Please help me respond to this cleaning client!!

[cleaningdilemma11]

I’ve just started my cleaning business, going to see my first client on Sunday. I normally charge £15 an hour, but because she’s my first client I have agreed to do it for £10 an hour for 4 hours, and then it will be £15 an hour. She didn’t even ask, I suggested it in return for a review/reference. She wants a regular 4 hours clean every week so I was ok with it doing it for £10 for a first clean.

Now client 2 has just texted me asking if I can come for a “trial “. She asked how much I charge, and I said £15 an hour but will do it for £10 in exchange for review/reference, she then said that’s out of her budget but if I’m willing to do it for £10 an hour for her she will recommend me to her sister who also needs a cleaner?

She lives 45 mins from me, I don’t drive but we both live in London. So I don’t know what to do, do I say yes and take what I can until I get enough customers to be picky or do I just stick with my price and tell her to fuck off?

I give discounts hoping I can get reviews on my Facebook page and build up enough credibility to get more customers, I don’t know if that’s right though? Can anyone help me?

I wouldn't change your prices around, people can get stroppy about that, if they hear that you charged others less.

I've done cleaning and don't drive. Only do it for places you can easily reach, ideally walk to.

I wouldn't get into a situation where people are haggling about what you charge.

As to the after-builder cleaning, you could google and see what the going rate for that is in your area?

I always used to undercut the going rate thinking that would get me more work. Maybe it worked.

You have to think what people are going to pay. It doesn’t matter to prospective customers that you want to build in a margin in case you take on people in future. If the going rate is £12 then why would a customer pay you £15 unless you have built up outstanding credibility?

@cleaningdilemma11 it doesn’t sound like you’ve put any thought or planning into this!

Are you hauling equipment around on a bus?

You need to come up with your prices and stick to them. Introductory offers are fine and common, but you can’t chop and change!

Regarding the builders clean - have you done one before? Do you have decent enough equipment? Cause it’s not easy!

Pick a price and stick with it, and I can't fully explain it but it does not sit right with me 'I will charge less for a review'

For a small business like you have I would not do introductory prices, if you were employing people I may do but to start just keep it simple

Start at £12 and don't travel that far. Put cards in local shop/post office.

It sounds a bit like you've put an advert out there without actually thinking it all through?

I'd wind it back in a bit- sit down and really work out what you can do, where you can do it, what you can realistically offer to be effective and competitive and able to build up your client base. If you go off half cocked you could end up damaging your reputation before you've even got going, or losing money.

Just say that you’re really sorry but you can’t afford to offer such a big discount.

Aim to build up your clients more locally. Draw a circle round where you live and only travel 15/20 minutes max. Advertise in these areas specifically.

You only need one person to recommend you to their friends and family for it to snowball

This is about boundaries. There's a middle ground between letting the customer name their price and telling cheeky customers to fuck off.

Decide what your pricing model is in your own time and then stick to it when people put you under pressure.

Pick your area, pick your price and brand then advertise. If it doesn’t work reset prices.

Sorry OP, but I think you're trying to run before you can walk.
What are your costs?
What equipment do you have?
Do you have insurance?
Do you have a published service list and charges?
Where will you publish reviews?
What sort of jobs are you prepared to take on?
How are you promoting your service?

Think about what you want your business to look like. Do you have a USP (you won't be able to charge extra without this), what sort of clients do want (domestic daytime, commercial out of office hours etc).

You obviously have a strong work ethic and flexible attitude. But don't get carried away or let anyone take advantage of you.

I live in zone 2 London. Any cleaners my friends or I have had charge £12-13 an hour. None of them drive as parking is £4.50 an hour. They do, however, ask for cleaning products to be supplied and generally turn up with one bag with: slippers/ indoor shoes, plastic gloves, a few cloths and some basic spray cleaner. Obviously try to do really good work and word of mouth should help. One cleaner does 4 houses in our small street.

I pay £13.50 per hour (East London) and the cleaner uses my equipment and products. I prefer her to do this.

I live in a flat and asked the person who lives above me if they would recommend their cleaner. This way the cleaner has two jobs on the same day.

Whenever I have had a cleaner I have asked someone who lives nearby for a recommendation.

What extra service do you provide than other cleaners in your area? If you're charging more, it has to be because you're providing more. Once you know what this is, then you can tell the new client "sorry, these are my prices, I charge £15/hour because of X." Unfortunately you can't charge more just because you don't drive.

Out of interest, how do you take all the equipment to the places you clean?

Be nice simple say the rates are set unfortunately.

I think £15.00 an hour is quite a lot TBH .ATM dont forget many people are in danger of losing their livelihoods with Covid 19 ,and you may find some competition if they decide to do the same! Without wishing to be rude to any Cleaners here ,there are no qualifications needed for this job. So I think maybe £10 to £12 P/H may be more realistic? As others have said, you cannot realistically charge more because of catching the bus.Its not free to drive either you know as I tell my own DC!

I live in London and usual rate is £12 an hour and customer provides cleaning products. If my cleaner wants to use anything in particular (product or mop or cloths etc) i buy it for her.

Ny cleaner continued to come to me after I moved about 45 mins away fro my previous home. I paid her an hour’s travel time on top.

Don’t reduce unless you’re happy to work for less because you’ll never persuade anyone to pay £15 of others are getting it for £10.

That said, £15 is a lot for cleaning in London. £12 -£13 is top end, plenty doing it for £10. Your travels arrangements are not really anyone else’s problem. If you do an amazing job and they can’t live without you, that’s when you can charge the bigger bucks.

Look just charge £12 in your area and work local so you can walk or bike job to job.

It will be a year or so before you employ anyone. You need to have a good reputation and be established first.

Once a new company and not a one man band you start charging £13 an hour to new and existing customers and give your employee £10.

OP, do you have the equipment to do a post-builder clean? A vacuum that can cope with industrial amounts of dust, etc?

You set the price and you need to cover travel costs and expenses BUT you don't tell potential clients to fuck off because they are attempting to negotiate.

After a couple more years and your company is established with 5 or 6 workers you increase the hourly cost again.

You may opt to give existing customers a discount if they are good customers. You can tell the customers your normal price is x amount but they have been given a discount

No you shouldn’t do it. £10 an hour for cleaning in London is ridiculous....I was charging more than that over ten years ago.

Also, she won’t be a nice person to work for. The nice clients will put up the rates voluntarily.

Also when you’ve added on the extra journey time and cost you probably won’t be making minimum wage. It’s not worth starting because you’ll be so resentful that you’ll give up within a month.

I think it depends on your area and theirs. If you live in say, Peckham, and they live in Kensington, you are going to be able to charge more for a 'posh' area than a cheaper part of London? Sounds like you are potentially cutting your nose off to spit your face. You might end up with more people in their area by word of mouth.

spite not spit - sorry

Before taking on a client 45 minutes away, you need to work out how much it will cost you to get to them.

Say it's another 4 hour clean, but it costs you the equivalent of an hour's pay to get there and back, plus you're travelling for an hour and a half - you would really need to weigh up whether the job is worth it to you. (You can't raise your price because of distance). It could be in the short term to get experience and hopefully gain a reference, but in the long-term, you'd want to replace with nearer clients.

Basically you need to write yourself a bit of business plan and a budget for where you can travel beforehand, so you know you can actually make an income from a job and can reply to prospective clients promptly.