge .15 for interm. i just tell them i try to even it out so the bill isnt big one time and small the next, so it isnt a surprise.

 

[Spurling]

My personal goal is to collect $150 an hr .. we charge .25 sq ft (commercial).. that would be 600sq ft per hr ..we do 2 large buildings .. a 26,000sq ft and another 30,000 .. we only charge .14 but still get an average $150 an hr .. once were set up .. we cruise ..

 

[Ron Werner]

My personal goal is to collect $150 an hr .

I've seen by reading about busn how important it is to have the hourly rate met, however, too many cleaners are more worried about the hourly rate than they are doing the job right. In order to get the hourly rate the procedure is modified rather than the rate modified to accommodate the time it takes for the right procedure.

If its being "cleaned" with OP or Cimex and its been explained that these are interim methods, price accordingly to get your hourly rate, which will be much less than HWE.
So then HWE will be priced at a much higher rate as it is more labour intensive yet provides a higher quality result, when done right.

Depends on what you want to be known for, ie your company rep.
Ok cleaners that charge a decent price for decent work, or an excellent cleaner that people hire knowing its going to cost more but its worth it to them.

 

[Wayne Miller]

What Paul said, it's want you turn per hour that counts. PSF pricing just gives you bragging rights.

Set your charge based on what you want per hour.

 

[Lonny]

Don't forget about a minimum charge to protect yourself from those fixed costs, and transportation, insurance, etc.