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Everyone has an opinion.

Price Per Square Foot

Some say knowing how much to price a janitorial, office-cleaning bid at is as easy as multiplying the total cleanable square feet of a building by so many dollars or cents per square foot. Unfortunately, this formula is often tossed about without even mentioning if the figures are based on a month or a year; a piece of information those new to the cleaning business would not doubt find quite valuable to know.

For example, per square foot figures ranging from $0.08 - $0.14 per sq. ft. or $0.95 - $1.50 per sq. ft., are offered up with little or no explanation; assuming it's common knowledge that the former generally refers to a monthly calculation; while the latter is meant for a yearly price estimate.

Educated Guess

Others suggest you should rely on your own experience, simply guesstimate how long it should take to clean, and then charge so much per hour. But, that advice can be equally misleading. And the cleaning contractor with little or no experience is at a real disadvantage. The number and kind of cleaning jobs janitorial companies face can vary greatly in size, frequency and difficulty, as well as, in the actual nature of the cleaning (i.e. professional office, industrial/manufacturing, retail, restaurant etc).

In time, many cleaning business owners come to realize the differences from one project to the next can be so significant; the idea of pricing jobs based on their best guess of cleaning times is simply not a reliable or effective bidding method. In fact, even if they could somehow, eventually, develop a way of personally guesstimating the price for cleaning jobs, they may still be leaving their cleaning business vulnerable.

On one hand, what if they ever plan on having someone else do the bidding for their cleaning business? How long would it take to thoroughly teach a new person everything it took them so many years to learn? Too long is right! And in the worst case, what if, god forbid, something unforeseen ever happens to the business owner... leaving those left behind to run the cleaning business, but with no systematic way to estimate how long a cleaning job should take or how much they should charge.

Plain and simple, for most cleaning businesses who want to grow, bidding and estimating jobs should not rest solely on one person's shoulders. Instead, there needs to be a reliable and easy to use bidding system.

'Standardized' Production Rates

Finally, still others insist you should just use a "standard", generalized, overall, production rate to figure the hours needed to clean a building, and then again, simply charge so much per hour.

There are two primary kinds of production rates in the cleaning business.

One is production rates for individual cleaning tasks; which means how much sq. ft. one person can clean in one hour... performing only one task. There are also overall cleaning production rates which generally refer to how many sq. ft. of a building can be cleaned by one person in one hour performing an entire set of what some may refer to as "standard" cleaning duties.

This overall production rate approach would suggest you simply divide the total area to be cleaned by a given 'overall', 'standard' production rate figure - take the resulting hours, and multiply by your hourly rate.

The only problem, of course, is that every building is unique, and the kind, level and frequency of cleaning tasks each prospective customer wants can differ greatly in type, frequency and degree of difficulty. This makes it difficult to rely on a so-called 'standard' production rate designed to cover a whole set of so-called 'standard' type cleaning tasks... with an acceptable level of confidence the time estimates will be reliable and the resulting price decision will be a profitable.

Workloading

So, if this one-size fits all approach falls short too - what does work? What is the best place to start?

Answer: Workloading.

That's right, workloading each job so you have a calculated cleaning time unique to the building you're bidding on is the place we recommend most cleaning companies should start when it comes to bidding.

And, what is workloading?

Well, it's the process of figuring out a time estimate for how long a building should take to clean by basically "loading" the "work".

What "work"?

Well, of course, all the cleaning tasks needing to be performed.

In simplest terms, workloading is the process of entering specific information about a building such as individual measurements (i.e. room dimensions), floor types (i.e. carpet, tile) and fixture counts (sinks, toilets), and then matching them up with an appropriate series of schedules consisting of specific cleaning tasks and associated production rates to generate an average per visit cleaning time.

It really all comes down to calculating an estimated cleaning time for the building you're bidding on. And when you have a calculated cleaning time, you can move forward confidently to pricing the job.

From there, cleaning business owners can multiply a monthly hours estimate times a properly 'loaded' hourly rate to determine a monthly price to charge.

When you start with calculating a cleaning time you're way ahead of the guy who is simply guessing a price using an over-simplified method.

Janitorial bidding software programs are extremely useful and available to help you "workload" the janitorial jobs you're bidding on.

