Sunday residental

[Lyman]

A women calls at 5.05 and wants her house cleaned this weekend. I am taking the family to the celtic festival on saturday for a nice day out. I tell her that I am busy on saturday but can do it on sunday for a extra charge. She is showing the house on monday for sell. Right away she gets an attitude and tells me that won't work and hangs up on me. Question for everybody is, do you work on sunday for the same as during the week. I have only had 3 full weekends off since may. By the way the house is for sale for 325,000.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Question for everybody is, do you work on sunday for the same as during the week.

depends whether my house payment is only a week late or a month late....

..L.T.A.

 

[Desk Jockey]

This year has been full of peaks and valleys so we would probably do it regular rate provided it was a good sized job.

Otherwise come winter I'd kick myself for not doing it! :wink:

 

[Guest]

I don't clean carpets on Sunday unless there's NO way around it. Even then the custi has to wait til after noon when church lets out and yes, it will cost them more.

I would've figured out a way to do it on Saturday.

 

[R W]

If the house is out in rural area, I will consider. I will not go into a neighbor hood on Sunday and clean, as well as start before 9 in the morning. It's just plain respect for the neighboring houses....they like quiet weekends, too.

 

[Nate The Great]

Don't sell yourself short. Don't let there problem become yours. When you accomodate customers, they don't appreciate it. The real problem customers try to push you around, just stand your ground and wait for the call back after the other company screws it up. :mrgreen:


On the other hand, Is it worth giving up your Sunday with no compensation? Only you can answer that.

 

[John Watson]

Larry spit it out just the same as me

depends whether my house payment is only a week late or a month late....


But I also agree with extra charges for weekend work unless planed for.
No, I don't charge them 1 1/2 times, but we up it 5-10 cents per square ft. Don't always get it but sure makes me feel better when I do and got to take the truck out on what was supposed to be a Honey do day..

 

[Doug Cox]

I wouldn't do a Sunday regardless. I've worked 2 Sundays in 25 yrs. 2 too many. I very seldom work Saturdays.

 

[Lyman]

Homemade doughnuts and coffee and a slinking outfit, now we are talking.

 

[Ken Snow]

Couldn't disagree with whittcohawaii more. We are in customer service and making my customers problems ours, is what gives us a USP. We started offering Sunday service as a regular part of our business at least 10 years ago and take volunteers for employees who want tovwork and make the extra money. We don't charge our customers extra but do pay our people considerably more for working Sunday. How does this make sense?

Our equipment, vehicles, buildings etc are all being paid for whether they are producing money or not, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Our employees benefits have a fixed monthly cost associated with them whether they work 5,6 or 7 days.

All these and many othe fixed costs do not go up and in fact are amortised over a broader scope of work if we can maximize production and get 6-7 days work out of a truck/crew, not to mention evenings.

All this creates a win-win-win as our customer has their needs/wants satisfied, our cleaners who want to work more can make more money, and we have a higher revenue stream.

Ken

 

[Able 1]

Vary well put Ken, I only charge an extra 25.00 per job on weekends but they egerly pay for that conveinance.

 

[Nate The Great]

Difference of opinion, ken. I'm glad you can make money with your system in place. If the table was flipped and you didn't have employee's to do the work on weekends, would you clean carpet 7 days aweek? I'm going out on a limb and say you wouldn't.

I assumed lyman is a owner/op. If you want to work a weekend and not charge more for the convenience, that's your choice.

If a customer wants to inconvenience you and wait to the last minute, there are always consequences to whatever their choices are!

I do respect everyones opinion, I mean no disrespect to anyone.

 

[rhyde]

Couldn't disagree with whittcohawaii more.

