I put in a bid for a 35000 foot hotel with 104 suit rooms. I told them i would clean them with ecap because it will dry faster and its a better price. I also told them all the other benefits of encap. Their last cleaning cost them 3500 and the dont know what the person used. I think they used bonnet.The problem is that they got bids for 6000k for hwe and they said it was way to much.I gave them a bid of 3400 with encap but someone just said they would do hwe for 3000k without even looking at the place. I told them with gas prices and materials going up 3000k sounds to good to be true. Now i just found out that the person that gave the 3000k bid is coming to look at the hotel on monday. They are going to call me and let me know what who they are going to go with on monday. The hotel manager was told by her friend that they should have the hotel carpets cleaned with hwe. If they dont take my bid should I go down lower then the other person. I dont know what to do. I think to clean this 35000k hotel will take me and my brother over 30hrs. thats around 80 an hour, not bad. thanks for any advice. My machine will be here next week i hope. cemix 19inch. I hope its everything people say it is. Also the are being inspected in april and one thing they do is take white gloves to all the carpets. will that be a problem with ecap?

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Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

They will play you like a fiddle.
I'm not kidding!

"This guy is cheaper than you are"
"His method is better than yours is"
Yadda yadda yadda.

And after all the HASSLE of jumping through their hoops for peanuts,
they'll dump your butt for the next cheapest guy who comes along.

Take my advice --- RUN don't walk!

Go out and find some decent accounts







Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

I do a lot of residential homes. I make good money from them. I need to fill in the slow times with commercial jobs. I made no money this winter not good. What do you guys think are good accounts? So i should stay away from hotels even if they pay me what i put the bid in for? I am excited about getting my new cimex. I have a couple of clinic accounts and I use my hf rx20 but the carpets are only cleaned every 5 moths. They dont look the best after i am done. The clinics dont do any other things like vacuuming!!! I cant wait to try my new machine on the carpets. Does it really work like everyone says. I hope it does and thanks for all the help.

It makes me sick that they charge $189.00/night but only want to pay $10.00 to clean the carpet.

i think its crazy my bother has a side painting job. He charges 2 to 5 dollars a foot to paint why can we only charge 5 to 55 cents to clean carpet? what up with that.

One thing i would never go down in your bid set your price and sell it if u go around and try to under bid people u will never make any money...I own a cleaning company and i never go down in price i sell myself and are sevices it seems to work for the past 10 years..Im going into the carpet side of it and dont have everything set up yet and already in a month done about 90,000sq foot of carpet and all at the same price i will not go down and i had people try and say can u do it for 10cents less nope this is what i get seems to work out most of the time...

If they will pay your price then take the job. Don't plan on them as a month to month or quarterly customer as Rick makes an extremely valid point. And you have allready proved his point. If last company did them for $3500 and the bid they got was $6k for HWE. Then Why arn't they calling the company that did it for $3500?
Them saying that they do a white glove test on carpets is garbage. A month after the carpets are cleaned "Corporate" is going to check the carpet with a white glove? Whatever.

How do the carpets look now? When was the last time they were cleaned?

I also think you will be able to knock that job out in less then 30 hours if you have a helper. Wouldnt be to bad if your 1st job paid off your new Cimex. Good luck.

Oops I also forgot to mention that the person that is going to do it for $3k is going to have 6 guys using porty's. Not much chance that they will get as good of results as what you will provide.

We do rather well with hotel/motel chains.

however....we also do windows (High rise) and we are a little more expensive than the other guys bids.


We sold the results not the method. if the hotel managers are experienced...they see value in the results we offer.

Let me give an example; there is a hampton Inn near by. They are a new building. Close to the water fountain was a water spot that they could not...nor the HWE guys...could not remove.

I did.

We got the account.

I have this take: if you focus on price...so will they.
If you focus on awesome results AT a great price...so will they.
We do not try to lowball...we try to offer BETTER service/results...at a close price.

I understand everything everyone is saying. My wife and I battled over the price. She said take what ever price you can get because a profit is a profit. I wanted to charge them more like 3800 to 4200. I told the manager the benefits of encap. I feel price is the bottom line like everyone says they dont care. I wish I had my machine so i could of showed her. I never have used this machine. are the results instantaneous and does it take 30 min to see the difference. I feel even if i get the job I am being sold for a cheap price. I guess if i do get the job and it works as good as i hope it does they will want me back but this time i will make more money. Also what are good paying commercial accounts? Thanks everyone one for all the feed back. I couldnt log in so i had to open a new account sorry.

Thinking if you do a good job they will call you back is not necessarily correct like Rick said the mom and pop places always look for the cheapest guy.
Typically one of the problem with these places is they make you work around them. Do three rooms on the 4th floor, 2 rooms on the 3rd floor, etc and it ends up taking a lot longer than normal to do.
To answer your question about results they should be relatively instantaneous
and usually quite impressive.
Get what you need to get for this job and don't count on future biz to make a profit

The process is a negotiation. You figure out what you want...they figure out what they want...and, if you can meet in the middle...everyone wins.

