End of build clean

[Cat Stephenson]

Hi all

I have been asked to do a end of build clean in a very large house just outside Winchester. I have a window cleaner who is going to clean the inside and outside of the windows for £150. I normally charge anywhere between £12.50 and £20 an hour for domestic cleaning, there appears to be a lot of brick/tile dust all over the property and the floor is ceramic tiles that will need cleaning too.

The ground floor consists of gym, mud room, large kitchen, utility room, living room, home office, TV room, bathroom and large foyer open plan so very high ceilings, and 2 staircases.

The second floor consists of 3 bedrooms 2 en suite, large family bathroom and balcony.

The first floor is one huge bedroom with an en suite that is as big as family bathroom, a separate walk in dressing room and a glass roof plant area.

I can normally assess a house that needs an EOT clean by taking into account the severity of the clean, which is normally in the bathrooms and kitchen but with this property everything is covered from top to tail including walls etc.

Can anyone shed some light on how I would go about pricing this, and will it need more than one clean, because of the dust element.

Plus with regards to the ceramic tiled floor throughout could I use the Oreck orbitor and STS to tackle the scuffs and the mess the builder have made. the interior designer wants the house spotless for the new powerboat champion owner!

Help!

Thanks in advance

Cat

 

[Nick Robertson-Vousden]

Hi Cat

I think you have actually answered your own question, it needs more than one clean, ok how many two? then double the price, and allow an additional contingency margin of say 15-20% to allow for the "unknown" element.

Always worked for me in the past.

Best regards

Nick

 

[Ian Griffiths]

Builders cleans tend to come in two or three stages.

1. Builders Clean, or Initial Clean.
2. Re-Clean
3. Sparkle Clean

Many builder's opt for stage 1 and 3, some claim only stage 3.

Cost accordingly but as a guide for the re-clean you can usually charge around 60% of the builders clean and for the sparkle around 50%. There are loads of variables and ideally you'll need to see their cleaners spec.

Make sure your window cleaner knows what he's doing, inside and out, frames and reveals, mastic, stickers, sticker residue. Scratches on glass must be identified before cleaning commences!! (impossible, but with a new customer this could lead to problems with you being billed for damage not mentioned before the clean starts).

It is miles apart from regular window cleaning. In fact, windows take up at least 40% of the overall time on the initial clean and WFP is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

 

[Cat Stephenson]

thanks Ian

I am unsure as to whether or not to take this on, as the interior designer has stated that it needs to be immaculate for the client. I am not unsure of my capabilities but would either have to sub it out to a cleaning company or take on some staff. I would reckon that it would take a full day for a team of 3 or 4 maybe, so am stuck as to what to charge. The window cleaner is using WFP, so will have a think about that.

My first initial thoughts were to go in at 4 people at £20 per hour for 7 hours totalling £560 plus £200 for window cleaning. I don't know whether this is too high?

 

[John Bolton]

Cat,

A nit-picking designer can be worse than cast iron haemorrhoids, so if you do the job the contingency margin needs to reflect that.

 

[Cat Stephenson]

Ha ha good analogy John

I have a feeling that she will be very picky as she took over the project after 2 years of another builder mucking it all up! As stated it is for a very wealthy individual and I have a sneaky feeling that the ceramic tiles are shot in places. Haven't had time to evaluate it yet as builders still in.

I have already picked up faults with the windows, and some of the grouting in the bathrooms, have informed the designer, and have a feeling that a very thorough pre survey would be needed to cover my back. Am now thinking is it worth the hassle that may arise? I am a great believer of "right first time" but think that even this may not be good enough. Could potentially eat into all the profit if things (designers perception) aren't right.

She did state an initial clean, and then assess the attention to detail needed, one of the walls between the kitchen and living room is a huge fish tank measuring well over 10ft tall by about 20 foot!

 

[Ian Griffiths]

thanks Ian

I am unsure as to whether or not to take this on, as the interior designer has stated that it needs to be immaculate for the client. I am not unsure of my capabilities but would either have to sub it out to a cleaning company or take on some staff. I would reckon that it would take a full day for a team of 3 or 4 maybe, so am stuck as to what to charge. The window cleaner is using WFP, so will have a think about that.