F'n trouble maker! :wink: Ken, most of us are not large companies with minions at our control. You point is valid but not for owner operator with a wife and two kids some things are more important than $$$

I’ve done some weekend work for good clients but a cold call/ new client nope i can't get back the time with my 3 & 5 year old kids once it's gone it's gone

 

[Rex Tyus]

For the multi truck, or even the single truck with multiple operators it only makes sense to run multiple shifts (for the reasons Ken illustrated). Doug H spoke on running 3 shifts with one truck in a class I had once. However, for the single truck owner operator I suggest caution. If you are not careful you can experience burnout and loose track of the whole reason you are in business. I have and will do Sunday residential but it is VERY limited. Hell my commercial Sunday work is limited. Not that I am a bible thumper but 90% of my area is and they frown upon such activity.


Besides I have to get permission from my wife (being a kept man and all). She likes me home with her on Sundays. :wink:

 

[Ken Snow]

Here is where I have the problem~ "If a customer wants to inconvenience you and wait to the last minute, there are always consequences to whatever their choices are!"

Do you think anyone wakes up one day and says I'm going to inconvenience a carpet cleaner and make them come over to clean on a Sunday? I don't. I think life happens and people put off things, or forget till the last minute, or maybe they work 6 days a week and sunday is the only day they have available for getting things done. I want to be the company that is there for them, so they tell all their friends about our flexibility. Is it easier for us with lots of people? Sure it is and I can understand and certainly respect not working Sundays for personal or religeous belief reasons, just not because of a customer. They are the only reason we exist, not an inconvenience.

Perhaps adding a couple people to work just weekends if you only want to work Mon-Fri could add an additional 25-35% revenue or get some commercial work that has to be done on those days. Lots of options for OO's or multi truckers.

Ken

 

[Rex Tyus]

Well said Ken. You are making me feel guilty for being a lazy bum that mooches off my wife.


:mrgreen:

 

[Ken Snow]

LOL Rex, nothing wrong with that, or with having guys out there making money for you while your home with your wife. Everybody wins!

 

[Doug Cox]

Do you think anyone wakes up one day and says I'm going to inconvenience a carpet cleaner and make them come over to clean on a Sunday? I don't. I think life happens and people put off things, or forget till the last minute, or maybe they work 6 days a week and sunday is the only day they have available for getting things done. I want to be the company that is there for them, so they tell all their friends about our flexibility. Ken

Ken- I believe that some people are inconsiderate by waiting until the last minute to call you, especially if they make a habit of doing it. I only have so much time that I devote to my work and if someone wants to wait til the last minute to call me, they may have to call someone else. I try to condition my customers to plan ahead by letting them know how long we are booked out. After a time or two of declining them work, they learn to plan ahead. But I will make every effort to help them out if I can.

 

[Ken Snow]

Doug~ I don't disagree that someone may not care, or what you call it, may be inconsiderate by waiting till the last minute, but I think for the most part it is just how they live their lives and we are just one of those many things that are effected by that. I would rather they not go to someone else those 1-2 times, especially at the risk of them finding that they are happy with the other company and then don't come back. Our overall experience is that the customers we squeeze in last minute or are able to accomodate on a Sunday or even evening are very appreciative and become big cheerleaders, especially if it was helping with a last minute family visit, or some other unknown last minute need.

Ken

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Here in Vegas we routinely book carpet cleanings over the phone until 8pm, and get email requests processed at midnight or later sometimes. We are usually able to book 3-5 same day services on Sunday, probably because we answer the phone and most others don't.

You don't have to be a large company to run efficiently 24-7. If you are a small company and want to become a large company you may need to sacrifice and put yourself out of your comfort zone for a short period. Once you get just a few people working for you you can accomplish a lot with little effort. We don't make our techs work Sunday, but they tend to like the money.

 

[Ken Snow]

Exactly Jesse- our Sunday work is all by volunteer, no forced working and we book jobs according to how many want to work.
Ken

 

[R W]

I will go out on a Sunday or anytime for emergency extraction work. I think neighboring people will understand. But.......do YOU, as a homeowner, want a TM, or a tree service (the chipper), or a duct cleaning truck parked next to YOUR house on a Sunday, just so they can service a last minute customer? Most TM's I know of do make some offensive noise, whether you believe it or not.

