Well I have been getting about 2 to 3 jobs a week, once I did my first couple of jobs word of mouth started to spread. But I have a question most of the jobs I have done are about 1000 sq ft and it takes me about 4 hours is this normal for all of you? Do you think I will get a lot faster with time and experiance?

A job totalling 1000 billable sq. ft., at my rate of .38/sq. ft. (my rate for W/W carpeting) would earn me $380, or just under $100 per hour worked. This is about right for a typical residential job, which might involve some or all of the following time-consuming activities: ringing the doorbell; saying hello to the customer; a little small talk; a tour of the job; a couple of Q & A's re. the job; bringing in your equipment & supplies; setting up a staging area;
vacuuming where needed; filling the sprayer; pre-
spraying the carpet; cleaning the carpet; removing any stains, gum, wax, etc., requiring hands-on work; post-vacuuming if needed; measuring the job; preparing the invoice; presenting the invoice; waiting for the check; removing your equipment & supplies; loading equipment & supplies;
departing the premises.

Most of my jobs gross in the $90 to $135 per hour range. Occasionally higher; occasionally lower. I
did one last week that grossed about $225 per hour for between 3 and 4 hours. My jobs for condo associations and condominium management companies tend to gross in the $150/hour range, per person.

That sounds about right. I did about an 1000 sf. job today with 4 area rugs also which took 4 hours including pre and post vac'ing. My rates however tend to get me only about $30-$45 per hour right now.

Thanks I did not know if I was taking to long or not, I feel better know. My prices are in your range Grant, I live in a rural area and I do not think I would get much buisness at 0.34 cents a square foot when steam cleaners are charging 99 dollars for 3 rooms and a hallway, but I have had a lot of good reviews and advertise as a introductory specail so my prices hopefully will be able to go up a little bit soon.

People who like ice cream are always willing to pay more for Ben & Jerry's ice cream than for the supermarket store brand. Ben & Jerry's are known for offering something special. You should be too.

Yeah Mark you are right, I truely belive I do a better job then a steam cleaner, that is why I started with a introductory price so every one else can know the same I advertised it untill Oct 31 at .15 cents a sq ft then it will go up to .25 a square foot and I will see how that goes.

My problem is probably marketing. I don't think I'm getting my message out to enough people fast enough. There are the premium buyers out there, but it's hard to communicate a premium message out there as a start up. Mark's company can, for instance, say he is a "Best in Boston" company and has been in business for 15 years (or whatever) which really drives that point home. Those types of subtle messages communicate experience and competence and it's hard for a new company to do that. (ideas?)

My recent mailing of 400 more postcards has so far gotten me 2 jobs. The first I believe was based on price, though he liked the job so much he gave me a tip. The second I think based his call on my before/after pic on the postcard. He didn't even ask about price when he called. So had my prices been .25/sf. instead of what they are (probably in the .13-17 range dep on the house) he wouldn't have cared. AND had I only gotten that job with the higher rates and not the first I would have earned the same amount with close to 1/2 the work. I know some of it is where we live. Cost of living in LA, Vegas, Miami, or Boston is much higher than rural areas, thus prices reflect that accordingly.

Let me/us know what happens when you change your rates, I know my phone quit ringing overnight when my rates changed even though the quality of my mailers was much better. That can be compensated for if enough postcards or whatever are distributed.

On a side note, my wife is being forced now to take an extended maternity leave, so I've enlisted her to start helping with marketing. She's more of the outgoing type so I'm hoping she can land some commercial biz.

Grant I will let you know how it goes It will not be untill nov, I am going to raise my price to .25 sq. ft for jobs under 1000 sq ft and .20 cents sq ft for jobs more then 1000 sq ft.

I saw on your web site that if your customers are not satisfied they name the price, has that worked good for you? I have never had a unsatisfied customer, except yesterday with the carpets buckeling but he called back and is now satisfied, it just scares me that if I advertise that then some people might take advantage of it. The way I guarentee my work is when I first get there I ask them where the worst part of there carpet is and I clean a small area then ask them if they want me to continue, so far no complaints just amazement.

Not a bad idea about slowly adjusting prices downward as the job gets larger. Will probably want to make sure that a 950 sf. job doesn't cost less than an 1100 sf job though. The Guarantee I believe comes straight from Mark. I think it is a brilliant thing to offer. I always mention it on the phone when people ask about my service. I've not had one person take me up on it. I was considering changing the way I present it, instead of saying 'you set the price' changing that to I will return and make it right, if you are still unsatisfied I'll return your money'.

I had one home where there was a large red stain in a bedroom that I couldn't budge. Not cyclone, or red vanish, even with steam could touch it. For that type of a situation I offered to take that room off the bill even though I had told them before I started that it might be permanent. They still paid me for that room though.

Everyone responding seems faster than me. All my life I have been somewhat slow but high quality at most everything. That covers several varied lines of work. My question - do you post vacuum with Punch or does that spoil the encap properties even though the product is made for extraction?