I need to make money

Even a small amount, badly.
So I have offered my services to the resort park vacation home owners.
Some are strictly vacation homes, some are kept as vacation rentals.
We do have permanent residents too, but I'm only targeting the vacation homes.

The idea is to keep the service cheap so that they will want to use it.

Vacation homes:
I will go in and dust/wipe down, vacuum, check that everything works, air out and turn on heat/AC as needed prior owner arrival.

Vacation rentals:
The above service for the same fee.
Also a complete cleaning after renters leave.

I'm thinking $15 flat rate for the air out.
For complete cleaning after occupation I'm thinking $30 for the single wides, $40 for the doubles.
$5 more if I supply my vacuum, $2.50 per load of laundry (some supply linens).

I need honest opinions here, these are all older mobile homes, these are not million dollar vacation mansions

Hmmm.... don't know how much help I can be here. We're up in NJ. Granted it's rural NJ, but still....

To have someone come clean what would be the equivalent of a single-wide is $75.00 (assuming it takes about 3 hours, because really, they charge by the hour), and they supply the vacuum.

I assume you mean they have the washing machine and dryer? Because if you have to use the machines up in the office, you can't do a load of laundry for $2.50 up here. At the wash and fold up here, they charge $0.80 per pound - but they get the benefit of having business from hotels and nursing homes and such.

ARE there any cleaning services around? Call to enquire at like the closest town that would have one. I think you'll find they charge by the hour, and that they have to provide an estimate for each job - because some may need a lot more cleaning than others. When we moved into a house, the stove in the new place needed about 2 hours of cleaning for just THAT. So maybe do a little investigation, found out what hourly rates are, perhaps discount them a little to match the potential client base, and just charge the flat rate for laundry and the air-out.

Originally Posted by LDG

I assume you mean they have the washing machine and dryer? Because if you have to use the machines up in the office, you can't do a load of laundry for $2.50 up here. At the wash and fold up here, they charge $0.80 per pound - but they get the benefit of having business from hotels and nursing homes and such.

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I read that as more of a fee for washing her own towels and stuff, sort of like the shop towel fee that mechanics charge.

As for the rates, I guess it depends on how much cleaning you're actually doing. When I used to maintenance on apartments, cleaning them after a tenant was a task I dreaded. We had times where it took two of us over a day on a single apartment, though admittedly those were apartments where someone had just left without doing any cleaning or even moving their garbage out.

If you're just talking wiping down the counters, a bit of dusting, and some vacuuming rather than any serious cleaning, your prices might be reasonable, especially if you live close by and you're not burning gas getting there. Honestly though, unless you're pretty familiar with the task, it's hard to estimate how long it will take and thus decide if you're getting paid reasonably. Maybe you can offer to do a couple for free (or even just lowball cheap) as a promotional offer? That would give you a good gauge of how much you should charge and help drum up some business.

My first thought is that your fees are too low. You need to do more research on what you're actually spending (overhead). Think about things like gas to drive to the places, plus routine car maintenance if you're doing a lot of driving. Are you using your own cleaning supplies, or will those be supplied by the owners? Are you taking linens back to your house to wash them? How much does it cost you for water and electricity? If you're going to a laundromat you should charge double the amount you have to put into the machines. In addition to the actual cost of doing the work, your time is worth something.

A flat fee for opening up and airing out a mobile home is fine, but I would make it $20-25. Charging by the hour for cleaning is a good idea, especially since some jobs will take much longer than others. Suppose you're planning to clean 3 homes in one day, allowing 2 hours for each one. At the rates you quoted you would get $90 for the day's work. Then you run into a really grungy place and it takes you 4 hours to clean. You never get to the third place, but you've worked the same number of hours and gotten only $60. You also need to make it clear whether the cleaning supplies are included in your fee or an extra charge.

The rentals are weekend rentals.
A complete clean would never involve the stove as no one here cooks inside
It would be more like an air out, plus refridgerator wipe down and bed making, plus ensuring everything was turned off and ready for the next weekend.
This is all inside the park, all within walking distance and all of the mobile homes have laundry facilities inside them.

The vacation homes are empty 4-7 months of the year and so those mostly would need the air out service.
I know most of the owners in the park and as their summer bartender, they also like me

I see a lot of owners drive in just to make sure their homes are ready, in some cases that's a 6-8 hour drive and eats into their vacation time.

Like I said, I want it to be cheap, most of these people are working class poor.

I will talk to some of the owners that are friends of mine...one actually used to own a housekeeping service, so I'll definitely be talking to him.

My overhead is zero, I live here for free and pay no utilities in exchange for 2 hours of park work a day (cleaning the bathrooms and pool deck and checking the pool chem).
I also have practical experience in housekeeping at a Casino.
I would supply nothing, unless a good vacuum is needed and $5 extra for using my own would more than cover the cost of bags.

I think your price for "air out" is resonable. I mean, we're talking about trailer's right? And they own them....so you just go in and run the sweeper, dust and get everything in order. For most regular trailers that would be 1/2-1 hour work, IF they left it in good condition. Thats decent money. For doublewides, I would double it. (twice the size, twice the work).

What I'm worried about is the price you are charging for cleaning up after someone. In that circumstance I don't think you can put a flat rate on it but rather charge by the hour and give them an estimate. Honestly, a place can get trashed SO fast and I would hate to see you only get paid a minimum amout when you have to bust your butt for 3 days to get it clean. I would say "ok...for cleaning out, it will be $10/hr (or whatever you chose) and you can negotiate after you see the place. If you want to lower the price if it's not that bad, great! They will love you! If it's going to take a few days to clean, stick by the price you quoted per hour.

15$ an hour is the low end of normal for regular type cleaning...

My grandmother owns a condo, but since she's been in the nursing home the family leases her place out usually a week at a time. There is an entire list of things you have to do before you leave or you can pay to have it done. My Aunt will go in and clean after the people leave and she charges $150.00. Granted most people that stay there are well to do and can afford the price.