I just don't do it out of respect.

 

[Weebco]

I don't work on Sunday's.
But I think I would charge more for Sunday Work.

 

[rhino1]

Most people around here spend the afternoon mowing the lawn, riding their Harley, or any number of things that may create just as much noise as a typical TM. That being said, I saw one of those home remodeling shows where the police came and ran the work crew off because local ordinances made it illegal for a commercial business to do ANY kind of noisy work on the weekends.

 

[Nate The Great]

I still have to disagree with Ken, you need to compare apples to apples. Yes, if lyman had a crew or techs who wanted to work on the weekend, then its a win-win situation. Fact of the matter is, he's taking his family out on saturday and said he could do it sunday. That's an option lyman offered. Customer didn't want to pay his price. Why should his family suffer the consequences in making 1 more customer happy? It does sound like lyman is starting to get burned out and frankly, just take the day off. Your body needs to rest and hopefully in the near future you can have techs instead of you doing weekend work. Get a system in place anyone can follow.


To answer your original question, No I don't work on the weekend. If I had to, YES, they will be paying a higher price for not thinking ahead.



The following statement is my personal and business belief as of now. When there's a system in place for more employee's to be added, then it may change. Keep in mind, I'm not the owner of the Whittco & Meiso Inc. I am the son/employee/future owner of the company. We are not a multi trucker so that's based upon owner/op status.


Respectfully,

Nate Whittington

 

[Brian R]

I agree with ken,
I work weekends just to get the neighbors looking and asking questions. Money is money.
It's not when you work, it's how much you make at the end of the day.

I just got back from working today and got two referrals from it.
the realtor was there, gonna do his house. And the custy's mother in law was there, doing her house as well.

This customer called me at the last minute and I said "what the hell, I'll do it." I was out doing one job for a prop manager anyway.
Made $400.00 on the job.

 

[Nate The Great]

I agree with ken,
I work weekends just to get the neighbors looking and asking questions. Money is money.
It's not when you work, it's how much you make at the end of the day.

I just got back from working today and got two referrals from it.
the realtor was there, gonna do his house. And the custy's mother in law was there, doing her house as well.

This customer called me at the last minute and I said "what the hell, I'll do it." I was out doing one job for a prop manager anyway.
Made $400.00 on the job.

Certainly Brian, money is money.

It is what it is. I speak from living with my parents not being there when we were growing up. My parents were doing a 1.5 million dollar fire restoration in 2 months, my dad would give us money and told us to go play. It nearly broke his/her heart when we told them we don't want the money, we want to spend time with our parents.

Yes, you do what you got to do. I see where Ken was coming from and just disagree with the situation at hand. multi-trucker vs. owner/op

 

[Brian R]

Ok, so I am not talking about every weekend.
I get what you mean Whitt

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

I'm reading some of you talking about last minute calls on the weekends and I'm seeing Ken talk about doing jobs on the weekend , like Sunday. It sounds to me like Ken is not booking last minute calls on Sunday, he is booking jobs for Sunday for the people who need it cleaned on Sunday.

I clean on every other Saturday for 2 reasons. 1. I don't have enough customers to book every Saturday and 2. This way I can have all the Saturday customers on one weekend.

It looks to me as if you guys are talking about 2 different things. Correct me if I wrong please.

 

[Nate The Great]

I'm reading some of you talking about last minute calls on the weekends and I'm seeing Ken talk about doing jobs on the weekend , like Sunday. It sounds to me like Ken is not booking last minute calls on Sunday, he is booking jobs for Sunday for the people who need it cleaned on Sunday.

I clean on every other Saturday for 2 reasons. 1. I don't have enough customers to book every Saturday and 2. This way I can have all the Saturday customers on one weekend.

It looks to me as if you guys are talking about 2 different things. Correct me if I wrong please.

It is 2 different things, exactly. The original question is what is at hand. You are correct :mrgreen: