Price

Watchman,

My two cents (for the very little it is worth) is essentially that you need to make the decision on this one. If you can still make a living without dropping your prices then I would say stay where you are. There is always going to be someone else that is going to offer the lowest price. My opinion is that I don't want to give my business that reputation because of two reasons...

1. Obviously the profit is smaller per job, I might be able to make a little more every year but I have to work a bunch more.
2. The real reason is that I just don't really enjoy dealing with people that are always price shopping. They have no loyalty except to the lowest price in town and they are rarely happy with the work done (what would you expect, they hire the cheapest).

What I am essentially saying is this. If you can afford to still run your business keeping your prices at a reasonable level and if you don't need the extra income so bad that you are forced to drop your prices then I recommend that you keep them where they are. This will enable you to build up a solid reputation that eventually will bring plenty of business in year after year.

Troy
Carpet Cleaning Las Vegas

Here in Eugene Oregon the better houses are owned primarily by one of two groups:

1.  Migrants from California who paid cash for their homes like I did
2.  2 and 3 families on title and living together who got home with piggyback loans and had no money to put down

Most of my customers are California transplants.  We talk about the native Oregonians who thought real estate would keep going up and they would make a killing.  When they find out this is another 15+ year cycle like the last two, the only killing they will be making it of each other.  These multiple family homes are lost when one family loses a job.  They gambled and now they are losing.

And you should see the insides of these nice homes.  Pure hell holes.  I walk away from them.  I do the well healed home owners only.  Sure the coupon price is shockingly low but they know you will be paying more and don't mind it, especially when they know a fellow Californian is cleaning.  We have a higher work ethic than Oregonians which comes from having to fight for survival in the highly competitive world of California.  They are shocked when I show up on time, shoulder to the grindstone no matter what it takes and the price is exactly what was quoted.

The price shoppers with crappy looking carpet - I tell them to rent a rug doctor.  Maybe that will teach them about taking care of what they have.  Most say they are going to get new flooring next year - which is their way of saying 'We can't afford to get it cleaned.  Maybe by next year we can save up for laminated wood floors.'

What I am saying is I never make a price shopper walk.  I offer a solution they can afford and then walk myself.

B Rice wrote: Rich people are cheap too...

And they have superior attitudes too making them a double pain.  Bet you get a bigger percentage than I do with retired New Yorkers.  I feel for you, Brad.

Would you pay 45 to have a pro clean.. I wouldn't..

Set a per job minimum first.  Mine is $150.  So the price of the job is $150 or the estimated price, whichever is greater.  Now, I did write a simple program that allows me to input the total square feet and it gives me estimated man hours required and price plus the average per square foot.  Spots and stains are extra at $35 minimum each whether or not they come out fully.

I expect to make $150 per hour.  My program takes into account the ISSA standards for vacuum and shampoo (or extractor) times when providing me with the numbers.  I don't get every job anymore but I do get the better ones and I can justify my costs with the fact that I clean GREEN which takes more effort, time and uses more expensive chemicals to keep the family/earth safe.  In this intellectual democratic based demographic it plays well to the audience. 

If you want a free copy of the calculator let me know.  It is nothing fancy, just a small tool for my laptop arsenal.  And most of my jobs are commercial now.  I do residential as favors to customers and their employees.

Have you tried
50% OFF WEEKEND RATES

I've twice had people complain that, even though they liked my presentation, what's the other guy doing that I'm not doing?  After all, he's charging $600 and I only quoted $250.  Those are the times that I think I really need to raise my prices.