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Pricing without the sticker shock

8K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  JoelD 
#1 ·
We've been doing really good lately largely thanks to my professionally built website.
In the beginning we were pricing everything by the hour but i find it's confusing for the clients so we started giving a flat rates for our clients instead of hourly.

Now with the website positioned very well on Google, I started getting many calls for one time cleanups. My problem is that when I tell them our hourly rate, they either don't understand that the rate is per person per hour or they think it's very expencive when I tell them that I'll send 3 girls at $35/hour, the response is "Wow you charge $105/hour? I can get someone for $20/hour."

Lately I started experimenting with per sq.f pricing. I"ll see how this goes but any ideas or advice?
 
#7 ·
When I am figuring out the square feet of an account, I do a search on the county it is located in. For example, this is how I figure out square feet for an account here on Fripp Island. I live in Beaufort County South Carolina, so I begin by typing Beaufort County South Carolina Property Max into the search engine. From there you should get an option of typing in the last name of the client or street address. This should bring up the property records which includes
square feet, number of rooms, etc. I would rather do the research myself, as sometimes the owner doesn't know how many square feet the property is. Doing your own research lets you make sure you don't shortchange yourself as far as pricing goes. :thumbup:
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the replies

Islander and Maid to Shine,

Thank you for the replies. What do you recommend as a price per sqft for residential cleaning? Do you charge less for bi-weekly than monthly? I've been trying to research it, but it seems like anything I find is for large office footages like 10,000- 50,000 sqft. Do you charge extra for the first time cleaning?
Thank you for any advice :)
 
#10 ·
Islander and Maid to Shine,

Thank you for the replies. What do you recommend as a price per sqft for residential cleaning? Do you charge less for bi-weekly than monthly? I've been trying to research it, but it seems like anything I find is for large office footages like 10,000- 50,000 sqft. Do you charge extra for the first time cleaning?
Thank you for any advice :)
Price is hard because it changes from area to area. CA and NY can be as high (or higher) as $50 an hour. I know some areas that are as low as $25 an hour. What you need to do is call your local franchise stores and find out what they charge.

Make sure to give prices for weekly, bi-weekly, and Monthly. And a first time clean should be at least 2x the price.
 
#11 ·
Ive been cleaning houses for about six months. I charge by the job. I get the square footage of the house, usually just go by what customer tells me. I can usually guess my rooms/bathrooms if they're lying. Under 1,000 square ft is $50. 1000 to 1500ft is 60$. And it goes up from there. First time in I add $30. I add 10 to $20 for gas, if house is over 15 miles from me.
 
#12 ·
First of all let me say that you will make WAY more profit at the end of the year if you go to every bid and give them a price in person. 1) They meet you and you can win them over by a great personality. 2) Try saying out loud $199 for a first time in clean. Now write down $199 for a first time in clean. The eyes can see it as much less money that the ears can translate it to the brain. 3) Have a price sheet. You can give them a first time in price. Once a week price and a bi-weekly price. All without ever saying any price at all. They read it on paper while you are making friends with the kids and the dogs. 4) If it turns out to be a job you don't want you can either tell them you don't want the job or you can jack your $199 price up to $499.

As for 1 time cleans... you will find that it is best to collect ALL monies up front before any work is started. Even for regular customers my girls were always suppose to collect the check before any work was started. We all hated 1 time cleans so my starting price was very, very high. I wasn't scared to give them a $750 price for a small house.
 
#13 · (Edited)
As far as residential goes, I would never take the clients word about their square footage. Too much potential to get screwed. I plug in their physical address into Trulia.com or Zillow.com. If it's an apartment complex, usually their website will give you an idea of the sq. footage of the layouts they offer.

Wow, Raelyn, your prices are super cheap.
 
#16 ·
Commercial Cleaning Pricing

How to price all depends on your location and type of cleaning you are doing. Although hourly pricing may be better for you as far as making sure you are getting paid for your time properly and not getting snagged when something takes longer than expected, but business can sometimes feel worried about this. When they hear hourly, they wonder, "what if this company slacks? What if I'm paying for longer then I should? How will I know if I'm being over charged?"

Another good tip is if you do use flat rates or a standard hourly price, that you put it directly on your website so if it's not what a business is expecting, you don't have to worry about wasting time speaking to them about the facility if they are not interested in paying your rates.
 
#17 ·
Back when we added carpet cleaning on to our house cleaning I always went and measured the house with my little wheel and gave an over-sized price on the spot. Now let me tell you a little secret, first of all... kids LOVE to play with that wheel once they see you use it so that's a huge PLUS! Next... it didn't matter if I did a crappy job of measuring, I was there to make a big hit with the family. I'd see all those guys advertising 3 rooms for $99 and LMAO! I'd usually walk out with a $500 job (3 rooms) because they like people that seem like a friend. And my job was just water like the rest of them, if they wanted extra they had to pay extra. I'd make friends with the dog and the cat and the kids and look the customer in the eye. The funny thing to me always was... I hate dogs and cats... but they LOVE me so I'd treat them like royalty. If you play as a sales game you will reap the profits.

On the down side... I spent a lot of time going on bids.... but if you spend that time wisely, it will be well worth it!
 
#19 ·
This is EXACTLY how I was able to sell Kirby Vacuum cleaners for $1,000+ a pop when I did door to door sales back in 1999. I ended up quitting because I got sick of selling the over-priced cleaners, but it was all about making a friend and the family laugh.

People buy from people they like, which is why I think I'll do well in this business! :)

- Michael
 
#18 ·
I would not charge by the hour.People have an idea what they think cleaning is WORTH and let's just say I know how hard I work and I'm sure the rest of you understand this completely.If you charge by the job and you list and they sign an agreement saying what you are doing for the price then there's no problem.You do the work and you get paid.
Also supplying chemicals and other supplies helps...
 
#23 ·
It's not just your area, in every area they want an over the phone price. And you will find, those are the Craigslist type of people. Real customers will let you come in and want to meet you and let you look at their house.

The difference:

Craigslist companies make $10-$30 an hour.

Companies that get good customers make $25-$100 an hour.

Now take one of my sisters for example, she gets all her customers from Craigslist and makes from $20-$30 an hour. Which is ok but why do that when I could get her all the high priced jobs? I don't have an answer to that question... I guess she likes working 5x as hard for less money.

I helped a lady start a business 30 days ago. She wants to do 1-time cleans so she is posting on Craigslist. She was bragging that she had 7 jobs lined up... all around the $180-$225 range. On the first few houses it took her between 10-15 man hours (for those that don't know what a man hour is, look it up... it is one of the most important things about business) per house. I had to break it to her that she is only making about $15 an hour. lol

It's all a part of you letting the potential customer run your business or YOU running your own business.
 
#26 ·
We always bid "by the job" and found sq. ft. or hourly bids to be too tedious, or contentious, if customers felt they had to "watch the clock" to make sure they were getting their money's worth. Giving customer a bid total at the beginning of the job lets them know up-front what to expect cost-wise, and frees you up to quickly (but efficiently) finish without time constraints. And like some of the other posters said, bidding by the job gives you a chance to sell yourself, not just your services. You're far more likely to get the job in person, rather than giving an impersonal number (sq. ft. bid) over the phone. Also, you can always factor in additional time-consuming services (like cleaning out the refrigerator) as an add-on, and charge more $$$.

We wrote a little ebook about the cleaning biz and devote a few chapters to topics like this. You can read it here: cleansweepbookDOTcom (sorry I can't post links yet). Thanks.
 
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