Got a call to bid on a restaurant in my area and 13 others if i was interested. Manager said they got a bid for $125 to steam clean and deodorize monthly for all 13 stores. This had to 1500 sq ft plus tons of chairs. I dont see how that can even be done. Just the gas and paying empoyees would use up most of that. I dont get it.

8 cents per s.f. is not that unusual around my neck of the woods. Extracting a restaurant for 8 cents is folly, but there is always somebody around willing to do it.

He thought he'd through that out there to you in hopes to get you as cloe to that price as possible. He figure if he can get you to bid .10 s.f. he's doin good.

Thanks
Your Servant Alex

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

Do you know if he moves the chairs? Does he clean every square inch every month? Too many times I see people compare commercial carpet cleaning to sqft or residential. I use sqft as an estimate only. For example and lucky for me we have a real nice high end restaurant that was being cleaned every 4 months for $250 for 1500sqft. Problem was it needed to be cleaned more often, but the cleaner never offered more frequency at a lower price. I got the job by charging the same as him for a 1 time cleaning in which I moved every chair and extracted every sqft. Now I charge $120 per month they move all chairs, and I only clean the high traffic areas every month, and each month hit a different area of low traffic. Now every 3 months the whole place is cleaned with the traffic areas always looking great. Takes me 1 hour per month from drive up to drive out. Oh yeah I use a cimex and my Vento OP to extract the few greasy areas. So if someone comes in and asks the owner what he pays to have his carpet cleaned and he says $120 they run away and I keep the account! If they post on the Red Board I get called a hack!

Thanks for tip. Ill have to re think how I bid on restaurants. As long as it looks good they are happy dont have to do every sq ft every month.

I would take those accounts in a heartbeat! 13 accounts? That's $1600 a month without even trying. Have them move the tables or at least help you. It might get old after a while though. If you live a cold state like me that is gravy money in the winter.

We are currently working on new accounts just like this....with similar pricing. Awesome tips.

I wouldn't call you a hack, Tracy. I'd love to be close enough to you to come see how you do it. You must be getting good appearance from this, or you wouldn't be doing the cleaning. It's just hard for me, and probably most other steam cleaners, to see how it's possible to clean a grease pit with vlm.

I know I can't OP one clean, I've tried! It takes so long it's not worth it. And, I tried to GLS a rest. one night and quit after a couple of swipes.

One day, somebody is going to have a Cimex near enough to me to borrow for an hour and see how you guys do this.

Hey wait a minute, after thinking about it some of the restaurants are an hour from each other or more ,youre not making 1600, maybe 800-1000. Maybe in a BIG city but not here, even in a big city, even using a cimex. Im better off installing carpet for 3 days or doing one tile and grout job. Just trying to get a feel for how this all works. I guess it makes sense, the food was disgusting at this chain at least the one in my area. After putting the lukewarm rice in my mouth, little alarms went off in my head to spit it out. Or at least it looked like rice. I think theyre going down!

I would not unload my truck for 8 cents a sq ft, but maybe that's just me. If I were you I would call this contract a lost cause and find better contracts.

i clean a truckstop monthly tht doesnt close for $140.00 about 1300 sq. i tried releasit on it but it didnt look as good as when i bane it.
they are suppose to move table and chairs but the help isnt always there.its faster if i do it myself most of the time.

i need to talk with owner about the price or maybe just doing traffic lanes like what was said above.

its close to home and no i dont make much but i do get a lot of referals from this job.

im still new at this so for me its a stepping stone and part of learning the buiseness.

oh yeah, it takes me about 2 to 2.5 hours to do at 1 a.m.
time to renogiate.

There are several ways to bid contracts no one way is right for every place.

We rarely bid out commercial floors by the sq ft alone, that is used as a guide only. At present we do several chain resturants and local chain stores. Many of these stores have different sq ft prices, the varying pricing is the result of how long it will take to do the job due to the different job conditions in each place.

There are some jobs I would do for 8 cents sq ft all day long and make darn good money at and some I would not touch for 20 cents a sq ft.

We have taken to figuring out the cost of the years cleaning and charging the clients a set amount each month.

we clean a drug half way house common areas monthly for $125 10x a year Cimex, and TM 2x a year for $150.

they took carpet out of the break room, about 200sf where the vending machines are (soda spills from where the druggies open the cans as soon as they get out of the machine) we never lowered the price and we normally recieve payment within 10 days!

i have several quarterly accounts that aren't bank breakers, but are great accounts to have. I have the system down now to where i can normally be in and out under an hour if i don't have to spot vacuum!!!

The counselor who heads up Danny's 12 step program included the carpet cleaning as part of his out-treatment therapy.









Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

because of the speed of the Mex, it's a 6 step program for me!!!

PS i know a few folks who have been through there and i know a guy who used to ref with us who is there now! Praise God my drug use never got the best of me!

Uh ... talk to those around you danny.