carpet cleaning business slowing

 

 

 

One of the secrets to us staying very busy is we make things SIMPLE for the customer. Soooooo I'm SURE what I'm about to say will catch grief from some of you.

 

We are a FIXED PRICE cleaner! In a nutshell... we charge one price for single story homes, one price for 2 story homes and one price for 3 story homes. Of course the price you set will depend on your area but make it AFFORDABLE and easy for them to understand! By affordable I don't mean be the cheapest guy in town. I mean offer them a one stop shop for the carpet cleaning. Every one of our specials include EVERYTHING... except protectant. They don't pay extra for anything. They don't have any surprises at the end of the job, they are not nickled and dimed to death, they don't have to figure square footage or worry how large a room may or may not be. They don't have to worry if the hallways, closets or stairs are included in the price becuase EVERYTHING is included!

 

YEP.... general spots and stains and deodorization, pre-treatment.... its all included. We do not move furniture other than a few small things perhaps. I know some of you guys are laughing at this right about now but it works and works GREAT! Our schedule is booked SOLID into the 3rd week of October already and the holiday season isnt even here yet! The general public has been so worn down by cleaners charging for every single thing, suprise charges, unprofessional people, having to calculate square footage...and the list goes on.... that they are simply tired of it.

 

I know the next question already.... What if you run into a home that is huge? Maybe 4000 square feet? Then we clean it for the same amount. That simply means they are getting one helluva deal. We base our pricing structure on TIME.... and nothing else. That does NOT mean we do splash and dash either...far from it. We have calculated that each size home should take a minium amount of time to clean. Of course this varies the larger the home is but this is an average. Fact is that someone with a 4000 square foot home has a lot of tile and wood as well. The actual square footage of carpet really isn't all that much compaired to the size of the home. We also find that generally the larger homes are even easier to clean than the smaller ones because they usually have a maid or at least keep up with the weekly cleaning.

 

Anywho..... I'm SURE you square foot guys and area guys are screaming at your monitor right about now. Maybe think we are crazy or whatever. I'm simply telling you what works GREAT for us. Will it work for you? Maybe...maybe not, but it works for us. When I first started the fixed pricing structure several years ago I was laughed at by a lot of the other guys around. However... last year alone we made over $700,000 simply on fixed pricing and we are on record to shatter that this year if things continue like they have. While they laugh at me... I'm taking thier customers and laughing all the way to the bank. Also... quite a few of the ones who were laughing at me in the biginning are now out of business!

 

Like I said... this may not work for you but its working fantastic for us and we do not plan to change any time in the near future. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend... I'm going camping! Be safe!

 

One of the biggest problems is when one 3 rooms are 9x10  10x10  10x12 and then 15x15 and she wants to know why we're charging her the same price for the 3 small rooms as the big one ( they never see it the other way around )

 

Anyway.....whatever works for you is great..........I stick to 95% commercial. I have mostly maintenance contracts

 

                                                       Nightrider

 

                                                      Nightrider