My first initial thoughts were to go in at 4 people at £20 per hour for 7 hours totalling £560 plus £200 for window cleaning. I don't know whether this is too high?

You'll find out if it's too high soon enough.

If I am honest and the client has done this sort of thing before, £20 per hour isn't realistic.

That said, you'll be going in at a set rate and hope to hit your targetted hours.

This game is so competetive that rates are closely guarded but I have been beaten by as much as 40% on larger sites in the past (80 + mixed plots) when we have targetted at our lowest possible rate.

Acceptable rates are down about 30% on three years ago. We have lost regular sites by being undercut on a new phase and being unable to match lower quotes.

 

[Cat Stephenson]

Thanks for the insight Ian, so do you think that the price I am charging as a whole is high for this size of property?

 

[Ken Wainwright]

This is not my sort of work Cat, so I can't comment on the nuts and bolts of the job.

However, like myself, you appear to be quality driven and work to a standard, not a price.

When I'm in a situation not too dissimilar to your own, my tendancy is to make the job worth my while. So I dictate the standards, I dictate the price and I specify what I need from the client eg ALL other contractors MUST be finished, clean access for visitors to the doors (don't want anyone bringing soil in) power and LIGHTING to be provided and so on.

I would be charging a premium price higher than yours. You would need to cost in the time for your detailed pre-clean audit. If the client wants MY standards, then they must be prepared to pay MY fees. Otherwise, the jobs just not worth it.

If you're not sure if you want the job, then you wont be disappointed. If you get the job, then the extra profit will remove any misgivings you had

Just my view.

Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken

 

[Ian Griffiths]

Hard to say without knowing number of windows and type of fittings / finishes.

I find regardless of size that a room is a room. The time required starts to increase based on the number of windows (allow an average of 30 minutes for each, total for int & ext), doors, radiators and additional fittings.

As this is high end it will have tiled floors. These can be a nightmare, especially if the painters have been a bit slapdash, pebble dashed hard dried gloss in can be a soul destroying. Tiled floors are the main reason for room size being a problem as ordinarilly room size is not really a factor.

High end build's will also have tiled walls in en-suites and bathrooms as well as chrome radiators in the same. These often take up lots of time too.


There is a possibility here that you'll be OK. I say this because you haven't been asked to quote, but you've been asked to do the job. In this case try to agree an agreed hourly rate. This way you can't lose. If you can get this then you're on to a winner.

One point though, remember that you'll be responsible for the quality of work of your window subbie, infact, you'll be resposible for every aspect regading your subbie, so be careful.

I have only ever subbed windows out once. We did so at the request of the customer and only agreed on the proviso that any issues were direct between the two. This happened to be a large job where the customer's MD wanted to give a bit of work to a relative and the only way they could was to use a go between. As it happened the windows were caked in compo and ultimately the WC was recalled twice.

 

[Andrew Briscoe]

I charge 30p per sq ft for the clean + price for the windows.
60 % covers the build clean and 40 % the sparkle or re-clean.
Vacuum as much as possible, dont sweep as it gets airborne and re settles.
Start at top and work down, allow for plenty vac bags, they soon clog up.

Andrew

 

[Nick Robertson-Vousden]

Cat

Would it be worth a pre- survey with designer and then a clean to one room, at an agreed price / fixed number of hours, hours and hourly rate agreed first and then effectively its a trial for both sides on the one room, you can then both decide whether to go ahead on the whole job, (or not) at the end of the day the costs will be passed on anyway.

Best regards

Nick

 

[Tony Nash]

Cat,

We, my wife and I, normally aim for around £20.00 each, an hour. Then, £20.00 for each helper. After all, you've got deductions and overheads to allow for.

I'd say you've got your pricing spot on. If it's involving interior designers ( good luck ), then you've got to cover yourself haven't you.
We all know how much better we do a job when we're not fuming from an under priced quote.

Go for it!!

Tony