Low income housing work???

I got a call from a company I used to do some work for and they want me to be the carpet cleaning company at 16+ locations that have many apartments...I come in after they are cleaned and painted...we can even do that if we want! but I will stick to the carpet as its the only service they don't dictate the rate...we charge our rates and bill them....they pay usually within 20 days but never over 30 as I recall. I get to select the areas I work and 16 locations was all I wanted as the others were to far....does anyone else get into these?

Got into them and then got out of them.

I liked the arrangement initially, but ownership changed hands and then they wanted that "preferred vendor" arrangement.

It wasn't 16 buildings, but it was half that which was also all of them in that town. Just didn't like the new vendor requirement.

As long as they don't try and dictate how you clean, I think it is great, but some of them are snakes.

I had an offer 5 years ago to be the exclusive mold contractor for one of the largest real estate companies in the US. The contract was close to $500,000 and I thought I had hit the big time.

Then when I met the CEO to sign the contract, he told me how I was supposed to handle the mold....."Just paint over it and cover the smell with something".

I had to walk away from the biggest contract I will likely ever see, but I also didn't want to go to jail.

If you can trust the owners and they agree to let you clean the way you see fit as an independent contractor, I would say you found a sweet deal.

Contract dictates Im independent and they just give me a unit number....I have my rates and they pay them! I have never had any issues in the past, they are desperate to find someone to do it because most dont have insurance etc. 16 locations is sweet, I can take on all 40 locations at one sector and possibly all the other in the other sector.....but, if I take to much it gets in the way of my regular customers. Im going to have to tame this beast.

idk, its low income so how much are they really going to pay.

at least here usually those are not really the ones to go after, they are fine with cheap portable work for 75bucks a unit

I do agree with AC on this, are they really willing to pay your full rates to clean carpets that are probably 20 years past normal replacement?

The only other concern I would have is the boring aspect of a route like that. Sixteen buildings can over-load you with the same thing day in and day out....my buddy with the 40+ store fronts is often ready to leap off of a bridge from the routine of it.

I get $125 for a 2 bed small hall and LvRm (Empty and maybe 350 sqft)....only drawback is some locations are a little further away, so I had to draw the line for the closest locations.

My furthest location is 40 miles away but is a smaller location.

We have to stop doing this....I had the same rate for the same size unit.....getting creepy.

They wanted to pay $95, but I held out and tried for $150, but settled on $125 since they were all within 5 miles of each other.

How many floors are involved....those 2nd and 3rd floor units were a bit of a pain and they were the highest turnover units of each building.

problem is, how many units will they have at one time?

1 unit 40miles away maybe and some closer but it sounds like your getting pretty busy over there with good residential.

In the past they had anywhere from 1 to 3 and tried to stack if possible. I think its a good fit but my risk is them begging to go out of my selected area.

My 40 miles is awesome...95% of my work is extremely close. I like a little window time as there is NO traffic and the country is nice to see. I can usually plan a job close to my 40 mi route too. also, being the smaller complex it would get less calls.

Sounds like a good contract then....congrats.

ya I dont mind driving 30 miles or so, 40 isnt horrible.

The majority of these are one level type housing....The 40 miles will be straight drive NO traffic at all.

One of the perks about living the smaller markets are they are void of traffic issues. Trying to cover 40 miles in a congested city sucks, while is is just a nice 30 minute straight drive for guys like us.

Most of my jobs are 20 minutes away....no traffic....no street lights.

I would stipulate a minimum number of units per stop for that pricing. Or tiered pricing depending on how many units to be cleaned per building. I would hate to have 2 or 3 jobs in my immediate area and have to drive 80 miles round trip to clean one unit.

The good thing is you have worked with these guys before and you know they will pay.

They will stack if they can...from past experience Ive learned they almost always say 1 unit then when you get there it turns into 3 or someone has something! lol some will be good and some may suck BUT its layered work.....good for slower times IF I ever see them again.

Yup, that is the way they always went for me as well.

We had a policy of not cleaning unless there were 2 units that were ready. When I would show up, there was always a 3rd apartment or laundry room flood waiting for me.

Like you surmised, good work for the slower times and can often end up being 6-7 units in a day as those kind of places have a very high turn-over rate.

sounds like they pay a lot more for those then they do here.

for regular lower end apartments they will pay 125$ as that is the deposit, usually very dirty carpet though.

low income they would never approve that much, maybe $60... they are usually a "paint over the mold" type place that Rob was describing

I am with you AC, it is very rare to get more than gas money to clean some of the worst carpets in the world with the low-end housing.

In my case, we signed a blanket contract with a flat rate per apartment....regardless which building it was located. We also had an understanding that their expectations for the "flop house" building were far less than the other buildings.....just hit it and walk away cleanings mostly

It actually made working the worst buildings the more profitable arrangement for me, but I still didn't enjoy cleaning them.

Havent experienced that with these people at all. They do not dictate my rates at all.

the real main reason we dont do apartments here is because its a big city and these things usually dont have parking lots, almost always underground/garage parking.

Some in the out skirts have open style buildings where the door to the unit leads directly outside, Ive done a bunch of those but still parking and overall set up can be a pain.

In general I hate doing apartments and condos

Its way different here...most of the time I can pull directly in front of the door. IF it happens to be a multi level its only two and again fairly easy....a lot of these are rural type and have easy access. They are pretty good for what I want but the only draw back it driving at times when Im busy....I may have to squeeze in a job during a busy day and drive 30 miles just when I didnt want to. I dont think if I was in CA or WA I would like doing these.

they are good for trucks that employees are on because little can go wrong and they are usually easily pleased,   as long as price is lower.  

Im talking apartments in general not low income section 8.      

I will hit the condo apartment scene hard in prob a few years but not until we are running another truck that is small and has equipment for bad access.

try it for a while at least Devon, you might like it but you also may find its more of a pain for 125$ than its worth. If you get really busy with good residential and want to stay a 1 guy show then it will probably get in the way of higher tickets and better customers

Yes AC...that was my concern. I think Im the only guy around who carries insurance because they are all over me to do it....when I mentioned price they agreed and had no issues. I can always stop like you say....I like them for winter and water loss jobs that make it all worth it....I was the one and only guy doing them before and had maybe 3 water losses a month at all locations....it was worth it because I always had a van that could make the drive...not to mention the drive paid well when it wasnt local....I passed this to my guys...they loved out of town work like this as they made a killing.