Square ft pricing

[PTMatt]

I now have employees and need to raise my prices. I would like to change to Sq Ft pricing but would like to know how to give a customer a ballpark price over the phone for a furnished house? Most new calls seem like they want some idea of what their gonna pay prior to booking. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[joeynbgky]

Say you offer a 3 room and a hall special........... Say it for $99.00 but includes up to 600 sq feet and tell them you will have to take measurements..... not sure if thats what you mean but thats what i do... Or tell them right away youwould have to give an onsite estimate. and if the price is right we can go ahead and get started cleaning that same time

 

[Walt]

A good rule of thumb that an old timer passed on to me. Rarely fails.

Most homes are between 50-60% carpet when you subtract baths kitchen entry and laundry etc. Bigger nicer homes are the typically on the low side, smaller humbler dwellings are typically on the high side.

So, a 2000 ft home will have between 1000-1200 sq/ft of carpet plus stairs.

 

[Contemporary Carpet Clean]

I would say Walts idea/method is about right. After all it is an estimate. The way that has worked the best for us is to physically go out and measure up what needs cleaning. This will prevent surprises for you and the custy. You can see what you are going to work with. The custy points out spots and or areas of concern that they may fail to mention to you over the phone. This is a good time to upsell protector, furniture, and or tile and grout cleaning. Lots of times too, people give me wall to wall measurement and only want the traffic areas cleaned. Sometimes you make out that way, other times your price might seem high. Its definately harder to price by sq ft over the phone vs. per room/area. You will undoubtly have variations of the estimate and the "actual when you get there price", but you just have to explain yourself over the phone and when you get to custys house. You will make far more money if you charge per sq ft over the long haul!!!

 

[Nate The Great]

Like Walt, but we normally use 75% and pretty much always in the ballpark. We rather quote higher and come down than the other way around. So much easier to go lower than higher.

 

[Newman]

Hmmm. I was thinking of going to room pricing to make it easier for my employees.

We rather quote higher and come down than the other way around. So much easier to go lower than higher.

You know your neighborhoods and the scale of the homes in them. If I estimate over the phone for traffic area cleaning, each BR is 80 to 100 sq ft, 120ish for MBR, LR / DR / FR @ 150 to 200 sq ft. Most stairways are 13 to 14 steps. With this formula I am usually a bit over. It gets me close enough.

Measured and firm quote on site is done before work begins. If the actual measurements are a bit over what I thought, that turns into a phone quote discount.

Great positive moment of truth if you charge $10 less than estimated.

The 4000 sq ft + homes in my area I quote on site if need be. Some have closets over 150 sq ft. I have a customer with a hallway my own house will fit on.

 

[TimP]

If you have employees room pricing makes more sense to have. If you want to raise prices, raise your room price. And of course charge for 2 rooms when the living room is the size of 2 rooms. I think SQ ft price will just confuse things for an employee, remember you're getting vocational type people to work not math gurus. Getting them to add dollars up is easier than square feet.

Just my opinion.....keep in mind I don't have employees on their own and probably never will. So take it what I say for what it is....

 

[Brian R]

When they ask price we always tell them that we need to see it first in order to give an exact quote.

If they want a ballpark, we try to figure out what they have and then give them a broad answer as to not get set into a "well the girl on the phone said it would be this much" problem.

You know how customers can be you tell them it will be "around" $200.00 and they tell the Tech "they said it would be $200.00"

When they ask "how much per room" We will usually tell them "it's approx $30.00 per room for an average room if we are cleaning the open areas. It can be more depending on size but we always give a fair price for what we are cleaning"


We always finish with "at anytime you can change or cancel your appointment. If you are ok with the price we will be ready to clean right then"

If they don't like the price after we give it in person we use the SFS standby "does the quote I've just given fit into your projected budget?" (ok, I don't have the paper in front of me...but it's close lol)

We'll get the "it's a little high" every once in a while but for the most part very rarely...if at all...have we been turned down at the job site for charging "too much"

It just doesn't happen

 

[ruff]

It sound like you will be quoting the price on the phone, so the employee is not the issue.

It really depend on what is your target client?

I charge by the square foot measured wall to wall. I never go and give estimates, I only give phone approximations.
Been doing it for over 20 years now and I'm rarely off more than 10%.

I talk with them on the phone (good for cementing your relationship-see: Steve Touborn) I ask a few set questions, get a pretty good idea about the size.
Find out what's important for them, listen to red flags and quote a price.