If you are new to carpet cleaning...or encaping, take the job at whatever you can afford for now...the experience is priceless.

Hotels DO want clean carpets.....that is why they want a carpet cleaner. They just do not all know the difference.

Price is a barrier to over come...and it is possible. However....once you start to find the business ona higher rung of the food chain..you may want to loose your hotels.

i do not want to yet.

I hate to disagree with our Ilustrios Potentate, Rick Gelanis, but we had 7 Marriotts including Fairfield and Courtyards that we did for 8 years. 15 years ago, we were getting $18 a room plus halls and Banquet rooms at 19 cents a square foot. We made a very good profit as all the rooms were cleaned twice a year and halls four times a year and Banquet rooms as needed. Also we did a lot of furniture cleaning and it was all daytime work. When I sold 3/4ths of my business 5 years ago it included all the Commercial work. Our Commercial work now consist of Churches, Medical (Doctor and Dentist) and one Airport job. If I were building a business today, I would certainly include Hotels but would stay away from anything owned or managed by a Patel.

Has anyone cleaned suites before and how long does it take to clean a suite room? The hallways are strait forward but the rooms would be more of a challenge. Also how did you clean top floor to bottom or clean all halls then rooms? What are good accounts for commercial carpets? This is a marriot suites hotel. The carpet was cleaned in oct 2007 and it looks great. Very dark and alot of patterns. Again thanks for all the feedback!

Ray,

Are you still doing those motels?

Here is how I look at lowering my price (which seems to be SOOOOOO easy for many people when they are pressured a little)...

Look at it like your moral values- Do you do drugs?  If not then why?  Is it because they are too expensive and you would if the dealer lowered his price?  Or is it because you are intelligent and know that there is an effect if you do drugs and that those effects (sometimes many effects) are almost always bad, many times completely disastrous.  So if you have strong feelings (values) about drug use, do you lower your standards just because someone offered or asked you to, or lowered the price of the drugs, if you go to a party and the majority of people are using drugs and you don't- do you stay or go?

I'm not saying don't make money- just look for the RIGHT clients to fit your business.

Once they get you to lower your price ONE time, they have you and know you will ALWAYS lower your price, until you quit and they do it again.

Howard Partridge has a great saying: "Some people have a Kia concept when it comes to carpet care."

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

Del, you missed the line that said I sold the commercial part of the business that included the hotels.

When I was at SFS in Atlanta, I met two guys who did a bunch of student apartments and hotels. They told me there were two different sets of Patels. One Muslim, the other Christian. They said the Christian set paid on time and for a fair amount. Their advice was to just ask which they were. Said the Mulims hate the Christian Patels and will always get angry when asked.

He said if they got red around the gills when asked, they were Muslim and to just walk.

DUH! Hidden in plain view I hate it when I do that.

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

wow we are getting off the question at hand. Haha! i would love to know what people think good account for commercial cleaning are? I know hotels and restaurants are not good ones. Also whats the best way to clean a hotel? Hallways first, or suites first? Who has used the cimex and what do they think. Again i thank everyone that has left advice.

wow we are getting off the question at hand. Haha! i would love to know what people think good account for commercial cleaning are? I know hotels and restaurants are not good ones. Also whats the best way to clean a hotel? Hallways first, or suites first? Who has used the cimex and what do they think. Again i thank everyone that has left advice.

iluvcarpet2,

Just get use to it cause it won't be the last time it happen on this board. Just take what has already been offered up and use IT wisely based on your needs.

Trust me, the rest rest will come through other threads.
If you come to encourage, you'll find encouragement.

Use the search tab just above gather that info and add that to what you've gotten on this thread and go make application of it with your new Mexmerizer its really fun doing it when you don't really know alot.

I relate to your anxiety.

Thanks
The Mask Man

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

What kind of a question is that? You clean them like the Hskp./Operations Manager wants them done. I never posted that Hotels were "not good" Don't overlook them, there is plenty of profit to be made. If you do good work and build a relationship, you will be there a long time. Operation and Hskp. Managers will rotate from time to time but the new ones comming will need your help. Cimex works well for Hotels, but if you are doing rooms I would follow with an OP machine (treat it like a home) Don't scrub and run in the Hotel rooms. Hallways and Banquet rooms can be Cimexed only, people don't sleep in them.

I looked up and down this forum. There is alot of info. I am amazed at the before and after photos. This forum helped me make my decision on getting a cimex machine. I just know there is alot of people that have alot of knowledge about encap and have done commercial hotel work. I appriciate all the info everyone has given me and I will give my pictures and advice as I get more under my belt on ecap. rambo do you think the cimex would work fine for hotel rooms and will it pass the 'white glove test'? what ever that is. Here is a great link that i read about encaphttp://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article.asp?id=5377&keywords=encapsulation