The Importance of Pre-Qualifying

[Spurlington]

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as Im pre-qualifying, (actually looking for damage) I "spot" (with my eyes) the bleached out area .. of course to my surprise, the customer looks at me and says," how did that happen." (like I know) .. as Im looking at her Im thinking - thank god I brought this to her attention .. as I always do to all customers .. some really dont know til you point it out .. and if you didnt point it out, guess who gets the blame .. I should have said," I secretly climbed through the window the other day and poured bleach on the cushion." .. right .. isnt that what she was looking for ..

the husband is sitting in the kitchen well aware of the discussion between the wife and I about this cushion .. she takes the cushion and shows the husband .. THEN he says," oh yeah, I remember trying to remove a spot with oxyclean."

advice to all rookies .. no matter how small the damage is, if the customer isnt aware of it BEFORE you clean, 9 times out of 10 they will think you did it .. or I should say if the customer isnt aware that YOU are aware then you may be blamed ..

 

[Jim Pemberton]

More cleaners pay "damage claims" over pre-existing conditions like this than they ever do because of bleaching, bleeding, or browning things themselves.

Great advice for the new guys, a great reminder for everyone.

Thanks for sharing this with all of us...and congratulations for handling it perfectly.

 

[Zee]

It is always a good reminder...even for the veterans that sometimes get too comfy.

I for sure don't like doing upholstery and usually look real hard, to find preexisting problems where I can tell the customers why I don't wana touch it

 

[Spurlington]

I for sure don't like doing upholstery and usually look real hard, to find preexisting problems where I can tell the customers why I don't wana touch it

Would you like it better if you were getting more money for the cleaning .. I too used to dread uph .. I actually asked my wife not to book any uph because I didn't like doing it .. she said well if we raise the price, would you like it better .. I said yeah go ahead, raise the price - thinking to myself - yeah with these new prices nobody will book ..

So with the new price, I was excited I would no longer have to worry about doing uph .. WRONG .. she was booking uph left and right .. it was unbelievable .. so while I'm cleaning at the new rate I'm thinking - alright, I guess this isn't so bad after all

So Zee, is it - you don't like the act of cleaning uph or do you feel like you're not getting enough money to do uph .. I think it made a difference to me ..

If it's a difficult piece, work up a creative price for the creative cleaning .. if they don't want it cleaned due to cost, you won (no worries) - if they say yes, you won (more money)(for the added time and frustration)

 

[Vivers]

Man I wish I could get out and prequalify every job but it's impossible. So we have a baseline pricing and go from there

 

[Spurlington]

Another idea that might work would be to hire a part time uph expert to do your uph .. maybe a secret sub to split the profit on all uph work .. or maybe not

 

[Spurlington]

Man I wish I could get out and prequalify every job but it's impossible. So we have a baseline pricing and go from there

Pre-qualify before starting the job

 

[Zee]

I don't think its the price....its the act of doing upholstery in general.

A normal 7 footer synthetic couch I usually charge 95-120. A loveseat at 75-95. Depending on how many loose pillows and cushions there are.

L-shapes... I won't even look at it for under 150... But more than likely 180-200. So seeing other's prices...I don't think I'm too low.

I don't carry a table to do the loose parts on, therefore its a lot more bending, kneeling kinda work. When you are around 6'7" 235-240lb, its not that much fun. I'd rather be wanding all day standing up.

 

[Billy]

Very good post:

This is a big reason we always Pre-Inspect as well as take before & After Pics.

Reminds me of the time when we had a client ask us after we cleaned if we scratched up his daughters door frame which he noticed after we had cleaned. We only had to ask if he remembered seeing the Bright Orange Corner Guard we used to protect his paint, He said yes & that means you couldn't have done it, Im Sorry. I said no problem & explained Heightened Since of Awareness Phenomenon.

He wasn't trying to get over on us but if he was I also had Pics Before & After which over the years has come in handy a few times to clarify disputes.

 

[Spurlington]

I don't think its the price....its the act of doing upholstery in general.

A normal 7 footer synthetic couch I usually charge 95-120. A loveseat at 75-95. Depending on how many loose pillows and cushions there are.

L-shapes... I won't even look at it for under 150... But more than likely 180-200. So seeing other's prices...I don't think I'm too low.

I don't carry a table to do the loose parts on, therefore its a lot more bending, kneeling kinda work. When you are around 6'7" 235-240lb, its not that much fun. I'd rather be wanding all day standing up.

Yeah that would be difficult .. even though I look at doing uph in a different way as before, I still prefer carpet cleaning all day long .. I'm gonna say it's the moving along motion .. I can't sit still for too long ..

 

[Spurlington]

Very good post:

This is a big reason we always Pre-Inspect as well as take before & After Pics.

