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Pricing up a pub - any tips?

Bart90

Well-known member
Messages
649
Location
West Midlands
Been asked to quote for a pub on a monthly basis.  I'm 99% residential and have little experience with business/commercial.  I was going to price it up as I do a residential job and just add a premium on top.  

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks guys.

 
Sounds about right , questions I would be asking is when can it be cleaned ? Is it in and out or just outside can it be done wfp or does it have to be trad ? Jobs like this are good it gets you noticed and is done in all weathers we have never had a problem with  pubs paying either , sometimes jobs like this can be done early morning before starting domestic so it adds to the days money nicely go for it 

 
If it's in a town centre the trad rats will be doing it cheap as chips. One of the ones I do has roller shutters over the windows so can't do it till after 9 but has to be done by 11 and these new e cigs make an awful mess of the internal windows. At the end of the day there's no magic formula to price any commercial. Stick a price in that you're happy with once you've found out all the ins and outs 

 
If it's in a town centre the trad rats will be doing it cheap as chips. One of the ones I do has roller shutters over the windows so can't do it till after 9 but has to be done by 11 and these new e cigs make an awful mess of the internal windows. At the end of the day there's no magic formula to price any commercial. Stick a price in that you're happy with once you've found out all the ins and outs 




Ecigs arebanned you cannot use them inside a side a public building ??? Don’t understand that I used to hate doing the insides with nicotine but now they are a doddle 

 
Great advice guys, thanks. I'll have a look and chat with the owner tomorrow, and I'll ring them with the price once I've thought about it rather than give one on the spot so i can process everything. I'll let you know how it goes.

 
They're not banned in the pub I frequent, occasionally ?, Fairly certain that they aren't banned by law but it's up to the individual establishments. 




They are are not allowed in any public buildings down hear,  as far as Ime aware the same rules apply as normal cigarettes ?? 

 
A quote from Wiki, not guaranteed to be correct, but they're definitely not banned in a few pubs in my area.

23px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png
 United Kingdom: In the United Kingdom, the use, sale and advertising of e-cigarettes are legal, and e-cigarettes are not covered by laws restricting smoking in public places.[12] However, businesses may choose to ban e-cigarettes as well.

 
I used to clean quite a few years ago before the smoking ban and they would be grim the nicotine would turn the applicator sleeve yellow.

Thankfully that's no more.

Couple of thing to consider.

Price it well pubs used to be cleaned weekly or every 2 weeks now it's monthly or bi monthly.

Depending on which pub chain some will pay on the day others can take ages.Greene king have their own sign off system which relies on the manager submitting your invoice so expect to wait for your money.

Most are good but some can take ages and it charges you a small fee.

Health and safety some don't care others can be well on it.I used to have a couple of hungry horse pubs they wanted full RAMS,made be sign a working at heights document(for a ground floor pub)and have a minimum 5million public liability.

Keep an eye on opening times some like weather spoons open at 9am so you need to be there at 8 to get out before customers arrive.if however they open at 12 you may find you can't gain access in much before 10am.This can restrict you slightly and slow your day down if your mainly domestic as you may have to pull off  work early to get there.

 
Commercial is usually 3 times domestic I believe.


Average £120 per hour for commercial?  I'm moving to Scotland!! 

We have an abundance of residential in my area so we all charge well however those Muppets that believe that every job must be closed at any cost quote the limited amount of commercial work round here so poorly that you're lucky if you get 1/2 x domestic per hour.  Not worth it so we don't go near it! Waste of time when you can be on residential making fair money. 

@Bart90 work out what you want per hour for the job.. add a bit on (not 3x or you may get laughed out of town) as windows have always gotten covered in kiddies sticky prints (especially if they do food) and go for it.  As long as you're making a number you're happy with that's all that matters.     

 
You will have to go and have a look to see what you are up against.Is it a trendy high street outlet with a number of big panes kerb facing, or is it a traditional house with 20 plus windows all georgian pane etc. We clean quiet a few public houses and come across things like the following which have an impact on the time it takes to clean.

  • Parking or lack of it.
  • Access to the rear or secure yards attached.
  • Getting up on to flat roofs, typically over the saloon bar.
  • Dogs on the flat roofs which need to be locked away before we get to the back.
  • Access to the inside if its both ways.
  • All of these impact on the time spent on the job which will reflect on your hourly rate.

We typically have two prices for pubs and restaurants, one for just the front facing externals on a two week cycle and one for both the front and any other openings on a four week cycle.We find that pubs and eateries tend to do the internals themselves using staff which if their not doing, we suggest they do as a cost saving to them.That way we can whiz by early mornings and knock out the externals.

 
The problem with commercial is how they pay you? Say you were working for Carillion, well in the end they only paid you after 3 months and that's if you were lucky. One ended up spending more time hunting down a cheque and hopefully not a rubber one!

 
I have to quote a pub on Sunday funnily enough. Lovely place! Only issue is the fact most of the windows are Georgian windows... okay for WFP outside, going to be a pain on the inside. Especially as I’ve never quoted for Georgian windows before... just going to look at it and think of a fair price as it’ll take hours!


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Yeh I don’t like Georgian windows especially for the insides. I was asked to quote a large weatherspoons back in the spring, it was having to do internal Georgian windows every 4 weeks off a really high A frame that put me off wanting to quote. And the fact that they said they open at 7 so ideally could I be packed up and gone by latest 7:30. Abs there was no side access so have to dry around the one way system to do the back. 

But it if you don’t mind internal then go for it. Hope it goes well

I have to quote a pub on Sunday funnily enough. Lovely place! Only issue is the fact most of the windows are Georgian windows... okay for WFP outside, going to be a pain on the inside. Especially as I’ve never quoted for Georgian windows before... just going to look at it and think of a fair price as it’ll take hours!


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Yeh I don’t like Georgian windows especially for the insides. I was asked to quote a large weatherspoons back in the spring, it was having to do internal Georgian windows every 4 weeks off a really high A frame that put me off wanting to quote. And the fact that they said they open at 7 so ideally could I be packed up and gone by latest 7:30. Abs there was no side access so have to dry around the one way system to do the back. 

But it if you don’t mind internal then go for it. Hope it goes well

 
Thanks for all the tips guys.  Had a look today,   total of 35  windows, most old lead type, a few skylights and some bigger skylight panes.  Went in at £100.  No idea whether I'll get it, but all good experience nonetheless.

 
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