How do you do this?

written in stone? a closet, oh yeah That's another room and oh yeah i forgot the front door closet that too is a extra room. and of course the hallway and did I mention the master bath 3x 3 area that too. " No the
area attached to your living room with the chandelier handing down that too is an extra room....
get my drift... these are some of the things that I was hearing from my new customers about the competition years ago and so I decided I would go by the square foot. Each to his or her own .

Right now it is not to bad because I have established a pretty good higher end clientel.... they seldom ask price. But I am at .25 per square foot so it is length times width divided by 4. If they have no clue I usually ask if they happen to know the real estate square footage when they bought their house. surprisingly most people know that they have a 2500 square foot house or a 1800 square foot house.... that gives me a starting point and I can usually estimate within 15-25 dollars over the phone. I honestly have not given an in house estimate a long time .

It's not that I disagree with that method , as I believe that it is probably a better way to do business and you would get more one on one time to educate the customer and end up with a bigger ticket price! But
sometimes I guess I have to admit I'm a little Lazy and don't wish to drive to each customer twice. although it would probably pay off. IMO

I had a person tell me that the room company used their 5 room special up just in the master bedroom room over 200 sq. ft. counted as 2 rooms 2 closets and carpet in the master bathroom  all 5 rooms used up then the sky was the limit for the rest of the cleaning after they used up the special. Same story with the upholstery their's was a special fabric not vcovered under the special went from $69.00 for the couch and chair to almost $200.  Just get your foot in the door and get the meter running???

Did that comment make anyone perk up???  hehehehe  Thanks for all the answers guys!!!

danmarck82 wrote: by the way where did the edit button go?

Edited by Hammy - 03/February/2008 at 1:23pm

danmarck82 wrote: written in stone? a closet, oh yeah That's another room and oh yeah i forgot the front door closet that too is a extra room. and of course the hallway and did I mention the master bath 3x 3 area that too. " No the area attached to your living room with the chandelier handing down that too is an extra room.... get my drift...

Pricing by the room has big down falls...do you know how many times it is a living room dining room combo well over 200 sq ft and the customer counts it as one room????  EVERY DAMN DAY!  so that's why we tell them over the phone that it's just an ESTIMATE.  Some of the walk-in closets I've seen are bigger than some of the rooms in my damn house.  Most customers never remember to tell you they have stairs and a hall... they want those free too.

Just joking if I say I ask them how much they have in the bank account and how much they have available on their credit cards before determining price.

I price it out fairly but I will say I start with a base of room, add or subtract based on how much work the house will be and add for anything special needed which these days is our friend red food dye.  Most customers just want to know how much the total is that I am going to charge them and then they write out the check and take off. 

Grooming rakes sell themselves if the customer stays around.  I kid about the lifeguards who get the beach sand so perfect every morning just to have someone place their footprints in the sand and how on their beach I will let that person be them.  Always keep perkys in the van , good for $25-25 extra.  Free spotter seals the protection add on.

Whether a cleaner does is with a computer program, with a fixed pricing schedule or just by gut feel based on experience, as long as the price matches the perceived value of services delivered you are the carpet cleaning god to that customer, right?

And if you can't get them to mutually agree with you and sign the estimate with a statement like "all known spots and areas of concern have been clearly identified with the customers decision regarding what course of action or treatment will be taken defined" walk away.