Is that the perfect system?
I don't know. Works for me.

Also, I don't have the time to drive around for an hour to quote a $200.00 job. Not cost effective. If you are a larger company, it may work.

There will be the charmer that gets the jobs, and the technician have to make sure they do not let them down and lives up to their expectations set by Mr. charmer.
Doable? Yes.
Difficult? You bet!
Ask Ken, Bryan, Joe applebe.

 

[juniorc82]

what does everyone charge for square foot?

 

[Brian R]

I can help you with that. Every home is different and I assure you that you will be given a very fair price for what we are cleaning. If at anytime you are not satisfied with the work just let me know and I will do my best to take care of it.

That's my square foot price. :mrgreen:

 

[Lee Stockwell]

We did sqft pricing for many years successfully...but times have changed. Even in laid-back Kentucky people are busier and less patient than they were back in the 70's and 80's. Most don't have the time to schedule TWO appointments to get ONE job done.

We gradually switched to a hybrid pricing arrangement that's closer to "area" pricing and it has worked out well. Occasionally I will "quick and dirty" measure to make sure we are in the ballpark, or to adjust base rates.

Price, and your cost is more a factor of TIME than the area cleaned. I think $2.00 per minute of machine run time as my current target.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

5 cents to 65 cents psf.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

We do free estimates.

Forget the three and a hall for 99 dollars. That will get you nowhere.

If you inspect the job, offer more than spray and suck, and do a professional pre-inspection, you can turn those three room jobs into 250 plus jobs. It's really easy.

Whatever price you charge should be based on the job and what the customer wants to spend.

If you are dealing with a price sensitive customer, simply ask the customer what their budget is. It may be more than you expect. If it is not, let them know what you can do and how you can accomodate their budget. Give the customer options.

I guarantee you can sell a better job regardless to what is discussed on the phone. Still if the customer wants spray and suck or just a quick clean, then price the job cheaper and knock it out. They may decide to have a deeper cleaning in some areas and just a basic clean in others.

The key is to not tell the customer an exact price per sq ft over the phone.

 

[BRSUMMERVILLE]

I charge by the sq. ft.. In the past, I've kelp written records of type of rooms, sizes, and sq. ft of traffic areas. Example, the average sq. ft of a traffic area of a master bedroom is 33%. 1-.33% = .67%

For example: when a customer want the traffic area a master bedroom (total sq. ft. 180) clean.
.44 (sq. ft price) X 180 (sq. ft ) = $79.20 x .67% = $53.06 cleaning of traffic area.

When I do an estimate / inspection (over the phone), I have a sheet of paper with the types of room with the percentage.
This method make it easy for me, so I won't under bid.

Bob Rock

 

[TimP]

I charge by the sq. ft.. In the past, I've kelp written records of type of rooms, sizes, and sq. ft of traffic areas. Example, the average sq. ft of a traffic area of a master bedroom is 33%. 1-.33% = .67%

For example: when a customer want the traffic area a master bedroom (total sq. ft. 180) clean.
.44 (sq. ft price) X 180 (sq. ft ) = $79.20 x .67% = $53.06 cleaning of traffic area.

When I do an estimate / inspection (over the phone), I have a sheet of paper with the types of room with the percentage.
This method make it easy for me, so I won't under bid.

Bob Rock

Getting a high school drop out employee to understand all that.....good luck.

I stand by what I said. If you have employees KISS do room pricing. There is a reason Stanley Steamer, Chem-dry, Hagopian all charge by the room.....and probably every other franchise. If you want to raise your price raise your room price.

SQ ft pricing is for the owner operator. Unless you have someone out doing quotes then sending the worker out.....

 

[Chris A]

I wouldn't hire a high school drop out employee, again

 

[TimP]

I wouldn't hire a high school drop out employee, again

The point is that an employee you're going to hire isn't going to be a math wiz, basic math baffles many. If they were a math wiz they would be doing something else....

 

[wpschoch]

I vote charge by the room. It's very easy to do over the phone. I charge 30 for the avg room, 15 for halls, 30-45 for stairs depending on difficulty, larger rooms are in the 45 - 60 range (ie bonus rooms and living/dining room combos). You can usually communicate this over the phone pretty easily. You just have to let them know that the price is not a firm quote but an estimate.

 

[Ron Werner]

by the sf is simple, even for a high school drop out. If he can't figure that out, how's he going to comprehend mixing a hydroforce!?

