Truck / Set-up Fee?

[BLewis]

I posted this on the ICS board, now I would like to post here to see what you guys have to say. I am leaning toward getting rid of it.

We have always charged a $25. Truck/Equip/Set-up fee.
We are a by room pricing company because being an O/O I find myself with little time to go out and do SF pricing. By pricing by the room we are able to land between 95-98% of our jobs. Recently I have noticed alot of local companies cutting their pricing and I do not wish to cut my pricing but have considered doing away with the set-up fee however I feel I would need to raise my per room price to make up the difference. We get about 3-5% of calls that seemed to be bothered by the set-up fee and sometimes loose a sale to this. How much of a "Negative Moment Of Truth" do you think the set-up fee is?

I usually do a little something extra on each job to make up for the fee.

How many others out there have a trip fee or set up fee? Have you ever had one and dropped it?

Just a note we have been up consistantly every month compared to previous month & YTD but this is expected I think with a relatively new business.

Thanks

 

[Dolly Llama]

I didn't look at ICS to see any of the responses ..and it doesn't matter anyway..
cause I'll share how I see it, Billy

I understand the need for "some" line item fees on an invoice depending on a particular job scenario
ie..urine treatments, protectant, salvage/restoration cleaning , clean/decontaminate equipment, etc.
Those are specific "as needed" line items

BUT...I'm not a fan of some of the other line item costs I've heard some apply
Like a gas surcharge and in your case, a "set up" fee.


You can't clean a carpet WITHOUT "setting up" , so why would there be an "additional" fee??
Which is what it looks like to a prospect.
It should be "in" the price of the cleaning, because it's part and parcel of EVERY job.

Having said that, I can see rare times when an additional fee for "some" set ups "might" be appropriate.
But I'm ASSuming (maybe wrongly) you have a line item set up fee for "every" job.
If that's the case, I'd dump it and just roll the cost into the price for cleaning


..L.T.A.

 

[DavidVB]

I think there needs to be some way of covering the expense of travel and set up for small jobs. A minimum charge never did it for me since the customer understandably wants as much as she can get for the minimum. If standard rates applied I still did not get anything for the costs of travel and set up.

I have used a set up fee before and explained to the customers that my sq.ft charge is reduced based on that fee so that the more we clean the better it is for her. Very few objections. Now I am using one rate for the first 300 sq.ft and a reduced rate for everything else. Has the same effect and easier to understand.

 

[Brian R]

Like Larry said.

Your "set up fee" should be in your regular charges.
The whole point of pricing something correctly is to make money from it....so price what you are doing correctly....don't price the basics as extra.

The upside is now you can advertise "No set up fee's"....then the customers will think your competition charges one....and your regular customers will think they are getting something for free.

Charge for the cleaning....everything else should be included in the price.

 

[cucu]

i would like to buy that mercedes....is the steering wheel included in the price or is that extra

 

[carpetcleaner]

I don't charge to set up. I also don't do business who does things that way.

 

[XTREME1]

if you use a portable do you charge less?

 

[TimP]

Minimum charge is what it needs to come back to. It don't take long to clean rug and make a profit, make the minimum so that even if they max out on what you'll do so that you're still making enough to cover the trip and setup time. It's the whole point of a minimum charge. Then if you get a large job and want to take into consideration the time savings of not having to set up your truck as much in a day then you can offer a discount.

 

[Farenheit251]

I seem to have more people asking for 1-2 room cleans. People don't seem to have a clue that I only do the small jobs as a courtesy but don't really turn a decent profit.
I was actually thinking of adding a set up travel fee in lieu of raising the room price. I think it would help customers better understand small jobs require the same travel/setup. Also it would give better value to those that clean more rooms.

I'm even considering lowering my per room price $5 and charging $25 setup fee so that customers who clean more than 5 rooms would save money.

 

[Amazing]

Can we opt out of the required set up? No.
I think it is a bs charge.
Same with a travel fee. I can understand it for work outside your service area.
Atleast the airlines don't charge us for carry ons

 

[ruff]

The set up fee is in the minimum charge that most of us charge, only in a way, it is hidden.
I assume most of us calculate our costs and what we need to charge to make what we consider a reasonable profit.

I personally never subscribed to the theory that if you do small jobs for a very low fee (actually a loss) you will get them to do the big jobs.
In my experience the people that expect that and do not understand the cost of business, almost always want small jobs.

