I was just reading Aris' comments below and it sure makes you like that commercial work. I also did a commercial building this weekend that was just over 13000 sq. ft. and was able to get $0.16/ sq. ft. and it only took about 6.5 hrs. from setup to teardown. You have to love Releasit/Cimex combo. What else can a guy with no college education do to LEGALLY generate over $300/ hr. with so little expense.

It kind of makes it hard to do those residential jobs were you fight to make that magical $100/hr. mark. I'll love the day when I can have enough commercial alone without the headaches of residential work.

Rick Thode
Releasit/Cimex Canada
rick@releasit.ca

Rick, not all commercial is w/o problems, but it makes more sense to do commercial since Cimex and Releasit came along. I have been trying to go 100% commercial for the last year and am stuck at 55% residential and 45% residential.

So, 100% residential

I agree with you Ray. I get my fair share of challenges in commercial too. It just seems that there is so much more schmoozing and messing around involved with residential. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the interaction with my customers. It's just that it is not time you really get to charge for.

But I'll just suck it up and clean whatever carpets I can get my hands on at this time. Beggars can't be choosers you know.

Rick Thode

What hours are you guys finding comm clients are scheduling. I get a few day/afternoon, but alot of "when we close" (i.e. 5p/6p/8p), which limits access, since they most often have someone there to let us in (we usually lock up). How would you then get more than one job per night?

Thanks...

I wrote a Great Debate article for Cleanfax a couple of years ago - Commercial vs. Residential. Here is a copy of my article...

http://www.cleanfax.com/ENewsArticle.asp?ArticleID=350


Writing for commercial cleaning
Rick Gelinas

I love debating the merits of commercial carpet cleaning.

Let me start by saying that residential cleaning can be a fine business to pursue. Residential cleaning works well for many cleaners, but it's not for me. I love commercial cleaning.

When I started my business back in 1982, I focused on commercial. I wanted to leave my time open during the day for other pursuits.

For the past 23 years, I've been involved with commercial cleaning. But in the late 1990s, when a certain marketing maven came onto the scene, I thought to myself, "Hey, the trucks are just sitting idle during the day, maybe I should work on marketing to residential."

So that's what I did.

I began marketing to homeowners with home prices above $250,000. Before long I had a nice flow of quality residential work. I was charging 25 to 30 cents per square foot back then.

Yet, before long, I could see that this wasn't the path for me.

My plan when I started the residential project was to develop the residential cleaning with "systems" that I could then hire technicians to run.

After all, the use of well-planned "systems" was helping to make our commercial business a success.

However, I soon came to appreciate that there are many more variables with residential carpet cleaning than there are with commercial carpet cleaning.

Before long, I could see that building a "system" that could cover all the variables of residential cleaning would be a greater challenge than I had imagined.

At that point, I was personally cleaning the residential jobs. I was doing quality work.

I would greet the homeowner politely, measure the carpet, do a carpet inspection and prepare a price quote, pre-vacuum the carpet, pre-spray, rotary extract the carpet, tab the furniture, groom the carpet, leave a bottle of spotter, have them fill out a brief evaluation, mention our referral program, get paid, share a few polite words, pet the dog, load the truck, etc.

And as I drove away, I would think to myself, "What a rip-off! I only cleared $50 to $75 per hour charging 25 to 30 cents per square foot, and tonight each truck will be grossing at least twice that much per hour even though we'll be charging less per square foot for our commercial service."

It didn't take me long to realize that residential cleaning just wasn't worth pursuing.

After all, as much as I love to clean carpets, the bottom line for being in business is to make a profit and provide for my family.


I recognized that my time would be better spent focusing my energy on what brought the greatest return on my investment, and that was commercial cleaning.

Instead of driving around all afternoon cleaning residential carpet, I determined that my time would be better spent in business-building pursuits on the commercial side.

Commercial cleaning is easier, more profitable, and without the hassles you have with on-the-job personal contact with a homeowner.

There was a recent posting on the CM/Cleanfax Bulletin Board, where a cleaner stated that 80 percent of his work came from residential cleaning, but 80 percent of his income came from commercial cleaning.

That's exactly why I concentrate specifically on commercial work. If that's where the money is, it makes sense to target that market.

Other reasons I like commercial over residential are listed here:

* Residential work requires constant selling, whereas commercial cleaning can generate a steady flow of revenue.
* Commercial customers are easier to put on a maintenance program.
* With commercial accounts, the checks roll in on a regular basis. It's easier to fill the basket with several large accounts than it is to fill it with hundreds of smaller accounts that might only use our service one time.









Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

I have been doing a chain of coffee shops that close at 11:00 pm some at midnight, carpet/tile/upholstery. Decent money I'm getting home between 3-5:00am takes some adjustment but I'm trying to increase my commercial accounts for work through winter after December things get slow. Currently I have 26 assited living facilities, 1 retirement home, 2 property managements, 1 restuarant, 7 coffee shops, dentist office, 2 day cares still need to grow some more, I've been using Ricks CD with some success, I'll just keep on working it, takes time.