Archive for February, 2010

$99 for 5 rooms!  WOW

Think again if you really think that’s a good deal!.  There are many carpet cleaning companies in the Grand Rapids area.  It’s cheap and easy to start a carpet cleaning company.  Run to the county clerk and get a DBA, that’s all there is to it..  Then, you’re immediately in business.

The license office doesn’t require proof of insurance, background checks, workman’s compensation, or any training.  Yes, anyone can start a carpet cleaning company.  There’s no regulation.

The companies that come out to clean your house for a cheap price often fall into one of several of the categories above.  How do I know?

If Bob’s Carpet Care charged anything less than we currently do, we’d have to cut our expenses or use cheaper materials.  Liability insurance isn’t cheap.  Background checks cost money.

Do the math.  Where does the money go if you’re paying a cleaning company $99 for 5 rooms?

Here’s the average breakdown after I’ve interviewed dozens of companies around the U.S.  To do a decent job, he should be there for nearly two hours if he has a truck mounted machine.  It may even be an hour longer if he has a portable machine.  On average, it takes twenty minutes to locate your home on a map and drive there, and another twenty to drive from your home.

Do you want the technician to have clean, maintained equipment?  If you do, he should spend another twenty minutes per home in cleaning his truck and maintaining his equipment.

Before he even gets to your home, you had to call to make an appointment.  It takes an average of twenty minutes to book an appointment on the phone and record the information in a computer.

So, the time involved with your home would be about THREE HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES.

You’re thinking, well that’s $29 an hour.  But wait, that doesn’t include all the expenses.

The techs have to get to your home.  If you want them driving a vehicle that doesn’t leak oil on your driveway, that trip will cost $12.  This is an average business cost according to the I.R.S. at $.52 per mile with an average of 22 miles driven for the round trip.

If you want the company to have liability insurance should they ruin your beautiful carpet, rug, or upholstery, it will cost about $3 per job.

If you want the company to have newer maintained equipment that does even a decent job, this breaks down to about $6 per job.

They’ll need telephones to book your appointment and communicate with you.  The office phone and cell phone usage breaks down to about $2 per job.

Do you want the technician to be trained?  If so, the cost associated with training averages out to about $1 per job.

If they use materials on your job, they will spend an average of $2 on decent cleaning supplies.  The sad part is, many companies skimp in this area and purchase the cheapest materials possible.

How did you hear about the company?  The average carpet cleaning company spends $30-60 on advertising just to acquire ONE new client.  This is why we strive to do everything possible to keep you as a client once you have us into your home.

Okay.  Now we’re up to $56 of cost before labor (assuming they only spent $30 on advertising to acquire you as a client).

If the technician gets paid a minimum $8 an hour for the 3.33 hours it takes to book your appointment, do the paper work, maintain his equipment, clean your home, and drive to and from your home, he will get paid $27.  Then, we have to add workman’s compensation and taxes to total $32.

Total cost with a technician getting paid $8 an hour=$88.  If you pay $99, there is a net profit of $11.

But wait…what happens if you have spots return and you need the company to come back out?  They can’t afford to return!  This is why the cheap companies don’t have guarantees.

When you have a technician getting paid $8 an hour to clean your carpet, there’s a HUGE possibility something will go wrong.  Believe me.

What if the tech gets paid a little more than $8 an hour?  This means the company is cutting out another expense like insurance, chemicals, training, etc.  Do the math.  The company can’t stay in business otherwise.

So how does a company clean 5 rooms for $99?

If a company charges cheap prices they are either skimping on your service or they’re on their way out of business.  There’s no other way to look at it.

Don’t trust an $8 an hour employee to your fine carpet, rug, tile, and upholstery.  Call Bob’s Carpet Care at 616-970-1237.  One of the most reputable cleaning firms in Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids Carpet Cleaning