This is why a 169 whole house special incl protector sucks

[daniel@procarpet]

You can't do a job like it should be done. This is a local company that cleans a lot of apartments. I spoke to the owner several times. He is a nice guy. I tried giving some tips for faster drying times like not using a clogged in line filter, ditching the whip hose, doing a few dry stokes etc. Nope they would not listen. Then I started hearing from consumers that used them before using me that their carpets were left soaking wet. After hearing that three times I figured something was wrong. I even referred several people to them when I was out of town. No wonder I get so many damn referrals. Here is one tip that I will share and is the most important. Put your customers interests first and foremost before your pocket or ego. Give them the service they want so bad and charge a fair price. No need to charge 800 to clean a whole house. Just make a good profit, treat people fair, invest in good equipment, and your business will be headed for great things.

I guarantee it.

One bad review is all it takes to ruin your reputation. I wonder who left the review. It sounds like one of their competitors. Whoever it is was sending referrals to this company. I would say something is off but I have heard first hand too many complaints. They are honest. Just hacks.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en ... CCoQnQIwAg

 

[Fred Homan]

HACKS!!!! :shock: :shock:

 

[idreadnought]

wish he was in my market. I love companies like this. Its kinda like taking an ugly friend to the bar with you, just makes you look better

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Everyone owner op should strive to be more like Harper. Everything and I mean everything matters. Trust me I take notice when he posts his crew has to iron their shirts before working. It is the little things that can make or break you. I would love to find the most professional company and spend a week working along side them to learn as much as I can. Jim Martin came to mind, but he lives clean accross the country. I think SFS would actually help me. I am a great cleaner, but I need help with forms, customer communication, and just small details. Taking a class is one thing, but learning from someone with decades of experience doing the damn thing is entirely different.

 

[amazingcleansc]

google seo doesnt differentiate good or bad reviews. that is good news for guys like nate! :mrgreen:

 

[Hoody]

Everyone owner op should strive to be more like Harper. Everything and I mean everything matters. Trust me I take notice when he posts his crew has to iron their shirts before working. It is the little things that can make or break you. I would love to find the most professional company and spend a week working along side them to learn as much as I can. Jim Martin came to mind, but he lives clean accross the country. I think SFS would actually help me. I am a great cleaner, but I need help with forms, customer communication, and just small details. Taking a class is one thing, but learning from someone with decades of experience doing the damn thing is entirely different.

Glad to see you're seeing the light, Daniel.

 

[Ron Werner]

and what's wrong with charging $800 for a house if it has that much square footage and its cleaned the way it should be cleaned?

 

[Mark Saiger]

One of my major competitors is trying to get jobs by giving away FREE protectant. I had a price shopper the other day call. I was about $100 to $150 higher on the Cleaning part of the job, but they booked with me. i am also charging for protectant. Just make your presentation (and in a positive manner) and people will likely do business with you if you act professional. The job is all carpets and furniture. Nice job to have booked. We are still booked out until June 10th and still squeezing people in.


Mark Saiger

 

[Warren Wallace]

and what's wrong with charging $800 for a house if it has that much square footage and its cleaned the way it should be cleaned?

Im with ron here $800 in a large house is no big deal. My average is this month was $464. not including water jobs.
Work smarter not harder

 

[Brian R]

I've done $800.00 for a house and $169.00 for a house. Both worked. Made money on both....really just depends on the house.

 

[Eric Valentine]

Just did a whole townhouse (5 rooms & stairs) for 169. Presoaked with the inline sprayer and rinsed with the 14" Bentley @ 500 psi. Took an hour and 15 minutes. This was a repeat that I have cleaned for 6 times now.

 

[Brian R]

See? Eric did it...why not anyone else?

People do it more often than we think...and make money doing it.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I would have done an empty house 5 rooms and stairs for 170 any day. Add a hallway, steps, additonal room, deodorizer, and carpet protectant so you have zero room to upsell. That just results in a piss poor cleaning because the only way you will make a dime is to work fast as hell and do a crappy job.

I do empties all day long for 150-200. No big deal there. The point I am trying to make is there is no way a company can clean an entire home, deodorize, and protect for 169. That just means you will never cross the 200 dollar mark unless you add furntiure. I could care less what these hacks do. As long as they stay out of my estate homes I am fine. Let them clean ghetto apartments.

When you try to run those numbers you will either get negative reviews or go broke.

 

[rhino1]

Daniel, there is more than one way to skin a cat and being closed-minded to another approach is as useless as your blind criticism of another company.

Do you think if you are in business for any decent amount of time and turn any volume of work that all your customers will be happy cheerleaders? They won't.