Job

Foreclosure cleaning is a hot business right now. Many are getting into it, but immediately hit a stumbling block when it comes to pricing. Following is some advice on pricing your foreclosure cleanup services.

Foreclosure Cleanup Companies: 3 Things to Keep in Mind When Pricing Services

1. Know Service Cost: The first things to keep in mind when pricing your foreclosure cleaning services is to find out what it's going to cost you to provide a service.

For example, if one of the things you have to do to a property is replace the broken windows, then you need to find out how much the windows cost and how much it's going to cost to get them installed (if you're not installing them yourself).

To make a profit on this service, you would then add time and labor costs to that.

Foreclosure Cleaning Pricing Tip: One of the biggest mistakes foreclosure cleaning service company owners make is not adding in the cost of "running around time." In business - any type of business - time is money. Keep this in mind.

2. How Much Do You Need to Make: Sometimes, pricing a foreclosure cleaning job boils down to how much you wan to make. For smaller jobs, ie, simply changing the locks on a house, it may not cost you that much to actually do it, which makes it not worth your time.

BUT, if you want to offer this foreclosure cleaning service because you want to be a one-stop shop for clients, then you simply add in how much you need to make off of it to make it worth your while.

For example, if you can get locks changed for $50 a pop, but it takes you 45 minutes to drive to the property, meet with the locksmith, drive back home and then write up the invoice, you may have spent two hours or more.

So, even though it only cost you $50, how much do you think you need to charge to have made this worth your while? $75, $100, $125? It's up to you to decide.

3. Get More than One Estimate: In the foreclosure cleaning business, you're going to rely a lot on contractors to set your prices. So you must, must, must get more than one estimate to get an idea of what you should be paying.

For example, let's say you need to get the exterior of a house painted. One painter may charge you $1,200, while another may charge $2,000. Yet a third may charge $1,600. So, what should you be paying.

To get a "pricing measuring stick", so to speak, for this foreclosure cleaning service, use the average of the estimates.

Foreclosure Cleaning Pricing Tip: Cheaper is not always better. A lot of this business depends on your gut. With each job, you'll pick up lessons that will help you price the next one that much better.

Foreclosure cleaning can be a very lucrative business. But, if you price a job wrong, you can literally be out of business before you know it.

To learn more about how to price foreclosure cleaning jobs, log on to Start-a-Foreclosure-Cleanup-Business dot com.

May be reprinted with the following, in full: Learn how to price foreclosure jobs so you can make your business a success and never have to work for someone else again. Everything you need to know can be found at Start-a-Foreclosure-Cleanup-Business.com, ie, 200 pages of first-hand information from the owner of a leading foreclosure cleanup company in Atlanta, GA.

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You're trying to figure out the difference between the various search engine optimization services are on the Web? Are you stuck to figure out what SEO services you really need and what you can do without? Or do you simply want a company to do your SEO work, but have no idea who trust or how to choose the best company for your needs and price range?

Well, if the answer is yes, then you might want to keep reading because there are some thingsYou should expect an SEO company before signing a contract with them. The attempt to identify themselves between the different search engine optimization services on your can create confusion, especially if you are really only a basic knowledge of SEO. However, there are some key terms that make the economy look, look out for in any search engine optimization services as you make the final decision will be much easier.

References-

Like any company, organization should provide excellent SEO articles that you can verify a worker process before completing. All optimization services search engine must have experience with clients and contractors can be done, working much like a building would be completed.

If you have offered no evidence or at least a free trial to show their excellence, then it's time the door and go 'beyond the next option to close. A Base-Lineis not an excuse for a lack of identity.

Honesty & Communication -

It 's in your interest to choose to come to the table of Search Engine Optimization Services from a period when the company offers a realistic picture of time to complete and was not the fastest.

Chances are good that if a completion time that you do not blow away, probably really possible or likely to happen, I promise. If the company is willing to lie about the duration of the project, whichotherwise

Range of optimization services search engine -

Optimization services search engines are more diverse and more technical time continues to pass the time. It used to be a dozen key words and some minor adjustments may get top billing, but no workers trained SEO can say is a great deal of additional work that is receiving a high ranking in the search. An excellent companies SEO know and have a variety of services foroffer flexible packages for customers who want to combine, they must do so.

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