to not take on this client as it is hardly worth my while financially?

[MistyMountainHop]

i'm a self employed cleaner and last week got a call to book me for 2 hours twice a month, she only has a small 1 bed flat. i initially said yes and i am meant to start tomorrow.

i charge £10 p/h but i am going to end up earning about £4 (if that) for this particular job. the reason being i use a childminder who is several miles across town from this new client, i will need to pay £10 to my childminder for 3 hours childminding, then getting from my house > childminders > to clients house > back to childminders > back to my house will probably cost at least £6 in diesel. ( )

my other clients luckily live much nearer my childminder and i do at least 3 hours for them which makes it worth my while, and on one of the days i work my mum has my dc for free anyway

there really is no point on me taking on this client is there? but at the same time i don't want to be unprofessional and let her down at the last minute.

aargh what to do....??

Hmmm... I think YANBU but at the same time you don't want to lose your reputation, so how about you do her flat tomorrow (so as not to leave her in the lurch) but inform her that you won't be able to do it again. If your honest I'm sure she'll understand.

hmm! two ways of looking at this - cut your losses and be up front with her and tell her you have to let her down (you really should be a bit ruthless here, this is your business afterall!) - or - you say it is a flat, is the potential there to pick up a few more clients?, if it is a block, can you drop a card in all the post boxes and see if you can bump up the client level, if you can pick up maybe one or two more clients in the same palce would it be more worthwhile?

Go this one time and explain that you have realised it is not financially viable to continue with the job. The client will understand. Perhaps you could put her in touch with another cleaner?

I think you need to establish a minimum charge for services. Talk to her and explain.

I would understand if you came to me on the first week and explained why you wouldn't be able to come again. You won't be leaving her in the lurch, she has a month to find someone else.

As an aside it seems strange to need a cleaner so infrequently - if she can do everything in all the other weeks I wonder why she needs you at all.

caught when I lived alone I used to have a cleaner for 2-3 hrs fortnightly, so I don't think it's odd. The floors were all wooden and kept fairly clean as I was 3 flights of stairs up so no one ever walked mud in and I largely cleaned up after myself as I went along. However, every couple of weeks the kitchen and bathrrom needed a good scrub and the floors needed mopping, so I used a cleaner for that as I didnt have the time.

I think the key to keeping your reputation is not to leave her in the lurch. So I would explain that it's not financially viable but you will clean for her until she finds a replacement. You might have to do it a couple of times but that would be the fair thing to do in my view.