Yeah and don't be afraid to take pics right in front of them .. theyll understand you are protecting the company (which you have a right to do) and may be less likely to pull a fast one on you .. just don't capture anything other than what you're cleaning .. privacy issues

 

[Billy]

Yeah and don't be afraid to take pics right in front of them .. theyll understand you are protecting the company (which you have a right to do) and may be less likely to pull a fast one on you .. just don't capture anything other than what you're cleaning .. privacy issues

We have a rule if we can't take Pics we need to walk. What is weird is we have many Stars & none have ever had any issue with us needing Pics. But I have seen one of the Stars Assistance kick another contractor out for taking Pics so I asked her why she never had an issue with us, she said you aren't trying to profit by taking pics of their private house.

 

[GeeeAus]

What I do when I start my pre-inspection is to inform the customer that owing to us looking at the carpet the entire time we are cleaning it, we can somewhat lose our feel for what it looked like before we started cleaning and this can complicate getting the best result.

"What we do to help prevent this Mrs. Smith is to take some very non descript images of the cleaning site prior to, during and after cleaning. This gives us the best information available needed to track our progress."

Grant

 

[Spurlington]

What I do when I start my pre-inspection is to inform the customer that owing to us looking at the carpet the entire time we are cleaning it, we can somewhat lose our feel for what it looked like before we started cleaning and this can complicate getting the best result.

"What we do to help prevent this Mrs. Smith is to take some very non descript images of the cleaning site prior to, during and after cleaning. This gives us the best information available needed to track our progress."

Grant

Especially when the carpet is wet - it's at its darkest stage

How about the ones with trashed carpet that say - do the best you can (which I love) until you get is so clean that it is near perfect - then they start asking well can you go over that a little more .. in their mind it's so close to new looking, they want you to keep going - uhh, what happen to do your best on this trashy mess

 

[Mikey P]

Zee
You're in California, raise your price to $25 a foot and see if that don't help your achey knees..

 

[Spurlington]

Zee
You're in California, raise your price to $25 a foot and see if that don't help your achey knees..

I'm in NY and I collect $27 for most and $30 a ft for microfiber (due to difficult nature) and some special care fabrics - and then more money for creative cleaning such as added attempts to restore ..and yes I wear knee pads - also knee pads for steps .. saves on the back when resting on knees and saves on wearing fabric of pants


The ones I add more for excessive situations are a secret attempt to reject the piece .. but if they're willing to pay, I'll dive right in

 

[Goomer]

$30 a ft for microfiber (due to difficult nature)

You find microfiber difficult, and charge more for it??

 

[Zee]

I'm in NY and I collect $27 for most and $30 a ft for microfiber (due to difficult nature) and some special care fabrics - and then more money for creative cleaning such as added attempts to restore ..and yes I wear knee pads - also knee pads for steps .. saves on the back when resting on knees and saves on wearing fabric of pants


The ones I add more for excessive situations are a secret attempt to reject the piece .. but if they're willing to pay, I'll dive right in

How is a microfiber difficult?

In my opinion, its one of the easier fabrics to deal with. And unless you delaminate it, you can really go to town on most microfiber. I wish I had more of that to clean....

 

[ruff]

We all need to charge what will make it profitable for us, and be able to make, more or less, our hourly rate.

 

[ruff]

I do not find microfiber difficult to clean.
However both microfiber and ultra suede seem to be more absorbent and maybe allow people to get away with more spills.
I still charge the same, however they seem to require a lot more wet and dry passes.

 

[Spurlington]

Zee - thats great you find it easier to clean .. I find it to be safer to clean but far from easy for me .. Ive delaminated a small section once from using a solvent for misc stains/oily areas .. so I refrain from going to town with solvent products .. easier would be nice .. I must be missing something ..

Yes I find it very difficult .. most micro that I come across are very oily and water marked and hard to handle .. I have to give a good grip and stretch back the cushions to give me a flat surface to prevent water splashing all over .. and because its so absorbent, it holds more dirt and oil and has given me plenty of hard time to clean it with great results .. micro and some specialty fabrics are the only fabrics I post vac .. I also have to brush out the wand lines .. so $18 more for the extra work for a 6 ft sofa is fair to me .. more work should equal more money ..


Yes Ofer - it comes down to collecting enough $ for the time spent ..


Now I am open to suggestions on how it would make my job easier producing the best results .. which would then bring down the price .. but I dont see that I can do anything less therefore it will cost extra

 

[ruff]

I'm in total agreement Paul.
I charge by the fabric (flat weave versus a three dimensional fabric like chenille/velvets which are more).
I give phone approximation and only a price range (not exact) as some sofas hardly have any cushions and pillows and some have lots of extra pillows and all cushions are detachable. Some are very soiled some are not. Price is adjusted to what's at hand.

Guideline is very simple: If I know it is going to take me longer, they're paying more. Can't get any simpler than that.

 

[Spurlington]

Thats another thing, it seems like all micro uph have detached pillows and sometimes extra .. but what it comes down to is, easy or not, the more time it takes, the more you should be collecting .. now my protective coating is the same price per foot for all uph I clean .. same amount of time spent-same amount collected