I recently quoted a potential client 125.00 for a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 3200 sq foot home. She was quick to tell me she had someone clean for considerably less. She also has 3 children, a pet rabbit, and a dog inside. Help?
By Carol R
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$125 is a really good price to clean up after this lot! She's trying to intimidate you before you've even broken out the broom. She's clearly going to be a real problem client.
The money she is willing to pay is not anywhere near enough to put up with this woman, her three children, and her other zoo critters! Anything under $125 is too little - bet she wants to pay $75!
Truthfully the right price for this much work (because really, with her attitude it's clear she's going to expect you to do a lot more than just clean up after her and the zoo) is $150, $200 if I'm right and it turns out she expects child-minding, and lots of other 'little things'.
And the pricing should be figured for after tax - make sure she (or anyone else) pays you enough to leave that $125-200 in your pocketbook after your paying taxes on the earning.
Then I would let her use them. Some people just want something for nothing. Pretend you are a potential client and ask around to some of the other people who clean. I bet the price is "considerably higher" than you quoted.
Some people price things by what they do. The old adage "I don't do windows" can be your starting point. Charge the same rates for similar jobs but don't assume they need every thing done. If they need a good vacuuming but don't need the bathroom clean, you can charge by the "piece" so to speak or in this case by the job.
I live in a small town. I have 1 child, five cats, two bathrooms and three bedrooms in approx 1600 sq feet. I pay $65-80 depending on how many hours it takes her. She charges a flat $12 per hour
If you have a 1600 square foot house and it takes her that many hours to clean it something's not right. I can do a 4000 square foot regular clean home in about three and a half to
So where is this other cleaning person now? I bet they quit. If she was satisfied with their work and their price, why is she looking elsewhere if they are still willing to work for her.
I clean in the Seattle area. I charge $30 an hour. I won't clean a house over 4000 sq ft by myself and I dont work over 5 hours a day. for me her house would be a 5 hour job. That would be $150. You are a bargain. You will end up hating this person, and wish you never went to work for her. If you really need the money you could work for her for awhile, while you find someone better to work for. Good luck to you.
I'd say, I can do a walk through or ask more questions.
Unless this person is an immaculate housekeeper, a deep first clean should cost at least two times as much.
Wow, I cannot believe how underpaid cleaning people are. 15 years ago my daughter had a cleaning business with a waiting list. She hired other people butoften had to clean behind them because they didn't meet her standards. Her rate, once your house was brought up to snuff was $ 25/hr and again, this was 15 years ago. If houses were not kept to a certain level of cleanliness, she fired the client and would move on to the top person on her waiting list. She helped people organize those boxes not opened for years, but that was pricey and required a stiff down payment. She was even successful in putting together teams to help hoarders who were ready to accept help and at the other end, inventory, pack, and prepare for auction or beneficiary distribution the contents of homes of deceased. Then she would clean the house to a pristine state.
Tell her to use the other people. Your charge for that size house is on the low side. I guess it also depends where you live but for that size house I would charge 130 to 150.
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