So, his set up fee is a lot more honest.

Will that work with the clients?

Good question.

I guess it depends on his persuasion ability, the quality of his work and his relationship with and the decency of his clients. Maybe that is why politicians have to lie to be elected.

I find honesty to be a good policy, and that most people if you explain well, are decent and do understand.
His set up fee, say what you will, is honest.

 

[rick imby]

Like Larry said.

Your "set up fee" should be in your regular charges.
The whole point of pricing something correctly is to make money from it....so price what you are doing correctly....don't price the basics as extra.

The upside is now you can advertise "No set up fee's"....then the customers will think your competition charges one....and your regular customers will think they are getting something for free.

Charge for the cleaning....everything else should be included in the price.

That is great Brian.

I like how you claim to only be a Guber on Mikey's board. We all know better you are just another wannabe Guber...


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[Ron Werner]

people hate to be nickle and dimed.
Set your price, set your min charge, no extra fees, your price is what it is. Its like the guys charging extra for prespray or for cleaning solution. Better to set a higher price for everything and then you can drop things to meet their budget.
Yes Mrs Jones, to clean your whole house wall to wall will cost $X
Just traffic areas in these rooms will save you $x
I can protect just the traffic areas instead of wall to wall and it will save you $x
And yes, on the odd occasion, Ive suggested that if they vacuum really well I can cut the price to $x. (I know even on the prespray-rinse cleaningI'll still take longer than most)

But setup fee, waste removal fee, travel charge, it all comes across as nickle and diming.

 

[Billy]

people hate to be nickle and dimed.
Set your price, set your min charge, no extra fees, your price is what it is. Its like the guys charging extra for prespray or for cleaning solution. Better to set a higher price for everything and then you can drop things to meet their budget.
Yes Mrs Jones, to clean your whole house wall to wall will cost $X
Just traffic areas in these rooms will save you $x
I can protect just the traffic areas instead of wall to wall and it will save you $x
And yes, on the odd occasion, Ive suggested that if they vacuum really well I can cut the price to $x. (I know even on the prespray-rinse cleaningI'll still take longer than most)

But setup fee, waste removal fee, travel charge, it all comes across as nickle and diming.

WELL SAID Ron!

We don't nickel & dime but we do have a minimum charge & we charge for some estimates now. We prefer to give the estimate like you said & then if needed scope the estimate down with the client. Most of the time when we try to scope it down the client ends up approving the original quote in the end they just wanted to see options.

 

[BLewis]

Thanks to all for your replies.

We have decided to discontinue the set-up fee. We did go up $5 per room after the first room which we charge $50 for. So on the smaller jobs I lose a little from where I was at with the set up fee. With medium jobs income remains the same and entire houses gain me about $15 bucks. Entire house specials are what we do the most of. I took Brians advice and our next direct mail that goes out to 10,000 homes is advertising (No Truck/Equipment/Set-Up Fees!) We'll see how it pans out. I talked to a few of my loyal customers this past week about about the change and what they thought. Funny, they said they never really minded the set-up fee because our results was well worth it. They said you guys spend more time preparing the carpets to be cleaned than most companies spend cleaning!

My wife was extremely happy that I decided to drop the fee since she was the one that had to deal with it most of the time. It has always been advertised so most of the time it was not a real surprise but sometimes we ran across someone that baulked at it.

I see in the future being able to increase some more. As you can see I am posting at 3:30am, we started at 10 am this morning and are just finishing for the day. So from what I have seen from the locals and you guys, the busier you are the easier it is to make the decisions to raise your prices.

Again, thanks for your input.

 

[Ron Werner]

what is your procedure for prepping?

 

[floorguy]

I seem to have more people asking for 1-2 room cleans. People don't seem to have a clue that I only do the small jobs as a courtesy but don't really turn a decent profit.
I was actually thinking of adding a set up travel fee in lieu of raising the room price. I think it would help customers better understand small jobs require the same travel/setup. Also it would give better value to those that clean more rooms.

I'm even considering lowering my per room price $5 and charging $25 setup fee so that customers who clean more than 5 rooms would save money.

hence is why you have a decent "min" if you say your min is $50 then yes your gettin screwed

 

[Brian R]

i would like to buy that mercedes....is the steering wheel included in the price or is that extra

I like that....how about this?

Here is your meal, would you like to purchase some utensils to eat with?