contractor success Carpet Cleaning Pricing Production Rates By: Wm R. Griffin and Gary Clipperton And O On one hand, the pricing of a carpet clean-ing job appears to be a simple mathemati-cal calculation. However, you may realize that there are numerous variables involved that will impact how long the job takes and which processes, chemicals and equipment will obtain the best results. You also have to consider the condition of the carpet and the customerʼs expectations. In this article, we provide many different price and production rates. pricing? This includes such things as: Repairs; spot removal; odor removal; furniture mov-ing; topical treatments; disinfection or san-itization; inspection/consulting services; mini blind cleaning; ceiling cleaning; uphol-stery cleaning; and window cleaning. Beyond carpet, are there opportunities for hard floor maintenance? Chemicals: 2 to 5 percent Fuel: 2 to 6 percent Equipment: 2 to 8 percent Supplies: 2 to 3 percent. Bidding And Estimating Strategies Cost per square foot: – Commercial: 4 to 25 cents for wet extraction; 3 to 15 cents for low-moisture interim processes. – Note: Larger commercial work is often bid at a cost per square foot that is half or less than rates charged for residential jobs of 1,000 to 1,200 square feet. Time and materials: – Set rate per hour and cost of sup-plies, $20 to $65 or more per hour, $100 minimum. By the hour: – $25 to $65 or more per hour. Computerized bidding: – Per program or user-definable, commercial and residential programs are available. Difficulty factor approach: – A systematic approach to pricing involves tracking the production time for every job. In addition, the follow-ing difficulty factors can be assigned a weighted score to arrive at a composite score. With some tweak-ing, the total score can be totaled and divided by two. This computa-tion then becomes your price per square foot. Soil load Stain removal Furniture to move Color of carpet Evaluating Your Costs Examine your costs for the following: Profit: 20 to 400 percent or more for markup on labor and supplies Overhead: 10 to 40 percent for markup on labor and supplies — 15 to 20 percent is common Labor and staffing: 40 to 75 percent Variables That Impact Time And Cost Hereʼs a short list of some variables that should be taken into consideration when pricing a carpet cleaning job: Is the work you are doing residential or commercial? Is it a big job or a small job? Is there anything special, out of the ordinary or unique about the job that will take more time? Are you doing interim cleaning or deep/restorative cleaning? What is the soil level and are spots present? Are pre-vacuuming, pile lifting or pre-spraying and agitation required? Are you hiring employees or using sub/independent contractors? Is it a one-time job or a repeat job you can do several times per year that will likely lead to additional work? Are There Hidden Profit Opportunities? What can you do to make the job more profitable than the cleaning itself that may allow you to be more competitive in your Applying a carpet pre-spray prior to cleaning yields better results and makes cleaning easier. 40 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • July 2009
CMM – Archives Jul 2009: 40
