Hi everyone, my name is Tess, Owner of Perfect Cleaning.
My question was:
How do you estimate certain jobs. I do new construction, apt moveouts, commercial, residential, and section 8 housing for the govt. I have done OK for the most part, but I always stress over the decision. Thank you all for taking the time to talk with me.

You have to calculate what the job is going to cost you and how much you want to make on the job. To calculate the costs you need to factor in overhead, like phone, office, advertising etc.

Such rates are usually area specific. Better off surveying your competititon.

HI, My name is Elio Per. I'm the owner of Country Mist Cleaning and restoration services, as well as Flatground excavation, Tramagal cement construction and all out contracting. Tell me with the specs of the job whose estimated price you need, I'll break it down and explain to you how, why and what to charge the customer. Remember commercial and residential prices are totally different, so please specify.
Your best bet is to go with the national average of prices... you cannot ever go wrong with that, and once you know the base price for something you can then adjust it to your liking or needs. Example: As a certified carpet and flood technician I can charge slightly higher prices due to my education, on average, if I'm cleaning carpets, the price of one room is between $42.99 - $78.95 depending on service and other factors, if your not certified you should be charging between $20 and $40 per room (residential, up to 150 sf, synthetic fibers only, additional for stains such as wine, mustard, filtration soil etc... )

Hi There,

I have just started to do new construction cleaning. I work for a builder full time and on the side I do the new construction clean outs after homes are built. I have been networking to get more builders.

I don't know if you do resale or new construction (two different worlds), but I charge .18 per sq ft for cleaning. I do windows in and out too. Does that help your?

I recently was laid off and I have 5 kids , I want to start my own cleaning business , can you give me some ideas, because right now I am searching the web and it is not helping like how do I get my business license and how do I see if my ideal name is tooken ?


Thanks a bunch, jessjeanine

So first you say you own a cleaning business but now you say you don't?

First off.. be honest as you will not keep clients that way. Then go to a local supplier and ask about training course available in your area and the cost of your cleaning equipment and supplies so that you have some expendature amounts to add into your figuring. Maybe think about taking a semester of business at your local community college.
Basic rates can be $12 an hour, 4 cents a sq. ft. on up for being the contractor. Dpends on what your cleaning and specializing in. You have to be able to pay your people and expendatures before you pay yourself. Don't forget you have to pay tax on the income as well.
.. good luck as a huge percentage ofnew business fail without proper planning..

Grimescene, and Delco are good online resources..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darntootin

So first ya say ya own a cleaning business but now you say you don't?

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May I suggest that you look more carefully at the full thread. The thread was originally started by a different person. The person you replied to was just adding a post in this thread. Of course this illustrates why its NOT a good idea to piggyback your onw question on someone else's thread. Too often things get confused.

Absolutely and fair enough Scott... I misspoke... sorry jessjeanine... :)
However, my 'first off' and secondary advice still stands as I would run out of toes to count with when counting the amount of folks I've experienced attempting jobs without disclosing upfront to a client that they have no experience or training at a job. I fix some their mistakes and then of course there are their other problems where you just got to say 'sorry there isn't no fix for that bleach stain problems sir'.. :)

I encounter a similar thing. People who have created a few small Access databases and think they can now sell their services. They take on a project they weren't able to handle and I get called in to pick up the pieces.