You will have a less-than-stellar day, an employee will slack off, a customer will get pissed for nothing, you will run over somebody's cat - at some point something will go slightly wrong and you may do everything you can do and still piss somebody off.

When customers complain to me about how bad their last cleaner was I listen, nod my head, and get back to work - all the while wondering if just as soon as I leave they will be bitching about something they thought I did wrong.

HOW do you know that ALL your customers love you? Some may hate your guts and whisper behind your back, tell their friends you are terrible - you will be the LAST to know.

 

[Eric Valentine]

I didn't apply protector. $169 to prespray with Extreme Clean and Energy and extract.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Chris I get what you are saying about accidents happening and you are right. I have backed into garages, broken lamps etc. Those are accidents and completely different than simply doing poor work because you are not making enough to slow down and do a job properly or even clean the truck.

Eric that Energy is the awfulest smelling additive on the market. How can you use that in a customers home?

 

[Ron Werner]

I was just remembering when I started on my own in 94 I charged $20/rm, $10/hall, $2/stair. That works out to $132 for 5rms, hall, 12 stairs.
Now that's 16yrs ago and cleaners are cleaning houses for $37 more? I haven't a clue how they make any money off that even if it took an hour.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I was just remembering when I started on my own in 94 I charged $20/rm, $10/hall, $2/stair. That works out to $132 for 5rms, hall, 12 stairs.
Now that's 16yrs ago and cleaners are cleaning houses for $37 more? I haven't a clue how they make any money off that even if it took an hour.

Plus protector even if it is watered down and deodorizer. Ron that is not bad money assuming you do three a day and double one with upsells. How are they going to increase the ticket, get repeat customers, and do a decent job. I say it can't be done.

 

[Brian R]

I was just remembering when I started on my own in 94 I charged $20/rm, $10/hall, $2/stair. That works out to $132 for 5rms, hall, 12 stairs.
Now that's 16yrs ago and cleaners are cleaning houses for $37 more? I haven't a clue how they make any money off that even if it took an hour.

Plus protector even if it is watered down and deodorizer. Ron that is not bad money assuming you do three a day and double one with upsells. How are they going to increase the ticket, get repeat customers, and do a decent job. I say it can't be done.

Practice and customer service.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I think the real question is can Stanley Steemer really clean three rooms for 99 dollars and turn a profit? Absolutely not. That is why they are the king of upsells. So I should rephrase the question like this. Can you clean three rooms and include protectant and deodorizer leaving you little room for upsells for 99 dollars and make money? That is essentially what they are doing.

If you agree with the 169 special inclduding protectant and deodorizer, please let me know why. Either you want to be a volume company or a low overhead referral company. You can't be both.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Just for the record I would be about 400 to clean, deodorize, and protect that much carpet. Not too much but enough to allow me to do a good job, make the customer happy, and make decent money.

 

[rick imby]

Just for the record I would be about 400 to clean, deodorize, and protect that much carpet. Not too much but enough to allow me to do a good job, make the customer happy, and make decent money.

Come on guys,
Decent money when you are starting out coming from a $9 an hour job is $20 an hour after out of pocket expenses. Out of pocket expenses can be pretty low in this business. $169 less $10 for chems $5 for gas. $150 in the pocket and at their last job they would have worked for 20 hours to put $150 in pocket.

Decent money after you have had some $1,000 days is more like $100 per hour. How quickly our view changes.

Four rooms for $99 from Ken Snow and he is certainly making Money. How does that work?

 

[Brian R]

Just for the record I would be about 400 to clean, deodorize, and protect that much carpet. Not too much but enough to allow me to do a good job, make the customer happy, and make decent money.

Come on guys,
Decent money when you are starting out coming from a $9 an hour job is $20 an hour after out of pocket expenses. Out of pocket expenses can be pretty low in this business. $169 less $10 for chems $5 for gas. $150 in the pocket and at their last job they would have worked for 20 hours to put $150 in pocket.

Decent money after you have had some $1,000 days is more like $100 per hour. How quickly our view changes.

Four rooms for $99 from Ken Snow and he is certainly making Money. How does that work?

 

[Ron Werner]

Had I known THEN what I know NOW I would have been charging more at the beginning of my business instead of wondering where all the money went. I made twice as much with about 1/5th the work when I started, but I wasted a lot on advertising trying to get those jobs, had no real insurance if anything went wrong, plus I ran a portable so I didn't have the $50000 investment of a TM. When I bought the Big Red for $15000 I had to raise my price. Its all the "behind the job" costs that go with busn that I didn't know about.