I think I may have just cuaght a break

We seem to have skipped Spring and went right to Summer here in Nebraska with temps in the upper 70's all week....and it feels wonderful, but the phone is still too quiet for this time of year. So, I went back to ground floor and re-visted the apartment complexes that I used to clean. At one time, I cleaned for 6 apartment complexes, which was all of them in that particular city. It was a good contract although the owners were often on the cheap side. Then one day a company came along and bought all of them and decided to use a referral service in another city to source contractors.

You may remember this story as I wrestled with the idea of staying with those buildings or walking away. In the end, I really didn't like the idea of having another company in my pocket so I walked away. Well, that was 3-4 years ago and I have seen a constant parade of differnt franchise cleaners coming from 40 minutes away to service these apartments. I also know that the results have been poor to criminal with 2 BR apartments being cleaned in 15 minutes and left wet for 2 days. So, I thought that I would check to see if they have had enough yet.

My meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, but they were very excited about being able to switch to someone more local instead of the revolving door of contractors that they had been using. It was also not surprising that they have been paying a rather high premium to get these cleaners to travel that far, so they have asked me to put together a proposal that she can present to Corporate to break away from their current practices. The best part of this equation is that I know the owner of that Corporation and grew up with him. He didn't help much years ago, but that was because he had already signed a contract with this referral service and was obligated to use them. I don't know if that is still the case today or not.

It will be mostly 2 bedroom apartments with some that are 3-4 bedrooms. No more than 2-story buildings, all with balconies, with average number of units being 55 per location. Turn-over is about 2-3 units per month per location as well. Over-all, not a bad situation as these are pretty nice buildings with high rents. From what I saw on the desk, they have been paying as much to clean an apartment as they would to clean a comparable sized home. I could easily beat that and add an extra 12 - 18 cleans per month to my schedule.

I haven't written up a good proposal in a few years so it is time to break out the typing skills and see what I can put together....it looks promising though.

Sounds good, as long as they pay you on time. No one likes chasing money they are owed.

Hope it pans out.

That is why I fired a several apartment complexes in a different town and a retirement home. This proposal is going to specify no more than 15 days for the terms. I prefer 10 days, but since it has to submit from the site manager to corporate before getting payment, I think the 15 is acceptable. Anything after that will include penalties.

This contract is getting spelled out in fine detail. I have planned it down to the dirt and will finish it up tomorrow before submitting. If they accept it, I will have a nice account less than 15 minutes drive away. If not, it will be busy as usual.

Way to hustle for work. I need tonget my was out there too.

I just hope it works Mo, I am now finishing month 4 and it remains dead. I have never seen it like this at this time of year in the 12 years that I have been running this good for nothing business. It is like I don't exist anymore. I really don't see how I am going to recover this year....I just lost the 2 busiest months traditionally.

Mo wrote:I need tonget my was out there too.

I still can’t decipher this sentence

You have squint and drink some vodka shots first Dp...it makes perfect sense after that.

milspec6 wrote:I just hope it works Mo, I am now finishing month 4 and it remains dead.  I have never seen it like this at this time of year in the 12 years that I have been running this good for nothing business.  It is like I don't exist anymore.  I really don't see how I am going to recover this year....I just lost the 2 busiest months traditionally.

Sometime I feel the same way. Hello, anyone out there. And these are regular, like clockwork kinda customers.
One of my main PM ACCTS changed hand last fall\winter. I did 2 small job soon after this new owners took over. Usually over the winter its: 1 maybe 2 jobs a month.
BUT it was: Jan=0, Feb=0, mar=0, April=4 with 3 TBD.
I was getting nervous the 1st Q. Did they fire me, was I replaced......
Nope, but I think they are skipping some really cleanish looking carpets and not cleaning them.
I just did one of their occupied unit. Guy says there went cleaned when he moved in at Christmas time. Hmmmmm?

Glad to hear that I am not alone then Matt, I was starting to think that I was just haunting this house. I was the one predicting a big year for everyone with gains in the economy and so far I was way off. There doesn't appear to be any reason behind it which is what is drivng me nuts. Commercial budgets were set last October so it isn't like the they are worried about budget cuts and they will want to use up that budget prior to September or else face a reduction in their budgets. That is a lot of cleaning over the next 5 months...at least I hope so.

Matt; My carpet cleaner wrote:

milspec6 wrote:I just hope it works Mo, I am now finishing month 4 and it remains dead.  I have never seen it like this at this time of year in the 12 years that I have been running this good for nothing business.  It is like I don't exist anymore.  I really don't see how I am going to recover this year....I just lost the 2 busiest months traditionally.

Sometime I feel the same way. Hello, anyone out there. And these are regular, like clockwork kinda customers.
One of my main PM ACCTS changed hand last fall\winter. I did 2 small job soon after this new owners took over. Usually over the winter its: 1 maybe 2 jobs a month.
BUT it was: Jan=0, Feb=0, mar=0, April=4 with 3 TBD.
I was getting nervous the 1st Q. Did they fire me, was I replaced......
Nope, but I think they are skipping some really cleanish looking carpets and not cleaning them.
I just did one of their occupied unit. Guy says there went cleaned when he moved in at Christmas time. Hmmmmm?

I’m pretty sure in most states legally you have to get the carpets cleaned before someone is moving in.
If only the tenant know and have something concrete that can prove that, the landlord would be in deep sh!t, usually that kind of thing don’t happen here in my area, I’m sure it happens in downtown LA or east LA where it’s really bad neighborhood, but not for upper scale rentals.
I always clean my carpet before I move in a place cause I don’t trust these damn carpet cleaners

It is a requirement that be cleaned prior to occupancy, but there is no inspection nor is there a dictated method. It is also required under city health codes for restaraunts to clean, yet they clearly do not around me. Some of those carpets don't look like they have been cleaned in years.

I actually called around today to see how the others were doing in this area.....of the 8, 4 have closed or relocated. That is either good news for me or a sign of very bad news...not sure which yet. Last man standing might be the goal.

dp1 wrote:

Mo wrote:I need tonget my was out there too.

I still can’t decipher this sentence

LOL

I need to get my ads out there.

I've been using my phone to post and my fingers are to big for the keyboard. That's my excuse and I'm stinking to it