Apartments

[awratchford]

So this post is going to be for new businesses only if you were a new business and you are considering getting into the apartment game my suggestion would be pick up maybe one possibly two good apartment complexes who will pay you decent money regularly.

One of the pitfalls that you can run into very quickly is you can pick up a lot of complexes and all these complexes are going to be 30 to 45 days out on payment at minimum.

That's 30 to 45 days of you doing work expending your supplies paying your payroll basically going into the hole before you get any pay out of any of these complexes and you will quickly find that a lot of complexes will not pay everything that they owe they will pay a small portion.

It can quickly run a smaller company into the ground and put you behind on all your bills you should try out apartment complexes just like you would tryout new credit cards. If they don't payat least 80% of total owed within 30 days. Give them one warning. If not corrected then cancel services. If you're not doing at least $1k a month with said complex then speakwith said complex. Advice them you're not making money, either their rates have to go up or you have to get more work or go separate ways.

Remember you're here to make money

 

[EVDOG]

How much are you charging?

 

[awratchford]

How much are you charging?

Apt rates around here are 65,75,85. And that's high. The other guys are 45,55,65. But your rate isn't the most important part of this. They have to pay on time, plus you have to be doing a good rate. These things are busy work, but the busy work can bankrupt you If you aren't paid in full every month. I've personally had it where one complex racked up a 1k+ bill for the month then sent me a check for $65.

 

[Jose Holguin]

Reason why I let go of the only one I had. They owed $7k in various services when I canceled services.

 

[Rick J]

Yep, they often expect a $1.00 worth of service for .50.
At those rates you will have an endless supply of customers!!!!

 

[stephenBeClean]

Yeah the pay times can be a hassle, but that's why I always tell people who say doing apartments is not a good idea because of the pay times, that if they don't pay don't go. There are management companies out there that do pay on time and regularly. If they don't give them a warning and charge a late fee, if no change suspend services, don't rack up huge numbers thinking it's going to change.

 

[M4sT3R T3CH]

Ive been cleaning apartments for a long time. You make your money with repairs and watet extractions. Not all will do 1k a month some will do more. Apartments are great for training but are taxing on your body.

 

[stephenBeClean]

Ive been cleaning apartments for a long time. You make your money with repairs and watet extractions. Not all will do 1k a month some will do more. Apartments are great for training but are taxing on your body.

Yeah it's definitely taxing on the body. I look at the cleaning almost as a loss leader like in the restaurant business. You make a little money on the cleaning, but like you said the money is in repairs, deodorizer, and water damage.

 

[awratchford]

So this is an update to this particular thread in regards to cleaning apartment complexes. I sat down last night and looked over July's numbers in the month of July we did 93 jobs of those 93 jobs 47 were Apartments those 47 Apartments boil down to only 25% of our gross monthly Revenue but made up 50% of our number of jobs. When you take out the payroll for those 47 jobs the gas used and the cost of chemicals our actual net per hour on each of those jobs was less than $54 per hour that is completely unacceptable it is absolutely sad that it took me sitting down to do those numbers to see this so effective Monday I will be having a sit-down meeting with each of my apartment manager and Advising them that we have to raise our prices at least $35 per unit and that if they can't go with that we will drop them.

What's really really sad is when you take the apartments out of our gross numbers for the month and look at the other 46 jobs we did for the month of July our job average was $199 per job

 

[crash1big]

So this is an update to this particular thread in regards to cleaning apartment complexes. I sat down last night and looked over July's numbers in the month of July we did 93 jobs of those 93 jobs 47 were Apartments those 47 Apartments boil down to only 25% of our gross monthly Revenue but made up 50% of our number of jobs. When you take out the payroll for those 47 jobs the gas used and the cost of chemicals our actual net per hour on each of those jobs was less than $54 per hour that is completely unacceptable it is absolutely sad that it took me sitting down to do those numbers to see this so effective Monday I will be having a sit-down meeting with each of my apartment manager and Advising them that we have to raise our prices at least $35 per unit and that if they can't go with that we will drop them.

What's really really sad is when you take the apartments out of our gross numbers for the month and look at the other 46 jobs we did for the month of July our job average was $199 per job

...and I was just going to say something like this. Good info.
Our minimums apply to all our jobs. Apartments too. The ones I have pay what I ask but we give exceptional service. The cheapest we've done an apartment in the last two years is 125.00. Cheap 1 bedroom apartments go for 135-175 normally. Trashed apartments start at .45 a foot and go up from there. Building a reputation is the key.

 

[Kevin Lietz]

Apartments were one of my main targets when I started.... but it was a joke when I started to find out what they pay... its not worth it when you have a new truck/business overhead.

Once i have a few trucks and I need to keep drivers paid.... maybe... and thats a big maybe

 

[awratchford]

Well as expected I make contact today with the two apartment managers that we have left I advise them that our fees are now going to go up $35 per apartment. They said that there's no way that they could afford that and we chose to go our separate ways believe it or not I am not upset one bit

 

[JD5150]

Well as expected I make contact today with the two apartment managers that we have left I advise them that our fees are now going to go up $35 per apartment. They said that there's no way that they could afford that and we chose to go our separate ways believe it or not I am not upset one bit

All they have to do is change the lease. Make the tenant pay the for carpet cleaning when they move out. That's the way all my apartment owners have it. Carpet cleaning is usually taken out of tenant's deposit and the apartment owner pays me. If I raise the price the apartment owner raises it on the lease agreement.

I have had some apartment owners say it is to expensive to have you clean the carpet in some bigger apartments and I say what's it matter you are not paying for it the tenant is . Cheap bastards!

 

[Rick J]

Years ago I found out that some PMs around here charged the tenant way more than they were charged.
They made killing on it. All the while wanting it for less!

 

[awratchford]

Me and apartments have become like me and ex wives. Such a bad taste I won't ever deal with them again

 

[ZestyArt]

I've had both good and bad, so in my opinion it just depends on the management. If they are trying to make money on your cleaning work and upcharge the tenant, and also not pay for 30 to 45 days, screw them. I've always expect at least 50% up front and the rest up to 30 days later...max

After you go through a couple, it's easy to see bad apples, and there are plenty out there. Also, after you build a relationship with them, be sure to ask for referrals. If your work and pricing are on point, they'll walk you right into new deals.

 

[stephenBeClean]

So what do you guys do for quality control when you send techs to do apartments. Any good ideas for quality control.

 

[awratchford]

So what do you guys do for quality control when you send techs to do apartments. Any good ideas for quality control.

You have a defined system in place specifically for cleaning apartments. This includes how you mix and deploy pre spray, whether you do vacuum strokes, how and if you use acid rinse and/or deodorizer, etc. Then you pick units at random to check. You as the owner should be able to recognize from sight and feel if your system was followed to the letter.

 

[Kevin Dumas]

If only the tenants knew that unless there is unusual damage or tenant abuse...
In most states carpet cleaning is considered "NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR"
"OR USING A RESIDENCE AS IT WAS INTENDED FOR"
no matter what is written in the lease.

 

[ACP]

It's a law in wa state to clean carpets before new tenant comes.

We only mess with the high end ones, if the building looks terrible from outside they obviously don't care about maintenance and are trying to save a buck.

Luckily the housing market in my area is so low on inventory rent on 1bedrooms is $2,000+ a month, you might be able to find a shitty building for $1500

So all the low end buildings have spent money on major renovations so they can charge top $