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Re: furniture

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.