What is your definition of a post construction clean?
So I've had a cleaning business for about five years with 15 years experience. I got started with a twice weekly commercial account. It brings in enough on its own so I've never really gone out of my way for more business because it usually finds me by word of mouth anyway. Normally just random one time residentials. In May, I was contacted by a property manager that was overseeing the takeover of an apartment complex that was built in the 80s. I met her and she showed me three apartments. Two that had guys in them painting and putting in new counters and cabinets, one that was supposed to be next to be renovated. This was my first experience with a job of this size and I priced it fairly based off of what I was shown and the amount of apartments (about 50). These are 1 bed 1 bath and 2 bed 2 bath apartments, 1 bedrooms being around 650 sq ft and 2 bedrooms around 950 sq ft. She said every apartment was getting new countertops, new cabinets, new appliances, paint, refinished bathtubs and some would get new floors. Didn't sound too bad at all. The first four apartments matched the description. The next four did not. Some didn't get new cabinets, most didn't get new appliances and you can't convince me that any got new floors. I'm talking dead roaches and rat droppings in the cabinets. Horror shows in the fridges, ovens that haven't been cleaned possibly ever. Refinishing the tubs meant painting over filth. General painting was also painting over filth. It quickly turned into something I didn't bargain for and I contacted her and I started adding extra fees for the deep cleanings. I've done about 25 apartments at this point and they've gotten progressively worse. The last set I did had a 2 bedroom that hadn't been worked on whatsoever. It was an eviction and a woman in a wheelchair had been living for a long time. There was all kinds of trash left behind and seemingly every inch of the floor had a solid layer of brown sticky stuff. I charged for a full deep clean on that one. My definition of a post construction clean is obviously construction dust, minor debris, removing stickers/labels, a lot of dusting, picking up left behind supplies like screws etc, cleaning up some paint splatter. These guys aren't even covering anything before they paint though. I've had entire stovetops covered in paint. 6 inch spread of paint on the floor. Like I said, I readjusted when needed but they've given my info to other people that are buying other complexes and I don't want to screw myself over again. How could I have planned for this and priced accordingly? I'm in Texas if that matters. $30-50 an hour is about standard. I'm also doing this by myself. I have some help occasionally but most of the time it's just me.