Property management accounts

[MikeB]

I have another appointment Tuesday with a large Property Management Co. They are looking for a "go to" carpet cleaner. This company has complexes totaling in the hundreds of apartments and they want one company doing them all.
I hope it goes as well as the last one but I have a feeling they are shopping for cheap rates.
I'm proposing a rate based on my past apartment rates, which were about 15% less than most competitors from what I'm told. One hour dry times, quick turn around, non toxic (most of my competitors are HWE so fast drying sets me apart)
My only other manager is happy with $85.00 each for 1 bedroom apartments (living room, 1 bed, small hall) Hopefully these folks will be too because as far as I'm concerned it's easy money. Empty rooms, no chatting and petting the dog, etc,...In and out, easy.

[JuddBowers]

Hope you land it! Keep us posted!

[NJP]

Good luck Mike. It's been my experience your price might be a little high but it all depends on your location. JMO

[prodrying]

Mike it has been my experience that your price would be high in my area. We had a guy call a while back and needed an estimate for a complex like you are talking about. Before we gave our price we asked why he was looking for a cleaner, because he stated he had a cleaner that he had worked with for years. He told us his normal cleaner had just raised his price $3 to $23 a unit and it was too expensive. Since $23.00 was too expensive we left and didn't even give him a price. That's why I don't clean any apartments.

[MikeB]

$23 a unit??? Wow, I can see why a lot of people don't fool with it then. Maybe it's my area - South west of Chicago, but I don't think they are expecting that cheap here.
I'll post after my meeting..

[SLOTOOLS]

There are always exceptions but it has been my experience that some property mgmts are just ghetto cheap- they will never respect a professional cleaner anyway, do not be discouraged so work where you are getting payed what you are worth, do not be afraid to raise prices once you are established, and always be looking for better work- better paying accounts.

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I made good money on charging for repairs in apartments- red stains, stretches, patches, anything out of the ordinary, and that price should have been factored out of the cleaning deposit, so it is a good idea for standard charges for these extras to be in place during early working negotiations.

[MikeB]

Thanks for all the comments. I did include a line in my initial proposal to the effect that pricing quoted is for customary carpet cleaning only, additional stain removal other than normal soils and organic spots, etc, would be quoted as needed.
I don't want to get a big account based only on a cheap price because I know how that will play out when a cheaper guy comes along.

[supersteem33]

Good Luck and check the reputation of the company as far as payment. A lot of these companies will run up a bill and then switch vendors.