help on rates

[mws]

I've been reading so much on rates. it so confusing. I'm starting a residential cleaning company. now all i do is get eh contract take care of the business side of it.

i got my 2 sisters doing the cleaning. now i still wan to make profit after the girls are paid. but don't know what to charge some say per square feet some say per hour

i was thinking $60.00 hour min 2 hours. see I'm in Canada here so i pay my girls with 10 years experience $12.00 an hour. so if they take 2 hours to do a cleaning job i will pay them each 24.00 totaling $48.00 giving me $72.00 profit. but my dilemma i will not know how long it will take me to clean a particular house or apartment so its hard to give a price.

is their a way to make this easy for me to estimate the job making a profit.

whats the rule of thumb i don't want to charge to much.

Please help

also I'm looking for example of a contract form that i would make the client sign when they take our service.

also a form that the cleaner have a check list and make the client sign at the end of the job.

could anyone please email me any of those forms it would be greatly appreciated.

[e-mail]

thanks in advance

[chevygirl57]

I would charge per hour.

[mws]

but thats the thing i dont know how long it will take to do the jobs and is there a base price.

[chevygirl57]

mws said:

but thats the thing i dont know how long it will take to do the jobs and is there a base price.

In my short experience, I hate to give time estimates.

I especially dislike it when clients say "We'll have you here for ___ hours" and they expect you to get done. Then they ask and ask when you'll be done and you aren't sure. It is a major pain.

My suggestion is to over estimate on time rather than underestimate.

You also need to realize and make sure prospective clients realize that first cleanings take quite a while to complete. The next few cleanings may take a little longer until you establish a good routine with the particular property.

I would tell them for the first few cleanings you do not want to give them a time estimate because you never can be sure how long a house is going to take. After 2-3 cleanings, go ahead and tell them how long it will take you on average. Unless someone else has a better procedure, this is what I am using.

Make sure you also get paid AFTER your cleaning or set something up where they make a deposit prior to each cleaning and pay the remainder after completion.

Also, I am hoping to have a business partner in the near future and will probably charge $30 per hour for two people depending on how many clients we have at the time. If we don't have too many clients, then I will go between $35-40 per hour for two people. And, if I ever have more than two, then it will be $40 per hour for three, and so on. I doubt any homes need more than 2 people if you're wanting to make a profit as well as pay your employees.

[kimmierue]

also a form that the cleaner have a check list and make the client sign at the end of the job.

I would say that in general a checklist is good. Especially if you have employees and are not doing the cleaning yourself. However, I think a checklist should only be used as a guide for the cleaners, not something the customer should ever have to sign. A lot of the times the customers will not be home when you are cleaning, and if you are doing commercial the business could be closed. By giving a customer a checklist each time, you are probably going to run into some very picky people and cause yourself to waste a lot of time and money. I think the customer should be given a list of the things included with their cleaning only once, especially if they are a regular customer. And if for some reason the customer is not satified with the job performed, offer to come back within 24 hours to fix it. This rarely happens though.

[mws]

thanks i will do that but still . need help with rates

thanks

[Pages Personal Cleaning]

mws
I have to run out right now but I will send you some forms later today and some tips on pricing.
Patti

[gailm]

You will become more proficient in estimating with more jobs. Yes, you will "lose" money in the beginning but it actually doesn't take long before you're an expert.

Building your business takes time and the willingness to learn from each mistake.

Are you doing any of the cleaning? If you're not, you're making a big mistake. I feel that's the only way you can run a profitable cleaning business. The reason I say this is because it will take you forever to learn all the ins and outs. And those experienced cleaners you're hiring will run circles around you.

You don't have to clean forever; just until you think you know as much or more than the cleaners you hire. Even if you finally bid correctly, the experienced cleaners will find a way to make more money on the job!