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7 November 2016
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Cleaning Up – At What Cost?

Value for Money price Tag
Pound SignPRICE…Everyone needs to know the price of goods and services. At what point in the conversation is this important though? If you get a cost over the phone it’s unlikely to be 100% accurate…I mean would you leave one job to go to another without going to see the person or workplace involved? So why do it with trade’s people?
Rough pricing….’Just give me a rough price’….what does this really mean? Okay between £1.00 and £100.00 that’s a rough price, right? Okay what about around £80.00 then? Or why not get a free written quotation, after a no obligation onsite quote? What about getting an exact quote in writing and have all the benefits and any limitations explained? Understandably, some home owners, especially if they are vulnerable in any way, don’t like having workmen in their home because of reports of pushy sales people. This is not common place now as practices change and homeowners become savvy. Choosing a reputable endorsed or registered company is always a good start and Absolutely Clean is….IICRC, Woolsafe, TACCA and WHICH? Trusted trader approved for your peace of mind.

Shopping by price…If you shop around to find the cheapest carpet cleaner…then that’s exactly what you will get. If this is your aim then that’s fine. If not you may have made a terrible mistake and may lead to potential problems. Companies, organisations or individuals who charge low prices tend to do it for a reason. Maybe they don’t value their service or maybe they just use poor quality equipment and products. Some just think the only way they can get customers is to beat everyone else’s price. Low price services usually come with conditions and limits, making upgrades, additions and alterations expensive, normally called upselling or bait and switch. In addition to this their workers tend to be low paid and have high volumes of work to complete in order to keep costs down and this can lead to poor workmanship. So let me ask you this….if you were at work doing your job and the person next to you was getting double the wages for doing the same job how would you feel?
Cost, Money, Charge, Price, Quotes, How much?….these are types of questions that are asked all the time.
Quality, Training, Experience, Qualifications, Recommendations, Insurance…not as often. If these types of questions are not asked, then it’s then no wonder that sometimes customers can make uninformed and even poor choices.

Why are some quotes so different? All the time we are asked to quote for leather sofas and are sometimes asked why are we twice the price? Well, I have to explain that when customers have asked other companies for a price to clean a leather sofa that’s what they get. We on the other hand only do clean and condition with an added protector. If leather sofas are just cleaned without being protected the finish can be easily damaged. So if it’s twice the work, it therefore should be twice the price. When asked why we are so dear, my reply is why are the others so cheap? Again, when quoting for carpet cleaning jobs we can quite often be considerably more than our competitor’s and this can be down to many factors. Low cost companies may not use the best equipment, have size limits, hidden surcharges and may not include the moving of furniture or stain removal. Having said that, being an independent company and not part of a national franchise, we are still able to be competitive.

Value for Money price Tag


Get a free survey done (CALL 0800 458 4901). After all it’s free and often eliminates misunderstandings and mistakes.

Get several quotes and compare them.

If quotes are significantly different ask why?

Only use recommended or endorsed business if possible.

Check them out online and read their reviews.

Don’t pick the cheapest.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Graeme Marchbank

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