Set limits as to what type of furniture you will move. I do not move bookcases entertainment centers and the like. If you have room move furniture to he opp. side of the room Alot of times tell your custy before hand and you will be surprised what they will move.
I usually end the conversation on the phone by telling customers that "there is not much you need to do to be ready for the cleaning, you just want to have the areas exposed you would like cleaned." We will move a couch or two, maybe a chair because that is usually easier on people than moving it completely out of the way if they don't have room. But I have found this statement lets people know that they should have things in order, and also starts the conversation on what is expected instead of bringing up the fact that you may have to charge them more per room when they may have not really needed to move things. In some cases people are moving out or moving in and they want to move everything, but in my experience that is rare.
I have a section in my Training Manual on the subject of surcharges - when it is appropriate and reasonable to add one, and to make sure you don't do this so much as to be getting dangerously close to "Bait & Switch".
With regard to furniture moving, I tell customers that I/we will move, without extra charge, whatever can easily be lifted (like dining room chairs) or moved around on furniture sliders (like a sofa or loveseat).
Now and then you will run into a customer who is trying to combine Spring Cleaning with carpet cleaning. I tell them that this is fine, but that - if you are working alone - they are going to have to have someone available to do much of the heavy lifting and furniture moving; taking beds apart; moving bureaus and dressers; etc. I then tell them that all of this is quite time-consuming, and that I will need to add what I hope we will both agree is a reasonable surcharge to the job. While it can easily double the amount of time it would take you to clean the actual carpet, I don't know that you could double the cost of each room you work in that requires this level of furniture moving. You might want to add 33% or 50%
to what you might otherwise charge for each room where all this is going on. Or you might say I think I will need to double the cost. Then the customer will say "Whoa". Then the 2 of you can discuss it, and meet somewhere in the middle. It is best to bring up the adding of a surcharge, and resolving how much it will be, early on, rather than just adding to the invoice at the end. Customers don't like surprises.
