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?

You will do well. People need cleaners, value yourself and your labour. Its £15.00 an hour, end of.

@gobbynorthernbird

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

Depends how it has been left. Our builders had a heavy duty Henry that they used to vacuum up most of the dust. It was. Still dusty everywhere afterwards but nothing a domestic vacuum could not cope with.

£15 is fine if you’re providing the cleaning equipment, and fully insured with references.
That’s not you.
Builders cleans - again as there is not equipment on site - how do you plan to lug a Hoover, mop, equipment etc on the bus?

While you’re saying “I’ll figure it out” - I’m not a cleaner and can still see where the issues are. Take a step back and work our your plan properly. If you get a bad reputation before you’ve even got started you’re not going to get off the ground

Which part of London. Mine is here now shes £11 an hour. Shes not brilliant though so I wouldnt pay any more than that. My last one from an agency was getting £8 which was abysmal and i always left her a fiver.

Hi OP, I run a business and the first rule of running a business is to VALUE YOURSELF. So, set the rate you want to charge and DO NOT discount. Do not ever discount as a trial - people have to pay your rate from the get go.

Do not travel 45 minutes to clean one house - you will not get a return. And charge the going rate in your area.

When starting a business OP, it can be incredibly tempting to snap every offer left, right and centre but that is often at the expense of your standards.

She's out of your travel remit and she wants a service beneath your costing. It's not just a fiver - it's a third of your hourly rate. She's a cheeky fucker and by Christmas she'll be wanting to pay £8.

'Hi, thanks so much for your interest. Unfortunately, the £10 is just an introductory offer and my standard rate is £15 ph. I am more than happy to do a one-off clean but am not in a financial position to commit to a more permanent basis. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me should you change your mind x'

@cleaningdilemma11 it’s not true that everyone just starts a business and learns as they go!

You haven’t answered the insurance question which leads me to believe you don’t have it.

Nobody on here is against you but you would do well to heed the advice.

If you haven’t already done it, you need to sit down, do your maths, really think about this, and get insurance if you haven’t got it!

Mumsnet advice is all well and good but all you get here is different opinions based on anecdotes.

We can’t (and shouldn’t!) be telling you how much to charge for builders cleanings for example.

Are you insured? Registered for self assessment tax? Do you know your way around business law, including GDPR? Basic business models?

If I were you I'd find a local small business training course and hop on it. There's a lot to being self employed, and in the nicest possible way you sound a bit under-prepared for running a business.

Agree with PPs that £15 sounds a lot. I have paid that but only for an agency cleaner because then you know that holidays are covered and references and insurance etc in place. In SW London 12-13 is normal. Few cleaners drive or bring their own products so you're fine on that front. Think v carefully about getting clients 45 mins away as even if they refer, they'll probably refer people local to them rather than to you. Good luck!

I have insurance, 1 million cover. first thing I did. I'd never go in to someone's house without it!

@Helloyouthere

How much is the going hourly rate in London? Around my area its £10 so around me you would be expensive.

If London cleaners do charge £15, I would just say no. You dont want to end up with a load of customers paying you £10ph x

I'm a self employed cleaner in London. £9ph for me.

As you're in London, a 45 minute journey on public transport can easily stretch to much longer than that if something goes wrong (traffic, train delays etc.).

It would only be financially feasible if you can get a couple of clients who live very close by but even then 4 hours per clean + 45 minutes there and back means you can only fit in two clients at most that day and it becomes a 10+ hour day...

You really need to calculate your rates based on what you want to/need to earn each month and start planning your rates and working days around that.

When I've looked into getting a cleaner before, most seem to charge more for the first clean as it's a bit of a deep clean and will be more difficult than the routine weekly cleans.

No, she's taking the piss. She needs to find one that's 10 and hour, the shit ones are down here so she can get what she pays for!

I think part of the reason why I'm willing to any client (obvs not under £12) is so I can get some experience dealing with clients, cleaning their houses etc and just work my way up.

@cleaningdilemma11 To be honest, I would just say no. The 2nd client probably knows the 1st one and is trying it on. When I was first cleaning I put a card in a shop window and was inundated with enquiries. If you're working alone there is a limit to how many people you can take on, and on my busiest days I cleaned three houses. about 2 hours each. It was exhausting. It isn't like cleaning at home, when you can get distracted by other things. If you're doing the job properly, it's full on, hard physical work. On top of that you need to use public transport. I wouldn't consider going a long way between jobs.
I had to turn down a lot of people, friends of my clients, I had no Facebook page, so it was just my clients chatting with their friends. If you do an excellent job the clients will come along. Somebody said to me that she always imagined her clients had hidden cameras and were watching her work! She was always very busy.

The client I'm going to see on Sunday wants me to use her products, so does the client 2 who wants me to do it for £10 an hour, still waiting for a response from her.

I pay £13ph and I'm in the Midlands so £15 in London is cheap AF.

@Invisimamma

Decide your price and stick to it. You could do an introductory offer if you want to for first 6 clients or something like that, but make sure your covering all your costs and making something from that still.

Saying that £15ph is extremely expensive for my area.

This!

It may start with "Do mine for a tenner and I'll recommend you", but it will become "I always want mine done for a tenner - I recommended you" (followed by a lousy review if you refuse) and her sister and friends will also want the £10/hr rate - then this will get onto social media and others will gib at paying £15.

If your rate is right for your area, just say "Sorry - I can't do it for less than £15" and let her make her mind up whether she wants to employ you or not. At £15/hr.

She's too late to get your intro discount.

Do you know what, make your and their life easier and just say ‘£40 for three hours full house clean’.

Then that is a nice easy number for them to remember, reasonably probed on both sides, if they want to pay you cash they can with no faffing for change.

Have always had my own cleaning products, Hoover mop etc in London and of course the cleaner came on public transport or even once a moped! They can’t park anywhere and they’re hardly likely to trail a mop across the city!

@81Byerley yes I know it's going to be hard work, I'm actually nervous to see my first client tomorrow. She booked a 4 hour clean and lives in a 3 bed house. 4 hours in one house is going to be so hard

It honestly sounds like you've never cleaned before.
And that concerns me,

Not much to add but best of luck op with your business and I agree don’t go lower than 13 with tax etc.

@cleaningdilemma11

If it was just her, I probably would have said no. But because she mentioned her sister, I'm like that's 2 clients ? and I could get more referrals from that one client who knows..

You need 'local' clients, not ones where the job is taking you 1.5 hours to commute (there & back) to.

Just say 'sorry, you're out of my area'.

Stop offering discounts for reviews. Just ask people to do them if they're happy with your cleaning. It would really out me off a cleaner if I found her reviews were essentially 'bought'.

GOOD cleaners are never out of work!

@HigherFurtherFasterBaby

I pay £13ph and I'm in the Midlands so £15 in London is cheap AF.

Clearly not when even OP has said £12/£13 is the going rate.

[quote cleaningdilemma11]@81Byerley yes I know it's going to be hard work, I'm actually nervous to see my first client tomorrow. She booked a 4 hour clean and lives in a 3 bed house. 4 hours in one house is going to be so hard [/quote]
I used to be a cleaner and for 4 hours in a 3 bed I'd expect plenty of time left over to do some ironing, or windows, etc.