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?

As a cleaner myself. My advice is the building one is too much for a first timer. You will need good equipment to clean that. And not being able to drive you will not be able to bring it with u.

I personally would wait till u have passed your test before u do this. I have had people with crappy hoovers and no cleaning stuff even though they say they have. I’m sorry doing it without driving is nuts.

My cleaner charged more for a deep clean. I started at £15 am hour for a four hour deep clean then £12 an hour after that.

Deep clean would be so liar to builders - a lot of dust, dirty windows, etc.

My cleaner is £15 in London and doesn't drive. I wouldn't have thought many do around here- they would have to pay parking charges etc and the traffic is bad it would take forever. She gets the train, is never late and has many clients.

You are essentially buying reviews which is really dishonest. You cannot offer inducements in return for favourable reviews. According to the Competition and Markets Authority if you are paying for reviews (And you are paying £20 for your first one) then you need to make that clear when you publish the review. Not doing so breaks the law.

I think you need to keep prices or offers equal OP. If you do an intro offer you need to then offer it to everyone for a certain period of time. Decide a distance you are willing to travel within and a price per hour stick to it.

Say no. If you are worth £25 an hour then stick to your guns and charge it. Good cleaners are hard to get in `London. If you are genuinely good then you will find and retain clients quickly enough.

Charging different rates to customers who know each other just tells those paying more think they've been ripped off or conned by you.. That's the very opposite of "building your credibility".

. You are asking clients to hand over their keys and give you solo access to their home. Trust and good faith are essential.

You should have one rate and stick to it. No introductory rates, you will either get stuck with them and also end up with word of mouth referrals wanting the same low rates. Or you end up with a client base where people are paying different amounts for the same thing, which won’t go down well if it is discovered, which is quite possible if you are sticking to one area.

I also find the lower rate in return for a positive review somewhat dodgy.

The question is what do you think you are worth because you will be communicating that to your potential clients. Be clear on that and hold a steady course. £15 an hour outside London is not a stretch I can assure you of that. Plenty of people can afford it and are prepared to pay for a reliable GOOD cleaner who takes pride in what they do. You will have no pension, sick pay, paid holidays etc and be doing a physically demanding job. In my neck of the woods (Midlands) £10 an hour was the going rate about 10 years ago.

45 minutes away means an hour and a half in which you’re not being paid for work. I would just say that you’re out of her catchment area but hope she finds a cleaner soon.

I've wanted to start this business for over a year, but have only been able to do it now that DS is in school full time. Nobody really have everything figured out when they start a business, especially a business like this one. You learn as you go, and that's what I'm going to do. About the review, yeah I'm not going to give them a discount for that, I'm just going to stick to £12 an hour.

I don't have equipment as they all want me to use their products.

Do you have insurance? Contracts for clients? Policies and procedures for various scenarios?

You need to think this through and get some advice or you could end up in some tricky and expensive situations.

i think you need toi charge a tenner an hour and only for clients in a very local area. once you have built up your client base and they cant do without you, put your prices up to 12-13.

you really cant expect clients to pick up the extra for your lack of mobility.

£12/£13 per hour doesnt seem very much for London.

Also, you should be able to recover your transport costs from your tax.

You need to make the business sustainable in the long run by planning how much you need to earn to make it that way, so work out your costs - cleaning materials, tax, NI, transport. Knowing this will help you to recognise when work is not viable, so you can politely decline it.

Don't be a busy fool.

I don't have equipment as they all want me to use their products.

Do you have insurance? Cos if their hoover breaks or something when you're using it, clients are likely to hold you responsible.

Most people do work out a business plan before they start with all their costing such as insurance, national insurance stamps etc before they start their businesses. Yes they may learn as they go along but certainly not make it up as they go along.

Do not give discounts for reviews. Set your realistic going rate and stick with it.

Op's not actually going to tell the woman to fuck off!

And yes, the attitude to someone wanting a cleaner for £10ph should be a mental fuck off and polite no!

I've never had a cleaner but cleaning my own house makes me think it's worth more than £10ph.

Of course you’ll learn as you go...
But you want to reduce the risk of making costly mistakes as you’re learning.

So if you take a job that’s too far out to be viable once you increase your clients, you might decide that’s OK. It’ll give you practise at dealing with clients, and being able to price up a job accurately. But you have a risk that word will get round that you’re unreliable if you then ditch them. You could say they’re too far for a regular, but you can do a one off.

Tempting as it may seem to say yes to everyone and feel successful, starting more slowly isn’t a bad thing. When you walk into a house and someone says they want you for 2 hours a week, are you able yet to look at a shower screen and know that for this client alone, that’s a 2 hour one off to actually get it clean to start off with?!

The journey alone wouldn’t make it worth it, stick to your local area and if £15 per hour is your rate, then that’s your going rate.
BTW, I live in London, and pay £10 per hour.

I also didn't think OP meant she would literally tell the person to fuck off. People say that all the time on here. I don't imagine the actual words get used very much.

You need to calculate how much it will cost you to do the work and set your rates accordingly. Women typically set their rates/salary expectations too low. Don't fall into that trap. Local recommendations are what you want so your woman who will tell her sister (doesn't guarantee anything) but creates 1.5 hours travel is not the client to chase.

Maths is your friend here.

New client: 4 hours work @ £10/hr = £40
New client’s sister: 4 hours work @ £10/hr = £40
Travel time to sister: 1.5hrs unpaid

So you’re getting £80 for 9.5 hours (work plus additional travel) so £8.42/hr.

Or if you stuck with clients that pay your full rate, and took local jobs so you had more time spent doing paid cleaning work rather than unpaid travel, in 9.5 hours you’d make £142.50, a difference of £62.50 for the same number of hours.

"I don't have equipment as they all want me to use their products."

Who do? You haven't got any clients. My cleaner uses her own equipment and products except for one particular thing I like for my toilets so I provide that.

£15 an hour is too much for someone who hasn't cleaned before. You'd have to be pretty well sought after to charge that when you don't even include products or equipment!

I think you need to do a bit more research before you establish your cleaning business. Do you have clear DBS? If I was employing a cleaner, I'd want to know she had no convictions, particularly for theft.

Nobody really have everything figured out when they start a business, especially a business like this one. You learn as you go, and that's what I'm going to do

No, but most people who start a business do draw up a business plan and/or take a short course in what to think about when becoming self-employed.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

You need to do some serious thinking about your business so you come across as professional not ”flying by the seat of your pants” which is how you currently appear.

If you want to succeed you must do the groundwork.

I have started 2 businesses (both doing well) and it's a hard slog doing the planning but it's invaluable in the long run.

@movingonup20

Too far, and you must learn to drive. Part of having a cleaner is that they turn up on time with good equipment - at £15 an hour I would expect them to be using their own chemicals, mop and vacuum etc. Turning up on the bus with nothing isn't a professional service - you could get away at £10/hour but not £15

I pay my cleaner £15 an hour and I provide all the equipment/cleaning liquids. I like my house to be cleaned with my preferred products so it suits me. I’ve never had a cleaner who brought their own. I live in London Zone 3. My cleaner comes on public transport.