It’s a good idea to find out what the competition is doing as well as charging for cleaning services in your area. Through bidding process as an organization every time you will find competitive rates and be able to identify the most competitive and responsive bidder. Start keeping track of this so you can see if there’s a pattern developing for your company.
Other ways of monitoring the competition is to check out their website and/or any social media platforms they may have such as Facebook. Are they offering discounts or coupons? How many employees do they have? How long have they been in business? Do they offer the services you want? Are you competing for the same businesses in the same market?
Answering these questions will help you get an overall understanding of what and whom you are up against.
To estimate what you should be charged for cleaning a building, start by doing a building walk-through with the building owner or manager. Keep track of the following:
Frequency of cleaning (once a week, three times a week, five times a week). If frequency is one or two times per week, it’s best to estimate the approximate cleaning time and multiply by your hourly rate. If cleaning 3 or more times per week you can estimate your time by the square foot.
Overall square feet.
Types of floor surfaces and square footage of each (carpet, vinyl flooring, ceramic tile).
Types of rooms – general office, break room, restrooms. Also note the number of toilets/stalls and fixtures in each restroom, as well as the types of restroom supplies used.
Any special considerations – heavy traffic areas, elevators, unusual requests, etc.
Density of office furniture. Is it very tight with a lot of partitions and office, or are there more wide open spaces?
Make note of the specific services as a client you areseeking and frequency of each. For example, some buildings may need dusting done more frequently than others.
The following services are specialized services and you should consider them separately, and list a per-service charge on your bid:
Stripping and Waxing
Buffing/Burnishing
Machine Cleaning of Ceramic Tile floors
Carpet Cleaning
Carpet Spotting
Cleaning appliances
Window Washing
Make sure you take enough notes so you can estimate a realistic price that will be fair to you as the client and one in which you will manage to pay.
Once you have an idea of how long it will take to clean the building you can put your cost estimate together:
Estimate the time it will take by using a production cleaning rate chart or calculator.
Determine the labor cost for cleaning the building one time.
Determine your monthly labor cost to clean the building.
Estimate a monthly cost for supplies.
Add up the numbers to come up with your monthly price.
Once you have your price established, put your bid packet together
Your bid request should specify what you are responsible for and what the cleaning provider is responsible for (buying own trash can liners, restrooms supplies, etc.). It should also include the monthly charge for cleaning services, how long the agreement is for, and the procedure to cancel the contract if either party is unhappy.
It is important to learn how to price your cleaning services so as a customer you may are demanding a quality and professional service at a realistic and fair price.
You can contact one of our customer care representatives on sales@firstclasscleaning.co.ke or 0721867339