Determine what you want to make, pick a price per sf.
The 40-50% rule above will give you a rough idea of the carpet in a house. Take the total square footage and subtract 40-50% and that gives you the area of carpet. It seems weird but it works.

Determine the fraction of the room is open of furn if only traffic areas are going to be cleaned. Charge that fraction of your sf price for that room. Ie 60% of the room is open, take 60% of 50cents, ie 30 cents. If they can't figure that out, next.

In home quotes work great for closing, esp as a owner/operator. No surprises for them, none for you.

If you need a way to separate yourself from SS etc, you have to do something different. When they ask what makes you more expensive, you'll have an answer. If you price the same and clean the same, you are the same.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

For what it's worth usually when I go behind another service I hear lots of complaints about them. The exception is a small service that runs bane units. I hear nothing but positive things and have for years about this guy. So I ask myself why am I here doing an estimate. A lady tells me she was very happy with their service but the price went way up. The point is I make good money, but don't charge 50 cents a foot. I have taken numerous clients from this guy and these are my best referral sources. These clients are wealthy or cash rich. All of them have net worths well into the millions. Still people appreciate good service at a fair price.

 

[Warren Wallace]

I charge by the sq. ft. here and I learned a lesson years ago, work smarter not harder.....

 

[Lee Stockwell]

We charge a little more on room price than we did by sqft. Certainly less hassle and more profit.

 

[Ron Werner]

What's your room price Lee?

 

[Brian R]

Face it....everyone sqft ft prices their jobs

If one room is "too big" to be considered "1 room"....it's because of the sqft

Pricing by the room for your customers is easier for them to get the drift if you want to price over the phone or run a special...but nobody is going to do 1 room at the 1 room price at 1000 sqft.

 

[The Great Oz]

I now have employees and need to raise my prices. I would like to change to Sq Ft pricing but would like to know how to give a customer a ballpark price over the phone for a furnished house? Most new calls seem like they want some idea of what their gonna pay prior to booking. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Employees or not, square foot pricing or room pricing doesn't matter. Ballpark pricing over the phone is what it is, and you'd just need to be clear about that.

The earlier suggestions about amount of actual carpet per home per neighborhood and using your experience to guess are good ones. You'll need to measure for awhile before moving to sq. ft. pricing to get a handle on the averages though. If customers ask why you changed pricing, tell them you found that charging some people too much to make up for the ones that were undercharged and averaging everything out started to bother you. You'd rather charge the right amount for the work you do in their home.

On the phone the key is to follow a "SFS-like" script to have a conversation with the customer and let them get to like you. You can give them a guesstimate and promise to give them exact pricing before the work is done, and if the accurate price is higher than what they've budgeted for cleaning your tech will work with them to see where they can clean a little less to reduce the cost. You will be letting them know you can't honestly give them a price over the phone, and you won't surprise them with a big bill at the completion of the job, and that you care about their finances.

If they're really just interested in the lowest price possible you might lose them, but if you've become successful enough to add staff you already know to move those customers to the guys that will be out of business by the end of January.


PS: A lesson learned - never say "around this much" or "between price this and that." Say "not to exceed, and probably less." The only number they can quote will be the highest and at $205 from $250 you'll be an honest hero.

 

[Brian R]

"Not to exceed"?
Danger.

Never give final anything over the phone.


It's simple...most of what Bryan said is right (I had a hard time typing B R Y A N)

Tell them that every situation is different and you really need to see it for the final price.

Same goes with time slots... " I can't give and exact time because of the job before yours" etc.

Customers take what you say over the phone as gospel and will call you on it (negative moment of truths (SFS Training)

You don't have to be vague just to be vague...you need to be vague to be honest and/or cover your behind.

 

[Ron Werner]

it won't exceed a $1000 for 2rooms and a hall 8)

 

[Brian R]

it won't exceed a $1000 for 2rooms and a hall 8)

Yes it will. 8) 8)

 

[lance]

For Danial C.

You wrote that you turn $99.00 jobs into $250.00 jobs......but then you wrote that you are going behind someone else because they're prices were too high (and the customer is rich).

So please tell me how do you turn the 3 room jobs into more money? Do you upsell protector, clean some furniture, etc. ??? And how expensive is too expensive for your rich customers? How much was the other guy charging for 3 BR, FR, and a hall?

It's great that you can get those custys, I just want to know alittle more of how you do it. Thank you.