Hi all, I hope you aren't sick of me posting comments... I used to be an academic and probably over-analyze everything.

I've done 3 jobs now with the challenger, and all have turned out well. I'm trying to figure out how all of you seem to be able to get your jobs done so fast. Yesterday I got to a job about 1300 sf. or maybe a bit more, one of those multi-colored carpets that was really dirty but hides it really well. I figured if there was every a job that should go pretty fast, this was it. Only a few stains... but geez couldn't get them out (have my vacaway red vanish ordered but not here yet..). It still took me 4 hours and all 20 of my pads.

I guess my question is when do you call a room clean and move on to the next one? If using an encap product the answer is easy, but if using naturell, procyon, or outsolv we have to get all the dirt out manually. I keep putting on pads and they keep getting brown. It seems like I'm going over the dirtier areas 5 and 10 times. Then when I finally think I'm done I go back over the room with a dry pad just to help it dry and that pad gets dirty too...

I know a lot is just my experience level, but just looking for a bit of advice in this area hoping it can save me some precious time. Thanks.

No problem. My wife is a member of academia. I'm used to hearing her comments all the time.
Even if your 1300 s.f. job did take 4 hours, even if you are charging only a modest .25/s.f., you are still taking in over $80/hour for your efforts. Even when encapping, you have to spend enough time to physically separate the soil from the fibers. You can't just buzz thru a heavily soiled carpet in a few minutes, encapping, then say "OK, that's clean".
In the case of heavily soiled carpet, always ask the customer what their level of expectations is (are?).
Try and have him/her monitor your progress as you proceed with the job.

congrats Grant on landing such LARGE jobs!

i don't know who is cleaning faster than you.

a 1,300 sq.ft. job would take me 6-7 hours easy.

keep up the good work --- Derek

I have only had a couple so far over 2000 sf., most are right around 500 sf. As for the pricing so far I've just had my "spring special" rates in effect, which now I've learned may have been a mistake, but too late now! I'm only charging about .12/sf at this point, and as of July 1st will be changing my rates to hopefully something that will actually pay the bills, but haven't decided what to change the rates to. Most of the competition in my area seems to be pricing around $20/room or slightly higher, with just a couple of the large franchises around .30/sf. It's a big decision and the decision I make will have big consequences! It's kind of hard to compare the by room vs. by square foot methods because the by room method doesn't care if there's a bed or whatever, so some rooms they are way more, and some would be less.

Thank you both for the comments regarding cleaning. I guess I may be doing it right or at least mostly right. I was getting the impression that most of the people with the Challenger were doing 1500 sf. jobs in about 3 hours or less, but maybe those are just the rare cases. I think I'll just do a bigger area with the pads than I have been to see how dark I can get a pad, then go back over the area again and see how much less it picked up, and go from there...

It's funny I don't have any jobs scheduled the next 3 days, but have been getting calls, but all for mid-June. Looks like I'll be pretty busy in about 2 weeks.

If it's of any help, here are the numbers on a job I did yesterday morning, between the hours of 8AM and
11:45 AM (3 & 3/4 hrs. of work):
Basement; family room; 2 bedrooms; office; hall; and stair landings. Combined total of 990 s.f. PLus: 3 flights of stairs: 34 stairs. Billed job as follows:
990 s.f. x .38/s.f. = $376.20
34 stairs x 3.60 = 122.40
TOTAL: $498.60
Dollars per hour: $132.95
This was my 3rd job for this customer. She is always very pleased. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks Mark. Do you take the large, unmoveable items out of your measurement? Stuff like beds, dressers, entertainment centers, etc. that they have you clean around.

Hi Grant, I don't think your speed is really much of a problem, however, your pricing is. I think Marks pricing is much closer to where you should be. We don't charge less that 30 cents a square foot and thats if we do not have to move any furniture, it's more if we do. We are also getting ready to raise our prices about 10% June 1st. In my opinion you are offering your customer a sevice that is a step above the steam cleaners. Your carpets should look cleaner, be dry almost by the time you leave, no wick backs, no large hoses running through thier house, no doors left open, nothing but clean fresh smelling dry carpet with a 100 percent money back gurantee. If our customers get carpet protector we give them a 1 year guarantee on the cleaning. What that means is any time within a year if they spill something on the carpet that they can't get out we will come back and attempt to get it out for free. Believe me this sells a lot of protector and puts us way ahead of the other cleaners. In the last two years I think we have had maybe 5 people call us to get a stain out and boy were they happy when we did and they didn't have to pay anything, talk about a cheerleader for our business. Anyway Grant don't be affraid to raise your prices your customers don't have a problem paying for good service. Jim

Hi Everyone,

This has been a question of ours for some time now. Most of the competition in our area are charging by the room. We are leaning on the thought of charging by the sq ft as it does make sense. If you are charging no less than .30 a sq ft then how much would you charge for protectant per sq ft? If you have to advertise then how would you explain cleaning by the sq ft? Just some questions. We are meeting with a printing company tomorrow to work on some post card mailers so any advise would be helpful.

Have a nice day,

Brian and Joline

Re. charging: I charge based on the actual number of sq. ft. of carpeting cleaned in each room.
Re. indicating prices on printed materials: I normally don't do this. You don't want all of your printed materials to become obsolete if/when you change a rate. Use your website to go into detail of this nature. You can change a website at any time at little or no cost. Use your main printed piece to deliver your main message, your main benefit. I strongly suggest it should not be low price.

We charge 15 cents a square foot for protector. Yes you deduct items in the room you are cleaning around that way you tell your customer you are only charging them for carpet that is actually cleaned. Like Mark said do not put your prices on printed material it will get outdated and your compitition will tell your customer I can beat that price. Most customers don't know what the square foot of an area is, so it gives them a good reason to have you come and measure. You can then walk them through your process and close the deal at there house not over the phone where they may call another cleaner for a comparison price. Jim

Thanks Jim and Mark for the insights. A lot of things that are second nature to you veterans are like gold to us newbies!